May 25, 1999

NEW TWIST IN TV PROGRAMMING: AX PROFITABLE SHOWS

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

INSIDE BROADCASTING: Now that the very last episode of “Melrose Place" has come and gone, USA Today is at pains to let you know that producer Aaron Spelling was really taken by surprise when the folks at Fox let him know a few months back that they were shooting his popular and lucrative program in the noggin.

"I didn't see it coming," Aaron ruefully admits.

Network honcho Doug Herzog elucidates the matter as follows.

"Creatively, it had run its course. ... Clearly its ratings heyday had passed. The show is far from dead, but the key is to get out while it still has life. People expect Fox to be fresh." No, people expect Fox to be garbage, but that's just our quibble.

CELEBRITY UNHAPPINESS: Most likely you're already perfectly aware that the producers of the Broadway revival of the Irving Berlin chestnut "Annie Get Your Gun" were reportedly at loggerheads with Rosie O'Donnell, who supposedly didn't want to let the show's cast come on her talkfest and sing songs about firearms, the availability of which she is adamantly opposed to. But you may not know what Rosie's flack, the redoubtable Lois Smith, had to say about the whole thing.

"You don't change Irving Berlin," Lois points out, "and Rosie would never think of asking anyone to do that. I have great respect for the press, but I don't understand stories being twisted and turned."

It gives us something to write about, Lois - you, of all people, should know that.

MORE 'ANNIE' NEWS: Meantime, speculation has been running rampant that Bernadette Peters, currently appearing in "Annie Get Your Gun," may eventually be replaced in the role by Dolly Parton. However, it seems to be just that - speculation, and bootless speculation withal.

"I don't believe Dolly has any interest in doing a musical," says "Annie" producer Barry Weissler. "Hopefully, we can do something else with her in the future." Like send out for pizza.

INSIDE MOTION PICTURES: Obviously, shooting the big-budget remake of "The Mummy" was no bed of roses for the cast and crew - witness the testimony in People mag of actor Arnold Vosloo, who essayed the pic's title role, with regard to scenes in which the Bandaged One is interred.

"When you're buried alive," Arnold reflects, “strange thoughts go through a man's mind. Honestly, I prayed to God there wouldn't be an earthquake because they would forget about me." As it is, we've already forgotten about him anyway.

FEAR OF FLYING: Among successful, wealthy celebrities who are scaredy-cats about getting into an airplane and taking off in it, Whoopi Goldberg is one. Here's Walter Scott in Parade mag explaining to a reader that the Whoopster therefore opts to travel from East Coast to West, so that she can appear in the new version of "The Hollywood Squares," by means of a fancy­schmancy bus outfitted with her comfort in mind.

"It's a relaxing time for Whoopy," a "friend" of hers tells Walter. "She's a voracious reader and takes a stack of the newest books to pass the time.” None of those lame old books by people like Chaucer and Shakespeare, we're relieved to note.

EEK!: Let's listen in as Geena Davis tells a rapt reporter about one of her upcoming projects, namely a film version of the E.B. White children's classic, "Stuart Little," about the adventures of a plucky rodent.

"I've seen scenes now with the finished mouse,” Geena says. "He's so adorable, you can't believe he's not a live mouse. His little ears are translucent; you can see the veins and his little whiskers." Geena, stop, you're scaring the heck out of us.

LIFE IMITATES ART, THOUGH INEXACTLY: Remember a few days ago when news broke that a cruise ship went down off Malaysia? Happily, all aboard were rescued - thanks in part to the crew's familiarity with the movie "Titanic," according to Capt. Sven Hartzell.

"Perhaps they knew they were working at sea," the captain opines, with reference to his underlings' viewings of the cinematic blockbuster, "and what they saw in the movie could well happen to them."

Sort of like real-life astronauts watching "Apollo 13" and coming away with a fresh appreciation of the inadvisability of breathing in outer space.

Wait, though, there's more.

"The water had come in," Hartzel says of his foundering vessel. "I don't know from where, but it went into the ship.” If you watch "Titanic" again, Captain, you'll see the water actually comes in from the ocean.

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

back to top