Co-star exits after feud with Sheen
6/20/2013Charlie Sheen is evidently still having trouble getting along with costars.
The producers of Sheen’s FX comedy Anger Management confirmed late Tuesday that costar Selma Blair will be leaving the show immediately, after reports of friction with Sheen became public over the last day or so.
The Web site TMZ reported that Sheen went on the warpath after Blair complained to the producers about his lax work ethic. During his time on Two and a Half Men, Sheen was known for taking long weekends and skipping routine meetings and table reads. According to TMZ, Sheen gave Anger Management producers an ultimatum to fire Blair or he’d quit.
Anger Management has Sheen playing a retired baseball player who becomes a therapist.
The show — which got off to a blazing start but has seen ratings sag since — is roughly halfway through a 100-episode order and was supposed to mark Sheen’s comeback after a meltdown that led to his firing from Men.
Harper to discuss cancer
Valerie Harper has agreed to give a first-person account of her battle with terminal cancer to NBC News.
The network says Meredith Vieira will host the documentary, which will air in prime time. No airdate has been set.
The actress gained fame playing Rhoda Morgenstern on television’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda. She announced this year that she has been diagnosed with brain cancer. She was given as little as three months to live when diagnosed March 6, which she has already exceeded.
NBC says the 73-year-old Harper has allowed cameras to follow her since she was diagnosed.
4 join BET lineup
BET announced Tuesday that India.Arie and Ciara will join the former American Idol judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj as performers at the June 30 BET Awards show.
Previously announced performers include Chris Brown, Miguel, R. Kelly, and Kendrick Lamar.
Rapper-singer Drake leads with 12 nominations, while Lamar and 2 Chainz are up for eight awards each.
Chris Tucker will host the BET Awards live from the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. Presenters include Paula Patton, LaLa Anthony, Angela Bassett, and Gabrielle Union.
O’Reilly brings history to page and screen
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is taking his book-turned-movie franchise and running with it.
O’Reilly already has inked a deal with National Geographic Channel for the movie version of his book Killing Jesus: A History being published Sept. 24. And he’s got three similar books in the works.
While he declined to divulge the topics, the upcoming projects will make “very, very dramatic history come alive on the page and then in the movies,” O’Reilly said on the Richmond set of Killing Kennedy, the film adaptation of his book about President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. The film featuring Rob Lowe as the former president and Ginnifer Goodwin as the first lady is expected to air around the 50th anniversary of the shooting later this year.
“We consider ourselves historical investigators,” O’Reilly said of himself and researcher Martin Dugard. “We go and try to find new stuff and try to bring you a really vivid picture of who these people really were. ... I don’t have an agenda at all, I mean I just want to know the facts.”