Quick Takes: Eminem and Godsmack back on top of Billboard charts

Prognosticators who predicted a 2002-03 pop music revival were in the right this week. With Eminem and Godsmack claiming ownership of the album and singles tallies maintained by Billboard, this week’s pop charts looked like a nod to the early 2000s.

Godsmack’s “Oracle” sold 117,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, topping Billboard’s album chart. This gives the Ozzfest-grads their third No. 1 album on the U.S. chart, reports the trade publication, adding that the act’s previous two efforts started with more than 200,000 copies sold. Nevertheless, it’s the act’s first album of new material since 2006, and was the only album this week to top the six-figure mark.

Meanwhile, Eminem’s latest single, “Not Afraid,” will claim ownership of Billboard’s singles chart when it is released Thursday. “Not Afraid” will shoot to the top of the chart based largely on the strength of its digital sales. The cut boasts 380,000 first-week downloads, the largest download sales week this year, according to Billboard.

—Todd Martens

Ken Burns back on the mound

Filmmaker Ken Burns is wading into baseball’s steroids era for a postscript to his 1994 PBS documentary about the sport.

PBS says Burns is following it up with “The Tenth Inning,” a four-hour documentary that will air Sept. 28 and 29, just before playoffs begin.

The film essentially covers Major League Baseball since 1994. Covered are the rise in performance-enhancing drugs, the sport’s international flavor because of Asian and Latino players, a new Yankees dynasty and the breakthrough of the Boston Red Sox.

A DVD and Blu-ray disc will be available a week later with two additional hours of material.

—Associated Press

Fox adds to its fall lineup

Fox isn’t officially announcing its new shows

until Monday, but sources said that writer-producers Shawn Ryan and Greg Garcia will be back in business in the fall.

Ryan (“The Shield”) has created “Ride-Along,” about a rogue cowboy cop and Chicago’s first female police chief who vow to clean up the streets and take on the city’s dirty political machine. Garcia (“My Name Is Earl”) will be back with a comedy, “Keep Hope Alive,” about a single dad raising his child while living with the parents who made him the messed-up adult that he is.

The network also has renewed “Human Target” and “Lie to Me.”

—Maria Elena Fernandez

Hepburn gets her own stamp

Katharine Hepburn, star of such classic movies as “African Queen,” “Bringing Up Baby,” “The Lion in Winter” and “Little Women,” took her place on a U.S. postage stamp Wednesday.

The 44-cent stamp was dedicated in ceremonies in Old Saybrook, Conn., and is on sale nationwide.

The four-time Oscar winner becomes the 16th star to be honored on the U.S. Postal Service’s Legends of Hollywood stamp series.

“Katharine Hepburn will be remembered for generations, for both her unparalleled acting ability and being a role model for women who chose to live life on their own terms,” Postmaster General John Potter said. The actress died in 2003.

—Associated Press

Serra wins Spanish prize

U.S. sculptor Richard Serra, renowned for his large-scale metal structures, has been named the winner of Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias award in the arts for his innovative ability to integrate urban spaces in his work.

The Prince of Asturias Foundation described Serra Wednesday as one of the “most relevant sculptors of the second half of the 20th century” and said his works were of “great visual power that are an invitation to reflection and wonder.”

—Associated Press

It’s a typical Ayckbourn plot

As the Times of London put it, “The scene belonged in one of his plays. Famous dramatist encounters burglar in his home, assumes the intruder is a house guest, smiles benignly and wanders past. Bemused criminal says quiet prayer of thanks before stealing jewelry worth thousands of pounds.”

That’s what happened to British playwright Alan Ayckbourn not long ago. Walking through his five-story home in North Yorkshire, the 71-year-old dramatist encountered a stranger but, according to authorities, ignored him, believing the man was there as a guest of one of his housekeepers.

Only later, when he discovered that personal belongings were missing, did Ayckbourn realize what had happened.

The burglar was subsequently caught and this week was sentenced to 18 months in jail, the Times reported.

—From a Times staff writer