April 6 - 12, 2013
Entertainment
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TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
Jay Leno announces 'Tonight Show' exit
Milo O'Shea died after a short illness on Tuesday night.
Milo O'Shea dies after a short illness
THE Irish actor, Milo O'Shea, has died after a short illness, his son has confirmed. He was 86. The Dubliner, who had a long career on the stage and screen, died in a New York hospital on Tuesday night. He is best remembered for his role in Franco Zeffirelli's film, Romeo and Juliet, the 1968 film Barbarella, and for his performance as Leopold Bloom in an adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses. He also appeared in several hit US TV shows, including Frasier and Cheers. He played a chief justice in The
West Wing TV series, and also had a brief role in the Golden Girls in the 1980s. In 1982, he starred alongside Paul Newman in the legal drama, The Verdict, and he also worked alongside Irish director Neil Jordan in the Butcher Boy. He played a villain, DurandDurand, in Roger Vadim's futuristic fantasy film, Barbarella, and years later, his character inspired the name of the 1980s pop group, Duran Duran. In 2003, O'Shea starred in Puckoon, a movie based on a comic novel by Spike Milligan. (BBC)
ON Wednesday, Jay Leno confirmed the rampant reports that he's once again departing "The Tonight Show," presumably for good this time. He'll wrap up his 22-year run as host in spring 2014, with Jimmy Fallon officially signing on as his replacement. "Congratulations Jimmy," Leno said. "I hope you're as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you're the old guy. If you need me, I'll be at the garage." According to a statement from NBC, "As part of the transition, 'The Tonight Show' will be returning to its original home in 30 Rock in New York" from Leno's base of Los Angeles. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised the move, saying in a statement "on behalf of all New Yorkers" that he's "pleased to welcome 'The Tonight Show' back to its first home." When it began in 1954, the "original 'Tonight Show' ushered in the modern era of television," Cuomo continued. "It is only fitting that as 'The Tonight Show' returns to our state, it will be headlined by New York's own native son and resident, Jimmy Fallon." The expectation that Leno would leave NBC's legendary late-night program has been building recently, and Fallon's appointment isn't surprising in the least. He's had a swift rise to "Tonight's" chair, having hosted "Late Night" for just four years, but Fallon's transition was treated as such a near certainty that both hosts worked the headlines into their nightly routines. While Fallon initially downplayed the rumors, Leno went after his
Jay Leno will be replaced by Jimmy Fallon next year.
employer on a regular basis. He's compared NBC executives to snakes, joked about the network's sagging ratings and kidded that the rumored late-night shuffle was like NBC's version of March Madness. Just two days before the big announcement, Fallon and Leno again made light of the reports with a parody of the song "Tonight" from the musical "West Side Story." With Leno's contract set to expire in fall 2014, industry observers said the move was only a matter of time. Leno first exited "Tonight" in 2009 after 17 years as host, passing the torch to Conan O'Brien, who was then the host of "Late Night." Leno was moved to prime time with his own program, "The Jay Leno Show," in the fall of 2009. But when that brought dismal ratings, NBC decided to put Leno back in chargeof "Tonight" at the start of 2010, leaving O'Brien without a job. The flame-haired comedian eventually moved to TBS to host
his own show, "Conan," in the 11 p.m. hour, but the entire scenario generated ill will toward Leno and NBC. (TBS shares a parent company with CNN.) Yet as the years went on, Leno has proved to be resilient. As NBC's prime-time ratings suffered, Leno's "Tonight Show" was still able to rise above the rest in its time slot. At the end of March, "The Tonight Show" hit a seven-week high in total viewers, with 3.52 million watching. However, NBC was said to be concerned about losing younger viewers to ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, whose "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was moved up to compete with Leno and David Letterman's "Late Show"at the beginning of 2013. "The more time Jimmy Kimmel is in that slot, the more the young audience goes that way, the harder it is for (Fallon) to keep that audience," one source familiar with the network's thought process told The Hollywood Reporter in March.
Tom Hanks' Broadway debut praised Magic Johnson says he loves his son no matter what.
Magic Johnson supports gay son 'in every way' MAGIC Johnson loves his kids, no matter whom his kids choose to love. The 53-year-old basketball legend and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers said as much to TMZ after the celebrity website posted a video of Johnson's son, Earvin Johnson III, out in Los Angeles with his reported boyfriend. The video depicts 20-year-old Earvin, who goes by E.J., walking along Sunset Boulevard hand-inhand with an unidentified gentleman. E.J., a New York University student who's one of Johnson's three kids, didn't discuss his sexuality or his companion in the video, whom TMZ refers to as his boyfriend. Instead, he chatted about the Dodgers and the
Los Angeles Lakers. Nevertheless, Magic Johnson told the website that he and his wife Cookie stand behind their son 100 percent. "Cookie and I love E.J. and support him in every way," he said. "We're very proud of him." Johnson's remark has reverberated through the sports world and beyond, particularly in light of recent events. Former NFL player Kwame Harris recently confirmed he was gay in an interview with CNN, hoping his acknowledgement would help other athletes be open about their sexuality. That's a tough battle in an era where there aren't any openly gay athletes currently playing in any of the four major male professional sports.
ACTOR Tom Hanks has received high praise from critics for his Broadway debut in Nora Ephron's play Lucky Guy. The Oscar winner, who acted in Ephron's films Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail, was hailed as "the star of the show" by The New York Post. Variety magazine said he took "to the stage like a fish to water", while The Guardian said "his stardom prevails". But there were mixed reviews for other aspects of the production, which Ephron was writing when she died last year. Directed by George C Wolfe, the play follows the life of Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Mike McAlary. The New York Times' Ben Brantley wrote that it was "little more than the sum of its anecdotes". "Unlike some of the movies Ephron wrote and directed, and many of her peerlessly sharp essays, Lucky Guy often feels only newsprint deep," he added. The New York Post, where Ephron worked for several years in
Tom Hanks was praised as the star of the show.
her early career, declared that Hanks' "everyman-relatable charm" shone through "as strongly onstage as it does on screen". He appears alongside the twice Tony Award-nominated actor Courtney B Vance and Peter Getery, who plays the editor John Cotter. LA Times theatre critic Charles McNulty wrote that Ephron was a "master storyteller", but that the show "too often feels like a straight
biography". However, Ephron's play should win a Tony award, according to the Financial Times, who said it would be a tribute to the author and "a testament to the lasting quality of her text". In the first week of previews, the play took more than $1m (ÂŁ662,000) in ticket sales, almost as much as hit productions The Book of Mormon, The Lion King and Wicked. (BBC)