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I just finished reading another amazing novel by Dean Koontz, "Cold Fire". The afterword ... is hilarious: "Then, as is often the case when life is good, someone said, 'Hey, let's make a movie!' and life got strange, dark, and scary. "By this I do not mean to imply - although I can't stop you from inferring - that a lot of movie-industry executives are as brainless, voracious, and destructive as the flesh-eating bacteria ... I've met smart, fair, creative executives over the years...although I've noticed their kind either eventually get fired," (NOTE TO SELF: KELLY GOODE!!!) ... He goes...

...I wanted to address the Lifetime series of "The Dirty Girls Social Club" again. First, I should let you all know I haven't heard a peep from anyone at the network since I last posted. I have talked to my co-executive producer, Nely Galan, who talked to an exec at the network who, I am told, told her that they have no problem with me at the repitch meeting. Rather, they just want to meet with everyone but me in order to "bond". Okay. ... Basically, there's a thing that happens in Hollywood. Moneylust. They all want to make money,...

"CBS News and I have reached an amicable resolution, and I have resigned my position," Murphy said in a statement. She said she wished "my good colleagues well" and looked forward to moving on in her career. Murphy and "60 Minutes Wednesday" executive producer Josh Howard were asked to resign after an independent panel found they rushed the Bush report to the air without proper checks. CBS News senior vice president Betsy West also was asked to give up her job. Murphy, Howard's top deputy, worked at CBS News for more than 17 years and was head of the political...

Israel and the Palestinian Authority were engaged in intensive efforts Monday night to bring about the release of an Israeli Druze employee of CNN who was kidnapped by armed Palestinians in Gaza on Monday. The kidnapping occurred at approximately 6:30 P.M., just outside CNN's offices in Gaza City. Riad Ali, who works for the television station as a producer and translator, was standing and chatting with two other employees, a reporter and a cameraman, both American. According to the reporter, Ben Wedeman, a white Peugeot stopped nearby and five armed Palestinians, all in their twenties, jumped out. Some carried pistols,...

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- A group of armed men abducted a CNN producer in Gaza City on Monday. There has been no claim of responsibility for the abduction of CNN producer Riad Ali, and the militant group Hamas condemned it.

My daughter is set as the producer for the election night news coverage of the Presidential race on her Emmy winning High School cable station.

Date: Mon Jun 14, 2004 1:25 pm Subject: CBS News/60 Minutes Seeking to talk with Military Families From: "Chante Wolf" Sent: Monday, June 14, 2004 12:50 PM Subject: Fw: CBS News/60 Minutes Seeking to talk withMilitary Families, Soldiers\ about recruiting, re-enlisting Dear Military Families, We received the email below from Michael Bronner, a producer for 60 Minutes, and spoke with him as well. He is looking to speak with families who have concerns about recruiting practices (for new recruits) AND re-enlistment schemes/pressures in the military. If you would like to email or speak with him, his contact information is below....

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2004—Jody Eldred Productions today announced it has just completed filming and is in the final stages of production on an inspirational documentary called, “Changed Lives: Miracles of The Passion,” which will air nationwide Easter weekend. With rave reviews from Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country,” this one-hour T.V. special was shot in High Definition and documents the true stories of people whose lives have been forever changed by Mel Gibson’s incredible motion picture “The Passion of The Christ.” “I knew instantly that people’s lives were going to be...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley and helped usher in the rock 'n' roll revolution, died Wednesday. He was 80. Phillips died at St. Francis Hospital, spokeswoman Gwendolyn McClain said. No details were immediately available about the cause of death or how long he had been hospitalized. Phillips founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952 and helped launch the career of Presley, then a young singer who had moved from Tupelo, Miss. He produced Presley's first record, the 1954 single that featured ``That's All Right, Mama'' and ``Blue Moon of Kentucky.'' ``God only knows that we didn't...

Denver Postcommentary Hollywood goes paranoid TV's closed-mouth conservatism surfaces in firing of 'Hitler' producer By Joanne OstrowDenver Post TV/Radio Critic Sunday, May 18, 2003 - This is much more insidious than the Dixie Chicks incident: The executive producer of this week's CBS miniseries, "Hitler: The Rise of Evil," was fired for publicly likening the climate in America in advance of the invasion of Iraq to the climate in pre-war Germany that allowed the rise of the Third Reich. Ed Gernon lost his job for drawing an analogy. Imagine being axed for expressing an opinion about a period in history...

Oscar Producer Calls Moore "Paranoid" HOLLYWOOD, March 31, 2003 -- In his first print interview since Oscar night, filmmaker Michael Moore told the San Jose Mercury News that despite his controversial speech that elicited both cheers and jeers, he hasn't sensed any hostility from the Hollywood community. "As uncomfortable as it might have been for some people to hear, I said things that needed to be said," the filmmaker told the paper. Moore, whose documentary Bowling for Columbine won the best documentary award, added that the Oscar night boos came from Kodak Theater stagehands and were oddly "amplified." "I heard...

<p>LOS ANGELES(AP) - Phil Spector will contend the shooting death of an actress at his suburban mansion last week was accidental, a close friend of the legendary music producer said.</p> <p>"I believe his defense will be that this was a tragic accident," said Marvin Mitchelson, a prominent Los Angeles attorney who has been friends with Spector for about 12 years and has traveled extensively with him.</p>

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A producer has sued Ozzy Osbourne and the rock musician's wife, claiming the couple stole the idea for their hit MTV reality series ``The Osbournes'' from him. Plaintiff Gary Binkow said he met on several occasions with the couple and executives from Miramax TV between 1999 and 2000 to discuss ``a real-life docu-sitcom'' about their family, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The court papers include what Binkow said was a copy of his original treatment of the proposed series from January 2000, registered with the Writers Guild of America, The...

I just heard a radio report that music producer Daniel Lanois was killed in an auto accident on the highway between Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA. Any updated news or links is appreciated.