Top Story: Star Pierce Says Frasier Nearing End
David Hyde Pierce, co-star of the hit NBC show Frasier, believes the series’ next season will be its last. In an interview he gave at the Tribeca Film Festival, where he was promoting his upcoming film Down With Love, Reuters reports the actor said, “I think the indications are that it’s going to end after this coming season. That’s sort of what we’ve been told. We shoot one more season and that would be it. We all hate to see it go. We all love it. [But] we want it to go out classy.” Pierce also admitted he was trying to move away from his TV alter ego, the anal-retentive Niles Crane. “I recognize the power of being the same character on television for a long time and I recognize that I can’t just leap into something completely different and expect people to buy it,” said Pierce, who wants to return to the New York stage. “I have to make that transition gradually, though the most frequent suggestion from friends is I should really play a psychotic serial killer.”
Pacino’s the Greatest Film Star
According to a poll of British film fans, The Godfather star Al Pacino was chosen as the greatest movie star of all time, Reuters reports, followed in order by Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey, Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson. The results were broadcast on England’s Channel 4 Sunday and Monday.
Tina Fey Gets $2 Mil To Stay with SNL
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Saturday Night Live‘s Tina Fey has signed a two-year deal with the show, which will net her nearly $4 million. As SNL‘s head writer since 1999, Fey is the first woman to hold that post.
Oprah Continues To Talk the Talk
After making it clear last year she wanted to bow out at the end of the 2005-06 season, Oprah Winfrey apparently is changing her mind about wrapping her syndicated The Oprah Winfrey Show and is in negotiations to continue for two more seasons, sources told The Hollywood Reporter. Winfrey has met with King World and the seven ABC outlets that form the backbone of the talk show’s affiliate station base.
Buttafuoco and Wife Divorce
Joey Buttafuoco and his wife, Mary Jo, who was shot in the face by 17-year-old “Long Island Lolita” Amy Fisher in 1990, have decided to officially split up after 26 years of marriage, The Associated Press reports. “It’s OK. To move on you’ve got to get a divorce,” Buttafuoco told AP.
Copies of New Harry Potter Found in Field
Advanced copies of the fifth Harry Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, were found dumped near a printworks in the small town of Bungay, in Suffolk, eastern England. Bloomsbury Publishing told Reuters it suspected the first editions of author J.K Rowling’s latest boy wizard saga had been stolen from a nearby printer. “The matter is currently under investigation, with the suspicion that theft is involved,” Rowling’s publisher and agent said in a statement.
Role Call, Part I: Honeymooners Gets Director, Knoxville Is One Hot Dog!
Like Mike director John Schultz has taken the helm of the Paramount feature The Honeymooners, based on the 1950s Jackie Gleason classic TV show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps will star in the Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton roles, respectively…meanwhile, Jackass star Johnny Knoxville will star in and produce an as-yet-untitled project about a war between two hot dog vendors in Los Angeles.
Role Call, Part II: Will & Grace Star To Direct Feature
Eric McCormack of Will & Grace fame will make his directorial debut on the Disney pic What You Wish For, which he’ll also write and star in. “It’s about a normal married Midwestern couple whose marriage is turned upside down because of a celebrity sex fantasy,” McCormack told Variety. “The idea is, no matter how happy a person is with his partner, there’s that one hot actress or athlete you’d allow them to sleep with, knowing it would never happen. Here, it happens.”
