Showbiz Today

NBC Has New-Look Fall Lineup; Tom Green Goes on a 'Road Trip'; New Book, 'Cinematherapy," Says There's a Movie For Every Mood

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: Hi there everybody. I'm Laurin Sydney in New York.

VINCE CELLINI, GUEST CO-HOST: And I'm Vince Cellini in the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Laurin, NBC still has some "Friends" to anchor Thursday night's lineup, but their "Must See TV" neighborhood is changing a bit we understand.

SYDNEY: That's right, Vince, and so is the network's morning neighborhood. With an extra hour of "The Today Show" planned, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer will take on Reg and his unnamed co-host.

CELLINI: Bill Tush has more on NBC's plan of action.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Whassup!

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Whassup!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whassup for NBC in the fall season? In the morning, "The Today Show" expands to three hours, but it was the 11th-hour agreement between the cast of "Friends," Warner Bros., and NBC that had everyone buzzing as the network unveiled its new fall lineup Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the "Friends" legal team.

TUSH (on camera): Last year, when we were at the NBC party in the tents in there, the tables were laden with food, every kind of food imaginable. This year, when I walked in, I saw little tiny hors d'oeuvres. That's what happens when you pay the friends $750,000 each per episode.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): And all the friends are still on "friends" because of what they're getting paid.

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TUSH (voice-over): "Friends" leads off NBC's power-packed Thursday night. Steven Weber follows with his new comedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN WEBER, ACTOR: What are you going big guy?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Shotgunning my Jello.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEBER: Now it's my turn to have the torch passed to me, and I hope I don't drop it, setting fire to my cuffs.

TUSH: "Will & Grace" takes the coveted 9:00 p.m. slot, which bumps "Frasier" back to Tuesday nights at 9:00.

SCOTT SASSA, NBC WEST COAST PRESIDENT: No disrespect to "Frasier" -- this is a show that's won five Emmys for best comedy, at the top of its game right now -- but we thought we needed to start repopulating Thursday with new shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You working out?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Well, you know, when I can fit it in.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Twice a day, six days a week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HAYES, ACTOR: We've just been building the last two years, and it's a wonderful -- nice -- if it was on a graph, it would kind of go like that, and now we're on Thursdays at 9:00, and it's just a nice plateau.

TUSH: "Just Shoot Me" and "ER" will round out the Thursday night schedule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL RICHARDS, ACTOR: That's me all right, private investigator.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: You look very professional.

RICHARDS: Well, that's what it's all about.

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TUSH: "Seinfeld's" Kramer is back. This time Michael Richards plays a sleuth. RICHARDS: It's certainly not the Kramer character, but it's a lot of physical comedy, and there's still high eccentricity and oddity.

TUSH: David Allen Grier returns as a secret Service Agent to first lady Delta Burke in "Dag!"

"The West Wing's" back for another term.

Also on Wednesday nights is Aaron Spelling's latest, "Titans."

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: It's very a very Kennedyesque saga.

PERRY KING, ACTOR: Generations of a very powerful, wealthy Beverly Hills family.

TUSH (on camera): But it doesn't take place -- Kennedyesque -- it's very slutty.

(voice-over): All in all, it was a day to meet some new friends and keep some old ones.

SASSA: Who says money can't buy friends?

(LAUGHTER)

TUSH: Bill Tush, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

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CELLINI: There is nothing friendly about another salary dispute in Hollywood. This is day 16 of the strike by two actors unions against makers of commercials, which has left tens of thousands without a livelihood.

Dennis Michael takes us to the front lines for an update.

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DENNIS MICHAEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The strike -- the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists versus the Association of National Advertisers -- is now in its third week now. Spirits are still high on the picket lines, but the strikers are beginning to hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got a new agency about two months ago, and just as the relationship started, we had a work stoppage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No auditions in the last three weeks and even before that, three weeks before that, very few auditions.

MICHAEL: Steven Barr, part of the Screen Actors Guild strike team, says there is no lack of resolve.

STEVEN BARR, SAG STRIKE TEAM: The mood on the picket lines is incredible cohesiveness, incredible strength. It's almost bordering on anger.

MICHAEL: The sides started far apart, and they've grown no closer. The advertisers are seeking to end residual payments to actors in network commercials, to bring them in line with the flat fees paid for cable. The actors and artists want residuals for network spots and for cable.

With actors on strike, advertising agencies are turning to nonunion performers for commercials and camouflaging their shoots as productions other than ads.

TODD AMORDE, SAG/AFTRA STRIKE COMMITTEE: We're chasing them down wherever they're doing nonunion productions. They're having to move productions out of the centers of Los Angeles and New York. We've even found production companies that are taking out multiple permits to try to throw us off the trail.

MICHAEL: The ANA is standing tough, too. The association's Web site strongly urges members to resist the temptation to sign interim agreements with the guilds.

Other labor organizations are backing the unions. Teamsters have refused to cross picket lines to work nonunion commercial productions, and celebrities outside the actors community, like golf legend Tiger Woods, are shunning commercial sets.

SAG and AFTRA won't return to the set or the bargaining table until and unless ANA backs down.

AMORDE: One, they're going to have to pull these rollbacks off the table. There's no way that we're going to even discuss that. We view that as a slap in the face. The other thing that would have to happen is that they're going to have to make some kind of meaningful offer in both cable and the Internet, and at this point in time, the two sides are pretty far apart.

MICHAEL: Three weeks in on the actors strike against advertisers, no progress.

Dennis Michael, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Order in the court -- Judge Amy Brenneman is presiding on SHOWBIZ next. And, oops, we visit Britney Spears' Web site again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CELLINI: Elizabeth Taylor and Julie Andrews are spending time with another Regis, the one on the throne of England. The queen deemed them dames in a ceremony Tuesday.

Judy Fortin reports on the royal occasion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JUDY FORTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call her Dame Elizabeth. The queen honored the screen legend for her service to the entertainment industry and fund-raising efforts for AIDS. She emerged from the royal ceremony at Buckingham Palace in obvious awe.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what this honor means for you today?

ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ACTRESS: It is the most exciting -- and I do not exaggerate -- day of my life. It totally came as a surprise to me. I had no inkling. It was just like, what? I can't believe it! It's like, me getting a dameship!

FORTIN: The actress was born to American parents in London 68 years ago. She burst onto movie screens in the '40s as a child star in films like "National Velvet." Her beauty and violet eyes propelled her into roles in some 80 films, two Oscars, and into several Hollywood marriages, including two to the late Richard Burton.

Today, Taylor reflected she wished Burton could have been there. The actress, who is recovering from hip surgery, says she and her four children will celebrate the honor with a lunch of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

TAYLOR: I feel wonderful, and world watch out!

FORTIN: Also receiving the order of the British empire from Queen Elizabeth today was "Mary Poppins" and "Sound of Music" actress Julie Andrews.

JULIE ANDREWS, ACTRESS: She spoke first and she said it was a great thrill to see me here, that it was a great pleasure to see me here today, and I said, "Oh, your majesty you can't imagine what a thrill it is for me, too."

FORTIN: The two dames, old friends, both share the same excitement about wearing the royal broach.

Judy Fortin, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Well, the verdict is in and "Judging Amy" is a bona-fide hit. Presiding over the show as executive producer and its star is Amy Brenneman, the Emmy-nominated actress who based this drama on her mother's story. And joining us now is Frederica (ph) Brenneman's daughter, Amy.

AMY BRENNEMAN, ACTRESS: Oh, wow.

(LAUGHTER)

SYDNEY: Welcome to SHOWBIZ TODAY.

BRENNEMAN: Thank you so much.

SYDNEY: So your mom is a consultant on the show. I want to know for Mother's Day, did you give her syndication rights?

BRENNEMAN: Mother's Day I was out of the country, I completely forgot about it altogether, so I had a very bad Mother's Day this year, but she seemed to forgive me.

SYDNEY: I'm sure you'll make up for it.

BRENNEMAN: Yes.

SYDNEY: Now, one -- the show that's going to be on tonight has a little bit of a steamy plot?

BRENNEMAN: Little bit of a steamy plot, yes. It's the -- my divorce is final, the papers have come through, and so I had pitched to Barbara Hull (ph), our show runner, you know, most people I know when they finally break up, they have sex. So that kind of...

SYDNEY: Is that coming from experience, or just...

BRENNEMAN: A little bit. I've never been divorced, but I certainly have broken up, and I just get all excited -- you know, I mean, I don't have to be with somebody, and I want to be, and so...

SYDNEY: OK, well, I want to see the clip, because I can't wait until tonight. So let's take a look at you in action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "JUDGING AMY")

TYNE DALY, ACTRESS: What?

BRENNEMAN: Why shouldn't he look well. He's found the perfect woman. Meanwhile, I go out with men who find me an inspiration to get back together with their ex-wives. I don't want to talk about it.

Hey, Lauren?

DALY: Amy, you need...

BRENNEMAN: ... to have sex. I know, Ma, I know, I'm doing the best I can.

DALY: Actually, I was going to say you need to go to the market, we are out of milk.

BRENNEMAN: Oh.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: You should always have an extra carton in your refrigerator.

BRENNEMAN: Exactly.

SYDNEY: Because here you are happily married, a big fat hit on your hands, you've just came back from the Cannes Film Festival, but yet you told "The New York Times" that sometimes you just go in your trailer and you cry because you miss your life.

BRENNEMAN: I do. I don't miss it so much now, because we're done shooting, but I think it's the 17-hour days where you just miss your friends, you miss your family, you miss just -- you know, I mean, they -- when I'm working, they know where I am at every single moment, they know when I'm in the bathroom, they know when I'm on the phone, so you just get a little stir crazy at times.

SYDNEY: Now, I just mentioned the Cannes Film Festival, you were there promoting a new film.

BRENNEMAN: Right. It's called "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her," and I shot it last year and it is beautiful, should be out in July.

SYDNEY: With some wonderful cast members.

BRENNEMAN: Incredible, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Calista Flockhart, Cameron Diaz, Kathy (ph) Baker, Valeria Galena (ph), and me.

SYDNEY: And then you were on the East Coast also because you are being honored May 19.

BRENNEMAN: Right. Right. I am doing a couple of things. I'm getting an honorary doctorate from St. Josephs College in Connecticut, which -- it just cracks me up to no end.

SYDNEY: With your mom.

BRENNEMAN: With my mom, yes, we are going to be the Doctors Brenneman, so -- and then I'm also taking part in the Connecticut Childrens Law Center fund raiser, it's for legal defense for children.

SYDNEY: You're so busy, no wonder you want your life back.

BRENNEMAN: Empathy.

SYDNEY: OK, Doctor and Judge Amy, thank you very much.

BRENNEMAN: Thank you very much. It's all a phony.

SYDNEY: I don't think so. I think you're very, very real. A pleasure to meet you.

BRENNEMAN: You, too.

SYDNEY: And now this interview is adjourned and we are going to go to someone who is not guilty, Vince -- I don't think you're guilty -- in Atlanta.

CELLINI: Thank you, ladies. I didn't do nothing, I didn't do nothing at all. Britney Spears is sending her fans a flurry of e-mails. As far as we know, it's not a virus, but she would love to bug you about her new album, which comes out today.

Sherri Sylvester's got more from cyberspace.

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BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Hi, it's Britney Spears and I've got some exciting news to share with you.

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over a million fans of teen pop princess Britney Spears found this greeting in their e-mail box. This e-commercial heralds the arrival of her new album, "Oops...I Did It Again." It features a message from Spears, scenes from her new video, and links to online record retailers so fans can buy the album. Created by Mind Arrow Systems, this is the second such e-commercial to be sent out. Two hundred thousand 'N Sync fans received a similar message before the release of their latest album.

Virtual Jedi knights can keep apprised of news from the "Star Wars" front through their e-mail, too. Log-on to starwars.com and sign up for "The Homing Beacon." This e-mail newsletter keeps fans updated on the latest disturbances in the force.

Those who surfed in to the "Gladiator" home page and found only a trailer should visit it again. The site has been updated and armed with high-tech animation that could even impress a Roman emperor.

This is "SHOWBIZ Online."

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SYDNEY: Comedian Tom Green wants to take you on a raunchy road trip. And two women who believe that movies are good for the soul.

Pierce Brosnan, 007, is 47 today. WB's "Angel" David Boreanaz is 29. And Janet Jackson is still in control at 34.

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CELLINI: And now we are naming names, forget the symbol, erase the acronym, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince announced Tuesday that he will be now and forever known as Prince. Beginning of quote, "I will now go back to using my name instead of a symbol I adopted to free myself from all undesirable relationships." OK, the return to the Prince name ends a seven year battle between the performer and Warner Brothers Records, which had Prince under contract through the end of 1999. Prince, don't change anymore.

Some are calling it this year's "American Pie," but no matter how you slice it, "Road Trip" is full of raunchy humor. MTV's manic funnyman Tom Green narrates the wild ride. He spoke with Paul Vercammen about making the film, dating rumors, and munching on a mouse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Road Trip," a ride-along into debauchery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "ROAD TRIP")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me you mailed the Beth tape to Tiffany.

Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: It starts when sex on videotape accidentally gets mailed.

Enter manic MTV host Tom Green with a story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "ROAD TRIP")

TOM GREEN, MTV HOST: The road trip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREEN: I'm feeling pretty good -- yes, feeling really good.

VERCAMMEN: In real life, he's recovering from recent testicular cancer surgery.

GREEN: See this, this is my scar here, see, where they removed my lymph nodes. See, get a shot of that? See, they took my lymph nodes out of my body with knives, special knives.

VERCAMMEN: Green's battle with cancer is featured in an MTV special next week. In "Road Trip," he's the narrator.

GREEN: It's a journey of a bunch of young people who are finding themselves, and you know, visiting sperm banks, and eating mice and having gross things happen along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "ROAD TRIP")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Well, I say we're officially in no man's land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: On the road trip, Breckin Meyer, Sean William Scott from "American Pie," Paulo Constanzo, newcomer nerd D.J. Qualls. Toss in Amy Smart. They now do Green impersonations.

BRECKIN MEYER, ACTOR: He'll just get stuck on something. "My hand, my hand, look at my hand," and he'll just start going off, and it's hysterical.

PAUL CONSTANZO, ACTOR: He's a very normal guy until you put a camera on him, or until he's working, or until he just wants to turn it on.

GREEN: Every few months, there's some wacko rumor that comes out. First I was dating Monica Lewinsky, and then at one point, and now it's Drew Carey. And I don't know where it comes from, to be honest.

VERCAMMEN: Green was dating Drew -- Barrymore.

(on camera): What's the wildest road trip you've ever taken? We were driving. We saw a cougar. The cougar ran into the woods. A minute later, the van overheated, broke down and we were scared sh*tless.

(voice-over): "Animal House" director Ivan Reitman masterminded "Road Trip," and hired the maker of indy film "Frat House," Todd Phillips, to direct and write. Among "Road Trip's" bizarre scenes, Green mouths a mouse.

GREEN: The mouse wanted to be in there. You know, I was the one that wasn't OK with that at first, and then we had to do it 20 or 30 more times, because the camera was out of focus.

VERCAMMEN: Green gets under your skin.

Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: If eating mice or a "Road Trip" isn't in your immediate future, maybe a trip to the video store is. But what to rent? Well, one new book and TV series claims there's a movie for every mood. Sorry guys, this one's for the ladies.

Rachel Wells went to the video store with the cinematherapist authors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEVERLY WEST, CO-AUTHOR, "CINEMATHERAPY": The point of the book is that we feel that women watch movies differently than guys, and we thought that it was time that, for one, that we gave women a video guide that let us go to a video store and not have to comb through 750 copies of "Rambo" to find a good chick-flick.

NANCY PESKE, CO-AUTHOR, "CINEMATHERAPY": This is one of our favorite sections, the classics.

WEST: Yes, Nancy is our classics expert.

PESKE: A lot of happily-ever-after movies, like "It Happened One Night" with Clark Gable, when no matter what insurmountable odds you come up against, somehow everything manages to comes out all right.

WEST: Here's a great, like, martyr syndrome movie: "Camille."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "CAMILLE") UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: You will not love me 30 years. No one will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: When you're feeling a little bit sorry for yourself and just want to wallow in it, it can be nice to watch someone who really has some problems.

RACHEL WELLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): "All About Eve" -- where does that fall in?

PESKE: The Bette Davis movies, you know -- it's wonderful to watch those if you have to be nice to people all day, and you're just feeling a little angry.

WEST: Oh, here you go, "Father of the Bride." That's like a great movie to remember. Here's a classic mom movie: "Terms of Endearment."

We have two categories of PMS movies: We have weepers and ragers, when you're feeling fragile or pissed.

"Scarface" could be a PMS rager.

PESKE: "Ghost" is up there.

WEST: That's the ultimate weeper.

PESKE: Then there's the always popular -- though I've never sat through it -- which is "Dr. Zhivago,"

WEST: I mean, you feel like crying your eyes it -- in this case, for hours.

PESKE: They've taken the book, and they've turned it into a program.

WEST: Every night, a movie is presented for a different mood, and there's two on-air cinematherapists, Kate and Jessie...

(AUDIO GAP)

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