entertainment – News Stories About entertainment - Page 363

May 7, 2007 6:51 AM CDT

Spidey Swings Past Pirates

Spider-Man 3 nets $148 million, shatters box-office records

(Newser) - Shy, do-gooder Peter Parker has again done superhero's work: His webbed alter-ego has vaulted the third installment of the Spider-Man franchise past its rivals and predecessors to shatter the opening weekend box-office record, netting $148 million--over $10 million more than Pirates 2, the previous record holder.

'Idol' Down To Final Four

May 3, 2007 9:56 AM CDT

'Idol' Down To Final Four

No more charity for contestants, and Idol 's down to final four.

(Newser) - American voters—135 million strong—sent two "American Idol" finalists home last night, leaving three women and one man in the running. Smooth-domed Phil Stacey and Justin Timberlake-esque hearthrob Chris Richardson got the boot, but neither seemed distraught: A spot in the top six is a fine career starter,...

Britney
Wigs Out

May 3, 2007 9:25 AM CDT

Britney Wigs Out

Not-so-secret comeback continues with 20 minutes of lip-syncing

(Newser) - Britney's back—somewhat. In the latest performance by an ensemble billed as "the M+Ms," the troubled chanteuse strode onstage in scanty attire and a not-so scanty wig last night in Anaheim and shimmied to the tunes of her big hits, including "Hit Me Baby One More Time"...

Dolans' Offer
Scores With
Cablevision

May 2, 2007 11:20 AM CDT

Dolans' Offer Scores With Cablevision

Third time's the charm for founding family buying back the company

(Newser) - The Dolans have finally struck a deal to take Cablevision private. The $10.6 billion transaction, announced today, ends two years of wrangling with the entertainment conglomerate's board, and is a victory for Charles, the company's 80-year-old founder and his son James, now CEO.

Vogue Says Models Are Back

Apr 30, 2007 1:56 PM CDT

Vogue Says Models Are Back

Vogue teaches Tyra Banks how to really spot the next top models among us.

(Newser) - Vogue's May cover spotlights the next top models—real ones, not the reality-show variety—and makes the case that models with star quality are making a comeback. Jonathan Van Meter speculates that our cultural obsession with warblers who can't sing and celebrities who can't behave is about to expire.

Rosie's Leaving "The View"

Apr 25, 2007 9:57 AM CDT

Rosie's Leaving "The View"

Controversial host will depart in June

(Newser) - Loose-cannon comedienne Rosie O'Donnell will give up her post as a co-host of ABC's "The View" in June, after a one-year stint marked by public tiffs with celebs like Donald Trump that embarrassed "View" doyenne Barbara Walters.

Basinger: Don't Look at Me!

Apr 24, 2007 12:35 PM CDT

Basinger: Don't Look at Me!

Actress says she didn't leak Baldwin voicemail in custody dispute

(Newser) - Kim Basinger says she didn't do it. Contrary to her ex-husband's accusations, the actress claims she wasn't the one who leaked the the furious voicemail Alec Baldwin left for their 11-year-old daughter to the press, inspiring a frency of opprobrium. Her publicist also said the tape wasn't under a court...

Cowell Defends Eye-Roll at VA Tech Tribute

Apr 20, 2007 12:56 PM CDT

Cowell Defends Eye-Roll at VA Tech Tribute

Killjoy judge says he didn't mean to disrespect victims

(Newser) - Notorious wet blanket Simon Cowell insists he was not rolling his eyes at a contestant's tribute to the Virginia Tech victims during Tuesday's "American Idol." What viewers saw, the blunt British judge says, was a reaction to the performance, not the remarks, of "Idol" hopeful Chris Richardson.

Sanjaya Gets
The Boot

Apr 19, 2007 7:50 AM CDT

Sanjaya Gets The Boot

Loved, hated, off-key 'Idol' contestant says goodbye at last

(Newser) - Reality caught up with reality TV last night, when "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar was finally booted from the show. Sanjaya, as he's known to legions of fans and detractors, gained attention for his missed notes, his faux-hawk, and his popularity on the sabotage website votefortheworst.com

Doe-Eyed Sanjaya Divides America

Apr 12, 2007 9:09 AM CDT

Doe-Eyed Sanjaya Divides America

Idol , not Iraq, galvanizes youth vote

(Newser) - American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar, the waifish breakout star who lacks only a singing voice, is America’s latest wedge issue, according to The New Republic. One teenager went on hunger strike for 16 days to protest Sanjaya's continued presence, sparking a counter protest of "Binge Eating for Sanjaya"...

Imus in Hot Water Again

Apr 7, 2007 3:00 PM CDT

Imus in Hot Water Again

Uses racial and gender inappropriate epithets to describe Rutgers women's basketball team

(Newser) - Earlier this week during his syndicated show simulcast on MSNBC and CBS radio station WFAN Don Imus called the Rutgers Women's basketball team "nappy headed hoes," initiating a firestorm of criticism. The politically incorrect shock jock now admits that his remarks were "inappropriate, thoughtless and stupid....

The Fall,
And Rise, Of Television

Apr 7, 2007 11:11 AM CDT

The Fall, And Rise, Of Television

New outlets, "small TV" programming shifting the idiot-box paradigm

(Newser) - TV executives are biting their nails over the future of their medium, even as conventional indicators suggest it's never been stronger. Wired reports that sitcoms and dramas are winning, not losing, audiences, but through financially amorphous pipelines like DVDs, iTunes downloads and even homemade web-casts. "Traditional TV won't be...

Stop Crying About Anna Nicole Coverage

Apr 5, 2007 9:03 AM CDT

Stop Crying About Anna Nicole Coverage

It's not the crime they're telling you it is

(Newser) - The all-Anna-all-the-time formula cable news networks embraced after the heiress' death was not the sin against the intellect commentators are bemoaning, argues Slate columnist Jack Schafer. In fact, he says, viewers may have actually learned something from the in-depth coverage of the complex legal issues surrounding Smith.

Keith Richards: "I Snorted
My Dad"

Apr 4, 2007 10:20 AM CDT

Keith Richards: "I Snorted My Dad"

Rolling Stones guitarist is just as weird as we all suspected

(Newser) - Legendary rock guitarist and professional strange person Keith Richards—still alive against all apparent odds—admitted yesterday to snorting cocaine laced with his own father's ashes. "He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he...

"30 Rock" Is In
A Hard Place

Apr 4, 2007 6:44 AM CDT

"30 Rock" Is In A Hard Place

Sure critics like it, but it's up against Grey's Anatomy

(Newser) - Tina Fey takes things a lot more calmly than her strung-out alter-ego on "30 Rock," and it's a good thing: the TV comedy about a TV comedy is on very, very thin ice. NBC is expected to pick it up for another season, reports the LA Times,...

Brit, K-Fed, Settle Their Split

Mar 30, 2007 12:52 PM CDT

Brit, K-Fed, Settle Their Split

The amateur rapper and the rehabbed pop princess' story comes to a quiet end

(Newser) - Britney Spears and Kevin Federline settled their long-impending divorce last night, reports MTV, after five hours of hashing it out with their lawyers. The fresh-from rehab pop star and her would-be rapper hubby setttled "all issues of their marriage and child custody" his lawyer said.

Bochco Switches to Shorts

Mar 20, 2007 8:28 AM CDT

Bochco Switches to Shorts

Keep it snappy; I'm sick of this buffer bar

(Newser) - Steven Bochco, the brains behind "L.A. Law" and "Hill Street Blues," is the latest to move from the small screen to the short attention span. His new project is "Cafe Confidential," an online video featuring a series of brief clips from members of the...

Spector Faces the Music

Mar 19, 2007 3:20 PM CDT

Spector Faces the Music

(Newser) - Sixties icon Phil Spector was supposedly drunk, depressed, and on prescription medication when he brought B-movie actor Lana Clarkson home from a club four years ago, and shot her-—accidentally, he claims. With his televised trial opening today, Dan Glaister walks readers through what is known of events and gives...

Satellite Sisters

Mar 18, 2007 8:44 PM CDT

Satellite Sisters

XM and Sirius may have unlikely rescuers from the Chicago School of Economics

(Newser) - Jim Surowiecki describes how the “Chicago School” of economists revolutionized anti-trust thinking in the 1970s. By arguing that it is not the number of competitors but rather their strength that mattered, these economists posited that some mergers stimulate competition.

'LIFE' GOES ON

Mar 18, 2007 8:43 PM CDT

'LIFE' GOES ON

How do you make beloved public radio program This American Life work on TV?

(Newser) - Stevenson Swanson wonders how and weather Chicago Public Radio god Ira Glass can really do a television show and, even more daring, a show for the premium cable only network, Showtime.