While everyone may or may not become famous—per Andy Warhol's dictum—for 15 minutes, scientists have determined that everyone will get a talk show. Among the stars hawking new syndicated daytime programs at the recent NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) convention in New Orleans:
ROSEANNE
Premiering: Fall '98.
What she says: "It's exciting to be joining two of my friends [Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah Winfrey] in gross profits."
Buzz overheard at convention: "She can book her own multiple personalities for the first month."
HOWIE MANDEL
Premiering: June.
What he says: "After doing 200 shows a year on the road for 15 years, I want to spend more time with my family, who I hear are wonderful people."
Buzz overheard: "My wife loves him, so I bought the show."
DONNY AND MARIE
Premiering: Fall '98.
What she says: "I've never done a talk show, and I've done just about everything else."
Buzz overheard: "This is an exercise in how to make an old show look older." Ouch.
MAJOR DEAL
"I've gotten two bottles of champagne—still unopened, I promise you, in spite of slurring my words," says Greg Kinnear, 34, who, hours after receiving a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for As Good As It Gets, was still a bit tongue-tied. "I had been promoting the film in Europe with Jack [Nicholson], so I was convinced when I heard my name on TV that it had to do with jet lag. 'Oh, my gosh, I got that?' It's like stripes you earn in the military or something."
OF SUGAR AND SPICE
Weight Watchers spokeswoman Sarah Ferguson has a lot on her plate. She just released Dining with the Duchess, a cookbook featuring more than 125 of her favorite low-fat recipes—which seem to work, judging from the slimmer, trimmer royal, who recalled a recent visit to a hospital. "This little girl, Sophie, had cancer, and it was her dream that she should meet Ginger Spice," says Ferguson, 38, who has two daughters of her own, Beatrice, 9, and Eugenie, 7. "Little Sophie was about to have an operation, and she looked up and just held my hand and said, 'You must be Ginger Spice!' It was so nice. I didn't want to burst her bubble and say, 'No, I'm not, actually.' " In fact, the duchess says, "I was really flattered, because my girls love the Spice Girls."
THE NUMBERS GAME
In the crime drama Twilight, opening March 6, screen legend Paul Newman, 73, attempts to put the act in action. "This movie tries to be part of the adventure genre without 1,700 mutilated bodies in the first three minutes and 6,000 explosions and gasoline trucks hovering around the 46th floor," says Newman, who costars with Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman. "I wanted to see if there is still an audience for some good old-fashioned acting." Not that he thinks he's in the twilight of his 45-year career. "I had a pulse this morning—I guess that's a good thing," says Newman with a laugh. "Age is a number, that's all." But some numbers are more special than others: He recently celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary with actress Joanne Woodward. "We have been together for so long," Newman says, "we refer to my life as B.J. and A.J."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
