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American Morning
Coming Attractions for 2002
Aired January 03, 2002 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Americans trying to recover from the trauma and the tragedy of 2001 can count on familiar images in entertainment this year.
CNN's Brian Palmer has previews now of the coming attractions from television, music and the movies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ORLANDO BLOOM, ACTOR, "THE LORD OF THE RINGS": Something draws near. I can feel it.
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 2002 promises a mix of the familiar and the adventurous, as moviemakers, musicians and TV moguls seek to capture our hearts, minds and dollars after a historically trying year.
DORIS ROBERTS, ACTOR, "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND": I'm just trying to help.
RAY ROMANO, ACTOR, "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND": Help me now, please.
ROBERTS: Okay. Okay.
LISA BERNHARD, "TV GUIDE": I think generally we still are going to watch feel-good shows. They don't have to be super touchy-feely, but I don't think we want to watch anything, yet, that gets us too stressed out. I do think, quality dramas with good stories and shows that make us laugh will still do well.
PALMER: Dramas that revolve around American sailors, soldiers and aviators like "JAG" or shows with spy themes like "ALIAS" and "24" pack the lineup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to get water, like, in the next hour.
PALMER: Reality TV shows like "SURVIVOR IV" and "FEAR FACTOR" live on in 2002, and on the comedy front, "FRIENDS" chugs into its eighth season, along with old favorites like "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND" and newcomers, "BERNIE MAC" and "SCRUBS". Cable TV, with hits like HBO's "SOPRANOS" and "SEX AND THE CITY" will continue to push programming limits and spur the broadcast network to pump up the raciness in their offerings.
KIM CATTRALL, ACTOR, "SEX AND THE CITY": Why wasn't I picked? I'm single and definitely fabulous!
THOM GEIER, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": In the world of film, it seems to be a year of sequels. You have sequels coming up to "STAR WARS: EPISODE 2," you have "MEN IN BLACK 2," "STUART LITTLE 2," "AUSTIN POWERS 3." And it's sequels all over the place.
PALMER: And the next holiday season will be deja vu all over again. with the release of new episodes in "THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY POTTER" and the Hobbit-driven "LORD OF THE RINGS" saga.
(MUSIC, MARC ANTHONY, "I NEED TO KNOW")
PALMER: 2002 also promises new records from hibernating artists like Marc Anthony, Alanis Morissette, Cher and Celine Dion.
(MUSIC, MADONNA, "MUSIC")
PALMER: Madonna heads into the studio and Alicia Keys heads out on tour,where Brtney already is.
(MUSIC, BRITNEY SPEARS, "WATCH ME")
LARRY FLICK, "BILLBOARD MAGAZINE": It's pretty much over for the whole teen pop phenomena, unless you're 'NSync or Britney Spears. Depends how good Christina Aguilera's record is to see how she'll do. If she'll maintain.
(VIDEO CLIP, "HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH," FINE LINE PICTURES)
PALMER: And also, look for surprises from outside the mainstream. Sundance-type low budget film and indy music to liven up the new year.
Brian Palmer, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: All right. Brian Palmer, thank you very much.
Well, High-profile celebrity splits and Hollywood patriotism just some of the memorable entertainment images that we saw during 2001. And now, we look ahead and look back now with B.J. Sigesmund. He is with the -- he's the entertainment reporter for "NEWSWEEK" Magazine. He joins us -- I believe you're in New York, right?
B.J. SIGESMUND, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER, "NEWSWEEK": Yes, sir.
HARRIS: There you go. I thought I recognized that studio behind you. Good morning and Happy New Year to you.
SIGESMUND: Thank you.
HARRIS: All right. Let's start quickly with a look back. What do you think was -- what would you call the top story, entertainment- wise, of 2001?
SIGESMUNG: Definitely would have to be the divorce of Tom Cruise and Nichol Kidman. Not only are they two of the biggest stars, but funny enough, they both emerged and had banner years. Especially Nichol Kidman.
HARRIS: And that's true. Yeah.
SIGESMUNG: She had two huge movies. She's a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination, and we may even see her win. So...
HARRIS: That's a nice comeback. And you know what? That story actually had some legs because it happened early in the year. Didn't it?
SIGESMUNG: Right. It happened, you know, pre-dated 9/11, and had the media salivating for months and months.
HARRIS: Yes.
SIGESMUNG: And I mean, even though the divorce was public and messy, you know, they both managed to come out of it very, very well.
HARRIS: All right. Let's get to the movies. Now, it looks like Hollywood is putting the 2 in 2002, with all of these different remakes and the 2 -- I'm sorry, the sequels of all the movies that are coming out. Now, what do you make of all that?
SIGESMUNG: Well, what we're seeing is a continued recycling of content in pop culture that we've become accustomed to over the last few years. Only now because of the current climate, we're even going to see more of it. Audiences have demonstrated since the 11th that what they want is what's comfortable and familiar. Thus, "SCOOBY DOO, SPIDERMAN, MEN IN BLACK 2, STAR WARS 2, LORD OF THE RINGS 2." You know it's just everything that we know already, but just done a little bit differently.
HARRIS: Yeah, but B.J., you know, done differently. But which ones are going to be done well? You know, there's only been one case, in my family's observed, where the sequel's actually as good as or -- actually better -- than the original. That was that "DR. DOOLITTLE 2." The kids loved that one a heck of a lot better than the first one. You know, what about this? Are we going to be looking at just, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SIGESMUND: I imagine that both the Harry Potter sequel and the second -- "LORD OF THE RINGS 2" will be very simlar in tone and style to the current movies in the theater, because there were -- well, "LORD OF THE RINGS" as you know, was shot all at the same time.
HARRIS: That's right. Yeah.
SIGESMUND: So, it's going to be very similar. I don't think that there's going to be any kind of lower -- less quality on that one. HARRIS: Okay. And you know, around this building, we're not allowed to say anything bad about "SCOOBY DOO". We'll leave that one alone, too.
SIGESMUND: Okay.
HARRIS: Well, let me ask you about the tabloid stories. What are you looking for in tabloid stories this year? What's going to be the Nichol and Tom story this year?
SIGESMUND: Well, I'm sorry to say, you know, there's always rehab. That was one of the big stories of last year with Mariah, of course, being that the best illustration of that, Mariah Carey. But you also had Ben Affleck, and his alcohol problems. Matthew Perry went into rehab for undetermined reasons. It's Hollywood, and where there's money and celebrity and fame, there's also drinking and drug problems sometimes. So, we might see that in the new year. And otherwise, I don't really know. Celebrities were on good behavior for a while after the 11th, but, once Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting, maybe we broke out of that and we're going to see some more bad behavior from them.
HARRIS: Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, you can always count on Dennis Rodman! No doubt we'll hear from him sometime before the year is out! What about in television? What do you expect to see? Any big landmarks to see in television? How about -- how about "FRIENDS"? I mean, those guys have been around for, what, 100 years now?
SIGESMUND: Right. Exactly.
HARRIS: Are they going to sign again? What do you think?
SIGESMUND: Yes. You know, they may -- they might have a ninth or tenth season. We don't know. I think if NBC has their way, they will have that. What audiences have shown again with television is they want what's familiar. There have been no breakout shows this season. Audiences have gone back to what they like. "SURVIVOR, " "THE PRACTICE, " "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND" and, of course, the Thursday night lineup. We're going to see more of that. There's the Julia Louis-Dreyfus show that's in the works. There's "SEX AND THE CITY", which was returning this Sunday night. Carson Daily is moving his act to late night. There's even "THAT 80S SHOW", a spin-off to "THAT 70S SHOW."
HARRIS: You're kidding!
SIGESMUND: So, again, we're going with what's-- networks are putting out what's familiar, what people want, just because we've shown that. We've shown that we're interested in that.
HARRIS: And the ratings always prove it. People keep coming back to it. All right. See how it shapes up and maybe we'll talk to you in about a year from now. See if you're right or not. B.J. Sigesmund, thanks much and good luck to you. Have a good year.
SIGESMUND: Thanks. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
