Top Story
MTV’s hit reality series The Osbournes could return to the airwaves as early as next month. MTV president Brian Graden told The Associated Press “all systems are go” for the second season. The upcoming episodes are expected to feature Sharon Osbourne’s battle against colon cancer as she undergoes chemotherapy treatments. The Osbournes, which chronicles the lives of heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon and their two teenage children, daughter Kelly and son Jack, became the biggest hit series in MTV’s 21-year history. A spokeswoman for MTV, however, said there is still a possibility the show could still be postponed until January.
Celebs
Screen Actors Guild president Melissa Gilbert said she will seek a higher profile on labor issues for the union’s 98,000 members, Variety reports. “There’s a terrible misconception that there are only 5 actors and they all make $20 million per picture,” Gilbert said while meeting with officials at an AFL-CIO headquarters Tuesday. “That’s a very, very small percentage of our membership. Most of us are journeymen laborers who can barely earn a living as actors; when the job is finished, we’re fired.”
An 87-year-old man found stabbed to death near Interstate 15, about 25 miles north of Las Vegas, has been identified as former child actor Jay R. Smith, the AP reports. Smith was in about three dozen of the Our Gang short comedies from 1925-29, better known as The Little Rascals to TV audiences. Police said a homeless man who had been staying in a shed next to Smith’s house was being sought for questioning in the death. Smith died from multiple stab wounds.
Movies
Nicole Kidman will star in Paramount Pictures’ remake of the 1975 thriller The Stepford Wives, Variety reports. The film revolves around a group of husbands who transform their wives into robots who cater to their every need. Director Frank Oz (The Score) will helm the project.
A judge has ruled that Jamie Johnson, a New York University film student and the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, may release a documentary film featuring other wealthy offspring. Born Rich includes interviews with fellow children born with a silver spoon, such Georgina Bloomberg, the daughter of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Luke Weil, whose father ran the online gaming site Autotote, had filed a lawsuit to block the film’s distribution, alleging he was “tricked” into taking part in a project that “embarrassed” and “humiliated” him and his family.
Tube
Fox is close to signing on New York-based radio personality and recording artist Angie Martinez as a fourth judge in the second American Idol installment, according to Variety. Martinez will join judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.
Canadian profiler Kim Rossmo, who is helping investigators track down the Beltway sniper, will have his story turned into a TV movie, Variety reports. will recount Rossmo’s rise from Vancouver beat police to criminologist with a new and unique system of tracking serial predators.
Music
Boy band ‘N Sync is revisiting the bad old days when they actually had to fly coach and sleep in cheap hotels in their video The Reel ‘N Sync. The one-hour video, shot and edited by band member Joey Fatone, includes clips from hundreds of hours of low-fi footage in his personal video archive. Surprisingly, the video features no ‘N Sync songs.
