HURTING: A Los Angeles police officer who grappled with Christian Slater during the actor's drug-fueled arrest at a party in August says he was injured during the scrap. Guess what? He's now suing Slater for an undisclosed amount.
WOODY TREASURE: New York City's PBS station has uncovered the "lost" Woody Allen film--a 25-minute documentary parody of the Nixon Administration produced in 1971, the New York Times reports. Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story, featuring cameos by Diane Keaton and Louise Lasser, was never broadcast. WNET-TV wants to air the show now, but would need Allen's permission first. And the filmmaker's longtime producer doesn't think that'll happen.
REEL LIFE: The 14-year-old Kentucky boy who killed three classmates in a bloody rampage Monday has reportedly indicated to investigators that he got the idea for the crime from a dream sequence in the 1995 film, The Basketball Diaries, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
PAY DAY: The Happiest Place on Earth? That would be Casa Michael Eisner. The Disney CEO cashed in more than 7 million shares of company stock options Wednesday, worth an estimated $700 million by one report. Of course, it may only amount to a mere $565 million after taxes and such.
HIT SONG: Time-Warner has come under fire for Prodigy's new single, a little ditty called, "Smack My Bitch Up." The company, which was read the riot act for "Cop Killer" a few years back, is now hearing the business from groups that claim the techno number promotes domestic violence, the Los Angeles Times reports.
HER SO-CALLED LIFE: Romeo & Juliet star Claire Danes, 18, will put her hot movie career on the backburner to attend Yale University, starting next fall. This, on the advice of fellow alum Jodie Foster. Danes says she'll make films during summer breaks.
DON JUAN: Another cradle-robbing romance for Don Johnson? The twist on this reputed one is that it's Don who's being robbed from the cradle. Thursday's New York Post reports that the 47-year-old Nash Bridges star is squiring seventysomething San Francisco socialite Denise Hale around the Bay Area. Johnson was most recently linked with his 18-year-old TV daughter. Both Johnson and Hale deny they're anything more than friends.
HOLLYWOOD SPLIT: It's divorce court for Entertainment Tonight cohost Bob Goen and his wife of nine years. The couple has one child.
DIS-BAND: Dinosaur Jr., the hard-driving alternative rock back that got better reviews from critics than the record-buying public, has split. Frontman J Mascis and the rest plan solo careers.
OH, SAY...: Folk singer Jewel has been tapped to warble the National Anthem at January's upcoming Super Bowl in San Diego--that's where the performer got her start doing coffeehouse gigs.
LEMON AD: A TV ad for the Cadilla Catera--one showing the sporty car crossing a double-yellow line--has been deigned a "lemon" by a coalition of consumer groups. The anti-honor was bestowed Thursday in Washington, D.C.
SEEING DOUBLE? When is Seinfeld not Seinfeld? When it's Zara Dekh Kar, a Pakistani comedy series that eerily mimics the hit NBC sitcom. Comedy Central's Daily Show tonight blows the whistle on the wannabe twin series.
SEEING DOUBLE: Patty Duke has apparently talked Patty Duke into reprising "their" roles as identical cousins Patty and Cathy for a new Patty Duke Show TV-movie for CBS. The telepic would likely air next November.
SEVEN UP: CBS is reenlisting The Magnificent Seven to work some ratings magic. A series, based on the 1960 film, will bow on Saturday nights, starting January 3. Michael Biehn (The Terminator) stars.
TONY VS. ELLEN: Tony Danza has come out with his opinion on Ellen DeGeneres and gal-pal Anne Heche: "That she and her companion are hugging in front of the president--I mean, it's slimy." Danza's comments came on Tuesday's edition of CBS' Late, Late Show with Tom Snyder.
MOCKINGBIRD SINGS: The Oscar-winning 1963 film To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Gregory Peck, will get a rare network broadcast on Christmas night, courtesy ABC. It'll mark the first time since September 1969 that the movie will do the prime-time thing on one of the Big Three.
SICK BAY: Evangelist Billy Graham, whose preachings have been a TV staple for decades, was listed in fair condition Thursday at a Florida hospital, suffering from an inflammation of the lungs. The 79-year-old Graham was admitted for treatment Wednesday night after experiencing chills and a fever.
OBITUARY: The matriarch of the Beach Boys' Wilson brothers has died. Audree Wilson--mother to Brian, Carl and the late Dennis Wilson--suffered heart and kidney failure. She was 80.
REFUND: Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church says it has been told to expect a full refund on the $1 million it paid Whitney Houston to perform at a mass wedding on Saturday. Houston was a last-minute no-show; hence, she's earning no pay.
JFK REDUX: ABC is scheduled to air its controversial two-hour documentary on President John F. Kennedy tonight. The program has taken heat for being based, in part, on Seymour Hersh's equally controversial new book. The Dark Side of Camelot is under attack by historians who say its salacious claims are innaccurate and based on forged documents. (Hersh acknowledged the forged documents and expunged those from the text.)
TV SHUFFLE: NBC is moving Jenny McCarthy's low-rated sitcom, Jenny, from Sunday to Monday nights to see if it's any less low-rated there...At CBS, Danny Aiello's cop show, Dellaventura, moves from Tuesdays to Thursdays opposite top-rated ER starting tonight. Pray for it.
GOIN' SLEUTHING: Sandra Bullock is said to be eyeing starring in a live-action version of the geography-oriented kids' TV game show, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. For all the casting news, see The Dotted Line.
NEVER SAY DIE: Another volley in the Great James Bond War: MGM has snapped up the rights to Never Say Never Again, one of only two James Bond flicks it didn't produce. The move looks to lock out rival Sony from making its own Bond movie based on that 1983 entry.
SUNDANCE RISES: Robert Redford's >Sundance Film Festival, the premier showcase for U.S. indie films, has announced a lineup of 103 features--16 of which have qualified for the sweepstakes ticket that is the Dramatic Competition. An all-time high 750 works were submitted. The 1998 fest is scheduled for next month in Park City, Utah.
FIXER-UPPER: New York City's historic Radio City Music Hall is due for a $25 million renovation now that deep-pockets cable giant Cablevision Systems has bought the venue. Cablevision added the theater--and, in turn, its Rockettes--to its holdings in a deal sealed Wednesday.
GOOD CAUSE: Singer Janet Jackson has announced she'll donate a portion of the proceeds from her new single to an AIDS research foundation. The song is "Together Again." Jackson says she wrote the number for friends who have died of the disease.
ROPING 'EM IN: As expected, Garth Brooks' new studio album Sevens bowed 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 for the week ended Sunday. That's the second-best one-week total ever.
TAKE IT BACK, TAKE IT ALL BACK: Elizabeth Hurley won a libel suit Wednesday versus London's Daily Mirror. A Mirror story entitled "Rent-A-Liz" alleged the leggy actress/model could be rented out to the highest bidder and likened Hurley to Divine Brown, the prostitute arrested with beau Hugh Grant. The paper admitted the story was untrue.