Afternoon Briefing:
Don't curb your enthusiasm: Juan Catalan is very enthusiastic about Larry David since his show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is the reason he was let out of jail for a crime he didn't commit. Catalan was accused of killing a woman who had testified against his brother. But Catalan said he was at Dodger Stadium at the time of the murder. How could he prove it? In what's become a story worthy of the show, Larry David's crew was filming at the ballpark and caught Catalan on tape that was never aired. After six months in jail, Catalan was just released. (TV Guide)
Forbidden kiss? Rumor is that director Ang Lee is thinking about cutting the guy-on-guy smooch scene from his film "Brokeback Mountain" based on Annie Proulx's book about cowboys in love. One of the boys in question, actor Jake Gyllenhaal, says he is willing to do the scene and even said that he has had crushes on guys. (IMDB)
The coast is clear: The Archbishop of Canterbury, in a liberal mood, has said it's OK with him if Prince Charles marries fellow divorcee Camilla Parker Bowles. No wedding plans have been announced yet. (AFP)
Some anniversary: Katie Couric will sit down with O.J. Simpson for an exclusive interview to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman's deaths. The one-on-one will be shown on "Dateline" on Friday, June 4, and on the "Today Show" on Monday, June 7. (TV Barn)
-- Karen Croft
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Turn On:
There's a reason you've never seen Terry Gilliam's version of "Don Quixote" -- many reasons, actually, and you'll find out what they are on Thursday while watching the 2002 documentary "Lost in La Mancha" (10:30 p.m. ET; IFC). If you were a big fan of last year's "Spellbound", you may want to check out the action on the "2004 National Spelling Bee" (1 p.m. ET, ESPN, or 8 p.m. ET, ESPN 2) -- it may not be as exciting as NASCAR, but the word-by-word commentary will probably be just as interesting.
-- Scott Lamb
Morning Briefing:
Jacko bouncing backo? Police in Los Angeles have cleared Michael Jackson of allegations that he molested a child in the late 1980s after wrapping up a two-month investigation that included extensive interviews with Jackson's accuser. "There was no evidence that any crime occurred," police said in a statement, adding that "no charges will be sought" in the case. The L.A. allegations were unrelated to the child molestation charges Jackson currently faces in Santa Barbara. (AFP)
Kerrying on: Rolling Stone editor and publisher Jann Wenner is executive producing two concerts -- one in L.A. on Monday and one in New York on June 10 -- to raise money for John Kerry's presidential campaign. Set to perform in L.A.: Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond, performing together for the first time in 24 years, Willie Nelson, and Billy Crystal. In New York, the lineup includes Bette Midler, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Jon Bon Jovi, Wyclef Jean, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. Says Wenner, "It's very ambitious. I don't think the artistic community has gotten together to raise this much money in one effort in my recollection." (Hollywood Reporter)
Y Tu Harry Tambien? Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification has rated the new Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," M15+ -- a more mature rating than the PG it has received in the United States and Britain -- due to "themes involving horror ... that are moderate in impact -- several of which are inextricably linked to violence." The two previous Harry Potter films were rated PG in Australia, but this film, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is thought to be darker than those. (AFP)
On retainer: Bush has retained a lawyer -- Washington attorney Jim Sharp -- in case he's called before the grand jury investigating the leak to the press of the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame last year. CBS News analysts suggest that "the fact that [President Bush] has retained outside counsel in the event the grand jury comes calling has elevated this investigation to the highest levels ... The question now ... is whether there was some event or development in the investigation that prompted the President, now, to put out feelers like this to the legal community." (CBS/AP)
Big news outta BookExpo: Bill Clinton is due to stir up interest in his forthcoming memoir tonight by kicking off the BookExpo America convention in Chicago. But he's not the only one making headlines at the publishing industry powwow this week: HarperCollins has just announced that it has acquired the rights to a new book by New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh about the Abu Ghraib scandal. The book, "Chain of Command," will include an intro by New Yorker editor David Remnick and be released in the fall. Hersh is said to have scored an advance in the mid-six figures. (N.Y. Post)
Meanwhile at the movies ... Clinton has also been invited to attend Wednesday's New York premiere of the film "The Hunting of the President," based on the book by Salon columnist Joe Conason and Gene Lyons and directed by FOB Harry Thomason. Also expected to attend: N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki. Presumably not invited, Monica Lewinsky, who is denying that she wants to make a movie about her life starring Mandy Moore. Moore is also denying any involvement and interest, telling the New York Daily News, "I am a pretty modest girl." (Rush and Molloy)
Movie news from that other Moore: Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" will be distributed by Lions Gate Films, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group -- as expected -- and is slated to be in theaters on June 25. (Rush and Molloy)
Oversharing: Retired GE chairman Jack Welch and his former mistress (now wife) Suzy Wetlaufer want the world to know how very much in love they are. They "can't sleep" when they're apart, Wetlaufer says in an interview in Boston magazine. "We have a relationship where I go to New York for business, and I stay over for one night, and we talk on the phone for an hour and I can't stand it!" adds Welch. "It's wild. She'll be out shopping and she'll call and say, 'I'll be home in 10 minutes. I'm right in the middle of the park right now.' And I'll look out the window for her. You know, it's crazy." (Boston magazine via Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
Back to books: The release of Michael Eisner's memoir about summer camp, called "Camp," has been delayed. Eisner's people say it's because he's too busy to promote it, but a "source close to Eisner" says that wasn't exactly the reason. "The manuscript he turned in was really boring," says the source. "He got into a big fight with [the book's publisher] Warner [Books]. It was so mediocre they wanted him to either have a ghostwriter or a co-author/editor." But a subsequent version written with HBO producer Aaron Cohen was said to be lame, too. It "wasn't marketable at all. It was supposed to be more autobiographical, but it was just all about sending your kids to camp. And who wants their kids to turn out like Michael Eisner? It was just a dumb idea." (Page Six)
Oh, and also on Page Six: The New York delegates at the Democratic convention in Boston are said to be demanding a venue change for their welcome party, objecting to the unwholesome implications of the name of the place they'd been assigned, The L Street Bathhouse, though the place is just a regular beach club ... AND former New York Times executive editor Howell Raines says John Kerry has a face that looks "as if Lurch had gone to Choate" and that George W. Bush "looks like Goofy when he smirks" ... AND Janet Jackson says she used to have sexual fantasies about Barry Manilow and Teddy Pendergrass. (Page Six)
Money Quote:
Paul McCartney on smoking everything from marijuana to heroin to Twinings Tea during his younger years and confirming that, yes, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is about LSD: "Just about everyone was doing drugs in one form or another, and we [Beatles] were no different. A song like 'Got to Get You Into My Life,' that's directly about pot, although everyone missed it at the time. 'Day Tripper,' that's one about acid." (Britain's Uncut magazine via N.Y. Daily News)
-- Amy Reiter
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