Quick Takes: NBC to challenge “American Idol’

NBC to challenge ‘Idol’

NBC is banking on some reality show royalty to create a new singing competition to challenge Fox’s “American Idol.”

The network said Monday that it will debut “The Voice of America” in the spring. Its format is based on a popular show in Holland where celebrities are paired with amateur singers in competition. The twist is that the celebrities must pick their teams based solely on hearing their voices without seeing what the contestants look like.

“Survivor” producer Mark Burnett and “Big Brother” producer John De Mol will work together on the series.

—Associated Press

Strike silences Detroit music

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has canceled its performances for the rest of the year because of a continuing musicians’ strike.

The orchestra on Monday announced that the Home for the Holidays concerts scheduled for Thursday through Sunday as well as a Dec. 21 concert featuring Canadian Brass had been canceled.

Concerts in January and beyond remain on the schedule conditional upon a deal being reached with musicians.

Musicians have been on the picket line since Oct. 4. Management of the financially struggling orchestra implemented a 33% base pay cut in the first year of the new contract. The musicians had offered a 22% reduction.

—Associated Press

Oprah and fans hit Down Under

Sydney swapped opera for Oprah on Tuesday when the host brought thousands of fans to the city’s landmark arts center to tape shows for her final season.

The interlocking shell-shaped roof of Sydney Opera House formed part of the backdrop to two shows, which are part of a weeklong trip by Oprah Winfrey and 300 U.S. audience members billed as “Oprah’s Australian Adventure.”

The trip is being sponsored by the government body Tourism Australia and corporate partners, with officials saying state and federal governments have spent around $5 million on the trip. They say Australia will benefit from the positive publicity generated by Winfrey’s shows.

—Associated Press

Ja Rule pleads guilty on gun rap

Ja Rule agreed Monday to go to prison for two years in a gun case, becoming the second platinum-selling rapper set to do time after arrests in the aftermath of a star-studded hip-hop concert in July 2007.

The rapper-actor — whose gravelly voice, thuggish tough talk and duets with R&B divas made him one of rap’s stars in the early 2000s — pleaded guilty in New York to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. Superstar Lil Wayne was arrested separately the same night and later pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Police said they found a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun in a rear door of his $250,000-plus Maybach after it was stopped for speeding.

His plea deal promises the 34-year-old rapper a two-year prison term compared with the 15-year stint he could have faced if convicted of the original gun charges. He remains free until his sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 9.

—Associated Press

Warhol group issues ultimatum

The controversy over the Smithsonian Institution’s decision to remove a piece of artwork that was on display in the National Portrait Gallery took another turn Monday when the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts issued a letter vowing to stop funding future exhibitions at all Smithsonian institutions if the artwork is not restored immediately.

Joel Wachs, president of the Warhol Foundation, wrote a letter addressed to Smithsonian leaders in which he described the recent decision as “unconscionable” and contrary to “everything the Smithsonian Institution should stand for, and everything the Andy Warhol Foundation does stand for.”

The artwork in question is a 1987 video by the late David Wojnarowicz titled “A Fire in My Belly,” which was being shown as part of the current “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibition. The Smithsonian’s decision to remove the work came after the Catholic League and a number of politicians voiced objections to the video’s depiction of Jesus Christ covered in ants.

In the last few years, the New York-based Warhol Foundation has given more than $375,000 to fund exhibitions at various Smithsonian institutions, according to Wachs’ letter.

—David Ng

Finally

Win streak: Preliminary figures for last week showed “Today” as the top-rated network morning news show, marking 15 consecutive years at No.1, NBC said Monday, describing it as “the longest current winning streak in all of broadcast television.”