2010 WCup stadiums almost ready - S.African officials

Once a headache for the local organising committee, the 10 South African stadiums for the 2010 World Cup are now pride and joy as they are set to be ready on time for the football extravaganza.

Stadium construction faced many challenges, including strikes in July when more than 70,000 workers asked for salary hikes, countrywide blackouts in January 2008 that crippled the economy, budget deficits and sometimes unpredictable weather.

"It has been a roller-coaster ride. Sometimes we were happy and most times saddened by the criticism and the pessimism but we always knew we would be ready on time," local organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo told AFP.

Mkhondo said five new and five renovated stadiums were now more than 95 percent complete and the final touches were being applied, such as security barriers, planting trees, roads leading to the stadium and parking lot paving.

To win confidence of the local and international community in advance was not easy as many times the capacity of South Africa to deliver world-class tournament infrastructure was scrutinised.

The country's readiness for the world's biggest sports spectacular was also questioned when the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth, which cost 2.1 billion rand (282 million dollars, 189 million euro), missed its construction deadline for the curtain-raiser Confederations Cup during June.

Instead, renovated stadiums such as Pretoria, Rustenburg (north-west) and Bloemfontein (central) stole PE's limelight.

Since then the stadium was the first to be ready for the World Cup.

Other challenges the stadiums faced were public protests.

Greenpoint stadium in Cape Town, one of the semi-final venues, faced fierce competition when residents opposed the development and took the municipality to court.

"We overcame tremendous challenges because in the beginning some residents were opposed to the development (stadium) and tried to stop construction through legal process but lost," Cape Town World cup 2010 spokesman Pieter Cronje said.

In Nelspruit, township residents protested outside the stadium, demanding a school be built as theirs was used as offices during the construction of the stadium with children taught in containers.

Authorities said construction of a new school would start this week and finish in March.
The stadium architecture had an African feel with roof poles resembled giraffe while criss-crossed black and white seating resembled zebra prints.

Soccer City in Johannesburg, venue for the June 11 opening match and the final on July 11, will seat 91,000 spectators and resembles a calabash while Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane is inspired by the locally iconic Baobab tree.

However, there are question around government spending about 10 billion rands (857 million euros), excluding host city contributions, in a country where poverty affects 43 percent of the population.

Mkhondo said all the stadiums had sustainability programmes beyond 2010.

"Before we gave the go ahead to cities to build stadium we asked them (about) long-term plans to utilise them and were satisfied. Most of them will be turned into multi-purpose centres," he said.

Tiger's Wife Helped Free Him from Vehicle After Crash

Tiger Woods is not the only member of his family with a good golf swing. His wife, Elin Nordegren, used her husband's golf clubs to rescue him after the vehicle he was driving got pinned to a tree in an early morning accident the day after Thanksgiving.

Windermere Police officers were the first to respond to the scene that was "spitting distance" from the golfer's home in the gated community of Islesworth, Fla., according to Windermere Police Chief Daniel Saylor.

"When they got there, he was laying in the street," Saylor told PEOPLE. "His wife had broken out the back window with a golf club to get into the vehicle and pull him out."

Saylor did not know how Nordegren managed to pull her husband out, but she was determined to do so. "She used two golf clubs," Saylor says. "She bent one and used another one."

Woods, 33, first hit a fire hydrant and then smashed into a tree, according to two Windermere patrolmen who arrived first at the scene.

"When they got there, they noticed he had lacerations to his lower and upper lip and blood in his mouth and he was in and out of consciousness," Saylor says.

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Officers Jason Sipos and Branson McDonald treated Woods before the ambulance arrived. Officer McDonald is a paramedic and began administering first aid. They worked on Woods for 10 to 15 minutes before the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the ambulance arrived, the chief adds.

"They were holding him down because he kept trying to get up and he kept going in and out of consciousness," Saylor says. "They held his head stable for him and basically made sure he didn't move."

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash, which took place outside Wood's home. No charges have been filed at this time. It remains unclear what Woods was doing out at that hour.
Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn told PEOPLE on Friday afternoon that Woods had been treated and released from Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, just outside of Orlando and Islesworth.
Bruhn called the injuries "minor."

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Is this a fatal moment for 'Heroes?'

It's no secret that Adrian Pasdar is departing Heroes in the not-too-distant future, but what's not yet known is how we'll be saying goodbye to Nathan. With that in mind, Tube Talk has done some digging and found these rather exciting pictures from next week's episode. Could a roof-top fall be death?

It's also worth noting that the episode in question, 'The Fifth Stage', will serve as the midseason cliffhanger before Heroes returns in 2010 in a new timeslot. What better hook than killing off the criminally underused Nathan?!

Peter and Nathan share a tender moment...

...before Nathan goes hurtling over the edge of the roof.

"I've got you Nathan!"

"Wait.. no, I haven't! D'oh!"

Episode 12 of Heroes airs Monday, November 30 at 8pm on NBC.

Do you think Nathan will die as a result of the fall? How would you like to see the character leave? Add your comments to this entry below!

ABC Cancels Adam Lambert's Good Morning America Performance

Adam Lambert's Good Morning America performance scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled in light of his sexually charged number at the American Music Awards, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

"Given his controversial live performance on the AMAs, we were concerned about airing a similar concert so early in the morning," an ABC News rep said.

The American Idol runner-up will instead perform on CBS' The Early Show, Us Weekly reports. CBS and Lambert's rep did not immediately return calls.

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ABC received more than 1,500 complaints following the 27-year-old singer's S&M-themed performance at Sunday night's ceremony, during which he flipped off the audience, kissed a keyboardist and fondled several of his backup dancers. Lambert also pulled the head of one dancer into his crotch.

Lambert made no apologies for the risqué performance, saying the number was a chance to "promote freedom of expression and artistic freedom."

Jackson, Swift face off at American Music Awards

Janet Jackson kicked off the American Music Awards with a medley of some of her biggest hits, but it was her late brother Michael who was poised to be one of the night's big winners, up for five American Music Awards, including entertainer of the year.

Jackson's performance didn't acknowledge her late brother, as she did at the MTV Video Music Awards, but it did remind fans of her own long career, and perhaps of her just-released greatest-hits album, "Number Ones."

Incidentally, Michael Jackson's nominations are for his 2003 album of the same name, which surged in popularity after he died in June at age 50. Country cutie Taylor Swift topped the King of Pop with six nominations, and she won one for best pop/rock female in the show's first hour. Both are up for the night's biggest honor — artist of the year — along with Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga and Eminem.

The Black Eyed Peas and Rascal Flatts were also early winners Sunday, named best pop/rock and country groups respectively.

Even more than awards, the AMAs is about performances, and they came back to back to back Sunday. After Janet Jackson's show-opener, which featured four familiar hits and her new single, Daughtry, Keith Urban and Shakira performed. The Colombian songbird was flanked by a dozen dancers in tiny black bodysuits. Kelly Clarkson performed a stripped down version of her hit "Already Gone," backed by a string quartet.

The American Music Awards honor the year's top-selling artists in the categories of pop/rock, country, rap/hip-hop, soul/R&B, alternative, adult contemporary, Latin and contemporary inspirational. Fans voted online to select the winners.

"The AMAs are like the loose, crazy cousin of the music awards," said rocker Melissa Etheridge, who was to be a presenter on the show, shortly before it began. "They've been around a long time, and they tend to go with whatever is really popular. It's everything. It's a whole big pot all stuck in together, and I love that."

Swift has enjoyed a chart-topping year with her crossover album "Fearless," is up for favorite album in the pop/rock and country categories among other awards.

Jackson is nominated for male artist and favorite album in the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories.

Eminem has four nominations: Pop/rock male artist and rap/hip-hop artist and album for "Relapse," along with artist of the year. Lady Gaga and Kings of Leon have three nods each. She's up for female artist and album for her debut, "The Fame," and the Nashville quartet is up for alternative artist and favorite pop/rock band.

Other triple-nominees include Beyonce, the Black Eyed Peas and T.I.

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Ireland renews appeal to FIFA for France replay

Irish football chiefs renewed Friday an appeal for FIFA to order a handball-marred World Cup playoff with France to be replayed, after Thierry Henry said a re-match would be the "fairest solution."

The Football Association of Ireland "called on the French Football Federation ... to join with it and the captains of both the French and Irish teams, Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, to request a replay from FIFA," it said.

Earlier Friday the French captain repeated his admission that he had controlled the ball with his hand before the decisive goal in Wednesday's disputed match in Paris, but insisted it had been an "instinctive" reaction.

In a statement released in Dublin after a meeting of its management board, the FAI said that only a replay "would protect the integrity of the game worldwide and the pride of the French national team".

It noted that the French Football Federation had said it would "comply with whatever FIFA decides and welcomed the French team captain's statement that a replay would be the fairest solution".

"Lastly, the FAI's Board of management noted FIFA's earlier response on the issue and has sent a separate reply," it said, referring to a FIFA statement saying that it would not order a replay.
. Irish captain Keane also welcomed Henry's admission that a replay would be the fairest option. "As captain of the French team, to make such a statement took courage and honour, and all of us recognise that," he said.

"As captain of the Republic of Ireland team, I would also be happy for a replay to happen in the interest of fair play so

that whichever team qualifies, can do so with their heads held high.

"We can only hope that the French Football Federation might accept the wishes of both captains in the best interests of the game," added Keane.

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Report: Minority, Female Writers in TV Still Underrepresented

Female and minority writers are still underrepresented in television, according to the statistics released Wednesday by the Writers Guild of America.

In the 2009 Hollywood Writers Report, the guild shows that women's employment in TV has remained at 28 percent from 2005 to 2007 while minority groups' share of employment declined 10 percent to 9 percent.

Among minorities, Asian TV writers' employment increased the most (from 24 people to 54) and African-American writers took the biggest hit (from 168 to 143).

The report attributed this decline, at least partially, to the closure of UPN, which was home to a number of primarily African-American series. The UPN merged with the WB in 2006 to become the CW, which employed the biggest share of minority staff/writer-producers for the 2007-2008 season. ABC owner Disney — which employs the highest number of TV writers overall — and CBS boast the largest rosters of female TV writers in the industry.

During the 2007-2008 TV season, the report found some series still fail to employ minority or female writers altogether. Thirty-three percent of series had no minorities on staff and 11 percent of shows had no women on staff. The shows with the most minority and female writers, such as The Game and The L Word, respectively, are no longer on the air.

For TV writing staff positions, the news was slightly better for minority writers. Their share of all staff/writer-producer positions increased slightly during the 2007-2008 season in comparison to the 2005-06 season. For TV comedies in particular, minority writers held an equal chance of working on comedies but women were less likely to work on the staff. As far as leadership positions, both female and minority writers were half as likely as their white male counterparts to be showrunners on a series.

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The report noted that both minority and female writers have narrowed the earnings gap with white males but a notable difference still exists among these three groups. The report states minority writers earned $75,658 and women took home $82,604 in 2007, compared to $87,984 for white men.

The report notes that female and minority representation remains dismal compared to the demographics of the nation's population. In the U.S., more than half of the population is female and almost one-third is non-white.

"Breaking out of the stagnation in writer diversity ... will require bold, new approaches," the report states. "Only then will we begin to make appreciable progress toward catching up with a changing America. Only then will we move closer to making sure that all of our stories are told."

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Confident Irish ready to fight for World Cup place

Irish eyes should be smiling ahead of the Republic's World Cup playoff clash against France here on Wednesday despite the visitors trailing by a goal, according to team manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

"I'm confident, because in football every match is different. From the opponents to the circumstances, nothing's ever the same," Trapattoni told reporters here on Tuesday.
"I've told all my players to be confident. We can believe in ourselves."

Statistics are firmly against the men from the Emerald Isle, who haven't beaten France away since 1931 and, notably, haven't beaten a top ranked team in official competition since a win over Turkey in qualifiers for Euro 1992.

But with a place in the World Cup at stake, it's no surprise the Republic - aiming to qualify for the first time since 2002 when they made it to the second round - want to believe in a dream finale to their campaign.

While France coach Raymond Domenech says his charges are "impatient" to show their superiority, the Irish know they have everything to win.

"The pressure's on the French," said the Republic's captain Robbie Keane. "They're playing at home and the home fans will be expecting them to play well.

"We've got nothing to lose, and everything to win," added the Spurs marksman, one of the few survivors from the 2002 vintage.

Trapattoni hopes to send out the same team that lost 1-0 at Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday, when a deflected shot from France striker Nicolas Anelka gave 'Les Bleus' a first leg advantage.
"Prior to yesterday (the final training session) I wanted to make some changes," added the Italian.

"But I want all the same players to be given their chance again. They've all recovered and I'm sure they'll be ready to go another 90 minutes."

An Irish goal at the Stade de France would change the landscape dramatically for Trapattoni's men and add impetus to their bid for a place at the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer.

It needs not be said that a France goal would put Raymond Domenech's France side firmly in the driving seat, and make qualifying even more of a formality.

France and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry warned they would not be sitting back and waiting for the Irish to attack.

"We've won over there but we still have a battle on our hands. And it won't be easy because they're a tenacious side," he said.

"But when we start playing, it will be to win. We won't be sitting back relying on the goal we have from the first leg."

Despite that pledge many France players, including Henry, will be aware that the Stade de France, and its fans, have been fickle partners in the past.

Scotland striker James McFadden hushed the Stade scoring one of the goals of his career in a 1-0 win over France in September 2007.

And, it is only since a 1-1 draw with Romania earlier this year that France has lifted its game in the stadium.

Also looming is the dark memory, still talked about by many French football fans, of Les Bleus' failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup after being eliminated by Bulgaria.

Needing only a draw from their final two qualifiers, Israel beat Gerard Houllier's France 3-2 at home despite France leading 2-1 seven minutes from the end.

Bulgaria then pounced on a fluffed cross from second half substitute David Ginola to go up the field and score their second goal to hand them a 2-1 win thus eliminating France.

That exit came 16 years ago, almost to the day, on November 17. But Domenech insists it is not on his mind: "The past is the past."

But in the back of his mind Domenech, whose wacky ways with the media has led to him having a love-hate relationship with the French public, must be praying his team of mostly world class players come good on the night.

Prompted that it could be his last match in charge, the Frenchman was his typical evasive self saying: "I'm not wavering from what my job is, which is to prepare the players for the match - not for before the match or after the match."

Lindsay Lohan Balks at Picking Up the Bill

Hide your valuables and lock up your liquor: Is that the warning that should herald a visit from Lindsay Lohan? Based on her reputation for having allegedly sticky fingers – with the latest claim from a bar that was nearly left holding the bill for bottles of bubbly – that may not be such a bad idea.


Lohan, 23, was partying at the Crown Bar in Los Angeles Nov. 6, and, according to one onlooker, caused quite a scene when asked to ante up for her drinks.

"Lindsay stormed into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of really expensive champagne. She finished both bottles with a friend. When the bartender gave her a bill, she had a meltdown," says the source. "She was yelling at him and screaming profanities at everyone. The bar insisted she pay, so she had to call a friend with her credit-card information."


Before the actress left the club around 2:30 a.m., the onlooker says, "She was crying and wanted to go home. She kept saying 'I don't pay for drinks! This is ridiculous! I'm freaking out!' "


Past Incidents
This wasn't the first time Lindsay has been at the center of a sticky-fingers controversy. Some $40,000 worth of Dior baubles went missing from Lindsay's U.K. Elle cover shoot in July, though her mom, Dina Lohan, maintained her daughter's innocence, and Elle later stated the magazine staff "had no reason to believe that Lindsay Lohan was in any way responsible."

In May 2007, Lohan avoided felony grand theft charges when there was insufficient evidence to back a woman's claim that the star had stolen her clothing.

There was, however, no escaping eyewitness reports of Lohan "stealing" Paris Hilton's boyfriend in spring 2006. She and Stavros Niarchos were first spied together five days before he and Hilton broke up – hooking up at the Manhattan clubs Butter and Bungalow 8.


Minks and Marilyn
Drinks and dudes aren't the only magnets for Lohan. She has also been accused of lifting the formula for a fake tan spray, a stranger's mink coat and even looks for her photo shoots (take that Marilyn Monroe!).

Inevitably, what goes around comes around, and this year Lohan found herself a victim of a robbery in her Hollywood Hills home while she was in New York. "The safe was ripped out of the wall, and the door was off the hinges and door handles removed," her mom told PEOPLE in August. "Bags, shoes and jewelry were taken too. Thank God she wasn't home."

A group of mostly teenagers have been arrested as part of an alleged burglary ring that targeted the homes of Hollywood stars.

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Top Moments: Glee Makes Us Cry, Dancing Makes Us Squirm and More!

There were a lot of surprises on TV this week. We learned that The Chief is a secret drinker who has fallen off the wagon on Grey's Anatomy. Dexter killed an innocent man. On 90210, Jackie threw Silver the birthday party of a lifetime — and then gave her a surprise of a different sort. And Glee's Sue Sylvester made us see something deeper about the emotional terrorist in a track suit. Welcome to Top Moments: Surprise Party Edition.

12. Worst Walkout: During a Larry King Live interview, former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean told King he was being inappropriate when he asked why, if religious freedom is so important to her, did she settle her lawsuit against the pageant? When King moved on to a take a call from a gay viewer who asked about her stance on same-sex marriage, Prejean took off her mic and said she was going to walk off. But she had a new book to plug (Google it), so she wasn't going anywhere. Way to take a stance, Carrie!

11. Most Sobering Moment: Grey's Anatomy finally gets to the bottom of what's been eating at the Chief. At the end of an episode in which he botches a routine surgery and Adele accuses him of being unfaithful again, we learn that the Chief's mistress actually comes in a bottle. Someone alert Joe the bartender, the Chief is off the wagon.

10. Best Lie: On House, the cranky doc wants to prove to Cuddy that he's reliable by offering to babysit. Cuddy lies and says she brought the baby to day care, but as House leaves, he hears baby noises coming from the other room. Busted! House enters to find Lucas — his former P.I. — watching the baby.

9. Best Way to Get Fired: After learning that the Brits are planning to sell Sterling Cooper, Don begs Lane Pryce to fire him, Roger and Bert so they can break their contracts and go out on their own. In exchange, they make Lane a partner in their new firm. This sets into motion a caper-like plot that re-energizes Mad Men, as Don & Co. recruit a skeleton crew to steal and move their client files over to the new headquarters of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Very good; happy Christmas!

8. Biggest Tear Jerk: At Khloe Kardashian and L.A. Laker Lamar Odom's rehearsal dinner, which was broadcast on E!'s Keeping Up with the Karsdashians: The Wedding, Bruce Jenner, Khloe's stepfather, gave a surprisingly sincere, moving speech that honored Robert Kardashian, Khloe's late father.

7. Best Mistake: On Dexter, our favorite serial killer offs a man who he believes murdered a model. But he second-guesses himself when police arrest the man's assistant for the same crime. For the first time, Dexter has broken his code and killed an innocent man. He's just like any other murderer now.

6. F for Effort Award: Is Heroes even trying anymore? In a Fight Club-like twist, Matt Parkman throws himself in front of a hail of gunfire, making the ultimate sacrifice to rid the world of Sylar. It's a sad moment, as the episode ends with Parkman in pretty rough shape. It would be quite a cliff-hanger... if the previews for next week didn't then show Peter healing Matt. Add "suspense" to the list of things the show has given up on.

5. Best Metaphor: What is it with Brits and cheeky descriptions of panna cotta? After testing Robin's ultra-blah attempt at the Italian dessert on Top Chef, guest judge Nigella Lawson informs us that a perfect panna cotta should have the "quiver of a 17th-century courtesan's inner thigh." This vivid description is reminiscent of Jay Rayner's similar analogy on Top Chef Masters, during which he said the ideal panna cotta should "wobble like a woman's breast." It's just custard, people. Settle down!

4. Best Birthday: On 90210, Silver's mom, Jackie, surprises her daughter with an impressive half-birthday celebration, in which she restages all the birthdays she missed over the years because she was too drunk or stoned to remember them — including the ones when Silver wanted to be an astronaut and when she wanted to go camping. The sweetness of Jackie's tender apology is short-lived, as just hours later, Silver finds Jackie, who is now undergoing cancer treatment, unconscious in their tent and calls for an ambulance.

3. Best Dead Horse: Kanye-gate jokes are so five minutes ago. Even Taylor Swift mostly avoided them on her recent SNL appearance. But the CMAs send the bit out with a bang. As Carrie Underwood tells co-host Brad Paisley that he had the best video of the year, 88-year-old country legend Little Jimmy Dickens bum-rushes the stage to voice his support for — you guessed it — Swift. "I'll let you finish later," Dickens tells Paisley with a twang. "I know you had a nice video and all, but Taylor Swift made the best video of all time. Of all time! You go, girl!" (OK, let's make it official: Kanye-gate jokes are over.)

2. Worst Metaphor: As winners of Dancing with the Stars' Design-A-Dance, ex-partners in dance (and love) Mark Ballas and Sabrina Bryan leave little to the imagination with an overtly sexual paso doble that makes us oddly uncomfortable. We want these three images Cloroxed from our brains: a mouth-agape-at-the-crotch maneuver, a Kama Sutra-inspired straddle-somersault combo and a classic face-in-the-bosom.

1. Squishiest Reveal: Glee showed us a softer side of Sue Sylvester this week. When forced to hold open auditions for the Cheerios, Sue selects Becky, a student with Down Syndrome, for the squad — much to the befuddlement of everyone. The principal tells Will that Sue has paid to install wheelchair-access ramps at the school. And at the episode's close, we meet Sue's mentally disabled sister, and for the first time, we see compassion flow like honey from McKinley High's torturer-in-chief.

CMA Awards Leads ABC to Top Honors

A Taylor Swift-dominated Country Music Association Awards dominated the rest of its TV competition, according to early Nielsen estimates.

The 43rd Annual CMA Awards averaged 16.8 million viewers over its three-hour telecast and was the most-watched CMA Awards in four years. ABC also won every half-hour in the adults 18-to-49 demographic.

Although CBS ran a distant second, the lack of ABC's comedy block helped boost sitcoms The New Adventures of Old Christine (7.6 million viewers) and Gary Unmarried (7.7 million viewers). Christine pulled its best demo score since the season premiere, while Gary's was at its highest in almost a year. Criminal Minds (12.3 million viewers) lagged a bit, but Part 2 of the CSI trilogy crossover lead CSI: NY (13.9 million viewers) to its best numbers since September.

Also gaining Wednesday was NBC's Law & Order: SVU (8.8 million viewers), which matched its season-high in the demo. Lead-in Mercy (6.8 million viewers) was also up a bit, and The Jay Leno Show earned 4.6 million viewers at 10/9c.

Fox got off to a slow start with the first So You Think You Can Dance dedicated results show of the season (5.5 million viewers), but improved with Glee (7.3 million viewers). On the CW, America's Next Top Model (3.2 million viewers) was down, and a Vampire Diaries repeat earned 1.2 million viewers.

Fox Cancels Dollhouse

Fox has canceled Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

The sci-fi series, which stars Eliza Dushku, is currently filming its 11th episode and will complete its 13-episode order.

Though Dollhouse saw a ratings bump from DVR viewing after a grim performance in the fall, Fox pulled the cult favorite from its November-sweeps schedule after four episodes.
Fox pulls Dollhouse off November sweeps schedule

Whedon took to his fan site to post the following:

"I don't have a lot to say. I'm extremely proud of the people I've worked with: my star, my staff, my cast, my crew. I feel the show is getting better pretty much every week, and I think you'll agree in the coming months. I'm grateful that we got to put it on, and then come back and put it on again.

I'm off to pursue internet ventures/binge drinking. Possibly that relaxation thing I've read so much about. By the time the last episode airs, you'll know what my next project is. But for now there's a lot of work still to be done, and disappointment to bear."

A source close to the production told that Fox will air the remaining episodes starting Dec. 4 and that the series finale is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22.

Are you sad to see Dollhouse go?

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Britney Spears 'Upset' By Lip-Synching Flap

Britney Spears is hopping mad about the furor in Australia over her lip-synching at a concert on her "Circus" tour, her tour promoter says.

"Britney is aware of all this and she's extremely upset by it," Paul Dainty told The Australian.
What really put Spears, 27, over the edge were reports that fans walked out of the show in Perth on Friday, something Dainty calls hogwash.

"It's the biggest lie I've ever heard," he said. "I'm so angry. We can take heat if there's something wrong and people can review shows badly – that's something you have to live with – but to say people stormed out of the show was an absolute fabrication."

The show, at which prime seats went for up to $1,300, was supposedly so lackluster that fans fled by the third song.

But Spears's manager said nearly 20,000 Britney fans can't be wrong.

"Its unfortunate that one journalist in Perth didn't enjoy the show last night," Adam Leber Tweeted on Spears's Twitter account. "Fortunately the other 18,272 fans in attendance did."

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A Little Piece of Me

When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy, tan tiles. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving, explaining it was for the best, I could do better, it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune; perhaps one did not become immune to such felony.

He left and I tried to get on with my life. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped in to the bone china. That was what my life had been like, endless omissions of coffee granules, somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.

Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing warning I pretended not to hear it. That's what Mike's leaving had been like, sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than have things finished. I laughed at myself. Imagine getting all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.

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And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope, a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides there are more important things. More important than love, I insist to myself firmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.

He doesn't haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods, looking down on those below me. Suddenly I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter, brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later, with some degree of understanding, that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next night my dream is similar to the previous nights, but without the hunter. I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me, there is another person, not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend, but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together, what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth, a little understanding of my physical being. He has only, a little piece of me.

Five Mad Men Spin-Offs We Would Totally Watch

So the Mad Men season three finale airs on Sunday and it's promising to be a corker. The characters are perched precariously on the brink of a new and frightening America. Marriages are crumbling, secrets are being unearthed, and minds are stumbling into whole new ways of thinking. It almost feels as though the show is... gulp... wrapping up. Don't get scared, it's definitely not. But what if it were? If you wanted to see a Mad Men character developed further in some sort spin-off—the way we followed Frasier Crane out of the Boston bar and over to Seattle—who would it be? Where or when would it be set? Here are some of our ideas.

Carla

How the other half lives
Though the Drapers' black nanny/maid Carla has been a presence since the first season, she loomed a lot larger in this year's episodes. She became something gently symbolic, a haunting and evocative reminder of the other, bigger conflicts raging outside of the Draper household. So we'd totally watch a show all about who Carla is—a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead about strata of class and race in 1960s New York. Where does Carla live? How is she with her own children? What does she say about the Drapers and their selfish, inward lives when she's out of the uniform and home with her family? We haven't had many shows about the black civil rights movement told from an African American perspective—though the terrific I'll Fly Away comes to mind (also about a housekeeper), many of the rest of these stories are told from the lens of confused white middle class suburbia. A Carla spin-off could offer some much needed balance.

Sal

Birth of a movement

Think of Sal's spin-off as the TV version of the recent (and soon-to-be ongoing) off-Broadway play The Temperamentals (featuring Ugly Betty's Marc!). Basically, once the closeted art director has stopped reeling from the whole Sterling Cooper firing him thing, and when he blessedly untethers himself from his poor wife, he gets in with a group of smart, driven gay men who are tired of living in secret. Thus, through Sal's eyes, we see the foment of the gay civil rights movement, up to Stonewall and beyond. Love, life, revolution—all that good stuff would be bundled up into a stirring, rabble-rousing drama series. Plus we'd finally, finally get to see Sal a little happy and in love. Maybe with some dashing, tweedy Columbia professor. Or a beatnik-turned-hippie intellectual. Oh the possibilities!

Pete & Trudy

Are you going to San Francisco?

During last week's Kennedy assassination episode, we reveled in the brief moment where stuffy weasel Pete Campbell seemed to suddenly blossom into someone more thoughtful and compassionate. He spoke about his disgust with the unfeeling corporate world, with cynical conservatism. His timid sparrow of a wife Trudy got on board with him, staging their own little boycott against a tony society wedding. Is our once-prudish young couple turning into a pair of hippies? We hope so! Their spin-off would find them entering the world of free love and anti-war rebellion, from the smoky enclaves of Central Park to the wastoid recesses of the Haight. Think Hair, only probably with less singing.

Sally Draper

Mr. Warhol, I presume?

This season we learned that Don and Betty's daughter is a mite bit... troubled. Well, maybe not troubled exactly, but she certainly marches to the beat of her own drummer. So we think it'd be pretty fascinating to take a look at a teenage/early-twentysomething Sally on the loose in New York City. We envision her stumbling through the cokey heyday of disco and Studio 54, rubbing elbows with the glamorous cultural elite, haunting The Factory like some skinny wraith. As a rich girl from Ossining, she wouldn't really need to work. No, her Barnard degree is all for show. She spends her time merely trying to survive the Me Decade, unaware that the whole post-war party is swiftly going to dissolve into the bleak Reagan years.

Roger

Paris, je t'aime

Remember a couple weeks ago when bossman Roger and that dog food lady reminisced about their heady days as young expats in pre-WWII Paris? Wouldn't you just love to see more of that story? Well, we would. Cast some suave kid to play the young Sterling, haul the crew to Paris, and just have at it. Romance, philosophy, the impending clouds of the world's near-destruction, fabulous costumes... It could all be done in a beautiful, wistful manner befitting the most beautiful, wistful city in the entire world. Think The Talented Mr. Ripley set in 1930s Paris instead of 1950s Italy. And, you know, with a lot less killing.
And there are loads of other possibilities. We certainly wouldn't object to something about Joan, or even one of the other ad guys. What about you? What eras and characters would you like to see the terrific Mad Men creative team explore?

Battlestar Galactica

Who Will Be Absent From Lost's Final Season?

If you've kept yourself completely in the dark on what's ahead for the sixth and final season of Lost, then God bless you and your inhuman willpower—but by all means LEAVE NOW! Not that we've got any real spoilers to share, since this info has been readily bandied about on the Web and at Comic-Con. But still, we've got your best Lost-viewing interests at heart.

This is what we do know: A ton of former Lost characters, both "dead" and alive, will return next season (the consensus is that we will see what would've happened if Oceanic 815 wasn't torn to pieces over the Pacific). A promotional poster has shown regular cast members alongside dead Losties—including Charlotte, Ana Lucia, and Mr. Eko—and it's no secret that Ian Somerhalder (Boone) and others have been filming scenes in Hawaii for the final season.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, there appears to be one actress who won't be returning, but it's her choice. Actress Maggie Grace, who plays the spoiled bitch dearly departed Shannon, has not signed on for the final season, according to E! Online.

If, like me, you're wondering w
hat's going on in this girl's head to deny an opportunity to finish out Lost, here's the deal: Apparently, her work schedule is pretty manic at the moment, and she can't make the time to head back to Hawaii to film a few scenes for the show that made her famous. But still, not finishing off Lost? You have to be 10 types of crazy not to want to be part of that (or upset you were killed off early).

If she stays away, she'll join Harold Perrineau, who played Michael "Waaaaalt!" Dawson, as the only (known) former character not returning (we'll see who makes the final cut). Perrineau apparently has not been asked to return... yet?

In other Lost news, Jeff Fahey and Zuleikha Robinson, who played wacky pilot Frank Lapidus and bounty hunter Ilana, respectively, have been upped to regular status. My question is this: Will Ilana finally have a purpose this time around?

I know Shannon wasn't exactly a fan favorite, but don't you think she should be back with the rest of the cast?

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Former NCIS Star Joins New TNT Cop Show

...Comedy Central has ordered six episodes of a new sketch show starring Nick Swardson--who played Terry, everyone's favorite roller-skating meth-addicted street hustler, on Reno: 911!. The show will feature sketches, digital shorts, and man-on-the-street interview stuff. And you can bet there will be lots of gay jokes. [Variety]

...Sasha Alexander, who you probably know from NCIS (she played Kate) but should really remember as Pacey's sister on the experimental art-house series Dawson's Creek, is joining the cast of that TNT/Angie Harmon show Rizzoli. Also in the cast will be veteran actor Bruce McGill, who you probably saw in... everything. [THR]

...As if we needed more proof that mediocrity can flourish in America, Fox has ordered a sixth, count 'em sixth, season of their animated groanfest American Dad!. Upon hearing the news, Arrested Development was seen stomping out of the room and sulking alone by the pool for an hour. [Variety]

Battlestar Galactica

...Oh, that's too bad. The fun and flamboyant Hugh Jackman will not be hosting next year's Oscars, it seems. He didn't want to do it two years in a row. I know many of you will think "Oh, now Neil Patrick Harris can do it!", to which I say "Pah!" What it really means is that now Conan O'Brien can do it. Pleeeease? [EW]

...Ah yes, here's that whole mediocrity thing again. Josh Heald, writer of the upcoming film Hot Tub Time Machine--starring Helen Mirren and Stephen Dillane--has two TV projects currently in development. One is called Sausagefest and stars Norm MacDonald. This bodes well for the success of my original pilot script, Farts!, starring Jim Breuer. [THR]

...HBO is developing a series based on The Follower, a novel about a stalker in New York City. The show will be sort of a really dark comedy, about the love lives of busy New Yorkers as seen through the eyes of a guy that's stalking all of them. So, wait... heh. Is this based on truth? Because, hah. Um... how did... I mean, I'm not stalking, it's just... I have an active interest in... Sigh. OK, fine. I'll move.