FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, April 3, 1998

Lollapalooza...Cybill Shepherd...Alanis Morissette...

By Joal Ryan Apr 04, 1998 2:20 AMTags
PRINCESS OF POP: It's a girl!. Paris Michael Katherine Jackson was born in Beverly Hills Friday, the second child of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe. She tipped the scales at 7 pounds, nine ounces.

LOLLAPA-LOSER: It's official, there will be no Lollapalooza tour this summer. Festival organizers have been unable to recruit a headliner.

CANCELED: CBS has pulled Cybill from its lineup effective immediately. The Cybill Shepherd sitcom probably won't be back.

FLY BOY: Steven Spielberg's next: A biopic about aviator Charles Lindbergh. He plans to direct.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE: Norm Macdonald is off Saturday Night Live--for good. NBC released him from his contract.

NAKED SPICE: More nude pics of Ginger Spice have surfaced. This time, Playboy's got the goods. Issue on stands Tuesday.

BAND OF GOLD: Agent Mulder was wearing a wedding ring on last week's flashback episode of The X-Files. David Duchovny tells a radio station the prop was his idea.

GOT THE FORCE: 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the original Star Wars trilogy, has won the rights the new prequel films.

DOG FIGHT: The owner of Air Bud's canine star may sue producers for money he says he's owned, Entertainment Weekly says.

NOT IRONIC: Alanis Morissette will play God in Dogma, the latest from Kevin Smith. For casting news, see Dotted Line.

MASKED MAN? Antonio Banderas as the Phantom of the Opera? Maybe. The star's interested, USA Today says, and John Travolta's still not signed for the planned flick.

WHOA, MILO! The stage version of 1984 dance movie Footloose will kick up its heels October 22 on Broadway.

INFLATION: Kelsey Grammer and the cast of Friends are most likely to demand Mad About You-esque pay hikes, Hollywood "insiders" tell Entertainment Weekly.

JOB OFFER: The producer of Mad About You says he'd "love" to have Ellen DeGeneres back next season. The ABC sitcom star plays a nanny on the show's season finale.

NO DICE: Dennis Hopper owes Rip Torn $475,000 for telling a TV audience Torn once pulled a knife on him, an appeals court has upheld. (Torn denies the knife story.)

BARBIE WORLD: Barbie--yes, the doll--is Sony Music's newest signed act. She'll sing and play guitar. Album's due in the fall.

LIVE AT BUDOKAN? Barbie and her backing band--dolls Christie and Teresa--may hit the road with a concert tour. Honest.