MORNING REPORT - News from Aug. 18, 2000

THE ARTS

OCPAC Donation: Orange County arts patron and shopping-mall magnate Henry T. Segerstrom has eclipsed his previous giving with a $40-million donation for an expansion of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The 3,000-seat theater in the existing Costa Mesa center is called Segerstrom Hall in honor of his family’s $11-million gift of land and money some 20 years ago; the $40 million will help finance a 2,000-seat concert hall and a 500-seat music hall on a Segerstrom-donated parcel across the street. An opening in 2004 or early 2005 is targeted. Segerstrom’s gift is the cornerstone of a $200-million campaign to fund the expansion strictly with private money; the gift brings the total raised to $65 million. The larger new theater will be called the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, in honor of the 77-year-old developer and his wife, who died in June at age 72. “Orange County is fast becoming a cultural heart to the entire state,” Gov. Gray Davis wrote in a letter of congratulations read Thursday during a news conference announcing the gift.

POP/ROCK

Celebrity Divorces: Best-selling rapper Eminem has filed for divorce from his wife, Kim, five weeks after she tried to commit suicide and two months after the musician allegedly pistol-whipped a man kissing her outside a Detroit-area nightclub, his lawyer said Thursday. Eminem, the 27-year-old Grammy-winning musician known for his violent lyrics--including those directed at his wife--filed for divorce Wednesday from Kim Mathers, 25, and is seeking joint custody of their 4-year-old daughter, said his attorney, Harvey Hauer. “There remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved,” he said. Kim Mathers had known for some time that Eminem had prepared divorce papers, but she was not told in advance that he was filing, said her attorney, Neil Rockind. Rockind said she had stayed in the marriage for the sake of their daughter but now agrees to the breakup. “I think that she recognizes that this is an opportunity to remove herself from a relationship that has been holding her back,” Rockind told the Detroit Free Press. “This is no reason for her to shed too many tears over a relationship with somebody who obviously does not want her around.” . . . Meanwhile, in Nashville, country music star Naomi Judd has filed for divorce, accusing husband Larry Strickland of adultery, according to court papers. The petition, filed Monday, cited “irreconcilable differences” between the two after 11 years of marriage and asked that the terms of a prenuptial agreement be enforced.

Ray of Light: Madonna and her new son are fine, a spokeswoman said, disputing London tabloid reports that the infant has a serious respiratory problem, possibly caused by premature birth. The pop singer and her baby, Rocco Ritchie, “are home and they’re well,” spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said from New York. She declined to discuss specifics of the child’s health. “They were never in any life-threatening situation,” Rosenberg said. “The baby was released a couple of days ago [from the hospital in Los Angeles] and everyone is well and thriving.”

Furthur Moves Further: The Furthur Festival’s Southern California stop on Thursday has been moved from the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim to the smaller Universal Amphitheatre. A spokesman for the promoter, House of Blues Concerts, said the move was made because the amphitheater is better-suited to accommodate the festival and vendors that accompany the concert, and because the projected ticket sales of 6,000 would fit Universal’s capacity. Tickets for the concert--which features the Other Ones, a band anchored by Grateful Dead alumni and associates, and Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers--must be exchanged at the point of purchase or at the Universal Amphitheatre box office. (The announcement was made after the editorial deadline for this Sunday’s Calendar, which lists the Pond as the concert site in the Pop Music Listings.)

TELEVISION

Networks Seek ‘Normal’-cy: “Normal” appears to be one of the trends in network television for the coming season, if ever-changing titles for new prime-time series are any indication. John Goodman’s Fox sitcom, originally called “Don’t Ask” and then left nameless for some time, has finally been dubbed “Normal, Ohio.” This follows the switch of ABC’s sitcom “People Who Fear People” to “The Trouble With Normal.” Goodman, the former “Roseanne” co-star, plays a gay man who moves in with his sister in the show, which has undergone a major revision since it was sold to Fox last spring.

‘Survivor’ Talk: Richard Hatch, one of the contestants on CBS’ “Survivor,” will guest-host a talk-radio program in his native Rhode Island the week of Aug. 28, according to the Providence Journal. A corporate trainer, Hatch has already made headlines since returning from the island, arrested in April for allegedly abusing his adopted son by forcing him to exercise in the middle of the night. In other “Survivor” contestant news, Dr. Sean Kenniff--who was voted off the island on Wednesday--has landed a gig as the new medical correspondent on “Extra.” Lastly, CBS has tapped “The Early Show’s” Bryant Gumbel to host an interview program with the 16 “Survivor” contestants set to follow the final episode next week.

FILM

‘Scary Movie II’: Hoping to repeat the success of the first “Scary Movie,” Dimension Films--the mass-market division of Miramax Films--has announced it will make “Scary Movie II.” Production will begin in the fall with a May 2001 release date, and will reunite Keenen Ivory Wayans as director and his brothers, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, as writers and stars. “Scary Movie” was the highest-grossing film in Miramax history, raking in more than $144 million to date.

QUICK TAKES

Terry Anzur, who has co-anchored KTLA’s weekday “News at 10” with Hal Fishman for the last three years, has left the station. Anzur appeared for the last time Wednesday after her contract was not renewed. Her replacement has not yet been named. . . . Singer-actor-writer Henry Rollins will host the new Fox anthology series “Night Visions,” which blends horror, psychological drama and supernatural adventure, premiering Oct. 6. . . . The London Telegraph reports that author J.K. Rowling revealed Sunday that actors Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane will co-star in the film version of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” as Professor McGonagall and Hagrid, respectively. . . . Actor Russ Tamblyn will join real-life daughter Amber Tamblyn on ABC’s “General Hospital,” playing Dr. Jacoby, on Sept. 15, 18 and 19. . . . Oprah Winfrey settled her court fight with two photographers on Wednesday, agreeing to share the rights to pictures that appeared in a fitness book she wrote. Details of the settlement were kept secret under court order, and Winfrey didn’t comment afterward. . . . Daryl Hannah will take on the role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in a London stage production of “The Seven Year Itch,” set to open in October.