Morning Report - News from Dec. 28, 2001

POP/ROCK

New Round in the Clark-Grammy Battle

Michael Jackson has gone from being a major draw for this year’s American Music Awards to becoming a major pain for the gala.

Jackson is scheduled to receive the Artist of the Century award at the 29th annual American Music Awards on Jan. 9. But according to the show’s producer, Dick Clark, the singer has backed out of performing on the ABC telecast because of pressure from Grammy Award organizers, who have invited Jackson to perform on their Feb. 27 CBS broadcast.

In recent years, Grammy producers have told artists they cannot appear on the show if they first appear on the American Music Awards. Clark recently filed a $10-million suit claiming unfair business practices.

Now comes news that CBS will rebroadcast its highly rated November show “Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special” in the same Jan. 9 time slot as the American Music Awards. Though CBS officials say the scheduling conflict is a coincidence, many industry insiders view it as another salvo in the ongoing dispute.

Creed Helps Record Industry Keep the Faith

The spiritually minded hard-rock group Creed has certainly made a believer out of record retailers.

At a time when many high-profile acts, from the Wallflowers to Kid Rock, have had trouble repeating the commercial success of hit albums, Creed’s “Weathered” sold 865,000 copies last week to bring its five-week total to almost 3.2 million.

The figure suggests that the band may eventually match the 10 million-plus sales of its previous album, 1999’s “Human Clay.”

Creed led the week’s second-biggest seller, Vol. 8 in the “Now That’s What I Call Music!” hit compilation series, by more than 300,000 copies.

Rap made a big splash on the chart as six new releases entered the Top 40. They were led by Nas at No. 8 and Lil’ Bow Wow at No. 11.

The remaining positions in the Top 10 were claimed by Garth Brooks (3), Britney Spears (4), Enya (5), Nickelback (6), Linkin Park (7), Usher (9) and Pink (10). The week’s best-selling single: Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me.”

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TELEVISION

Leno Calls Overseas Trip a Morale-Booster

“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno says his overseas trip to entertain U.S. troops boosted his spirits as well as those of the soldiers.

“It’s amazing--the simplest joke gets a huge laugh,” Leno told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday. “It’s like, this is a great gig. It’s great for my morale.”

Leno flew out on an Air Force plane last week with fellow comics Willie Barcena and Cedric “the Entertainer” and singers Chris Isaak and Dwight Yoakam. The location was kept secret even from the performers, he said.

Leno has been showing clips from the trip on his show this week.

Fox News Lines Up Behind Geraldo

Fox News said Wednesday that war correspondent Geraldo Rivera had made an honest mistake in a report stating he was at the scene of a friendly-fire incident in Afghanistan when he was actually a distance away.

The network said it had accepted Rivera’s explanation that he was caught up in the “fog of war” and confused the event with another battle at which he was present.

Fox plans no further action nor an on-air discussion of the matter.

A Fox News statement said network executives had reviewed the tapes of Rivera’s work and concluded: “It was an honest mistake. Based on Geraldo Rivera’s 30-year track record, Fox News has full confidence in his explanation and journalistic integrity. This is not the first, nor will it be the last, mistake made in a war zone.”

Bob Steele, ethics director at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, questioned the extent of Fox News’ investigation into its star correspondent who, he says, has a track record that is “marred.”

Yule Log Lights Fire Under Holiday Ratings

A television program showing only a yule log burning in a fireplace--accompanied by a soundtrack of seasonal songs--was the highest rated morning show in New York City on Christmas Day, the Nielsen television ratings service said Thursday.

Titled simply “Yule Log,” the show attracted about 611,000 viewers to WPIX-TV as it finished No. 1 for the time period of 8 to 10 a.m.

People are clinging to tradition this year, said Betty Ellen Berlamino, general manager of the station. “We thought this would be the ultimate in comfort television.”

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MOVIES

Dietrich Draws Political Plaudits on Her 100th

Germany has marked the 100th anniversary of Marlene Dietrich’s birth with a tribute from Johannes Rau, the country’s president--and an apology from Andre Schmitz, the Berlin mayor’s chief of staff.

At issue: the hostile reception the actress received when she returned to the city in 1960 after a 30-year absence. Because Dietrich not only supported the Allies during World War II, but called Hitler an idiot, picketers branded her a traitor and demanded that she go home.

“Dietrich was far ahead of many of her contemporaries,” Schmitz said. Rau emphasized her commitment to democracy and freedom during the Nazi era, while Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder termed her Germany’s first international star.

Kofi Annan Inspires ‘Royal’ Movie Character

Look familiar? Danny Glover says that in “The Royal Tenenbaums,” his character--a shy accountant who courts Anjelica Huston’s character--is based on none other than Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations.

Glover, 54, recalls introducing “Tenenbaums” director Wes Anderson to the diplomat at a U.N. event, after which Anderson said: “Man, that’s the look I want for you to have in the movie: Kofi Annan with his hair the way it is--and the goatee and the mustache.”

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QUICK TAKES

HBO has picked up additional episodes of its original comedy series “The Mind of the Married Man.” The series, created by and starring Mike Binder as a Chicago newspaper columnist, tackles male fidelity from a variety of perspectives. The series debuted last September.... Norman Lear, Bill Maher, Tom and Dick Smothers, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin and Dick Gregory will be honored at HBO’s eighth annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., Feb 27-March 3. The event, in which the festival is partnered with the First Amendment Center, is celebrating free speech.... The first survey exploring the late paintings of American Modernist Milton Avery will open May 20 and run through August at the UCLA Hammer Museum--the only West Coast venue for the exhibition now on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum.... Kicking off its five-year Shostakovich cycle, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has scheduled the composer’s first three string quartets for Jan. 14 at the Skirball Cultural Center’s new Ahmanson Hall.... Mark C. Murphy has been named artistic advisor of CalArts’ new REDCAT, a performance center scheduled to open as part of the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles in October 2003. He was formerly artistic director of the Seattle performance center On the Boards.