Waking
up to the news each morning continues to offer unpleasantsurprises these
days. Yesterday, it was two hard-working, decent men suffering at their
own hands. Sonny Bono may have been ahippie-turned-Republican.
He may not have sung as well as Cher andcertainly needed plastic
surgery more than she did. But he did whatfew men in show business could.
He recreated himself, moving fromon-air buffoon to legitimate Congressman
with the kind of hard work andperserverance that has made John Travolta
more than just another moviestar. I guess that going on the slopes at
62 isn't the worst fate, butit's sad nonetheless.
Meanwhile,
actor Mykelti Williamson has been arrested on charges of stalking
and assault. We all should reserve judgment on the stalking chargewith
so little information available to us. But, we do know thatWilliamson
allegedly stabbed another man with a butcher knife,forever marginalizing
himself as "that guy who stalked his wifeand stabbed that guy." Tragic.
After what would normally be a star-making turn as Bubba in ForrestGump,
Williamson found himself stuck in secondary rolesin movies like Heat,
Con Air and TNT's Buffalo Soldiers.
In
less tragic news, there are reports that NBC has bought the TV rightsto
Titanic and it looks like they got a real bargain. Rumors place
thedeal at $30 million for six showings. No doubt, the network will
be goingwall-to-wall from 7 P.M. to 11 P.M. some Sunday night in the
year 2000.Figure that TV ad rates for top programming will be well over
$1,000,000per minute by then and that the net will pull at least 32
minutes of adtime from the four-hour extravaganza. Can you smell the
profit?
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