THURSDAY. OCTOBER 20, 2005
ENTERTAINMENT
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 7B
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A powerful message
Read Saxon/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Read Sakken THE ASSOCIATED Press
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby speaks during a panel discussion dedicated to foster parents and grandparents at Compton High School Wednesday in Compton, Calif.
Oscar winner recovers from heart attack in LA
PEOPLE
LOS ANGELES — Actress Shelley Winters, who won two Academy Awards and was nominated twice more, was recovering in a hospital after suffering a heart attack, her family said Wednesday.
The actress won supporting-actress Oscars for her work in "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959) and "A Patch of Blue" (1965).
last Friday, according to a statement from Winters' family.
The heart attack occurred
▼ HURRICANE KATRINA
Producer dissatisfied with network benefits
BY DAVID BAUDER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Besides the "Shelter From the Storm" benefit shown on the six biggest broadcast networks and several cable networks Sept. 9, there were separate benefits run by NBC, BET, the MTV Networks, Madison Square Garden and CNN.
The networks (with the exception of CNN, which had no immediate count) said they raised an estimated $94.9 million for various Katrina charities. One of their prime beneficiaries was the American Red Cross, which said that $65 million of the $1.2 billion the organization raised after Katrina could be attributed to the televised appeal.
NEW YORK — While nearly $100 million was raised through televised benefits for Hurricane Katrina victims, the producer of the most prominent event believes more could have been done if networks had worked together.
That stood in contrast to the $150 million raised by the single multineetwork event, "America: A Tribute to Heroes," that aired after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
joel Gallen, who produced the 2001 tribute, was asked to pull together "Shelter From the Storm" this time. This year's event was seen on fewer networks, lasted one hour instead of two and raised one-fifth of what the 2001 tribute did.
"Certainly if somebody had asked me how I would have done it, I would have chosen to do it the way we had done it four years ago," he said.
Gallen said that was disappointing and attributed it to the
failure to work together.
The Matt Lauer-hosted NBC telethon on Sept. 2, which also aired on CNBC, MSNBC and Pax, was best known for rapper Kanye West's remark that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." But since it was rapidly put together less than a week after the storm hit, the $40.6 million it raised for the Red Cross was more than any other single televised event.
CNN's Larry King anchored a three-hour special that same night on CNN, which interspersed appeals for various charities with performances by Eric Clapton, Celine Dion and others.
Sept. 2 was also the Red Cross' single biggest day of donations, said Sarah Marchetti, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
The following weekend was clogged with events, some in direct competition: BET did its own telethon at the same time "Shelter" was on the air. Gallen said he originally thought BET would break to simulcast his concert, but it didn't.
"The sooner you do a telethon after the actual event, the more money you're going to raise," she said.
"We probably lost some viewers who wanted to go check it out," said Debra Lee, BET president. "It was only an hour and it was really
targeted to a different audience."
BET's feeling was that "the more (benefits), the merrier," she said. BET, which said it raised $13 million in pledges to various charities including network founder Robert Johnson's $1 million donation to the Red Cross, was interested in its own event because Katrina hit the Gulf Coast's black community particularly hard, she said.
MTV Networks tried to reach a younger audience for its Sept. 10 event that raised $2.3 million. For the most part, the networks did completely different shows, although there was some crossover. Alicia Keys sang on the BET event after doing "Shelter."
Concerts held on Sept. 20 at New York's Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall were televised on pay per view and raised $9 million for various charities, organizers said.
The understated format that Gallen pioneered in 2001, with somber performances interspersed with celebrity appeals, risked rapidly becoming a cliche four years later. Gallen said that was his fear when he saw all the other events.
Congress, meanwhile, has provided $62 billion in emergency relief, and Louisiana lawmakers have proposed another $250 billion in federal outlays.
"I do believe that a lesson was learned here," he said. "I hope that if, God forbid, we do this again, everyone will work together for a common vision."
Madeleine Albright to guest star on WB
NEWYORK — Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will make a guest appearance on the Oct. 25 episode of the WB's "Gilmore Girls."
"I am a big fan of 'Gilmore Girls' and I had a great time," Albright said in a statement. "It was an opportunity to do something different for a quick minute, and I learned how hard it is to memorize those lines."
Albright, secretary of state under President Clinton, filmed a scene with Alexis Bledel, who plays Rory Gilmore. The episode involves the ongoing estrangement between Rory and her mother, played by Lauren Graham.
The Associated Press
Stars take on different parenting approaches
NEWYORK — While Madonna doesn't let her children watch television, Courteney Cox takes a different approach
"I like TV" Cox told "Access Hollywood" in an interview that was to air Tuesday. "It all depends what it is."
When asked how she keeps her 16-month-old daughter, Coco, grounded, the 41-year-old actress laughed and responded, "The Wiggles," the popular Australian children's program.
Madonna told Newsweek she doesn't let her children, 9-year-old Lourdes and 5-year-old Rocco, watch TV or look at magazines.
The Associated Press