Quick Takes: Viral video spawns TV pilot

A Funny or Die viral video is getting a chance for a television crossover.

The comedy website said Wednesday that a pilot for “Undercover Karaoke” has been ordered by TBS. Funny or Die will produce the potential series, and co-founders Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will contribute to it.

The show will be based on a video in which the singer-songwriter Jewel donned a disguise of a prosthetic nose, wig, glasses and butt padding, and sang under an alias at a Los Angeles karaoke joint. She astonished the crowd, only to later reveal her identity.

Created by Eric Appel, the video has been watched more than 3.3 million times.

—Associated Press

Dance show judges chosen

Choreographer Travis Payne, who worked on Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” and former Pussycat Dolls singer-dancer Kimberly Wyatt will join Paula Abdul as judges for the new talent competition series “Live to Dance,” CBS said Wednesday.

The host of “Live to Dance,” premiering in January, will be Andrew Gunsberg. He previously served as co-host of “Australian Idol” and host of the syndicated countdown show “Take 40 Australia.”

Abdul is an executive producer of “Live to Dance.” She served as a judge on “American Idol” until leaving the Fox show last year.

—Associated Press

Crew won’t be fined for stunt

Indiana officials say they won’t fine Paramount Pictures or production crews over an accident during filming of “Transformers 3” that left a woman with brain damage.

Gabriela Cedillo was working as an extra when she was hit in the head by a piece of flying metal during the filming of a stunt sequence in Hammond, Ind.

Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman Marc Lotter said an investigation found the Sept. 1 accident occurred because of the failure of a weld connecting a car to a tow cable. The weld was made by a certified welder and all necessary safety precautions were in place, he said.

—Associated Press

Perez Hilton has change of heart

Blogger Perez Hilton, who for six years has delighted in running “Hollywood’s most hated website,” outing gay stars and insulting celebrities, said Wednesday he was going to stop being a bully.

In an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and a video posted on his website, Hilton said he no longer wanted to be seen as a bully and a hypocrite.

“I’m going to do things differently on my website than I have in the past. I’m not going to call people nasty nicknames. I’m not going to go the mean route,” Hilton, 32, told DeGeneres.

Hilton’s pledge follows a rash of recent suicides by bullied gay teens. Hilton, who is gay, said he had been working hard in recent weeks to raise awareness of gay teen bullying.

“In doing so, a lot of people have called me a hypocrite and a bully myself, and a big one…. From now on, I really want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem,” he said.

—Reuters

Arts tribute to John F. Kennedy

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, actress Julie Andrews, singer Paul Simon and musician Herbie Hancock will take part in a concert in January celebrating the legacy of the late President John F. Kennedy and his commitment to the arts, the Kennedy Center said Wednesday.

The Jan. 20 concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. will kick off three weeks of performances and events to mark the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s inauguration as president.

They will include American Ballet Theatre stagings of works favored by Jacqueline Kennedy and the world premiere of a new orchestral piece, “Remembering JFK: An American Elegy” by Peter Lieberson, which includes narration by actor Morgan Freeman of texts taken from Kennedy’s speeches and writings.

—Reuters

Work may be by Michelangelo

An Italian art historian is convinced that a painting passed through generations in a New York family is the work of Michelangelo.

The 16th century painting hung or was stored for years in the Kober family’s upstate New York home while various family members struck out in efforts to convince the skeptical art world it’s the real thing.

But now the painting of Jesus and Mary is getting a second look with the publication of historian Antonio Forcellino’s book “The Lost Pieta,” following years of research.

Forcellino was contacted by the painting’s owner, Martin Kober of Tonawanda, near Buffalo.

—Associated Press