WWF Wins Round 1 in Suit
May 29 -- Round 1 goes to the World Wrestling Federation.
Variety reports a federal judge in New York last week threw out a motion filed by the Parents Television Council, which was seeking to have the WWF's lawsuit against it dismissed.
In its suit, the WWF alleges the PTC defamed it by claiming that the UPN series WWF Smackdown! led to the deaths of four children ranging in age from 14 months to 6 years. The group links the deaths to children trying out wrestling moves they saw on TV on other youngsters.
The PTC is not likely to back down, however. It has pressured corporations to pull their commercials from Smackdown!, which it calls "TV's biggest villain" and "easily the most ultra-violent, foul-mouthed, and sexually explicit show on prime-time television."
Another Slayer Spinoff?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has already spawned one spinoff, and it's may give birth to a second.
Series creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online he's developing a series for British audiences that revolves around the character of Rupert Giles, played by Anthony Stewart Head. The British actor recently moved back home to be closer to his family.
But will U.S. audiences get to see more of Giles?
"We're so embryonic [with the project], but we're talking about [whether] there are American venues for such a thing," Whedon said. "But I would be looking from day one for a venue so that Americans could see it."
As the original Buffy series prepares to move from the WB to UPN, fans are spending the summer wondering how their heroine (Sarah Michelle Gellar) will be resurrected after sacrificing herself to save her little sis in the season finale. Spinoff Angel will still air on the WB.
Mister Rogers’ ‘Beautiful Day’
Now you can call Dr. Frasier Crane's alter ego Dr. Kelsey Grammer. The actor never graduated from college, but this weekend he received an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
The Frasier star attended Julliard, but didn't make it to the cap-and-gown stage. "Two years into it, they kicked me out, or disinvited me, as I prefer to call it," Grammer told UMass grads.
