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"Where there is great love there are always miracles."
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Scoop: Simon Cowell will leave ‘American Idol’
This season will be judge’s last as he brings ‘X Factor’ to the United States
The Scoopmsnbc.comupdated 3:59 p.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 11, 2010
This season will indeed be Simon Cowell’s last season of “American Idol.”
Cowell dropped the bombshell Monday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif., while announcing his show “X Factor” will launch in the United States in 2011.
“We reached an agreement formally at half past 10 this morning, ‘X Factor’ will launch in America in 2011. Because of that this will be my last season on ‘American Idol’ this year,” Cowell reportedly said.
“American Idol” will soldier on without Cowell, according to Fox executive Peter Rice. Cowell’s role on “X Factor” will be that of producer and judge — his fellow judges will be announced “fairly soon,” he said.
“X-Factor” is a British show not unlike “America’s Got Talent.” Cowell's not just a judge on "X Factor," he has a financial stake in its success. “X Factor” is produced by his production company, Syco.
Sources say that Cowell’s contract with “American Idol” prevented him from launching any sort of competing show.
The Associated Press reported that while Cowell makes a reported $36 million a year to be on “American Idol,” he owns “The X Factor” and could make much more if the show takes off.
APNewsBreak: Mark McGwire admits using steroids
By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer
17 mins ago
NEW YORK – Mark McGwire finally came clean Monday, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998. McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.
"I wish I had never touched steroids," McGwire said in a statement. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."
McGwire also used human growth hormone, a person close to McGwire said, speaking on condition of anonymity because McGwire didn't include that detail in his statement.
McGwire's decision to admit using steroids was prompted by his decision to become hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, his final big league team. Tony La Russa, McGwire's manager in Oakland and St. Louis, has been among McGwire's biggest supporters and thinks returning to the field can restore the former slugger's reputation.
"I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come," McGwire said. "It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected."
He became the second major baseball star in less than a year to admit using illegal steroids, following the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez last February.
Others have been tainted but have denied knowingly using illegal drugs, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz.
Bonds has been indicted on charges he made false statements to a federal grand jury and obstructed justice. Clemens is under investigation by a federal grand jury trying to determine whether he lied to a congressional committee.
"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids," McGwire said. "I had good years when I didn't take any, and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry."
Big Mac's reputation has been in tatters since March 17, 2005, when he refused to answer questions at a Congressional hearing. Instead, he repeatedly said "I'm not here to talk about the past" when asked whether he took illegal steroids when he hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998 or at any other time.
"After all this time, I want to come clean," he said. "I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team."
The person close to McGwire said McGwire made the decision not to answer questions at that hearing on the advice of his lawyers.
McGwire disappeared from the public eye following his retirement as a player following the 2001 season. When the Cardinals hired the 47-year-old as coach on Oct. 26, they said he would address questions before spring training, and Monday's statement broke his silence.
"I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again," McGwire said in his statement. "I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season."
McGwire said he took steroids to get back on the field, sounding much like the Yankees' Andy Pettitte two years ago when he admitted using HGH.
"During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years," McGwire said in the statement. "I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years, and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too."
Since the congressional hearing, baseball owners and players toughened their drug program twice, increasing the penalty for a first steroids offense from 10 days to 50 games in November 2005 and strengthening the power of the independent administrator in April 2008, following the publication of the Mitchell Report.
"Baseball is really different now — it's been cleaned up," McGwire said. "The commissioner and the players' association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did."
Blagojevich: `Blacker' than Obama comment `stupid'
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 26 mins ago
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Rod Blagojevich apologized Monday for saying he's "blacker than Barack Obama," but the disgraced former Illinois governor said he probably won't try to make amends directly to the president.
"I'd be happy to but, you know, I don't have the phone number," he told reporters outside his Chicago home.
In the February issue of Esquire magazine, the ousted governor, semi-professional Elvis impersonator and reality TV contestant refers to Obama as "this guy" who was elected based simply on hope, implying that the president isn't genuine.
"What the (expletive)? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter," Blagojevich told the magazine. The story hits newsstands on Jan. 19.
"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived," Blagojevich said. "I saw it all growing up."
On Monday, Blagojevich said the comment was "stupid, stupid, stupid."
He said it was meant as a metaphor for his disappointment with Obama, whom he accused of doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street.
The White House declined to comment.
The response — or lack of response — is in contrast to the reaction Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has received after it was disclosed that he once discussed Obama's presidential prospects in terms of his skin color and whether he had a "Negro dialect." Reid immediately apologized and Obama accepted, though some Republicans are calling for him to step down.
There was no way Obama could avoid acknowledging the statements from Reid, an important Democratic leader and legislative ally, but the president has far more leeway to ignore Blagojevich's latest strange behavior.
The twice-elected Democrat was impeached and removed from office last year after federal prosecutors arrested him on corruption charges that included trying to sell Obama's old U.S. Senate seat. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ahead of his trial, which is expected to start in June, Blagojevich is appearing on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice."
He also continues to accuse prosecutors of persecuting him for routine political deals.
One of those deals, he said, was the possibility of naming Attorney General Lisa Madigan to Obama's Senate seat in exchange for cooperation on important programs from her powerful father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
He used an infamously coarse word to refer to the attorney general.
"If I can get this, how much do I love the people of Illinois to make that (expletive) senator?'" Blagojevich said in the interview.
But on Monday, Blagojevich said, "I don't think I said that."
Lawyer says Palin takes Fox News commentator job
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer
28 mins ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sarah Palin is taking her conservative message to Fox News. An attorney for the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate says Palin will provide some type of commentary for the cable network.
Attorney Thomas Van Flein declined to elaborate on the deal.
Palin is hugely popular with conservatives and has more than 1 million Facebook followers.
She stepped down as Alaska governor in July, 17 months before the end of her first term in office. Her resignation came less than a year after she vaulted to overnight fame as John McCain's running mate.
Palin worked part-time as a weekend sportscaster in the 1980s for KTUU-TV in Anchorage.
"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues."
- Cicero -
NBC ending Leno's nightly prime-time show
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer
1 hr 21 mins ago
PASADENA, Calif. – NBC said Sunday it decided to pull the plug on the Jay Leno experiment when some affiliate stations considered dropping the nightly prime-time show, and the network is waiting to hear if Leno and "Tonight" host Conan O'Brien accept its new late-night TV plans.
NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin said that "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 p.m. EST will end with the Feb. 12 beginning of the Winter Olympics, which will air in the prime-time hours, including Leno's slot.
NBC wants to begin airing Leno's show at 11:35 p.m. after the Olympics end Feb. 28, but with a half-hour show, Gaspin said.
The plan calls for O'Brien to retain his job with "Tonight" but at the later hour of 12:05 a.m. EST, Gaspin said. Also in the mix is Jimmy Fallon and his "Late Night." Fallon's show would be pushed a half-hour later as well, to 1:05 a.m. EST.
"My goal is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as our late-night lineup," Gaspin said, adding later that they "have the weekend to think about it" and discussions with them will resume Monday.
He said the proposal gives Leno what's important to him — telling jokes at a later hour — and O'Brien his top priority, retaining "Tonight."
"I hope and expect that before the Olympics begin, we'll have everything set. I can't imagine we won't have everything in place before then," Gaspin told a meeting of the Television Critics Association.
Both Leno and O'Brien made comedic hay out of the issue last week. Leno joked in his monologue that NBC was working on a solution in which all parties would be treated unfairly, while O'Brien wisecracked that he and Leno would be thrown by the network into a pit to fight and "the one that crawls out gets to leave NBC."
Gaspin said he's "perfectly fine" with their on-air remarks "if that's how they blow off steam and that's how they're comfortable."
NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and its "Weekend Update" with Seth Meyers also got into the act.
"It was reported Thursday that in the wake of poor ratings for `The Jay Leno Show,' NBC will move his show back to the 11:35 time slot, and then start Conan O'Brien's `Tonight Show' at midnight — though it's a little weird to start the `Tonight Show' at a time when it's no longer tonight," Meyers said Saturday.
Gaspin said that despite lower ratings for NBC at 10 p.m. compared to last year, the network was making money off the show.
But affiliates were upset that it was leading fewer viewers into their late news programs, costing them significant advertising revenue. Some affiliates told NBC in December they would go public soon about their complaints if a change wasn't made, or even take Leno's show off the air.
Gaspin said about one-third of the affiliates were really hurt by the Leno show, although he wasn't clear on how many said they might pre-empt his show.
"I asked them (the affiliates) how many are they talking about, because I could have lived with one or two. But I got the sense that it was more than one or two," he said.
He pondered combinations of possible schedule changes before the holidays and then called his boss, NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker, for approval to act.
"I don't want to wait anymore. Now is the time," Gaspin recounted telling Zucker.
Asked if O'Brien and Fallon expressed anger at his proposal, Gaspin said both men were professional and understanding when they talked. "Beyond that, it was a private conversation," Gaspin said.
O'Brien reportedly has a contract that guarantees him a multimillion-dollar payment if "Tonight" is moved later than 12:05 a.m. EST.
But Gaspin, asked if a contractual penalty weighed into the decision to bump O'Brien's show a half-hour rather than a full hour, replied, "No, not at all."
As for reports that Fox may be considering courting O'Brien for a late-night program, Gaspin repeated his desire to keep him, Leno and Fallon at NBC.
The decision to shift Leno will leave a gaping hole in NBC's prime-time schedule, at a time the network is already struggling. A mix of reality programming, "Dateline NBC" and at least two hours of scripted shows will be added to fill in the five hours taken up by Leno's prime-time show each week.
Looking ahead to the 2010-11 season, NBC announced seven drama pilots under development, including an updated version of "The Rockford Files" from "House" executive producer David Shore; "Undercovers," a husband-wife spy drama from producer J.J. Abrams ("Lost") and "Prime Suspect," based on the BBC series about a female detective.
The network's heavy development slate is a reversal of its most recent approach of attempting to make series without pilots.
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"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be."
- Marcel Pagnol -
Thursday 1-7-10
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Arenas suspended indefinitely for gun incident
NBA commissioner Stern says Wizard 'is not currently fit to take the court'
updated 4:39 p.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 6, 2010
NBA commissioner David Stern indefinitely suspended Gilbert Arenas without pay Wednesday, saying the Washington Wizards guard is “not currently fit to take the court.”
Stern also warned that Arenas’ conduct will “ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse.”
Arenas is under investigation by federal and local authorities after admittedly bringing guns to the locker room. Stern originally planned to wait to take action and directed the Washington organization to do the same. But the commissioner tired of Arenas’ behavior.
Before a game Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Arenas was photographed encircled by teammates, smiling and pointing his index fingers at them as if they were guns. Arenas met with law enforcement officials Monday and said the next day he feared Stern more than the authorities because the commissioner was “mean.”
“Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game,” Stern said in a statement. “Accordingly, I am suspending Mr. Arenas indefinitely, without pay, effective immediately pending the completion of the investigation by the NBA.”
Arenas is scheduled to earn $16.2 million this season. The punishment came on his 28th birthday.
The Wizards supported Stern’s decision in a statement attributed to president Ernie Grunfeld and the Pollin family, which owns the team. The late Abe Pollin changed the team’s name from the Bullets because of the violent connotation.
“Strictly legal issues aside, Gilbert’s recent behavior and statements, including his actions and statements last night in Philadelphia, are unacceptable,” the statement said. “Some of our other players appeared to find Gilbert’s behavior in Philadelphia amusing. This is also unacceptable. Under Abe Pollin’s leadership, our organization never tolerated such behavior, and we have no intention of ever doing so.”
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