August 31, 1999

URGENT NEWS: FORD TO REPLACE GIBSON ON 'GMA' EVENTUALLY

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1999: Media pundits, gurus, analysts and wizards all were flabbergasted recently over news that NBC talking head Jack Ford has inked a deal to join ABC, where he will team up with Connie Chung as co-anchor for the Monday edition of "20/20."

But USA Today is in possession of even more galvanizing word to the effect that the opportunity to share an on-air desk with Maury Povich's wife isn't the extent of Jack's good fortune. Indeed, the rag reports that the time will come - perhaps a few months from now - when the whole world will know that Jack has been named as Charles Gibson's "permanent substitute" on "Good Morning America," taking over from Charles altogether sometime in 2000.

FERTILITY IN SYNDICATION: Meantime, the upcoming ish of USA Weekend has Ricki Lake assuring a reporter that her marriage, which features a 2-year-old son, is going swimmingly, although she's not absolutely certain whether she'll continue her talk-show hostess duties beyond next year. "If I didn't have this job," she says, a bit mystifyingly, "'I wouldn't have had children."

EVERYBODY'S A MUSIC CRITIC: Rather notoriously, Whitney Houston has been canceling one concert appearance after another of late, apparently because of sudden attacks of poor health. Fortunately, though, she did manage to fulfill a performance obligation in Poland, where Jolanta Kwasniewski - who is married to the president of that country - got a chance for a brief tete-a-tete with her and afterwards remarked, "She has a phenomenal voice."

ALLOW US TO BUTT IN: At the risk of sounding pompous, we'd like to advise the New York Post's Cyndi Adams - one of our favorite columnists - that she erred recently when saying the actress Kate Beckinsale is slated to appear in a new film version of "Henry James' turn-of-the-century novel 'The Golden Bough.’"

Henry James wrote a novel titled "The Golden Bowl." “The Golden Bough," by contrast, is a classic anthropological study of European mythology written by Sir James Frazer, a work that T.S. Eliot acknowledged as an inspiration for his great poem, "The Waste Land." This was, of course, long before Henry James replaced Gabby Hayes as Roy Rogers' comic sidekick.

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES: While you were doing the laundry a few nights ago, all kinds of top celebrities got together in Manhattan for the premiere of Albert Brooks new film, "The Muse," starring Sharon Stone. Among these luminaries were Lauren Bacall and Keith Richards, who shared a table during the reception.

USA Today reports that Betty (that's what all her oldest and dearest friends call Lauren) said to the grizzled Rolling Stone, "You remind me of Bogie." (Her reference, of course, was to Humphrey Bogart, the great film star who was her first husband.)

Not to be outdone, the New York Daily News says Betty hit Keith up for some nutritional advice. "He said that he eats a raw onion every morning," Betty says.

CELEBRITY INJUSTICE: By the way, the Daily News also has a report that Liv Tyler - the beautiful young actress who is the progeny of Aerosmith's Steve Tyler and the model Bebe Buell - is lately upset that some makeup person is going around claiming credit for her eyebrows, whereas Liv swears up and down that the only person who plucks them is herself.

MATURITY IN THE NEWS: Recently we mentioned that neighbors of John Travolta's in Maine were irked that the airborne star had flown too low over their houses in one of those big old jet planes he's famous for piloting on his days off. Now the New York Post retails a rumor that those neighbors "plan to hire a plane comparable in size to Travolta's 182-seat behemoth to fly over the star's house low enough to rattle his windows."

ANOTHER CRISIS IN THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY: The Post also is privy to word that the people who put out Jane magazine are not at all happy with Keri Russell of TV's "Felicity," because Keri went and cut off a lot of her hair after doing a photo shoot with the mag but before the pictures hit the street.

"All anyone is talking about is her new hair," a Janist complains, "which makes the cover look really dated."

MEDIA WATCH: Every broadcast entity in the world is turning out promos and skits spoofing "The Blair Witch Project" - so much so that it might be deemed too much of a good thing. But Ron Scalera, a creative director at CBS who is himself responsible for at least one such takeoff, is far from feeling ashamed of himself. "We're in business to get attention," he remarks to a reporter. "If I can use this to get you for a few seconds, I've done half my job." What's the other half?

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

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