Issue Date: November 24, 2002
How do "Today" show producers decide who will substitute for anchor Katie Couric when she's away? Is Ann Curry miffed that she's not always the first choice?
Kris Perry, Eden Prairie, Minn.
There's no real protocol for replacing Couric, and Curry, who was not available to talk about it, has little to complain about. She probably fills in more than any other NBC name, among them Maria Shriver, Soledad O'Brien, Lester Holt and Campbell Brown. We're told decisions about who sits in Couric's temporarily vacant seat generally depend on the juggling of schedules, breaking news and the week's events.
In the Oct. 25-27 issue, you said Alex Meneses will be in a film with Bob Crane of "Hogan's Heroes". He was murdered in 1978, so how could he be in this film?
Dick Rohrbach, Bethlehem, Pa.
You were among scores of readers pondering that very question, Dick. Unfortunately, I didn't make clear that "Auto Focus" (out last month) is about Crane's life; Greg Kinnear stars as Crane.
Paul Bettany, Russell Crowe's imaginary roommate in "A Beautiful Mind" and Heath Ledger's sidekick in "A Knight's Tale", is quite talented. With friends like those, he must be going places.
Jennifer Shuster, Orr, Minn.
You bet. Bettany and Crowe are in Mexico now filming "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", the $120 million epic based on the maritime novel. Bettany plays Stephen Maturin (physician, naturalist and secret agent), best friend to Crowe's Jack Aubrey, captain of HMS Surprise. Bettany, 31, got close to another "Mind" cast mate: He and Jennifer Connelly reportedly have been dating, although neither one's reps will confirm it.
Pop divas Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Pink all thanked director Dave Meyers as they accepted their 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Who is he?
Stephanie Dillon, Berkeley, Calif.
Meyers is a 30-year-old director who shot his first "spec" video on his own dime. Five of his videos have won MTV Video Music Awards, and some of the biggest names in the music biz are knocking at his door. In fact, he'd just finished a video for Mariah Carey when we exchanged e-mails. Among others for whom he has created a visual mood: Outkast ("Bombs Over Baghdad"), Limp Bizkit ("Boiler") and Dave Matthews ("The Space Between"). It's not easy work to create his videos, though. "Some songs I listen to 400 times before anything comes to me," Meyers says. "Other songs I listen to twice." Who's on his dream collaboration list? Madonna and Lauryn Hill.
Go to top
Watch out for Tim McGraw this week. Country music's cutest husband is on a one-man blitz, selling his new album, "Tim McGraw & The Dancehall Doctors", as well as an accompanying book and an NBC special Wednesday (8 p.m. ET). If I didn't know better, I'd think it was Garth Brooks under that big black hat. McGraw, whose wife, Faith Hill, has a concert special of her own Thanksgiving night, taped his big show in his hometown of Start, La., so don't tell him you can't go home again. "It was fun," McGraw tells me. "There was nothing difficult about it." For a guy who's got so much going on (did I mention he'll debut on "Grand Ole Opry Live" next Saturday?), he's low-key. "Nothing is going to get in the way of our family," says McGraw, 35, who does the lion's share of flying from one place to another to be with Hill and their three daughters. In London, the couple, who brought along one of the girls' teachers, turned a second hotel suite into an English classroom and took field trips to such sights as Buckingham Palace.
What is David E. Kelley's favorite lounge singer, Vonda Shepard, doing now that "Ally McBeal" is off the air?
Tony Stout, Decatur, Ala.
Resting, mostly. "I need to chill out," Shepard tells us, so she's running her own errands. "I really missed going to the grocery store." Shepard, 39, spends time at home in L.A. with her boyfriend, and she's been touring to support her September CD release, "Chinatown". Although she and her band recorded 450 songs for "Ally", what she misses most are the "little things. Going for a little dinner after taping, or when Calista [Flockhart] and I would hang out." She doubts she'll do TV again. "I'm more of a free spirit and a singer-songwriter."
Is the new James Bond movie, "Die Another Day", Pierce Brosnan's last? Is my favorite actor, Adrian Paul, on the short list to take over as Bond?
Kanako Iwata, San Francisco
No. Brosnan, 50, is Bond "for the foreseeable future," the producers say, despite the Internet campaign touting Paul, 43. "Die", which opened Friday, is Brosnan's fourth Bond film, which fulfills his contract, but he's already signed on for a fifth.
Go to top
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
November 24: William F. Buckley, 77
November 25: Jenna and Barbara Bush, 21; Christina Applegate, 31; Jill Hennessy, 33; Amy Grant, 42
November 26: Tina Turner, 63
November 27: Jaleel White, 26; Caroline Kennedy, 45
November 28: Anna Nicole Smith, 35; Jon Stewart, 40; Paul Shaffer, 53
November 29: Don Cheadle, 38; Kim Delaney, 41; Howie Mandel, 47; Garry Shandling, 53
November 30: Ben Stiller, 37; Billy Idol, 47; Dick Clark, 73
With: Frappa Stout
Contributing: Bridget Byrne, Tameka Hicks, Patty Rhule
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
|
