FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 1, 2005

SIX FEET UNDER: Producers surprising fans of Six Feet Under by killing off show star Peter Krause's Nate Fisher in Sunday's episode. The funeral house series is in its last season.

BO KNOWS PAIN: American Idol runner-up breaking his foot during an Idols concert Sunday in New Hampshire, according to People. He says he will continue with the tour.

PILING ON: In the latest issue of Time, Lauren Bacall ripping into Tom Cruise for using his personal life to sell his movies. "When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise," the 80-year-old Bacall said. "His whole behavior is so shocking...it's kind of a sickness."

BIG FEST: Beck, the Killers, the Pixies and Oasis among the acts on the bill at the inaugural Across the Pond concerts in New York, set to be held simultaneously Oct. 1 and 2 at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn and Richmond Country Bank Ballpark in Staten Island, Billboard reports.

BIG ACT: According to the new biography Room Full of Mirrors, Jimi Hendrix managed to avoid being sent to Vietnam as part of the 101st Airborne by pretending to be gay.

SMALL EATS: The National Eating Disorders Association calling for a boycott of FX's new TV sitcom, Starved, which follows the lives of four thirtysomething friends who are battling various eating disorders. The show debuts Aug. 4.

CRASHERS ON TOP: Wedding Crashers took the top spot at the box office this weekend, grossing $20 million to overtake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which finished in second place. Overall ticket sales in North America hit their lowest level in more than two months.

GOING PRESIDENTIAL: According to the Hollywood Reporter, Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden set to play the First Lady opposite Dennis Quaid's President in director Paul Weitz's American Dreamz. The film costars Hugh Grant, Richard Dreyfuss and Mandy Moore.

WHO GOT THE KEYS TO MY JEEP? Missy Elliott to feature Chrysler's latest Jeep, the Commander, in her video for "Lose Control." The rapper is also in talks with the car company to appear in commercials for the Jeep, per Brandweek magazine.

MEET THE NEW BABY: Ben Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, welcoming their second child last month, according to People magazine. Quinlin Dempsey Stiller was born July 10 in Los Angeles and is the couple's first boy.

BUT IT AGAIN: 50 Cent re-issuing The Massacre next month. The new disc will feature a video for each song on the album in addition to a new version of "Outta Control."

WELCOME BACK: After taking a couple of years off, Haley Joel Osment, 17, returning to the big screen in the indie coming-of-age feature Home of the Giants, about a teenager who idolizes one of his Indiana town's basketball stars. Shooting starts this summer in North Carolina.

PERFECT CANDIDATE: Joan Rivers set to guest star on FX's Nip/Tuck again this coming season, reportedly wanting to go under the knife to have "everything taken away," according to executive producer Ryan Murphy.

GETTING IN PRACTICE: Jennifer Tilly set to star with Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing in CBS' new comedy, Out of Practice, about a family of doctors, which will air Mondays this fall.

GETTING HITCHED: Former Moesha star Sheryl Lee Ralph tying the knot with Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes in Los Angeles Saturday, People reports.

CLOCKING IN: Jean Smart (Designing Women) joining the cast of 24 this season as the first lady to President Logan. Other newcomers include Brady Corbet (Mysterious Skin) and Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights).

FOXCASTING: Fox will begin rolling out free podcasting, including episode recaps of all the network's series, that fans can download and play anytime whenever they want.

GOING HI-DEF: According to Variety, 20th Century Fox announcing it will become the second major studio after Disney to join Sony in releasing high-definition programming with the latter's Blu-ray Disc format.

MORE MORRISON: Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films planning to turn Toni Morrison's 1998 novel, Paradise, into a four-hour miniseries.

KUDOS: Writer-director David O. Russell set to receive this year's Vision Award from the Filmmakers Alliance at its sixth-annual screening and gala presentation Aug. 17 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.

IDOL WRITER: Mark Diffenderfer, 18, beating out 12,000 other entries to win the USA Weekend Songwriting Contest for Teens that was judged by American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino and judge Simon Cowell.

BUSTED: Tejano singer-songwriter Pete Astudillo arrested Saturday night on a charge of driving under the influence after crashing his SUV into a row of traffic barriers in San Antonio, Texas.

HALF-BLOOD PIRATES: Pirated editions of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince going on sale Sunday in China three months before the planned October release of the official Chinese-language edition of the book.

CODA: Hildegarde the Incomparable, the cabaret singer credited with starting the single-name vogue among entertainers and whose career spanned more than seven decades, and who sold hundreds of thousands of copies during the 1930s and 1940s, died Friday in New York. She was 99.