FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, October 19, 2001

BLACK HOLE: Planet Hollywood has filed for bankruptcy protection, for the second time since 1999, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The theme restaurant chain has reportedly told regulators it was forced into Chapter 11 by the terrorist attacks' "immediate impact" on its business.

WATERED DOWN: Jessie Camacho, the 27-year-old deputy sheriff from Florida, booted from the second episode of Survivor: Africa Thursday night. By a 5-2 vote, the dehydrated former beauty queen became the second Boran tribe member to get tossed.

MUST-SEE NETWORKS: NBC's Friends drawing 25.6 million viewers Thursday to beat Survivor in its first half-hour. But the CBS reality adventure topped Inside Schwartz after 8:30, pulling in 19.6 million viewers.

HOPING TO HELP: White House officials meeting this week with 25 bigwigs from the entertainment industry who wanted to find out what Hollywood can do for the war on terrorism. Sally Field, CBS chief Les Moonves, Fox network Entertainment Chairman Sandy Grushow and Warner Bros. TV President Peter Roth were among those who convened in Beverly Hills Wednesday for the meeting.

OVER THERE: Clint Black, Taylor Dayne and funnyguy Al Franken among the entertainers enlisting for The Citizen Patriot Tour, which will head overseas to entertain U.S. troops.

PAUL-DOT-COM: Paul McCartney putting behind-the-scenes footage from this weekend's Concert for New York City on his Website, www.paulmccartney.com.

ONO JACKO: McCartney speaking out about his feuds with Yoko Ono and Michael Jackson on Howard Stern's radio show Thursday. McCartney said the Jackson rift began after the Gloved One outbid McCartney for publishing rights to the Beatles' songs. Jackson "won't even answer my letters, so we haven't talked, and we don't have that great a relationship," he said. As for Ono, McCartney says John Lennon's widow refused to give him first songwriting credit for his signature Beatles tune "Yesterday."

TURNAROUND: A Los Angeles judge ordering Tom Cruise to pay $27,900 in attorney fees to a woman he included in his defamation suit against a gay porn star. Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz criticized Cruise's decision to include Kristina Ann Kirstin in the suit after he claimed she tried to sell a false gay love-affair story to the National Enquirer.

SNIFFING IT OUT: Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) agreeing to develop and possibly direct Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, based on a critically lauded novel about an 18th-Century Parisian driven to become a serial killer, Variety reports.

PLEASE STAND UP: Shooting beginning this week in Detroit on Eminem's new film. The untitled, semi-autobiographical project is directed by Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys) and costars Brittany Murphy (Don't Say a Word).

BAD BOY BUYOUT? Arista Records in talks to buy out Sean "P.Diddy" Combs and pick up his Bad Boy Entertainment label for $27.5 million, the New York Post reports. But Combs' publicist denies it's a buyout, and Arista did not comment on the matter.

BIG DAY FOR HOBBIT FANS: New Line Cinema announcing that The Fellowship of the Rings, the first film in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, will have its world premiere in London on December 10. The film opens in the U.S. on December 19.

HERE WE GO AGAIN: O.J. Simpson's lawyers requesting a mistrial Thursday in the former footballer's road-rage trial after members of the eight-person jury admit to discussing the case during testimony--a legal no-no. The judge is expected to rule on the motion on Monday.

ON THE GROUND: Salma Hayek in final talks to star in The Ground Beneath Her Feet, a project that would mark the first time a novel by Salman Rushdie has been adapted for the big screen, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

ADD ROCK: The Beastie Boys adding a second night for their benefit concert to aid relief and recovery from the September 11 terror attacks. The two shows, titled New Yorkers Against Violence, will be held October 28 and 29 at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

BABY FRASIER: Frasier star Kelsey Grammer and wife Camille expecting a baby any day now, gossip scribe Liz Smith reports. They're expecting from a surrogate mother.

SAG SNAG: The Screen Actors Guild's board of directors expelling three members it says either worked on or auditioned for commercials during the advertising strike last year.

RISE UP: Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, along with a church choir and several local bands, joining together Thursday for two sold-out benefit shows at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. The event raised more than $700,000 for victims of the September 11 attacks.

REVEALED: R.E.M. played a secret surprise concert this week in its hometown of Athens, Georgia. Some 200 people showed up to a see a free screening by a local filmmaker and were treated to a 14-song set by the group.

REMEMBERED: Ralph Levy, director of the first I Love Lucy episode and episodes of Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies, died of a long illness in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 81.