Entertainment Briefs: Saturday, January 12, 2008

Published: January 12, 2008

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Euros? Dollars? Pounds? Gisele Bundchen insists she's perfectly happy with them all, again denying reports that the Brazilian supermodel is shunning the weak U.S. dollar in favor of European currency.

Bundchen — known to U.S. sports fans as the girlfriend of quarterback Tom Brady — has been struggling for months to knock down recurring reports that she insists on being paid in euros, which have been rising against the dollar.

"The story of the euro is a lie,” she told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo in comments published Wednesday. "I work with many international companies, I earn salaries in different currencies, that's all.”

O Globo said Bundchen set ground rules for the interview: no questions about her boyfriend.

FOLSOM, Calif. — A concert marking the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's famous concert at Folsom State Prison has been scrapped, with the prison and the promoter blaming each other for the cancellation.

The tribute concert, scheduled for Sunday, was to have been staged in the same prison cafeteria where Cash performed before inmates on Jan. 13, 1968. That breakthrough performance became a popular live album.

Prison officials called off the show, citing problems over filming rights, media access and security concerns.

Promoter Jonathan Holiff claims the cancellation was just another broken promise by prison officials. "I was in tears when I found out,” Holiff said.

The show, which would have been streamed worldwide over the Internet, was to have been underwritten by four nonprofit groups that were to share in profits. The concert was to have featured Cash's music and include drummer W.S. "Fluke” Holland, one of his original backup musicians.

Cash died in 2003.

NBC has nailed down its plans for the stripped-down Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.

"Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer will host a two-hour special called "Going for Gold” at 6 p.m. Sunday. The show, which falls under the "Dateline” banner, will feature interviews with several nominees, including James McAvoy ("Atonement”), Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer”), Ellen Page ("Juno”) and Amy Adams ("Enchanted”), as well as Globes predictions from NBC's "Football Night in America” crew.

Comedian Kathy Griffin will also provide commentary on the awards, whose usual night-long party fell victim to the writers' strike. With actors refusing to cross a promised Writers Guild of America picket line, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Globes, and NBC decided to scrap the ceremony in favor of a "news conference” at 8 p.m. (print reporters will be allowed to attend, but NBC will be the only one broadcasting it).

Canceling the Golden Globes ceremony will likely cost NBC about $10 million to $15 million in lost ad revenue, according to several trade publications.

The "Dateline” special was initially scheduled to air tonight. NBC has also canceled tentative plans to cover the post-announcement parties, as most of the parties themselves have been shut down. An "American Gladiators” encore will air at 9 p.m.

Former local sportscaster Chris Harrison has signed on as a host for "Hollywood 411,” an entertainment news magazine show premiering at 8 p.m. Monday on TV Guide Network (channel 4 on Cox Cable, 117 on Dish Network and 232 on Direct TV).

Harrison, an Oklahoma City University graduate who worked at KWTV NEWS 9 from 1993-99, will join Madison Michele in covering the most talked-about entertainment stories of the day during the daily hourlong program.

On Jan. 27, he will also host TV Guide Network's "Countdown to the Screen Actors Guild Awards.” His red carpet coverage begins at 4 p.m.

Harrison has served as host of "The Bachelor” since the ABC reality show premiered in March 2002. He can also be seen hosting HGTV's "Designer's Challenge” that airs at 2:30 p.m. weekdays.

Source: Staff Reports and Wire Services

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