Morning Report - News from Aug. 7, 2002

TELEVISION

Roberts Being Treated for Breast Cancer

ABC News veteran Cokie Roberts, 58, had a lumpectomy for a small malignant tumor in her left breast at Washington’s Sibley Hospital two weeks ago. It wasn’t until after she announced her departure from “This Week,” the Sunday news show she co-anchored with Sam Donaldson, that the journalist was diagnosed with the disease, the Washington Post reports.

A longtime breast cancer activist and proponent of mammograms, Roberts said she’s in touch with the irony of the situation. But the prognosis is good, she says, because of early detection. Six months of chemotherapy, beginning this week, aren’t expected to interfere with her ability to cover the mid-term elections. Roberts, the mother of two and grandmother of three, is no newcomer to adversity. Her father, then-House Majority Leader Hale Boggs (D-La.), died in a plane crash in 1972, and her sister, Princeton, N.J., Mayor Barbara Boggs Sigmund, died of malignant melanoma in 1990.

*

Anna Nicole Smith Scores in Debut

The first episode of “The Anna Nicole Show,” which was shown Sunday at 10 p.m. on E! Entertainment Television, drew 4.1 million viewers, more than seven times the audience E! normally draws in that half hour.

The show features Anna Nicole Smith, the former Guess? Jeans model and Playboy centerfold, in an unscripted format much like “The Osbournes,” the MTV series about rocker Ozzy Osbourne and family. So far, however, critics have not embraced the buxom Smith as a TV character, criticizing E! for exploiting her and turning her into an object of ridicule.

For the week ending Aug. 4, “The Anna Nicole Show” was the sixth-most-watched show on cable.

*

‘Monk’ Will Migrate From USA to ABC

Continuing a new trend in which major networks sift through cable lineups looking for low-cost summer programs, ABC has agreed to repeat the USA network series “Monk”--a new drama starring Tony Shalhoub--on Tuesday nights the next four weeks.

ABC is getting rights to the show at a reduced fee, since the broadcasts will follow initial showings on USA.

Major networks have been repeating their offerings on cable for some time, but only recently has the equation begun to flow in the opposite direction. NBC struck an agreement in July to run the Court TV series “Forensic Files” on four consecutive Sundays beginning later this month.

*

Local Emmy Telecast Includes Hearn Honors

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ 54th annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, at which Chick Hearn was honored, will be shown Sunday at 1:30 a.m. on KCBS-TV Channel 2. The June 29 event may have marked the Lakers announcer’s last major public appearance. He died Monday.

President Bryce Zabel said that Hearn was gracious and touching in accepting the L.A. Area Governors Award. The broadcasting legend told the audience that his mantra was to “be honest and tell it like it is.”

MOVIES

Miami Shoot Triggers Angry Reaction

Hollywood filmmakers shooting the Will Smith-Martin Lawrence movie “Bad Boys 2” haven’t made any friends in Florida this week. Closing down the MacArthur Causeway, the main road between downtown Miami and Miami Beach, for a scene has residents fuming.

A typical 15-minute commute between the city and the island stretched to more than an hour, and cars overheated in the 90 degree heat. In return for such inconveniences, local authorities are receiving an infusion of $20 million from the shoot into the local economy.

“Apparently those charged with governing and managing the city are so blinded by dollar signs and Hollywood lights that they cannot see how unconscionable it is to close the MacArthur Causeway for four days,” resident Robin Statfeld writes in a letter to the Miami Herald.

The newspaper said that Columbia Pictures is spending about $500,000 to cover the costs of the closure--including the hiring of police officers to redirect traffic.

*

THEATER

Holden Play Replacing ‘Homebody/Kabul’

The Mark Taper Forum will present Joan Holden’s new play “Nickel and Dimed” as a replacement for its previously announced season opener, “Homebody/Kabul.”

Holden’s play, which opened Aug. 2 at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, is based on social essayist Barbara Ehrenreich’s bestseller “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America.” The book examines the lives of the working poor, recounting the author’s experiences as a waitress, maid and sales clerk.

Holden served for 30 years as principal playwright for the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe.

“Nickel and Dimed,” which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will open on Sept. 19. “Homebody/Kabul,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, will be the opening production of the 2003-04 season.

*UICK TAKES

Showtime has given a green light to “Crown Heights,” an original movie based on the 1991 race riots in Brooklyn that erupted when a black child was killed in a car accident. Jeremy Kagan is directing the project, which stars Mario Van Peebles and Howie Mandel.... The American Ballet Theatre will present the world premiere of “A Tribute to George Harrison,” featuring choreography set to music by the late Beatle. Six performances will take place in October at New York’s City Center.

Elaine Dutka