BOXOFFICE: For the fourth weekend Titanic did epic, record setting business as the No 1 movie, raking in another $29.2 million.
JAILBIRD: On Friday, a Los Angeles judge has turned down a request by Christian Slater that would have kept the troubled actor out of jail. Slater's lawyers wanted to count his stint in rehab as jailtime served, but the judge said no. Slater has until January 14--two days before his Hard Rain opens--to turn himself in. He is scheduled to spend 90 days behind bars.
GOING SOUTH: A decision will soon be made on whether The X-Files will move operations from Vancouver to Los Angeles next season. Star David Duchovny has been vocal about his desire to live and work in L.A.
ROAD SHOW: In any case, The X-Files is hitting the road this spring, producers said Saturday. The X-Files Expo, a traveling theme park of show memorabilia, will make stops in 10 cities, beginning March 6 in San Francisco. Tickets are $25. No word on which stars, if any, will be on hand.
X MARKS THE SPOT: Speaking to TV critics Friday, Fox honcho Peter Roth promised at least two more seasons of The X-Files on the small screen. Roth also said his network is considering making a bid for ER--a move he said would vault Fox over NBC as the top-rated net.
MELROSE DISPLACED? Meanwhile, Roth said he's considering moving King of the Hill from Sunday to another night, sending the hit drama Party of Five on a hiatus and--say it ain't so--removing Melrose Place from the schedule.
HOT AIR? Pulp fictioner Michael Crichton, whose bestselling novels regularly get translated into Hollywood blockbusters, is getting dragged into a St. Louis courtroom Monday. That's when opening statements are due in a multimillion-dollar civil trial brought against the author-screenwriter by Steven Kessler--who contends Crichton, Crichton's collaborator and wife, Mary, and producer Steven Spielberg conspired to steal Kessler's script for a movie called Catch the Wind and turned it into Twister. Crichton says he never heard of Kessler or his screenplay until after Twister was released in 1996.
CHEVY TO THE DEFENSE: Ex-Saturday Night Live star Chevy Chase says NBC blew it by removing Norm Macdonald from the "Weekend Update" desk. Chase tells TV Guide Macdonald is the first guy since, well, him to "take a stand and look you directly in the eye and say it."
ANCHOR AWAY? Network sources tell Friday's New York Times that Norm Macdonald stands to lose his SNL gig entirely for taking public pot-shots this week at NBC executives...Macdonald, meanwhile, says he has no plans to quit. He can't afford to, he says. Just don't expect him back next fall.
PUFF ILLIN': Rapper Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs has called in sick, canceling two sold-out concerts in England next week. Promoters say the Puffster has "taken ill and is...under care of his doctors." He was said to be exhausted following the U.S. leg of his tour.
NEW CUT: Aretha Franklin wrapped production on her 49th album--and first new studio album since 1991. A Rose Is a Rose features Franklin and an array of big-name producers, including Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.
SUMMIT: When did Richard Gere become a great statesman? At the behest of the Dalai Lama, the thespian-turned-mediator met with Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui Friday to discuss, among other things, religion, the Dalai Lama's quest for Tibetan autonomy and, yes, even Gere's latest movie, Red Corner.
CONTRACT WARS: 20th Century Fox, the studio that released George Lucas' first Star Wars trilogy, is determined to get the rights to the second. Negotiations with Lucas begin soon and an exec pledges the door will stay locked "until we have a deal."
GO ELVIS! Elvis Presley, who raced cars in the movies Spinout and Speedway, will return to the track in March. NASCAR drivers Rusty Wallace and John Force will feature pictures of the King on their cars. The autos will be driven in one race apiece, then retired to Graceland.
STILL GOING: Ed Sullivan and Elvis Presley prove that death only makes you more marketable in Tinseltown. Sullivan, last seen pitching cars on TV, will be resurrected (via a computer) to host a UPN special. Meanwhile, virtual Elvis embarks on an eight-city, 10-show tour.
RADIO COP-OUT: Mark Fuhrman, the former LAPD detective who got the term "racist cop" applied to himself more than a few times while doing time in the eye of the O.J. Simpson murder-trial hurricane, is cohosting a talk-radio show about crime in Spokane, Washington. Fuhrman, who's also employed as an electrician in Sandpoint, Idaho, has been hired by station KXLY for a regular slot Thursday afternoons. He started this week.
SEINFELD MANIA: A new estimate on how much NBC was willing to pay Jerry Seinfeld to encourage the comic to sign for another season of his top-rated sitcom: $125 million--for one year. That's $1 million episode, plus royalties, plus 1 million shares of GE stock (worth an estimated $75 million) as a signing bonus. This, according to the New York Post.
SUPERGUY: Debuting this weekend: American Express' latest Seinfeld ad. The jokeman plays sidekick to his idol, an animated Superman, in a new commercial in which each gets to show off his superhuman abilities.
FLASHBACK? No, it's not 1978 again. But yes, those late-'70s TV staples Fantasy Island and Love Boat are getting '90s makeovers and will be popping up on the boob tube once again. ABC will revisit Island, UPN floats Boat.
STILL ROLLING: The BBC has unearthed a cache of lost tunes by a very raw Rolling Stones. The tunes, circa 1964-65, feature covers of Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry standards and a primitive version of "Satisfaction." The BBC is trying to work out a deal with the rockers to release the material on CD.