Oscar winner Jon Voight has replaced Ian Holm in the CBS miniseries about Pope John Paul II.
The four-hour miniseries, working under the straightforward title “Pope John Paul II,” has begun production in Krakow, Poland, and will later shoot in Vatican City. The film has also expanded its cast, adding Oscar and Emmy nominee James Cromwell (“Babe,” “Six Feet Under”), Ben Gazzara (“Hysterical Blindness”), Franco Nero (“Die Hard 2”) and Charles Dance (“Gosford Park”).
The start of production for CBS’ miniseries catches it up to ABC’s papal project, which stars Thomas Kretschmann (“The Pianist”) and Bruno Ganz (“Wings of Desire”) and began filming earlier this month. With the two projects on roughly the same schedule, it will be a close race to see which network gets its version of the story to viewers first.
Both will cover Wojtyla’s early years, his studies at an underground seminary in Nazi-occupied Poland, his rapid rise through the Catholic Church hierarchy and his 26-year reign as pope.
CBS says it consulted with Vatican historians on its script and will have “exclusive footage” filmed in St. Peter’s Square and the surrounding area.
MTV puts on Fez for ‘70s Show’ star
“That ’70s Show” star Wilmer Valderrama has just found a little job security.
Valderrama, who’s entering his eighth (and probably last) season playing Fez on the Fox sitcom, will host a comedy series on MTV called “Yo Momma” starting early next year, the cable network says. The show will feature trash-talking comics snapping each other for bragging rights and a cash prize.
“Wilmer is wired in to our audience. His humor, style and approachable personality make this a great fit for MTV,” MTV Entertainment president Brian Graden says. The show is getting a pretty fast turnaround; MTV announced its development deal with Valderrama less than two months ago.
Each episode of “Yo Momma” will send Valderrama into different neighborhoods in search of the sharpest, funniest smack-talkers around. He’ll then conduct what MTV calls “targeted home invasions” on each finalist to give his or her opponent ammunition for the competition.
The top two contestants in each episode will then compete for a cash prize and the opportunity to advance in the trash-talk tournament.
Valderrama will also executive produce “Yo Momma,” along with Evolution Film & Tape (“Bands Reunited,” “Boy Meets Boy”).
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VICTORIA’S SECRET SHOW BACK ON CBS
CBS says it’s resurrecting “The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show,” a move bound to raise the hackles of indecency watchdogs who were galvanized by the network’s 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.
The special, which generated numerous complaints to the Federal Communications Commission even in the pre-Janet Jackson era, is returning to the CBS airwaves after one year off. Victoria’s Secret said last year that it opted not to do the show in 2004 in light of “the heat … on the television networks,” CEO Ed Razek said at the time.
Now, with the indecency debate having receded somewhat, CBS and the lingerie company apparently feel comfortable putting the show on the air again. The network has few details thus far, other than it will have a holiday theme and include the usual trappings of music, backstage footage and red-carpet interviews. No airdate has been set.
“The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” first aired on ABC in 2001, then moved to CBS for two years. Each time, it generated a flood of complaints to the FCC for its images of scantily clad models (big names like Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks among them) parading down the runway. Neither ABC nor CBS was fined for airing the show.
CBS got decent, but not great, ratings in its two airings of the special, drawing 10.5 million viewers in 2002 and 9.4 million in “03. The show also performed reasonably well among younger viewers. ABC attracted about 12.3 million people when it aired the show in 2001.
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AP-NY-08-12-05 1505EDT
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