ROPING 'EM IN: As expected, Garth Brooks' new studio album Sevens bowed today in the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop album charts. The long-awaited collection is off to a monster start--moving 897,000 copies, second only to Pearl Jam's Vs. in 1993 (950,000). Tupac Shakur's latest posthumous release is also strong, charting with 520,000 copies sold.
GOING UNDER: The owner of Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery, the burial site for many of early cinema's stars, went bankrupt last year, and the bank can't find anyone who wants to buy it. On December 10, a bankruptcy court will meet to determine if the bank can abandon the historic site.
OOPS! Elizabeth Hurley won a libel suit Wednesday versus the London Daily Mirror for a story titled "Rent-A-Liz," which alleged the leggy actress/model could be rented out to the highest bidder. The tabloid also compared Hurley to Divine Brown, the prostitute arrested with beau Hugh Grant. The paper admitted the story was untrue and will pay Hurley's legal tab.
STUPID SPICE: Buckingham Palace is shocked--shocked!--that Spice Girls member Ginger Spice didn't curtsy upon meeting Queen Elizabeth Tuesday night. Geri Halliwell, clad in a skin-tight evening gown, was reportedly afraid that if she dipped, she'd become Flasher Spice.
CAN IT: Princess Diana's estate is fighting a planned movie version of her life. Lawyers from the Di camp call the project, The People's Princess, "inappropriate and insensitive." The film's executive producer calls it a done deal--he's making the movie, as planned.
DIANA ADD: In Paris, investigators continue to pursue a mystery red Fiat that they believe probably collided with Princess Diana's Mercedes, leaving skid marks in the tunnel at the site of the August 31 fatal crash.
FREE FALL: Death at a Rolling Stones concert near Detroit last night. A man, who'd been dancing on a handrail during the band's show at the Pontiac Silverdome, flipped over the rail and fell 23 feet. Police do not suspect foul play.
OBITUARY: Windham Hill recording artist Michael Hedges has been killed in a car crash near San Francisco. The acoustic guitarist helped launch the yuppie-friendly music label in the early 1980s. He was 43.
NASTY BOY: A Los Angeles judge has beefed-up that restraining order against a man accused of threatening Janet Jackson--barring him on a permanent basis from attempting to contact the pop star. The guy claims Miss Jackson is the one being nasty--she stole his songs, or so he says.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM: If you run into a guy in New Jersey claiming to be Whitney Houston's cousin, beware. An arrest warrant is out for a man who has been falsely posing as kin of the singer.
OPRAH VS. TRUMP: A report Wednesday that Oprah Winfrey was so steamed that Donald Trump recently did Barbara Walters' daytime talk show, The View, before his scheduled appearance on her program that she bounced The Donald from her guest list.
SMOKE OUT: In Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Hollywood players, including supermodel Christy Turlington, essentially vowed to go on the patch and deglamorize cigarettes and smoking onscreen. Last year, 75 percent of all movies featured at least one character lighting up, according to Vice President Al Gore.
PIZZA MAN: The man who brought us glasnost is now ready to bring us cheese-filled crust. Mikhail Gorbachev filmed a TV commercial for Pizza Hut this week. He reportedly earned near $1 million. The former Communist leader said he took the gig because fast food is "a people's matter."
GOOD GRIEF! CBS' broadcast tonight of holiday perennial A Charlie Brown Christmas will look a little different--unless you remember its 1965 premiere. The network has remastered and restored the animated special to its full 25 minutes for the first time in years. Among the found "lost" scenes: the Peanuts gang engaged in a snowball fight.
MEN IN BLUE: Actor Will Smith says he's stopped by Los Angeles cops "twice a month or something like that"--because he's a "[N-word] with a nice car." Or that's how Smith says police often explain the situation. Smith's comments come in an interview with Bryant Gumbel to be broadcast tonight on CBS' Public Eye.
COUPLE COUNSELING: Kathie Lee Gifford says Frank Gifford's hotel-room tryst with an ex-flight attendant "damaged" and, at the same time, "strengthened" their marriage. Overall, her ex-jock hubbie is a "good man," Gifford told ABC News' Barbara Walters, who "did a bad thing."
STAR, HOLLYWOOD STAR: James Bond incumbent Pierce Brosnan does the Hollywood Walk of Fame thing today in Hollywood. Brosnan is being honored just in time for (coinky-dink?) the release of Tomorrow Never Dies.
BACK IN BUSINESS: The Seneca Falls, New York, bridge that inspired director Frank Capra to put George Bailey on a bridge in a key scene from It's a Wonderful Life has reopened for the first time since it was condemned in 1991. Just in time for contemplating your life during the holiday season.
'TOON TROUBLE: In Los Angeles, city preservationists are expected today to consider a request from the employees of Hanna-Barbera animation studios to save their longtime office home. Time-Warner, which now owns Hanna-Barbera, wants to sell the building.
HAPPY SONG: Tuesday was World AIDS Day and Broadway celebrated by raising some $1.3 million for its AIDS charity. Companies from The Lion King, Rent and 56 other productions (including Off-Broadway shows and tours) tallied the money over the past six weeks. The record fundraising was capped by yesterday's 150-minute revue.
DIS-BAND: Members of country group Little Texas have reportedly parted ways. The band's hits included "God Bless Texas."
RATINGS RACE: The CBS TV movie Borrowed Hearts was the top-rated prime-time program for the week ended Sunday. Overall, CBS ended the week tied with NBC for first place.
ANCHORED: Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert has signed a new deal with NBC that should keep him meeting politico types on Sunday mornings through the year 2004.
DOCTOR'S NOTE: Legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling has been granted a medical waiver and was excused from testifying in actress Hunter Tylo's case against the makers of Melrose Place. Spelling is on the mend from recent gall-bladder surgery.