News

The Young and the Restless tallied 23 nominations as honors were announced this morning for the 40th annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Restless’ impressive take helped CBS lead all networks with 50 overall nominations. PBS and ABC followed, with 44 and 38 nods, respectively.

General Hospital, which earned 19 nominations, joined Restless in the race for Outstanding Drama Series, and Sesame Street received 17 nods, including three for Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo who faces allegations of sexual misconduct.

Good Morning America and Today will bring their ratings rivalry to the Emmys, where they’ll be joined by CBS Sunday Morning in the Outstanding Morning Program category.

Actress Vivica A. Fox has hit out at claims a former lover is touting a tape of them having sex.

Blogger Sandra Rose this week (ends04Jan08) claimed the man had emailed pals phone footage of Fox, 43, performing oral sex on him - and that the actress had contacted the police.

Radio presenter Porsche Foxx from Atlanta, Georgia, has also "confirmed that her close friend nm0000407 autoVivica Fox[/link] appears in a controversial sex tape".

But Fox's manager, nm1373699 autoLita Richardson[/link], tells the New York Daily News, "It's not true."

The star was last month charged with drink driving, following her arrest in early 2006. She is currently shooting a movie called Caught On Tape.

Vivica A. Fox has signed with APA for representation. The actress-producer, who has been appearing on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm", won the 2006 NAACP Image Award for outstanding actress in a drama series for her starring role on Lifetime's "1-800-Missing". Her credits include such feature films as "Kill Bill-Vol. 1" and "Ella Enchanted". Behind the scenes, Fox was co-executive producer on "Missing" and the features "Motives", "Getting Played" and "The Salon". Fox, who continues to be managed by Lita Richardson Entertainment, had been represented by Paradigm.

Pat O'Brien has signed with ICM in all areas. O'Brien serves as host of CBS Television Distribution's syndicated newsmagazine "The Insider" and also has anchored "Access Hollywood". In addition, O'Brien has worked as a sports broadcaster, covering major events for CBS Sports, including the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and NCAA basketball tournament, and he also covered several Olympic Games for NBC, MSNBC and CNBC. He also recently hosted the U.S. Open for CBS. O'Brien, who wrote the book "Talkin' Sports: A B.S.-er's Guide," has written regular sports columns for the New York Daily News, serves as gadget editor for L.A.

PARK CITY -- The clip-joint film franchise, so deservedly profitable with the hilarious "Barbershop", has hit a snag with "The Salon", the distaff flip side. Centering on a black woman's hair salon, this girl-talk comedy is a cut below its predecessors. Still, "The Salon" should curl some respectable, if not terrific, boxoffice business. As a DVD purchase, where a whole room can hoot 'n' holler and talk back to the antics, "The Salon" should be a stylish performer.

Starring Vivica A. Fox as the owner of an inner-city hair salon, the movie is constant drama, most of it of the lowbrow variety. There is, indeed, a kooky array of customers and clippers, including: the fat 'n' sassy, the gold-digger, the gay stylist, the player, the abused woman, the white girl and, for gel, a cute little boy. To boot, there's a sidewalk full of knuckleheads, including two hoochies, their pimp, an old coot, a wino and assorted slugs and thugs.

Everybody has issues and a flair for in-your-face expression. There is some hilarity and amusing attitude, but in general this comedy is blow 'n' dry clowning. The prototypical characters slam through predictable confrontations and stereotypical antics. Pushing everyone's hot button generates noisy if not exactly raucous interactions. Every now and then someone delivers a sermon: on interracial dating, Halle's Oscar, child rearing. None are as funny as Cedric the Entertainer's sharp gibes in "Barbershop".

In writer-director Mark Brown's generic scenario, the plot is like an updated beehive as Jenny (Fox) fights City Hall to save her shop from being turned into a municipal parking lot. City Hall in this formulaic case is personified by a handsome lawyer Darrin Dewitt Henson) who inspires Jenny to new entrepreneurial and personal heights.

The players are a well-selected batch, including most prominently Fox as the "mother of the shop." Garrett Morris delivers an amusingly squirrely cameo as an old coot from the rest home who likes to hang with the ladies.

Amped up in the broadest and oldest of comic styles, "The Salon" could use some comic attachments, namely some strands of real human fibers instead of its synthetic character creations.

The Salon

C4 Pictures

Credits:

Producers: Mark Brown, Carl Craig, Vivica A. Fox

Screenwriter/director: Mark Brown

Executive producer: David T. Otom

Co-executive producers: Doug McHenry, Derrick Lea

Co-producers: Zatella Beatty, Lita Richardson, Brent Odom

Director of photography: Brandon Trost

Casting: Joe Adams

Key hair stylist: Sharmaine Jenkins

Editor: Earl Watson

Sound mixer: Greg Cosh

Line producer: Phil Garnes

Cast:

Jenny: Vivica A. Fox

LaShaunna: Kym Whitley

Tami: Brooke Burns

Michael: Darrin Dewitt Henson

Bob: Greg Germann

Patrick: Terrence Howard

Brenda: Monica Calhoun

Ricky: Dondre Whitfield

Trina: Taral Hicks

D.D.: D'Angelo Wilson

Trey: Dabir Snell

Percy: Garrett Morris

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 92 minutes...

Carmen Electra, Vivica A. Fox, Bill Bellamy and Stacey Dash will star in the indie Getting Played for writer-director David Silberg. Played is lensing in Los Angeles. The project, penned by first-time helmer Silberg, revolves around three beautiful women (Electra, Fox, Dash) who have had their share of men trouble. The trio enter into a game of fun by trying to seduce a random target that they must catch on video. Problems arise when the random man (Bellamy) is in on the joke. Joe Torry, Dorian Gregory and Kathy Najimy round out the cast. Fox also is producing the project along with Lita Richardson, Michael Catalano and Silberg. Eric Manlunas is executive producing. Michael Feifer is co-producing. Electra is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and the law firm Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman. Her new series, Til Death Do Us Part, which chronicles the nuptials of Electra and rocker Dave Navarro, premieres next week on MTV. Fox is repped by Writers and Artists Group International. Bellamy is repped by CAA, Management 360 and attorney Nina Shaw. Dash is repped by Michael & Associates.