September 23, 2002 |
EMMY'S THERE FOR FRIENDS
After eight years, Emmy was finally there for Friends. The top-rated NBC sitcom — which is heading into its final season — picked up its first-ever best comedy series trophy at the the 54th annual Emmy Awards. Speaking of long overdue honors, Friends star Jennifer Aniston was named best lead actress in a comedy. The West Wing, meanwhile, buried the drama competition — namely, HBO's heavily favored mortuary soap Six Feet Under. NBC's White House saga won five awards, including best drama series, best actress (Allison Janney), best supporting actor (John Spencer) and supporting actress (Stockard Channing). The night's big shocker: Michael Chiklis picking up lead actor kudos for FX's controversial cop drama The Shield, beating WW's Martin Sheen. CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond was also a big winner, grabbing awards for best actor in a comedy Ray Romano, best supporting actor Brad Garrett and best supporting actress Doris Roberts. |
THERE SHE IS...
Erika Harold, a 22-year-old Harvard-bound law student from Illinois, was crowned Miss America 2003 on Saturday. As usual, there were lots of tears, hugs and confetti. In other pageant news, the New York Post reports Miss Universe, Oxana Federova from Russia, has been fired. Federova was canned for refusing to fulfill her obligations to the title. There is also speculation that she is secretly married, which is against pageant rules. Miss Panama Justine Pasek will take her crown. |
GOOD HAIR DAY
Barbershop cut through some tough competition to stay at the top of the box office for a second week in a row. The Ice Cube comedy grossed $13.3 million and beat out newcomer The Banger Sisters, which opened at No. 2 with $10.3 million. My Big Fat Greek Wedding slipped down one spot to No. 3, but brought in another $10 million. The new Antonio Banderas action flick Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever debuted at No. 4 ($7.11 million) and snuck in just ahead of Heath Ledger's new war epic The Four Feathers (No. 5 with$7.10 million). And Courtney Love has another reason to be angry, as her new film Trapped got off to a dismal start, landing in 10th place with only $3.2 million. |
BIBLE STUDIES
Dust off your old textbooks for this one: Braveheart director Mel Gibson is planning on filming his next project entirely in Latin and Aramaic, reports Variety. His upcoming feature The Passion, about the final hours of Jesus Christ, is set to star Frequency's James Caviezel, who will be performing in the two dead languages. Gibson also hopes to release the final version of the film without subtitles. Yikes! |
RATINGS ROUNDUP
Fox's John Doe got off to a good start on Friday with 9.6 million viewers, according to Variety. The mystery series won its timeslot while its lead-in, Firefly — from Buffy creator Joss Whedon — finished third. The WB premieres of What I Like About You and Greetings from Tuscon brought in the best ever Friday night ratings for the network. |
SHORT CUTS
Ron Eldard (Black Hawk Down, ER) will star alongside Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley in House of Sand and Fog, according to The Hollywood Reporter... At age 66, Luciano Pavarotti is about to come a proud papa again. Pavarotti's girlfriend, Nicoletta Mantrovani, 33, is pregnant with twins. The tenor has three daughters from a previous marriage... Yoko Ono is in court today, reports the Daily News. Ono is set to testify against the man she alleges stole memorabilia belonging to her late husband John Lennon. The lawsuit against Lennon's personal assistant, Frederic Seaman, was filed in 1999. |
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