Huffman and Savant click on 'Desperate Housewives'

AP, NEW YORK, May 5: Marriage can be a hard job. This, Tom and Lynette Scavo have reminded us for seven years as husband and wife on "Desperate Housewives."

On the other hand, marriage can be a great gig. That's what it's been for Doug Savant and Felicity Huffman, who are wed in holy matrimony as the Scavos on the ABC hit.

"It's a good marriage," states Huffman. "It's got its ups and downs, but it keeps moving forward."

"It is by no means perfect," says Savant. "But I like what it represents on television. I like what it represents in America."

America — or a large chunk of its TV audience, anyway — has embraced the Scavo marriage since "Desperate Housewives" premiered in fall 2004. Lynette and Tom stood out among their wacky neighbors on Wisteria Lane, TV's go-to address for sexy suburban angst.

She was the former ad exec and frustrated stay-at-home mom, the most grounded member of the core sisterhood played also by Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria. He was the laid-back, often perfunctory breadwinner. Their kids (eventually numbering five) drove them crazy, but with their childrearing, as all things, they managed to cope.

Their marriage has weathered many challenges in this melange of melodrama, whodunit and dark comedy. Now, as "Housewives" (airing Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT) builds to its season finale on May 15, Tom has bloomed into a big-shot businessman who thinks Lynette is threatened by his success, while Lynette chafes at being slighted by a man she feels she doesn't know anymore.

"Tom's the heavy-hitting CEO and he's got the power in the relationship," says Huffman. "That's a new thing, and I find that as we act these scenes, it informs our off-screen time. Suddenly, we are a little at odds with each other, a little short with each other, in a way we didn't used to be. You're meaner," she says to Savant and chuckles.

Can this marriage be saved?

Savant laughs too.

"We've lived together at work for seven years," he explains as the pair shares lunch recently with a reporter, "so there's an ease and a comfort and a familiarity."

"We don't socialize away from the set at all," Huffman says. "But we have developed a connection that is loving and deep and continues to grow with each episode. If something new isn't demanded in a scene, Doug and I will turn to each other and go, `How is this episode different, how is the relationship moving forward?' And we'll find something fresh to bring to it. I feel like I have to do background work so I can endorse it as a real-life wife."

"I'm much lazier than Felicity," Savant cuts in. "She asks the questions. But together we answer them."

In real life, they indeed are married. Savant's wife is Laura Leighton, best-known as a fellow "Melrose Place" alum and currently appearing on ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars." Huffman's husband is William H. Macy, whose screen credits include "Fargo" and who is now starring in the Showtime drama series "Shameless."

A two-actor marriage brings its own challenges. For any actor, says Huffman, "it's a black-and-white world: You're either working or your career is over. And when you're married to an actor, you're living with someone else whose career is over. Or that's what happens after every job."

"I think we can both say this," Savant offers — "It's ALWAYS better when your spouse is working."

"That's true," agrees Huffman. "And it's always better when WE'RE working."

Blond and willowy, Huffman, 48, decided to make acting her life's work as a girl when, growing up in Woody Creek, Colo., she saw Franco Zeffirelli's film of "Romeo and Juliet" with an older sister planted beside her, hiding her eyes during the racy parts (the only way their mother would permit her to see it).

She eventually won praise on the New York stage, especially in plays by David Mamet. In 1998, she found critical acclaim on TV in "SportsNight," Aaron Sorkin's brainy comedy, which lasted for two seasons.

When the "Desperate Housewives" project came along, Huffman loved its script, "but I just assumed this would be another one of my pilots that tanked — probably because I was in it." Its smash success came "as a complete shock."

Still boyish at 46, Savant grew up in Pasadena, Calif., where he dreamed of playing pro baseball. But an athletic injury in high school dashed those hopes.

Soon after, he was transported by Timothy Hutton's performance in "Ordinary People," then by John Hurt in the title role of "The Elephant Man."

He knew acting was for him. And in 1992 it paid off with stardom when he landed the pioneering role of gay social worker Matt Fielding in the prime-time soap "Melrose Place."

But when Savant left the series five years later, he found he was tainted as an actor few producers wanted to entrust with straight-guy roles.

"I went for a long time not getting jobs," he recalls. For a time, he switched to selling real estate.

Then he went back to acting school and decided, "There is no job too small. If it's on television, it's not too good for me."

Gradually, he got more episodic work. Then he scored "Housewives."

But he was always mindful that the series title had the word "housewives," not "husbands." And these housewives were explicitly "desperate." To him, the message was clear.

"I'm going, `Oh, God, I really want this marriage to work. My job is dependent on it being successful!'" He laughs gratefully. "I've worked my ass off on this marriage!" 

Questions linger about end of 'Oprah Winfrey' show

AP, CHICAGO, May 5: Oprah Winfrey has given the world 25 years of poets and politicians, A-list actors and musicians and talk show topics that defined and reflected American culture.

As "The Oprah Winfrey Show" ends, with 16 episodes left as of May 4, her millions of fans around the globe are waiting to see how she will close out a show that engineered a media empire.

Winfrey's producers plan a star-studded, double taping on May 17 at Chicago's United Center. The shows will air May 23 and 24, as Winfrey's second and third-to-last episodes.

The show is dubbed "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular." Winfrey hates surprises, producers say, but she has agreed to this event.

But for fans, questions remain.

Who will be at the United Center that Tuesday night? Who will be beamed in by satellite or deliver a taped farewell message?

Winfrey has a stable of celebrity friends who have appeared repeatedly on her talk show. John Travolta. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Jennifer Aniston. Chris Rock.

Could the Black Eyed Peas perform, as they did when Winfrey shut down Chicago's Michigan Avenue in 2009?

Then there are the presidents and world leaders: Bill Clinton; George W. Bush; Nelson Mandela. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have already appeared on a special show that aired Monday.

And Winfrey has other well-respected friends who could be possibilities: Maya Angelou; Sidney Poitier; Barbara Walters. Not to mention Winfrey's proteges, who she fostered to their own television stardom, such as Mehmet Oz, Phil McGraw and Nate Berkus.

Kelly Brittain, a 41-year-old mother of three and assistant professor from East Lansing, Mich., has watched Winfrey for decades. In 2000, she attended a taping on phenomenal graduates. Audience members received mortarboard caps; Brittain stores hers in a keepsake box.

"Somehow I know the producers, they're going to absolutely `wow' her," Brittain said.

It has the makings for a major cultural event, said Bill Carroll, expert on the daytime television market for Katz Television in New York.

"It's going to be the top-of-the-top of anybody who is available to go to Chicago on that day," Carroll said. "It's going to be talked about and talked about and watched and talked about."

Harpo Productions received more than 154,000 ticket requests for seats to the event — the United Center's capacity is about 20,000. There was a lottery for seats.

"For a national, international audience that's a small number," said Marianne Jennings, an Arizona State University professor who has researched the ticket industry for decades.

Tickets for the Chicago taping could be even more coveted than seats for the Super Bowl or World Series, she said.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event," Jennings said. "There's something that grips us about that. It's something about being there with the crowd, being there for history."

And Winfrey's talk show history is anything but small: 30,000 guests, 4,500 episodes and 283 items named her "favorite things" in the famous annual giveaway.

But there's still a bigger question: What will Winfrey do for the May 25 finale? Harpo isn't talking, nor is the talk show queen.

Experts suggest the Chicago celebrity blowout means the finale will be in Winfrey's studio for a quieter, more intimate occasion, maybe even without an audience.

"If I were a longtime viewer, I'd want the show to end in a place where I'm most comfortable with her and most familiar," said Janice Peck, author of "The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era."

Viewers are looking for a heartfelt connection after having daily interaction with Winfrey for 25 years, Peck said.

"The longtime fans are going to feel cheated if she doesn't somehow honor that history," Peck said. "They want to be crying. They want to feel something, some powerful emotional departure."

Samantha Howsare, 22, of Pittsburgh, who has watched Winfrey since she can remember and named her goldfish "Oprah" when she was 3, said she doesn't know who Winfrey could interview or what Winfrey could give away to make it worthy of the finale.

"I don't want it to feel like it's going to be on tomorrow," Howsare said. "I don't want it to be played down in any way and if she played up it being the last episode right, then it would get a lot of people to cry and that would be a good thing."

A model to look to would be Johnny Carson's final episode as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1992, Carroll said: There were no guests and after his traditional monologue Carson showed a montage of past shows.

"For the better part of the end of the show he sat there on a stool and just talked directly to people at home," Carroll said. "That had so much class to it."

Brittain is among fans who hope that Winfrey will stay on television, thinking there may be a promise of a yearly Oprah Winfrey special or other appearances.

"What would TV be without Oprah on the radar?" Brittain said. "That's hard to fathom. Who now serves as that source of overall inspiration, the infinite possibilities of the impossible?" 

Shania Twain not only lost husband, but also voice

Reuters, LOS ANGELES, May 5: Country singer Shania Twain said on Tuesday that she was so shattered by the collapse of her marriage that she feared she would never sing again.

In her first TV interview in five years, Twain told Oprah Winfrey that she became "an emotional mess" when she found out in 2008 that her best friend and her husband had fallen for each other.

"I figured mentally that I would never sing again," the five-time Grammy Award winner told Winfrey. Twain said she not only lost her husband, but her producer and co-writer when she split with in Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

"I hadn't written a song without this man in 14 years....How do I even get started?," she said in an interview won The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Twain, whose 1997 album "Come on Over" was a huge crossover hit, revealed that she also suffers from dysphonia, an ailment where the muscles squeeze the voice box.

"My fears and anxieties throughout my whole life have been slowly squeezing my voice," Twain told Winfrey. "I was losing it slowly and progressively."

Twain chronicles the demise of her 14-year marriage and her fight to get her voice back in a new book "From This Moment On" and a documentary series "Why Not?" that debuts on Sunday on Winfrey's cable TV network OWN.

She also announced on Tuesday that she would be attending the Country Music Association festival in Nashville in June -- and handed out passes to Winfrey's studio audience.

In her memoir and TV documentary, the Canadian singer recounts how she grew up poor and witnessed her step-father physically abuse her mother on a regular basis only to see them both die in a car accident, leaving Twain to raise her siblings.

Twain called her husband's betrayal "a trigger crisis," and "the straw that broke the camel's back of something that had already been building."

Eventually, Twain found solace with Frederic Thiebaud, the husband of the woman who was once her best friend. The two married on Jan 1.

"Pirates 5" written, but Johnny Depp wants delay

Reuters, LOS ANGELES, May 5: "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" doesn't hit U.S. theaters until May 20. But screenwriter Terry Rossio has just turned in his script for a planned fifth installment in Disney's most lucrative film franchise.

Rossio told the Hollywood Reporter that the still-untitled script -- his first penned without Ted Elliot, who collaborated on the first four Pirates scripts -- was delivered to Disney last weekend. It's the initial step in putting together the key creative pieces for another "Pirates" film. Disney would like another installment, given the $3 billion in worldwide grosses for the first three films and the likely huge returns for the fourth movie, the first to be released in 3D.

Sources say "Disney" has made overtures to Rob Marshall, who took over directing duties on "Pirates 4" from Gore Verbinski, who helmed the first three pictures, to return for another go-round.

But the key question mark is star Johnny Depp. Will he sign on for a fifth installment in the franchise? Depp says he hasn't seen the new Rossio screenplay, but he isn't opposed to reprising his Jack Sparrow character yet again.

"It boils down to story, script and filmmaker," Depp tells THR. But the actor isn't clamoring to jump back into the puffy shirt until a little time has passed after Pirates 4. He didn't relish the brutal schedule that saw him making "Pirates 2" and "Pirates 3" back-to-back in order to meet studio-mandated release dates in summer 2006 and 2007, respectively.

"It's not something where I would say, 'Let's shoot it next month to get it out by Christmas 2012,'" he says. "We should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me."

"Godfather" prequel novel in works for 2012

Reuters, NEW YORK, May 5: Call it an offer you can't refuse?

A prequel to the late Mario Puzo's best-selling novel "The Godfather" is headed for bookstores in June 2012, publishers Grand Central Publishing said on Wednesday.

Called "The Family Corleone," the book will be written by author Ed Falco and is based on an unproduced screenplay by Puzo. The story is set in 1930s Depression-era New York and tells how Vito Corleone rose through the criminal underworld to become the influential Don Corleone in "The Godfather".

The novel is authorized by the estate of Puzo, who died in 1999 at the age of 78 after winning two Oscars for adapting "The Godfather" into the 1970s movies "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II," starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.

Puzo's son Tony described "The Family Corleone" in a statement as a novel "that is true to Mario Puzo's legacy".

It was not immediately clear how "The Family Corleone" would differ from the plot of the Oscar-winning movie "The Godfather: Part II," which also chronicles Vito Corleone's early life and ascent through the ranks of the Italian-American underworld.

"The Godfather" was originally published in 1969 and has sold more than 21 million copies. Puzo followed up with two other books in the series -- The Sicilian" in 1984 and "Omerta" which was published posthumously in 2000.

Jamie Raab, executive vice president of Grand Central Publishing, said that "The Family Corleone" was a novel that "thrillingly brings back Puzo's classic characters in a prequel that both honors the original, and stands on its own."

Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group.

Chittagong Univ closed over BCL clashes

The authorities have suspended academic activities, including all examinations, at Chittagong University from May 2 to May 12, following factional clashes of the university unit Bangladesh Chattra League, associate student body of the ruling Awami League.

Campus sources said the university syndicate took this decision at an emergency meeting held in vice-chancellor's room at 12:30pm on Sunday.

Ten BCL activists were injured in factional clashes that took place between April 29 and May 1.

The university disciplinary committee on April 30 expelled seven students in connection with the campus violence, which, however, continued unhindered.

In this situation, Professor Md Alauddin, acting vice-chancellor of the university, on Sunday convened the syndicate meeting, which expelled four more students for two years in connection with the violence.

The expelled students are Ataul Mannan Babul of English, Anisul Hasan of political science, Ariful Islam of philosophy and Mithu of marketing department.

The syndicate also formed two committees comprising seven members each to probe into the reason behind the clashes, with Professor Al-Amin of forestry department and Professor Monir Uddin of chemistry department heading the committees.

The committees were asked to submit their reports within 14 days.

Tofzal Hossain, a CU syndicate member, told New Age, 'We took some measures to stop violence on the campus. The university has been closed as part of the measure.'

Besides, police raided different student hostels of the city to arrest the BCL activists who were involved in the clashes.

The police deployed on the campus also raided the student dormitories on the campus but nobody was arrested.

Meanwhile, the frightened students were seen leaving the campus.

Halim Uddin, student of Bangla department, told New Age, 'Though the university has been closed only for 10 days, I am going home as the situation here isn't safe at all.'

Akter Hossain, CU proctor, said that the campus situation was under control.

They were looking for the culprits and said that they would be punished.

Source: New Age

BM College closed over BCL factional clashes

Barisal Brojo Mohun College was closed for two weeks on Monday following a tense situation created by continuous showdowns by two rival factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League — the student front of the ruling Awami League.

The college authorities also asked the students, except the examinees, to vacate the halls within Tuesday morning.

The college principal Nani Gopal Das said the decision was announced after the college academic council approved it at a meeting held at 1:00pm on Monday.

Written and practical examinations would, however, be held duly during the shut down, but normal classes would resume on May 15 if the situation improves, the college principal said.

On Friday noon, two rival factions of BCL led by Rafik Serniabat, college BCL joint convener, backed by former chief whip and district AL secretary Abul Hasanat Abdullah and their rival faction led by Moin Tushar, college BCL joint convener, backed by city AL president and Barisal mayor Shawkat Hossain Hiron, clashed and ransacked the principal's room over immediate declaration of schedules for election of BM College Students' Union.

Rafik and Moin, leaders of rival BCL factions, blamed each other for the rampage and lodged cases against each other group with the Kotwali Police Friday night.

Both factions continuously held rallies and showdowns on the campus on Saturday and Monday creating a tense situation.

Both groups chanted slogans demanding ouster of each other from the campus and engages in scuffles.

Huge number of armed activists and outsiders participated in these activities, backing one faction or the other demanding immediate announcement student union elections at the college.

Source: New Age

Farmers protest at RCC housing project

Several hundred farmers in the Rajshahi city on Monday staged a demonstration and submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, protesting at the land acquisition by the Rajshahi City Corporation for its housing project.

They said with this they would have to give up their land property for the seventh time for the government projects.

The farmers, women and men, from three areas, namely Chotobangram, Meherchundy and Mushroil under RCC wards number 24, 25 and 26, gathered at the Rajshahi court area to join the protest at around 11:00am.

Later they had gone to the Rajshahi DC office to submit the memorandum demanding steps to cancel the RCC project.

The farmers complained that the RCC was going to acquire 136 acres of cultivable land in the three areas for a commercial housing project.

They said the situation of the inhabitants, already seriously affected by the land acquisition for so many times, would further be aggravated by the RCC initiative.

The demonstrators informed that the government authorities have already acquired land in the same area for different purposes in the past — initially for establishing the Rajshahi University, then for the Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, later for the Rajshahi City Bypass road and yet again for a housing project by the Rajshahi Development Authority.

The RDA only acquired land in these wards for three times, they said.

Land Protection Committee convener Aslam Uddin, joint conveners SM Omar Faruk, Abdul Malek, Awal Hossain and Moshlem Ali were present, among others, at the programme.

Rajshahi DC Subol Bose Moni said he would send the memorandum to the authorities concerned.

The RCC sources said in May 2010 the city corporation decided to undertake a housing project with 1300 plots in 136 acres to be acquired in the three villages with an estimated cost of Tk 350 crore.

Source: New Age

KMCH interns call off strike

The Khulna Medical College Hospital interns on Monday called off the strike they had been enforcing for last five days to push for their four-point demands, including ensuring security of on-duty doctors in the hospital.

They also threatened the hospital authorities with toughest demonstrations after seven days if their demands were not fulfilled by this time.

They joined their works in the afternoon following a meeting attended by the hospital superintendent, Bangladesh Medical Association Khulna unit leaders and the striking interns at the hospital conference room where the hospital authorities assured the strikers of ensuring workplace security.

The interns went out on indefinite strike in the hospital on Tuesday after the relatives of a patient, reportedly mother of a Satkhira Awami League leader, beat up a doctor for his delay in examining the patient, according to sources in the hospital.

KMCH Intern Physicians' Council president Jillur Rahman said if they face any problem in their workplace within seven days, they would enforce strike again.

He acknowledged that the hospital authorities in a meeting on Monday assured them of providing adequate security.

Hospital superintendent QH Asgar said they had taken adequate security measures in the hospital.

Source: New Age

Three commit suicide in capital

Three persons committed suicide in the capital in last two days.

The deceased are Sahana Akhter, wife of carpenter Mohammad Sharif of Dakkhin Khan, Sulov Roy, the son of Sufalang Roy of Khilkhet, and Soma Akhter, wife of Salahuddin of Lalbagh, according to the police.

The sources also said garment worker Sahana Akhter threw herself under a train near Khilkhet railway station at about 3:30pm on Sunday.

She left a note requesting police to send her body to her village home.

A case was filed, confirmed the police.

At Khilkhet, construction worker Sulov Roy committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at about 4:00pm on Sunday.

The police sent his body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination and a case was filed, said the police.

At Lalabagh, 32-year-old housewife Soma Akhter attempted suicide allegedly by taking pesticides at her residence Sunday night.

She died at DMCH at about 1:00am on Monday after she was taken there at about 11:00pm on Sunday.

The police said she committed suicide over a family feud.

A case was also filed.

Source: New Age