Showbiz Today

'Friends' Cast Seeking Sizable Salary Increase; Kim Basinger Goes From 'L.A. Confidential' to Africa; Country Music Awards is Family Affair

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM MORET, CO-HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Jim Moret in Los Angeles, where striking actors have made an impact on at least one commercial production. Picketers in Los Angeles shut down a Nike commercial Wednesday after teamsters refused to cross a picket line. Negotiators for advertisers told CNN they have returned to normal production levels, using alternative locations and both union and non-union actors.

Commercial actors aren't the only ones looking to settle a wage dispute. The cast members of the top-rated NBC sitcom "Friends" are renegotiating their contracts as well. The six stars want a whopping salary increase. Is the high price tag justified?

Sherri Sylvester takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FRIENDS")

DAVID SCHWIMMER, ACTOR: It's funny, it's not funny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Friends" is expected to score big Nielsen numbers with Bruce Willis and Tom Selleck onboard during sweeps, and behind the scenes, there is talk of big numbers as well, as the show's stars renegotiate their contracts. They are currently making $125,000 per episode each. "Entertainment Weekly" reports that they are asking for $800,000 per show, and they are sticking together.

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS: Well, I think there's probably strength in numbers, yes.

SYLVESTER: She should know. The all-for-one, one-for-all strategy brought "Seinfeld"'s co-stars a final season salary of $600,000 a week each. And many believe the "Friends" six-pack is underpaid.

MARK SCHWED, "TV GUIDE": One-hundred-and-twenty-five-dollars an episode sounds like a lot of money, but in TV dollars, it's pathetic for the number-one sitcom on the air. SYLVESTER: James Gandolfini, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny make $100,000+ per episode, according to published reports. Kelsey Grammer's paycheck more than doubles that. Michael J. Fox, John Lithgow, Don Johnson and Chuck Norris take home six-figure per show paychecks.

But top TV earner Bill Cosby says star salaries represent only part of the equation.

BILL COSBY, ACTOR: General Electric owns NBC. Hey man, if the talent asks for it and if they can't pay it, if NBC can't pay it, then they fire the people, don't they? I don't see where NBC is going broke because they have to pay.

ANTHONY EDWARDS, ACTOR: NBC's been making a tremendous amount of money off of this show, with Super Bowl numbers in advertising,

SYLVESTER: Anthony Edwards is talking about "ER," which, along with "Friends," commands $1 million per minute of advertising. Warner Brothers produces both shows and shares CNN's parent company, Time Warner. The studio is expected to gross $1 billion on "Friends" syndicated reruns over five years.

JOHN WELLS, EXEC. PRODUCER, "ER": The people who negotiate these salaries do it with a real eye to the bottom line. The agents know exactly how much the companies are making and want what they think is the appropriate share of that.

WAYNE FRIEDMAN, ADVERTISING AGE: Every year where the ratings have gone down, ad rates have gone way up all the time, double digit increases every single year.

SYLVESTER: NBC lost an annual $200 million in ad revenue when it lost "Seinfeld." The network then sealed multimillion, multiyear deals with "ER"'s Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle and Eriq LaSalle. Regis Philbin's reward for saving ABC, $20 million a year. So, "Friends," take some advice from millionaire Drew Carey.

DREW CAREY, ACTOR: Soak NBC, take as much money as you can from them.

SYLVESTER: Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: One of the "Friends" is currently focusing more on his health than on his salary. Actor Matt Perry was hospitalized with severe flu and extreme stomach pains, his spokesperson said. Perry was reportedly undergoing tests and could be out of the hospital today.

Liza Minnelli is also hospitalized and undergoing tests. The entertainer who earlier this week canceled her touring show, "Minnelli on Minnelli," is hospitalized with both double pneumonia and a hip problem. Tests are being conducted to determine whether Minnelli needs a hip replacement, while a full recovery is expected from the pneumonia.

Kim Basinger is returning to the big screen for the first time since her 1997 "L.A. Confidential" Oscar win. Her new film takes her far from L.A., though, to Africa. The actress has combined her onscreen career with her off-screen commitment to environmental causes in "I Dreamed of Africa."

Cynthia Tornquist reports that Basinger takes center stage in this new film.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "I DREAMED OF AFRICA")

KIM BASINGER, ACTRESS: Go! Go! Move!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You maniac, you're insane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASINGER: There were many nights when I would really wake up in a sweat and be really trembling after I accepted this role, and my husband not having read the part or anything, he looked at me and he said, "we are going to Africa, you are doing it, so just accept it and let's just get ready and let's don't go there anymore."

CYNTHIA TORNQUIST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Basinger stars in "I Dreamed of Africa," the real-life story of Kuki Gallman. Gallman and her husband moved from Venice to Kenya in 1972, but the paradise they sought was fraught with danger and death.

BASINGER: It's a gem of a role, that's all. It has everything, emotions. I mean, there's no feeling or emotion that is left unturned in this movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "I DREAMED OF AFRICA")

BASINGER: Wouldn't be fun to make a new start in a new place?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Yeah.

BASINGER: You see. Emma look at me. I have stopped growing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KUKI GALLMAN, AUTHOR, "I DREAMED OF AFRICA": I think Kim put her heart into this part, and she was very genuine and she cried real tears, and I respect that.

TORNQUIST: Director Hugh Hudson believes "I Dreamed of Africa" will establish Basinger as a star who can carry a film on her own.

HUGH HUDSON, DIRECTOR: Normally she is always having a small role, like in "L.A. Confidential," where she was great, won an Oscar, but also she has to -- in most films, she's supporting the man. Here, the man, the animals, Africa is supporting her. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "I DREAMED OF AFRICA")

BASINGER: There are things to do here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUDSON: She's as good as any actress could have been. Good as Glenn Close would have been. Good as Meryl Streep.

TORNQUIST: Basinger has appeared in more than 20 films, including "Batman," "9 1/2 Weeks," and "Final Analysis." While filming "The Marrying Man," she met Alec Baldwin. They married and now have a 3-year-old daughter. But her career has also hit some rough spots, including a lawsuit by the producers of the film "Boxing Helena," which forced her into bankruptcy.

BASINGER: I've touched the bottom a couple of times. I've faced a lot of -- you know, touched the bottom and had to try to swim back up to the top. But it's been a real gift, I mean, that was a real kind of lesson. And you shake hands with the bottom and then you have such a great appreciation at the top, or the middle, or anywhere, and priorities are different, everything changes in your life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "I DREAMED OF AFRICA")

BASINGER: We've arrived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TORNQUIST: Cynthia Tornquist, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: More dreamy tigers and lions when Bill Tush meets up with Ringling Brothers' lady lion tamer. And it's couples night at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: 'N Sync has landed on top of the "Billboard" albums chart for the sixth week in a row, selling 248,000 copies of their album, "No Strings Attached." The competition is warming up, though. Toni Braxton's new album, "The Heat," gave the boy band a run for their money, selling 199,000 copies.

Now, let's take a look at the week's top singles as compiled by "Billboard" magazine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

10: "Amazed," Lonestar.

9: "Be With You," Enrique Iglesias.

8: "Everything You Want," Vertical Horizon.

7: "Bye Bye Bye," 'N Sync.

6: "I Try," Macy Gray.

5: "Say My Name," Destiny's Child.

4: "Thong Song," Sisqo.

3: "Breathe," Faith Hill.

2: "He Wasn't Man Enough," Toni Braxton.

1: "Maria, Maria," Santana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORET: Country sweethearts Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have more than their love to celebrate. The two also have matching his-and-hers trophies from the 35th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Los Angeles Tuesday night. Our musical guest yesterday, Brad Paisley, also has reason to celebrate.

Lauren Hunter was in the winner's circle and has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hollywood went country Wednesday night at the 35th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. It was a family affair as husbands and wives shared the spotlight. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill won top male and female vocalist honors for the second year in a row.

FAITH HILL, MUSICIAN: To my husband, who I would be able to do nothing without you, absolutely nothing.

TIM MCGRAW, MUSICIAN: If either one of us win it, it goes to the same cabinet. And we can lie and say, you know, she's probably got more than me, so if she wins, I can just tell my friends they're mine when they come over.

HUNTER: The Dixie Chicks grabbed two hats, winning album of the year and top vocal group.

NATALIE MAINES, ACTRESS: We finally got on the front row of an award show. We've been working our way up, and they sat us today, and we looked at it and said, no, you must have the wrong seats, we don't sit in the front row, and we were, and it was awesome.

HUNTER: And it was an amazing night for Lonestar, as the group collected song and single record of the year awards.

RICHIE MCDONALD, MUSICIAN: I think we all have a special place in our houses where they will go and we'll treasure them forever, and I just want to tell my little boy, it better not end up in your toy box.

(LAUGHTER) HUNTER: But it was fun and games for a couple of first-time winners.

MONTGOMERY GENTRY, MUSICIAN: At least we're not riding in a '73 Pinto with all the drums and stuff on top of it anymore. We've got a bus.

JESSICA ANDREWS, MUSICIAN: I said, "Is that me? Did they say me?" It was hilarious, because I really didn't realize that they had said my name.

HUNTER: Shania Twain was the only no-show as winner of the night's top award, entertainer of the year.

DOLLY PARTON, MUSICIAN: We accept this award on her behalf. Maybe I can take it to her and I can get to meet her.

HUNTER (on camera): It's one of country music's biggest nights and a chance for the artists to do a little stargazing of their own. And the person many wanted to see was someone not even highlighted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best highlight tonight was Dolly Parton talked to us.

NAOMI JUDD, MUSICIAN: Wynona is so fascinated by Dolly Parton. She walked up to her last night just like a child and said, "Can I come over to your house? We can drink moonshine?"

HUNTER: It was a chance for country stars to celebrate their music..,

BILLY GILMAN, MUSICIAN (singing): A thousand prayers, a million words.

HUNTER: And their heroes.

BRAD PAISLEY, MUSICIAN: I got to meet George Strait, and that guy "germed" him pretty bad. That's a national term for a...

(LAUGHTER)

PAISLEY: I just started shaking his hand and wouldn't let go.

PARTON: I hope you had as much fun as me.

HUNTER: Lauren Hunter, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Does not mince words.

Checking out your favorite country act or almost any other musical genre is getting easier, thanks to some snazzy, high-powered hard drives. Computer hardware is migrating to hi-fi, but could this new technology make your CD player obsolete?

Dennis Michael finds out in the "Tech Guide."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS MICHAEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tivo and its competitor, Replay, represent a new way to record video -- no tape, no laser, but a hard drive, not unlike the drive in your computer.

BENTLEY NELSON, QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY: We actually don't view it as a PC kind of hard drive. We really view it as a recorder, a player and a storage device, all built into one.

MICHAEL: It doesn't matter how you view it, this shot of the actual drive box may be the only time you ever see it.

But equipment using Quantum drives are beginning to show up for home entertainment. The Request Multimedia Storage Unit is a CD player mated to a Quantum hard drive.

STEVEN VASQUEZ, REQUEST MULTIMEDIA: This is the next generation CD player. It allows you to bring your existing CD collection to play them, and it remembers them, so you never have to put the CD back in. It stores up to 300 hours of digital music.

MICHAEL: Once converted to digital files, like MP-3, the request player and others, like the Lydstrom Songbank Memory System, become instant access jukeboxes. And searching for that CD you were just playing last month, in fact, CDs themselves become superfluous.

NELSON: It takes sort of the one-way, very passive media experience and turns it into a two-way, on-demand kind of experience.

MICHAEL: The audio request system is on the market now. The Lydstrom Songbank CD Memory System will join it on sale within the next month. In a few years, the way we play music now may be only a memory. I'm Dennis Michael with the "Tech Guide."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: We'll be back with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the set of his new movie, and Ringling Brothers' tiger lady tames some wild beasts hanging out at Bill Tush's place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: He's back, and this time around, Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking the topic cloning to the big screen.

In his new film "The Sixth Day," fans will get a double dose of their favorite action here.

Dennis Michael has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And just as he begins to get up, a little reaction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL (voice-over): It's a night on the rooftops in Vancouver, British Columbia. Arnold Schwarzenegger is shooting his next action film, "The Sixth Day," that speculates a worst-case scenario about human cloning.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, ACTOR: A disaster of having been cloned without his knowledge, and coming home and seeing himself all of a sudden at home, celebrating with his family, birthday, hugging his kid, his wife, and having a great time, and he's standing outside the house looking in, and all of a sudden, he's being dragged away. So that's how the movie begins.

MICHAEL: So the star standing next to Arnold isn't his co-star, it's his stand-in. Arnold is his own co-star in "The Sixth Day."

SCHWARZENEGGER: So I have to switch back and forth a lot of times, wardrobe, but also to create the subtle differences in acting, that one guy is a little different than the other. So we always know how this is the clone and this is the real guy.

Just 15 minutes ago, I was the other guy with the leather jacket on, and then today, switched to this kind of acting. Then you put this kind of wardrobe on the more civilian kind of looking wardrobe, and then have this changeover to that kind of a character.

MICHAEL: And, says Arnold Schwarzenegger, sharing the screen with himself is the tough part of this shoot.

SCHWARZENEGGER: You have to do a lot of action, a lot of running, a lot of climbing, a lot of jumping and stunts and all those kind of things. But that's normal.

MICHAEL: Getting back to normal for Arnold Schwarzenegger, in any case. Three years ago, the action star underwent heart surgery and took a year off from his busy film schedule to recuperate. Last year's "End of Days" marked his return to his trademark kind of action film, and he is lining up projects again.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I feel great. I feel great about my professional life. I feel great about my personal life, my family, my children my wife and everything like that. So, I mean, I have no complaints whatsoever.

MICHAEL: In fact, Arnold Schwarzenegger is once again doing so well, he's practically beside himself.

Dennis Michael, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Friday on SHOWBIZ, Kristin Scott Thomas stops by to talk about her new film, "Up at the Villa."

And we're not lying, Drew Carey stars as "Gepetto."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: Jim, since you are a pussycat deep down inside, you may know the answer to this one. The saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But you think it's true of cats as well?

MORET: I'm actually not a cat person, but one woman named Sara is. She's pretty good with felines, in fact. The folks at Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus call her the "Tiger Whisperer."

SYDNEY: And she also makes house calls. Bill Tush invited this tiger whisperer over to teach his old cat some very new tricks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's tall, blonde, beautiful, and she can soothe the savage beast. She is Sara Houcke, or as she is known in the newest edition of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, "Sara the Tiger Whisperer." But could the star of the center ring do the same with a slightly overweight scaredy-cat name Charlie?

(on camera): Sara was gracious enough to come to my home and teach my cat, if we ever get him out of there.

You've been doing this for -- I mean, you're young. You're very young.

SARA HOUCKE, TIGER TRAINER: Twenty-three years.

TUSH: Twenty-three?

HOUCKE: I've worked with animals all my life. I've been around them all my life.

TUSH: Just keep talking a little bit more about what happens when you go into the cage, like we've got Charlie down there.

HOUCKE: Yes...

TUSH: And...

HOUCKE: Well, three years ago I decided that I wanted to work with tigers, I wanted to do something different than anybody else...

TUSH: He's run out of there.

HOUCKE: ... and there is not a lot of females that are in the cage.

TUSH: I've never seen any, actually.

HOUCKE: Yes, and also I wanted to do it in a different kind of way, like, show the relationship between me and the tigers. So all the tricks are based on natural behaviors. TUSH: This is not my cat. This is the neighbors' cat who just comes over to...

HOUCKE: That rang the bell and came in.

TUSH: You think we're not kidding, but that's Beijing. What are the names of your cats?

HOUCKE: Oh, Gandhi, Apollo, Tora, Assam, Tibet.

TUSH: Come on, Charlie. Now who actually who owns all the tigers and stuff -- come on out, come on out.

HOUCKE: His name's Joseph Marken (ph). He's the trainer and he owns the tigers as well.

TUSH: Yes.

HOUCKE: And he's like my teacher. He's taught me -- I mean, I've only started since September working with the...

TUSH: Maybe you should just train me.

HOUCKE: Where's the chair?

TUSH: I'll get up on the chair.

Do you ever get scared?

HOUCKE: No, never. I mean...

TUSH: Do they see fear?

HOUCKE: Yes, definitely. They can, yes. I mean, I've got such an awesome relationship to them.

TUSH: You guys in the circus, I mean, are on the road all the time. You actually live in the trailer.

HOUCKE: Oh, yes. That's -- I mean, I have no house. That is my house.

TUSH: This is part of -- I got him. Charlie, come on out fella', just so everybody knows you're actually here. Come here.

He's very well cared for, aren't you?

HOUCKE: You can see, very well cared for, fat.

TUSH (voice-over): Actually, TV makes you look heavier. So, as Sara the Tiger Whisperer and the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus make their way to your town...

(on camera): ... Charlie and me, we're just going to work on his catskills...

HOUCKE: Yes.

TUSH: ... which is a really bad joke.

(voice-over): Bill Tush, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Not that bad.

Tomorrow on "SHOWBIZ," Drew Carey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus star in "Geppetto," and we are behind the scenes. Until next time, I'm Laurin Sydney in New York.

MORET: And I'm Jim Moret in Hollywood.

We leave you now with more music from Faith Hill, the Academy of Country Music's top female vocalist.

See you tomorrow.

(MUSIC)

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