July 31, 2002 |
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?
The Big Apple will help kick off the 2002 NFL season with a massive Times Square bash that is being dubbed the "world's largest tailgate party." Bon Jovi will headline the Sept. 5 event, which takes place just hours before the New York Giants take on the San Francisco 49ers across the Hudson in New Jersey. Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes the party will provide a boost to businesses struggling since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Admission is free, but if you're driving in, parking will cost you an arm and a leg. Consider yourself warned. |
REALITY RULES
Buoyed by repeats of CSI, Everybody Loves Raymond and Becker, CBS won the ratings race last week among total viewers. But reality programming continues to be the summer success story: NBC's Dog Eat Dog and Meet My Folks, Fox's American Idol and CBS's Big Brother 3 all finished in the top 10. In the category of viewers 18-49, Meet My Folks and American Idol tied for No. 1. |
AS RIPA'S WORLD TURNS
Kelly Ripa is setting the record straight about rumors she's leaving All My Children. On this morning's Live with Regis and Kelly, the actress-turned-talk-show host denied that she plans to exit the soap when her contract expires later this year. Instead, she wants to work out a deal where she can appear on AMC as her busy schedule permits. |
CRUSHING ON DREW
Finally, a reason to start watching The Drew Carey Show again: Ex-Titus leading lady Cynthia Watros is joining the cast of the fading ABC sitcom this fall, playing an old high school crush of Drew's. |
SNAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL
Snake Plissken, the anti-hero of Escape From New York and Escape From L.A. played by Kurt Russell, is mounting a multimedia comeback this spring in the form of a comic book series and a new animated feature film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Russell will lend his voice to the pic, which is being targeted for release in 2004. A special edition DVD of Escape from New York also is in the works. |
HEAVEN CAN'T WAIT
Moonlighting creator Glenn Gordon Caron is developing a new hour-long series for ABC titled Meant to Be. "It's a romantic comedy set in the afterlife," he tells Variety. Meanwhile, China Beach creator John Sacret Young is working on a new ABC drama titled B.O.S.S., about a group of female vice cops. Both shows are slated to premiere in fall 2003. |
WHAT, NO TOM GREEN?
Actors Elizabeth Taylor, James Earl Jones and Chita Rivera, as well as musicians Paul McCartney and James Levine have been named recipients of the 25th annual Kennedy Center awards. They will be honored at a Dec. 8 White House gala. |
WOMEN ROARS INTO THEATERS
HBO Films will release Sundance Film Festival winner Real Women Have Curves in theaters on Oct. 18. The flick tells the story of a young Mexican-American woman struggling to strike a balance between her mainstream ambitions and her cultural heritage. |
SHORT CUTS
Frida, the biopic of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo starring Salma Hayek, will open the 59th Venice Film Festival on Aug. 29... Anjelica Huston will star opposite Hilary Swank in Iron Jawed Angels, an HBO original movie about legendary feminist Alice Paul... The WB has ordered six episodes of the hour-long drama The Black Sash for midseason. Russell Wong stars as a cop who opens a martial arts school. |
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