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Showbuzz
Web posted on:
Tuesday, September 15, 1998 5:57:45 PM
Today's buzz stories:
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Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Angelou
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- The city of New York, as part of its centennial celebrations, has released a list of its top 100 black achievers of the past century. Among the notable selections are Thurgood Marshall, Whoopi Goldberg, retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, Don King, Sammy Davis Jr., Maya Angelou, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Alvin Ailey, Arthur Ashe, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Cosby and Louis Armstrong. All of those listed are originally from New York.
The list was based on 114 names submitted by 3,000 people who saw poster-ballots distributed around the city. Howard Dodson, chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, said the purpose of the list was "to focus public attention on the role of people of African descent in the making of New York's history and culture."
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"Seinfeld"
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- What's worth a reported $100 million? Apparently, re-runs of the show about nothing. TBS Superstation won a bidding war Monday to acquire cable syndication rights for 180 episodes of "Seinfeld," reportedly agreeing to pay more than $100 million even though it won't begin telecasting the show until 2002.
"The general consensus is that it will be an evergreen," meaning that the show will not become dated, said Dick Kurlander, an expert on syndication for Petry Television. "That's what everybody is riding on. It better be, because the prices being paid for it are astronomical." The finale of "Seinfeld," which aired in May, was one of the most watched programs in history.
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The Backstreet Boys
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SHAKOPEE, Minnesota (CNN) -- The Backstreet Boys have a reputation for not canceling shows, but they say they had no choice this past Sunday. Shortly before the show in front of 19,000 fans in this Minneapolis suburb, band member Howie Dorough found out that his 25-year-old sister had died of lupus in North Carolina.
The group planned to perform as a quartet, but one member was
already stranded in Florida, in part because of the recently ended
Northwest Airlines strike, singer Kevin Richardson said. "In six years of touring, we've never canceled a show. We're sorry," Richardson said. "It's important for us to make it up."
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Alabama
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LAS VEGAS (CNN) -- Alabama is getting set for a marathon four-hour pay-per-view concert. It will perform all 41 of its number-one hits onstage at the Las Vegas Hilton on October 10. Don't bother trying to get tickets to the Vegas Hilton event itself -- they were sold out right after the announcement. But if you just want to hear Alabama for the record, a live FM radio broadcast is being planned around the country on the show.
The feat will require the group to perform non-stop for almost four hours. Officials with the band say the concert will integrate "multi-media special effects and set changes to tell the incredible story of Alabama's record-breaking history of making No. 1 hits."
SOUTHBURY, Connecticut (CNN) -- Veteran actor and screenwriter Richard Merrell, devoted husband to actress Jan Miner, died Sunday. He was 75. Miner, who gained fame as Madge, the wise-cracking manicurist in the Palmolive dishwashing liquid commercials, was at her husband's side when he died.
Merrell and Miner frequently appeared on stage in New York-area theaters. They appeared in many plays together, including "The Gin Game," "Night Must Fall," "High Spirits," and "Saturday, Sunday, Monday." For 12 years, Merrell also played Herron on the popular TV soap opera "One Life To Live." In addition to acting, Merrell wrote screenplays, some of the early soaps and several of the Alfred Hitchcock TV episodes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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