• August 10, 1998
• Vol. 50
• No. 4

Insider

By Nancy Perry Graham

The Spice Girls may have lost Ginger, but none of their girl power: The British pop stars are suing their former chauffeur Paul Attridge for allegedly breaking a confidentiality agreement when he claimed in a British newspaper that Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) was bullied out of the group by Melanie Brown (Scary Spice). Shortly after the suit was filed on June 5, the group served Attridge with an injunction asking him to hand over all documents relating to the alleged breach of the confidentiality agreement. The Spice Girls' next move, on July 24, was to file a motion to have Attridge held in contempt of court and "committed to one of Her Majesty's prisons." Attridge's lawyers successfully argued in court that their client had been out of the country and therefore needed time to get legal advice. The case has now been adjourned until October, when a full hearing is scheduled.

Someone at CBS is sending notes to Candid Camera cohost Suzanne Somers telling her to lengthen her skirts—but the desired response isn't happening. "I keep shortening them," Somers says. One thing's for sure, though: the notes aren't coming from Les Moonves, head of CBS Television. "When Les hired me, he said, 'I want some sex on this show,' " says Somers, whose Candid wardrobe is designed by her stepdaughter Leslie Hamel. "I told her, 'Make me look cute but not stupid. Don't make me look like a desperate 50-year-old.' "

Actor Ken Olin, best known for his four-year run as nice-guy Michael Steadman on thirtysomething, is not quite so unpretentious in real life. During casting for his upcoming CBS show, L.A. Doctors, about three physicians, Olin assumed he'd play Evan, a young, moralistic doctor. Instead he was cast as Roger, the older, more image-conscious medico. That made perfect sense to Olin's wife, actress Patricia Wettig. "I was describing the character," Olin says, "and she began to illustrate to me how much I was like him. She said, 'Let's start with the car you drive and the clothes you wear and where you sit in restaurants.' "

Ted Danson is still fielding questions about the 1993 Friars Club roast honoring his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg, at which he blackened his face and made jokes that many at the event found tasteless. During the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., Danson insisted that contrary to what Goldberg said, "That was my stuff. She didn't write it." When I asked Danson why the event remains newsworthy, he said, "It's because I'm so [bleeping] bland. People are looking for anything. I'm so absolutely boring."

• Contributors:
• Hugh McCarten.