PEOPLE IN ENTERTAINMENT

* Even at the incredibly low cost of $200, Fresno-based recording artist Timmy T, (Tim Torres) admits that his hit single, “One More Try,” ran a few dollars over budget. “My first single (“Time After Time”) cost just $181, and it hit the Top 40,” said 23-year-old Timmy, whose parents are from Mexico. “This one was kind of a splurge.” Nevertheless the $19 “budget overrun” seems to have paid off. “One More Try” became the most requested song in New York and Los Angeles and soared to a top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Happy anniversary to “The Paul Rodriguez Show,” which this month celebrates its first successful year. Although the program airs on the Spanish-language Univision network, it also attracts U.S. mainstream guests, some of whom seldom visit English-language “talk shows.” Ed Asner, Dyan Cannon, Shelley Duvall, Linda Evans, James Earl Jones, Jack Lemmon and Vanna White are a few of the names that have shared “the couch” with Latinos Fernando Valenzuela, Raquel Welch, Ricardo Montalban, Rita Moreno, Raul Julia and others. Rodriguez--equally comfortable in English, Spanish or his blend of “Spanglish”--spices his interviewing and translating with plenty of humor.

Congratulations to Grammy winners: Jose Feliciano (Latin Pop Performance), Texas Tornados (Mexican-American Performance), Tito Puente (Tropical Latin Performance), Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo (Classical Vocal Performance).

Backstage at the Grammy Awards, looking sexy in a skin-tight black dress, presenter Gloria Estefan spoke of her comeback after the traffic accident a year ago that sidelined her career. “It takes lot of love and a lot of perseverance and a lot of patience.” Estefan’s current single, “Coming Out of the Dark,” was inspired by her recovery. The 33-year-old singer stressed that she is “feeling really great” and that her upcoming tour will be “a very physical show.”

“Portrait of Castro’s Cuba,” a two-hour special, hosted by James Earl Jones will air on TBS on April 7 at 4 p.m., with an encore at 9:05 p.m.