Morning Report - News from Jan. 10, 2002

POP/ROCK

Creed Has Firm Grip

on Album Charts

Creed’s “Weathered” tops the nation’s album sales chart for the seventh consecutive week, the longest hold on the top spot since the Beatles’ “1” anthology began a seven-week No. 1 run in December 2000. The Creed album sold 166,000 copies last week, bringing its total to 3.75 million, according to SoundScan.

Linkin Park’s “Hybrid Theory” is No. 2 on the chart after selling 124,000 copies last week. The rest of the Top 10 is, in order, by Ludacris, Nickelback, the eighth volume in the “Now That’s What I Call Music!” hit compilation series, Enya, Ja Rule, Pink, Nas and No Doubt.

With no strong new releases this week, Creed could command the top spot again next week. But it may be challenged in two weeks, when Alan Jackson’s “Drive” enters the chart. The collection includes the hit single “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?”

TELEVISION

Ex-’Baywatch’ Star Gets 2 Years’ Probation

Former “Baywatch” star Yasmine Bleeth was sentenced Wednesday to two years’ probation on a cocaine possession charge.

The actress also must undergo regular drug tests, serve 100 hours of community service and pay court costs, said Christopher Coyle, a deputy chief trial attorney for Detroit’s Wayne County prosecutor’s office.

As part of an agreement, Bleeth pleaded guilty in November to possessing fewer than 25 grams of a controlled substance, cocaine, and to driving while impaired. Another possession charge was dismissed.

Bleeth, 33, spent the night of Sept. 12 in jail in Romulus, near Detroit Metropolitan Airport, after patrol officers found what they suspected was cocaine in her purse during their investigation of a car accident. Charges also stemmed from a search of Bleeth’s hotel room.

MOVIES

USC Honors Writers of Screen Adaptations

The writers of “A Beautiful Mind,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “In the Bedroom,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Shipping News” will vie for USC’s Scripter Awards, given to the best film adaptation of a book.

Billed as the only award recognizing both author and screenwriter, the honors have been presented annually by the Friends of the USC Libraries. The winning collaboration will be announced Tuesday and honored at the 14th annual Scripter Award dinner at USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on March 16.

The nominees are screenwriter Akiva Goldsmith and author Sylvia Nasar for “A Beautiful Mind”; screenwriters Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis and author Fielding for “Bridget Jones’s Diary”; screenwriters Rob Festinger and Todd Field and author Andre Dubus for “In the Bedroom”; screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson and author J.R.R. Tolkien for “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”; and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs and author E. Annie Proulx for “The Shipping News.”

QUICK TAKES

“Spin City” star Charlie Sheen and actress Denise Richards got engaged at Christmas, publicists for the actors confirmed this week. No wedding date has been set.... Roy Rogers’ most prized saddle is expected to fetch between $250,000 and $300,000 at High Noon’s Wild West Collector’s Show & Auction Jan. 19-20 in Mesa, Ariz.

Elaine Dutka