FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, July 7, 2003

REMEMBERED: Buddy Ebsen, who played Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, died Sunday morning at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in California, reports the Associated Press. He was 95. Ebsen was admitted to the hospital last month suffering from an undisclosed illness.

CASE CLOSED: Spike Lee and Viacom reaching a settlement Monday over the rights to the name "Spike." The director had sued to keep Viacom from changing TNN's name to Spike TV. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Viacom will begin using the new name ASAP.

CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED: Simon Cowell inking a new three-year deal with Fox that will keep him judging American Idol and allow him to develop his own shows for the network. Cowell's new reality/dating/game show, Cupid, debuts on CBS Monday night.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR: James Van Der Beek marrying longtime gal-pal Heather McCombs over the weekend, his publicist confirmed today. The outdoor ceremony took place Saturday in Malibu.

HITCHED: John Leguizamo tied the knot with longtime gal-pal Justine Maurer June 28 in New York, according to People. The couple have two children.

BAD BEHAVIOR: MSNBC firing weekend talk show host Michael Savage on Monday for anti-gay comments. Savage referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die."

HE'S BACK ALRIGHT: T3: Rise of the Machines topped the box office this weekend, racking up $44 million for a total of $72.4 million since Tuesday. In second place, Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde tallied just $22.2 million, bringing her comedy sequel $38.5 million since its Wednesday kickoff.

BOOSTING MORALE: Arnold Schwarzenegger pumping up Independence Day celebrations as he cracked jokes and screened Terminator 3 for American soldiers in Iraq as part of a USO tour of the Gulf on Friday. "I tell you oil wells all around. I have not seen that much oil since the last time I oiled up for the Mr. Universe contest," he quipped.

STUCK IN THE '70S: Ashton Kutcher inking a deal to stay with That '70s Show through 2004-05. It's estimated he'll earn $5 million to $7 million for that season.

IN HIS DEFENSE: The Who frontman Roger Daltrey defending guitarist Pete Townshend, calling his arrest for kiddie porn a "witch hunt" in an interview with London's Daily Telegraph. Townshend was later cleared of the charges but had to agree to be listed on a national registry of sex offenders.

NEW ARRIVAL: Jeff Corwin, host of Animal Planet's The Jeff Corwin Experience, and wife Natasha announcing the birth of their daughter Maya Rose. The child, born Sunday, is the first for the Corwin clan.

ROCK ROYALTY: Beyoncé Knowles and Shania Twain among performers who raised $1.6 million for the Prince's Trust charity in London on Sunday. Prince Charles, who heads the Trust, was a guest of honor.

VIDEO TRIBUTE: The video to Luther Vandross' current hit "Dance with My Father" to feature a tribute to the hospitalized R&B singer from famous well-wishers, including Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé Knowles, Damon Wayans, Monica and American Idol winner Ruben Studdard.

FOREIGN FILMS: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences inviting a record 87 countries to submit entries for foreign film consideration. Last year, the Academy accepted entries from 54 countries, previously the Oscar record.

MOVING OVER: Producers of Starting Over, a show that features six women who "reinvent their lives," moving production to a different neighborhood in Chicago after residents in the first neighborhood sued to keep them from filming there. The show bows this fall on NBC.

BOLLYWOOD: An Indian court granting an injuction against the broadcast of a TV series that Barbara Taylor Bradford claims is a rip-off of her novel A Woman of Substance. The judges plan to read Bradford's book and watch the 260-episode series Karishma--The Miracle of Destiny to compare.

FOR THE PEOPLE: A former CNN executive launching Middle America, a cable network aimed at the country's heartland, report the trades. No start date has been released.

PASSING: N!xau, the diminutive Bushman plucked out of the Kalahari Desert for stardom in the hit film The Gods Must Be Crazy has died, police officials confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday. No cause of death has been determined. He was said to be 59.

STUPID HUMAN TRICKS: Jackass alums Steve-O and Chris Pontius cohosting The Nature Show, a surreal spin on Discovery Channel-style wildlife documentaries which will see the pair travel to far away places like Africa and have close encounters with the animal kingdom.

GOOD MORNING: Soledad O'Brien set to make her coanchor debut on CNN's American Morning telecast with Bill Hemmer starting Monday. She replaces Paula Zahn, who moved to prime time.

BUSTED: Hip-hopster Beanie Sigel posting bail and getting out of a Philadelphia jail on Saturday after surrendering to police late Thursday and being charged with shooting and injuring a man outside a bar. The victim has recovered.