FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, May 12, 2003

WELL COIFFED: As expected, Hairspray dominating the Tony Award nominations Monday, tallying 13 nods, including Best Musical. Its closest competition is Movin' Out--Twyla Tharp's song-and-dance take on Billy Joel's oeuvre is up for 10 awards. Winners will be announced June 8.

CODA: Noel Redding, the rocker who played bass for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, died Sunday of unknown causes, according to his manager. Redding was 57.

BACK OFF: A Los Angeles judge granting Sandra Bullock a restraining order against a 34-year-old man whom the actress claims caused her physical and emotional distress

LADIES NIGHT: Jenna Morasca, the 21-year-old "swimsuit model" from Pittsburgh, outwitting, outlasting and outplaying her fellow Survivor: Amazon castaways to win $1 million prize money and a Saturn ION. Close to 22 million viewers tuned in to watch the season finale.

A MODEL WIN: An estimated 22 million viewers tuned in to watch Jenna be crowned the ultimate Survivor, according to premilinary Nielsen ratings.

IDOL TALK: The music supervisor for American Idol telling TV Guide that Paul McCartney plans to drop in for the third season of the Fox talent contest, slated to get underway sometime in January.

STILL XCELLING: X2: X-Men United tallied $41.4 million over the Mother's Day weekend, pushing its two-week total to $149 million. Eddie Murphy's kiddie comedy Daddy Day Care debuted with $27.6 million in second place.

HEADED FOR CLOSURE? Actor Jeffrey Jones may settle the child pornography charges against him by the time of his next court appearance on June 12, his attorneys said.

EVERYBODY LOVES EXTENSIONS: Ray Romano netting nearly $50 million, or an estimated $1.7 million an episode, from CBS to star in two more seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond. The renewal takes the show through the 2004-05 season.

OVERTURNED ON APPEAL: ABC returning David E. Kelley's Emmy-winning drama The Practice to its original time slot of Sunday night at 10 p.m. after a last-ditch appeal by its producer and cast. The Alphabet is also renewing Dick Wolfe's Dragnet.

LIFE-LINE: NBC giving the green-light for another two years of its hit medical drama ER, taking it through the 2005-06 season, the show's 12th.

LOOKING AHEAD: NBC planning to debut six new series this fall, including three comedies and three dramas. Among them are sitcoms headlining Tracy Morgan and Whoopi Goldberg, a Las Vegas drama starring James Caan and an ensemble legal series led by Rob Lowe.

STILL WINGING IT: The WB picking up another season of Joss Whedon's Angel, which air after Smallville on Wednesday's at 9 p.m.

JOINING FORCES? Rumors sweeping the music biz that media giants AOL Time Warner and Bertelsmann are in talks to possibly merge their respective Warner and BMG record labels.

WHERE DID THE TIME GO? Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr., aka Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Motown songwriting trio with more than 20 number one hits to their credit, set to pick up the Icon Award on Tuesday in Los Angeles at Broadcast Music Inc.'s 51st annual pop awards.

ONE DAY MORE: A pair of tickets to the final performance of Broadway's Les Misérables, an invitation-only event for the hundreds of alumni who worked on the show over the last 16 years, up for bid on eBay. Money raised will go towards an AIDS charity.

FOR LOVE OR MONEY: Michael J. Fox giving a commencement speech Saturday at the University of Miami's Medical School urging the next generation of doctors to "care deeply" about medical research that will advance the treatment of incurable diseases, including Parkinson's disease.

HELLO DOLLY! Actress Carol Channing, 82, swapping vows for the fourth time with her junior high school beau, 83-year-old Harry Kullijian, over the weekend.

RUMBLINGS: Emmy-winning actress Kim Delaney in talks to star in NBC's four hour miniseries, 10.5, playing a gifted seismologist who raises the alarm about a major earthquake poised to strike the West Coast.

APPLE OF THEIR EYE: Blind Shaft, director Li Yang's tale of Chinese mine workers, snagging the top prize Sunday at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.

TOPS OF THE TUBE: Led by All My Children's seven trophies, ABC coming away with 11 awards at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' 30th annual Creative Arts Daytime Emmy Awards. PBS, fronted by Sesame Street's five awards, was second with eight total kudos. The main portion of the Daytime Emmys will be handed out this weekend.