CELEBRITY WATCH
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From staff and wire reports

Today's buzz stories:

• McGraw, Hill host benefit for USS Cole Fund
• Too many good shows a headache for WB
• '2001' set for re-release in 2001

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are adding to their current tour a special performance for the families of those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole last month.

The benefit concert will be held December 2 in Hampton, Virginia. Active-duty military personnel will receive a discount on tickets, and some tickets will be available for sailors who served on the USS Cole. Proceeds from the concert will go to the USS Cole Fund.

"The Navy is very grateful that two incredibly talented performers like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have volunteered their support to the families of the sailors from USS Cole who sacrificed their lives for their country," said Rear Adm. Christopher W. Cole, commander of the Navy's Mid-Atlantic Region.

Alexis Bledel and Lauren Graham star in the WB's "Gilmore Girls"

HOLLYWOOD, California -- There is such a thing as too much of a good thing at the WB. The network is planning to pick up all of its freshman shows for a full season, which has created a financial snafu.

The network created its pick-up budget with the assumption that at least two shows would quickly fail after debuting. But all the new shows, including "Gilmore Girls," "Grosse Pointe," and "Hype," have proved to be hits with critics and the ratings.

To spread the budget further, the network plans on ordering between four and eight new episodes of some shows, instead of the usual nine.

LONDON, England -- Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" will blast back into movie theaters next year, beginning with a special screening at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival.

The remastered version will close the festival on February 18 and it will be re-released in several countries, including Japan, France and the United Kingdom, on March 7, the second anniversary of the director's death.

There will be one chance to see the movie before then, when the film runs January 1 at the National Film Theater in London. Warner Bros. made an exception for NFT since it spent a large amount of money to make a new print of the film.

There are no specific plans for a re-release in the United States, but Warner Bros. expects one later in 2001.

Wednesday: Hutton released from hospital
Tuesday: Seinfeld: Call him dad
Monday: Madonna gives rare live performance