Comings and goings at 'Downton Abbey' next season

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley MacLaine will be returning to "Downton Abbey" next season, and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast.MacLaine will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley's freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and "Masterpiece" on PBS said Saturday. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa will play a house guest....

Read More..

Tribeca to open with documentary on the National

NEW YORK (AP) — The Tribeca Film Festival will open with a documentary about the National, along with a performance by the Brooklyn band.The festival announced Thursday that "Mistaken for Strangers," which documents the National on tour, will premiere April 17. The film is directed by Tom Berninger, brother to lead to singer Matt Berninger.Tribeca's Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore called the...

Read More..

Van Cliburn, American classical pianist, dies

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Van Cliburn, the internationally celebrated pianist whose triumph at a 1958 Moscow competition helped thaw the Cold War and launched a spectacular career that made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock-star status, died Wednesday after a fight with bone cancer. He was 78.Cliburn died at his home in Fort Worth surrounded by loved ones, said his publicist and longtime...

Read More..

One and done at Oscars for MacFarlane

NEW YORK (AP) — It looks like it's one and done at the Oscars for Seth MacFarlane.The "Family Guy" creator was asked on his Twitter account whether he'd consider hosting the Academy Awards again and he replied: "No way. Lotta fun to have done it, though."MacFarlane's edgy comedy proved a polarizing force on Sunday's Academy Awards, with jokes about domestic violence, women's bodies and Jews in Hollywood...

Read More..

The Onion apologizes for offensive actress tweet

NEW YORK (AP) — The Onion is apologizing for calling the 9-year-old star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" a vulgar and offensive name on Twitter, an attack that led to a firestorm online.The satirical newspaper on Sunday referred to Quvenzhane Wallis with an expletive intended to denigrate women. The Onion was lambasted overnight and asked for forgiveness Monday."It was crude and offensive — not to...

Read More..

Oscars have clear favorites, wild-card MacFarlane

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some firsts and other rarities are possible at Sunday night's Academy Awards. But if the Oscars could be just a little less predictable, the show might really be one for the record books.Ben Affleck's "Argo" looks like it will uniquely claim best picture without a directing nomination, while "Lincoln" filmmaker Steven Spielberg and star Daniel Day-Lewis are favored to join exclusive...

Read More..

Oscars expand social media outreach for 85th show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is encouraging celebrities to tweet during the Oscars.The film organization has expanded its digital outreach for the 85th Academy Awards with a new feature that lets stars to snap photos of themselves backstage during Sunday's ceremony and instantly post them online.What Twitter calls a "Magic Mirror" will take photo-booth-style pictures...

Read More..

'Parade's End' keeps British TV invasion going

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Stoppard is sitting on the patio of a Sunset Boulevard hotel, bathed in California winter sunshine, framed by bamboo landscaping and looking very much out of his element in Hollywood.The acclaimed British playwright professes to feeling that way as well, despite having pocketed a Writers Guild of America lifetime achievement award the night before for his screenplays, including...

Read More..

David Gregory re-ups as 'Meet the Press' host

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News says David Gregory has re-upped as host of "Meet the Press."The network shared few details Thursday, describing the new deal as "a long-term commitment."Gregory called it "a great vote of confidence from NBC."He said his first four years in the moderator's chair passed quickly. He added: "It feels like we're just getting started."The 42-year-old Gregory began as host of the...

Read More..

Jane Lynch to star on Broadway in 'Annie'

NEW YORK (AP) — Jane Lynch has something to be gleeful about — she's about to make her Broadway debut.The "Glee" star said Wednesday she'll be replacing Tony Award-winning actress Katie Finneran as the evil orphanage matron Miss Hannigan in the current revival of "Annie.""I'm so thrilled I can't see straight," the actress said by phone from her home in Los Angeles. "It's a preposterous fantasy come...

Read More..

McCartney, Mumford top eclectic Bonnaroo lineup

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — There will be a British invasion of the main stage at Bonnaroo this year.Paul McCartney and Mumford & Sons are among the headliners for the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn.The four-day festival, held on a rural 700-acre farm, always features an eclectic roster, but the June 13-16 event is even more varied than usual.Returnees Tom Petty &...

Read More..

McCready's ex: Anyone close could see it coming

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Mindy McCready threatened to kill herself after losing custody of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program days before she apparently killed herself, her ex-boyfriend said Monday.Billy McKnight, who was in a long, rocky relationship with McCready and who is the father of her oldest child, Zander, said the 37-year-old...

Read More..

Discovery bets on 2 dope series about pot growers

NEW YORK (AP) — Cupcake makers, pawnbrokers and storage container raiders have all had their moments in reality television's spotlight. Now the time may be right for marijuana growers — and the people who chase them.The Discovery network debuts a six-episode series, "Weed Country," at 10 p.m. Wednesday and will replace it with "Pot Cops" in April. Both examine the marijuana trade in northern California.It...

Read More..

Romanian movie 'Child's Pose' wins at Berlin fest

BERLIN (AP) — Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer's movie "Child's Pose" has won the top Golden Bear award at the annual Berlin film festival.A runner-up Silver Bear went to Danis Tanovic's "An Episode In the Life of an Iron Picker," in which a Bosnian Roma, or gypsy, couple re-enact their own struggle to get treatment after their baby died in the womb. Nazif Mujic, the husband, was voted best actor...

Read More..

Judge: Kardashian divorce ready for trial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge says Kim Kardashian's divorce case is ready for trial.Superior Court Judge Stephen Moloney says a trial date should be set and Kardashian's estranged husband, Kris Humphries, has had adequate time to prepare.Moloney's ruling Friday in Los Angeles came after months of wrangling between lawyers for when a trial can be set to end the former couple's marriage.Humphries wants...

Read More..

Miss America heads back to Atlantic City, NJ

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Miss America, Atlantic City's prodigal pageant, is coming home, and the spectacle that became synonymous with the New Jersey seaside resort is being assured all is forgiven after a six-year fling in Las Vegas.The pageant will be back where it started 93 years ago and where it was fixture until 2006, when organizers moved to Nevada in the hopes of attracting a younger TV...

Read More..

Actress considers deal in NY Baldwin stalking case

NEW YORK (AP) — A Canadian actress accused of stalking Alec Baldwin is considering a plea deal.Genevieve Sabourin (JEHN'-uh-veev SAB'-oo-rihn) appeared Wednesday in a Manhattan court. The case was adjourned until Thursday as she and prosecutors try to hammer out a deal.Sabourin lives in Quebec and has acted in television and film.She and Baldwin met on the set of the 2002 sci-fi comedy "The Adventures...

Read More..

Life imitates film in story of vengeful LA ex-cop

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It sounds like the plot line to a movie: He's a former LA cop on a violent, rage-filled rampage who will stop at nothing for revenge.Instead, police say, it is the latest real-life crime story to grip Southern California, a place where fiction frequently blurs with reality and pop culture often plays larger than the truth.Christopher Dorner's alleged killing spree hasn't just terrorized...

Read More..

Grammy audience down, still 2nd highest since 1993

NEW YORK (AP) — While the Grammy Awards couldn't come close to the freakishly high ratings generated in 2012 because of Whitney Houston's death and Adele's smashing success, this year's show had the second-largest audience for the program since 1993.The Nielsen company said Monday that music's annual awards show was seen by 28.4 million people Sunday night on CBS.The Grammys this year were packed...

Read More..

All eyes on Frank Ocean as Grammy Awards approach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Everybody's thinkin' about Frank Ocean.Ocean is a cause celebre and the man with the momentum as Sunday's Grammy Awards approach. One of six top nominees with six nominations apiece, the 25-year-old R&B singer turned cultural talking point will have the music world's attention.It remains to be seen if it will be the "Thinkin Bout You" singer's night, but there's no question...

Read More..