Return to Transcripts main page

Showbiz Tonight

Cruise-Holmes Romance; Constantine Gets Booted From `American Idol`

Aired April 28, 2005 - 19:00   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.


KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: The couple that`s got everyone chatting.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: And another "American Idol" arrest. I`m A.J. Hammer.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Tom and Katie -- how did they hook up? Hollywood`s jaw- dropping dating story that`s got the world abuzz.

BRYANT: And Rosie O`Donnell is buzzing about it, too. You`ll hear what she has to say. Plus, she tells us about her new movie with Anjelica Huston.

HAMMER: Judging "American Idol." Constantine hears...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are going home tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: The crowd jeers, and Paula`s in tears. Former "Idol" finalist Kimberly Caldwell, live.

BRYANT: But we give a damn. Country star Jo Dee Messina brings us a delicious surprise.

HAMMER: And hot as Ice. It`s the "XXX" sequel, and Ice Cube is square in the middle of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL VARTAN, "ALIAS": Hi. I`m Michael Vartan. And if it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Hello. I`m Karyn Bryant, and you are at the top of the show.

HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. We are live with you from Headline Prime studios in New York City for the next hour.

BRYANT: Tonight, look no further. We have the scoop on the hottest new couple in Hollywood.

HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was the first to report on air last night that Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes are an item. Well, today it was the talk of the town in towns across America and the world. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer is here with the latest -- David.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: Boy, the buzz continues today. She is the 28-year-old hottie that hooked America with the TV hit "Dawson`s Creek," and he is, of course, a 42-year-old hunk whose film career is almost, almost as old as she is. And together, they`re the hottest couple in Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The big news broke yesterday around the world when these photos of the lovebirds were taken walking hand in hand in Rome. Their relationship is a new one, and already, they`re being photographed like Hollywood royalty.

This was the scene today in Rome when the two emerged from their hotel -- flashbulbs, sunglasses, limousines. The two were in town for the Oscars of Italy, where Cruise was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the president of Italy. Lots of press for such a fledgling relationship.

JESS CAGLE, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: It`s a very new relationship. They met simply when he asked her out on a date. And they`ve only been going out a couple of weeks, so there`s not a whole lot to know about this relationship so far.

HAFFENREFFER: Holmes isn`t wasting any time getting back in the saddle. She only recently called off her engagement to actor Chris Klein. The two were dating for about five years. Katie is certainly a cutie, but a far cry from Cruise`s last love interest, Spanish bombshell Penelope Cruz. Tom Cruise also had two high-profile marriages, to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, and both ended in high-profile divorces. Will Katie be able to deal with the limelight?

CAGLE: From now on, for Katie Holmes, the spotlight is going to be much more intense just because she`s dating Tom Cruise. The good news about dating Tom Cruise is he is a very well-oiled machine. So when he wants to go somewhere privately, he`s able to do that.

HAFFENREFFER: Both stars have some high-profile movies hitting theaters this summer. Cruise will star in "War of the Worlds," a modern- day version of H.G. Wells`s classic book, and you can expect Holmes in "Batman Begins," which explores the Batman legend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Katie Holmes is 26 years old, so does their romance mean more bucks for their films? "People" magazine`s Jess Cagle says Katie may get a little bit more attention when she promotes her movie, but it won`t necessarily impact ticket sales -- A.J.

HAMMER: All right, David. Thanks very much.

Well, one of Cruise`s biggest fans is Rosie O`Donnell, and you can be she has a lot to say about this. And we`ll have a "SHOWBIZ Sitdown" with Rosie coming up in just a few minutes.

Now, ever since the story broke, we`ve been hearing people around the water cooler saying, Not going to last, or, Great for them. And we do hang out around the water cooler. We want to know what you think. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, and Karyn is already at the computer, voting. Tom and Katie: Will it last? We`d like you to vote by going to cnn.com/showbiztonight. Got more to say than just yes or no? E-mail us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`ve got your thoughts and a look at the voting later on in the show.

BRYANT: I tell you, A.J., I barely slept last night. It`s the craziest thing!

Well, tonight the tabloid "Star" magazine, as you see right here, is defending its controversial cover showing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie together on a beach. If you take a look, the headline screams, "Brad and Angelina caught together on vacation," and the picture sure does look like the are together. But as it turns out, "Star" created the picture from separate photos of Pitt and Jolie.

Now, the only way you`d know that is by the teeny, tiny print, which is not on the cover, but it`s in the table of contents and on the article inside, where it says the picture is a composite, two pictures glued together.

Now, "Star" stands by its work, saying that these disclaimers are clear. "Us Weekly," which reportedly paid half a million dollars for real shots of Brad with Angelina, told us tonight, quote, "`Us Weekly" is flattered by `Star`s` fake imitation cover, but expects that readers will prefer `Us`s` authentic photos."

HAMMER: Well, tonight another "American Idol" arrest from the past to tell you about. Bo Bice, this season`s long-haired finalist from Alabama, was once arrested for felony cocaine possession. This happened in 2001 in Huntsville, Alabama, and the case was dismissed after Bo entered a drug diversion program.

Now, this isn`t the first time the show has been rocked with arrests being made public. About a month ago, it came out that finalist Scot Savol was arrested on a domestic charge also in 2001. So we called Fox today, and here`s what a spokesperson had to say about Bo. "The information disclosed on various salacious gossip Web sites regarding Bo Bice`s past was already well known to Fox and the producers of `American Idol.` From the beginning, Bo was honest and forthcoming in revealing his previous indiscretions and their outcome."

BRYANT: Well, last night`s "American Idol" outcome was truly a shocker. Paula broke down, the audience gasped in disbelief. Now, as we do every week, we are judging "American Idol." Joining us live from Los Angeles is second-season "American Idol" finalist and the host of the new TV Guide channel show "Idol Chat." It`s Kimberly Caldwell.

KIMBERLY CALDWELL, TV GUIDE CHANNEL: "Idol Chat."

BRYANT: Good to see you, but before we start talking...

CALDWELL: How are you?

BRYANT: I`m well. But we`re going to take a look at the action from last night`s show which sent heartthrob Constantine Maroulis back home to New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America voted, and Constantine, you are going home tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: It still stings, doesn`t it, Kimberly.

CALDWELL: Yes, it does.

BRYANT: What do you think?

CALDWELL: I was watching in the office over at the TV Guide channel, and there was a roar in the office. Everybody was, like, running through the halls, screaming. It was horrible. It was horrible. I definitely did not expect that. I really did not.

But at the same time, you know, just like Randy said, Constantine`s performance was at a high. He was amazing. His performance was flawless. But his vocals were not.

BRYANT: Right.

CALDWELL: His vocals were at a low. And you know, they go hand in hand. You got to give 100 percent of the performance. You got to give 100 percent of the vocals. So I think that`s maybe what hurt him in this competition. And I also think that people thought, you know, Constantine`s safe, he`s been one of the frontrunners from the beginning. So I think that maybe, you know, some of his fans didn`t vote as much as they should have because they figured, Dude, Constantine is going to be there...

BRYANT: Right.

CALDWELL: ... no matter what.

BRYANT: How can you...

CALDWELL: But you never know.

BRYANT: You never know. I cannot explain -- and if you watched Scot Savol during the show, he even looks amazed he`s still there. To what do you attribute his being in the competition still?

CALDWELL: I do believe that Scot has, you know, given up a little bit. I do.

BRYANT: Yes!

CALDWELL: And I don`t -- and I do. And I -- you know, I don`t think that it was Constantine`s turn to go. And I think Anthony did a flawless job, and he did not deserve to be in the bottom three, especially from Tuesday`s performance. But you know, Scot is a very simple guy. And he`s -- you know, he`s very blue-collar, and he goes out there in simple outfits, he sings simple songs, and he just does his thing, you know? And I think that...

BRYANT: But this is not called "American"...

CALDWELL: ... the normal people -- right, but I think the normal people...

BRYANT: ... "Average."

CALDWELL: ... in America can really connect with him because they`re normal people, you know what I`m saying? And that`s really my only explanation...

BRYANT: All right, Kimberly.

CALDWELL: ... that I have. I don`t think that -- and I don`t think that -- I don`t think that he deserves to be there over Constantine. I do not.

BRYANT: OK. Well, it was -- it was an incredible week, and thank you for joining us.

CALDWELL: Thank you.

BRYANT: I`ll see you next Thursday. Of course, you guys at home can watch Kimberly on "Idol Chat" on the TV Guide channel.

Well, it is time for "SHOWBIZ Shorts," a look at more stories making news today. Is Brosnan still Bond? Judi Dench, who plays 007`s boss, M, tells London`s "The Mirror" that Pierce Brosnan will return as James Bond. Rumors have been swirling that Clive Owen or Daniel Craig would take over the role. Brosnan`s people told us today that he has not been asked to do another Bond film.

Holy rescheduling, Batman! It`s an early start for "Batman Begins." We learned today that Warner Bros. has bumped up the release date for "Batman Begins" by two days. The movie now opens Wednesday, June 15.

HAMMER: Tonight in our "SHOWBIZ Sitdown," Rosie O`Donnell, comedienne, talk show host, actress and raving blogger. Rosie has done it all. And this Sunday, she makes a return to the small screen in the made- for-TV movie "Riding the Bus With My Sister." Rosie joins us now from Los Angeles. Nice to see you, Rosie O`Donnell.

ROSIE O`DONNELL, "RIDING THE BUS WITH MY SISTER": Thank you. Nice to sort of see you, although I don`t, but I hear you.

HAMMER: You`re on this intense press schedule right now, I know. Are you hanging in there with it all?

O`DONNELL: Yes, it`s good. It`s just hard for me to believe I used to do it every day because it`s sort of exhausting.

HAMMER: Well, one thing that I know that you get to do at the end of your day, go back to your hotel room and probably pop open the laptop and you write on your blog. And we here at SHOWBIZ TONIGHT are huge fans of the Rosie O`Donnell blog.

O`DONNELL: Well, that`s so nice. Thank you very much. You know, I started doing it in December, and then I lost it. I couldn`t find where it was. And so then I found it, and then all of a sudden, somebody picked up on it and it became a big Internet thing. But it`s sort of fun to do alone in your hotel room or your home. And -- you know, it`s a fun way to express yourself.

HAMMER: What we love is this very stream of consciousness, and we love the fact that -- well, you`ve never been shy about your admiration for Tom Cruise. And we`ve been on this story since it came out yesterday. And may I read to you from your blog?

O`DONNELL: Sure.

HAMMER: You wrote this last night, I guess. "My Tommy has a new babe, Katie Holmes, who is a great actress. He looks happy, and that makes me happy." That`s nice!

O`DONNELL: Well, it`s the truth. You know, I don`t know what it is about that man, but every time I see him since "Risky Business," he just gives me endorphins and he makes me smile. And in real life, he`s very, very, very kind. Every birthday, he send me flowers. Every, you know, six months, he leaves me a message -- How are you doing? Are you all right? How are the kids? You know, he`s a great, great guy. And I love him and I want him to be happy.

HAMMER: That`s terrific. And another thing that you remarked upon, you were quite shocked, like so many people, Constantine getting the boot from "American Idol." What about that?

O`DONNELL: You know, he was my favorite. I love him. I think he`s fabulous, and he`s got a lot of charisma, and I think he`ll go places. And I just reminded him that, you know, Elvis Presley was in a talent contest once, and he lost, too.

HAMMER: During your appearance on Leno this week, you sort of alluded a couple of times to the fact that there were certain things that you missed about doing the talk show on a day-to-day basis, not the least of which, giving stuff away. And you actually gave a bunch of cameras out to the audience, which was pretty cool.

O`DONNELL: Yes, you know, that was my favorite part of my show. And when I started doing my show, I said to the producers and Warner Bros., I said, I want to give everybody in the audience a gift. And they`re, like, You can`t do that. I`m, like, Yes, you can. And they`re, like, No, you can`t. And I`m, like, Well, let`s try. So soon enough, corporate sponsors stepped in and gave us stuff to give away, and it was amazing. So when I do a show now as a guest, I always feel like I want to bring a gift.

HAMMER: Well, I want to talk about the show that you have on on Sunday, "Riding the Bus With My Sister," where you play Beth. Before we talk about it, I want to play a clip from it, where you`re basically walking to the bus with your sister, who is played by Andie MacDowell. Let`s take a look at this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Oh, here comes the bus!

ANDIE MACDOWELL: Beth, you know...

O`DONNELL: What?

MACDOWELL: You know, maybe a group home would not be such a bad idea.

O`DONNELL: No.

MACDOWELL: It doesn`t have to be the same group home.

O`DONNELL: No, thank you!

MACDOWELL: (INAUDIBLE) They could have art.

O`DONNELL: No.

MACDOWELL: And they could have fun things...

O`DONNELL: No, no!

MACDOWELL: ... and you could meet people like yourself.

O`DONNELL: They`re not like me, Rachel! You know it. Because I`m different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: And tell us about Beth. How is she different?

O`DONNELL: Well, when she was a young woman -- she`s my age, so in the `60s, she was diagnosed just as mentally retarded, which sort of is an overall word that is not used anymore to describe people who fall somewhere in the autism spectrum. I think she actually would be diagnosed closer with something to Asperger`s syndrome.

So she`s a fascinating character to play. She has a regimented routine. She fixates on the bus schedule in the town that she lives, and she knows every bus driver, what route they take. She could tell you how to transfer and, you know, which bus got more gas and ran out of gas. She`s just the way that sort of "Rainman" was fixed on watching Judge Wapner, she is with fixated on the bus schedule, although she`s much more interactive than the character that Dustin played in "Rainman." She`s much more socially aggressive and opinionated than any character we`ve really seen portrayed with autism. They`re usually characterized as very innocent and docile, and she`s anything but that.

HAMMER: Well, it seems like a real challenging role. We look forward to seeing you in it. And you know, we`re in New York, and you`re a New Yorker, so please come by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT any time, hang out on the "Buzz Bench," talk about the blog, whatever you like.

O`DONNELL: All right. Frankly, I`m unemployed, so I`ll be there.

HAMMER: All right. Well, you can catch Rosie O`Donnell in the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" special "Riding the Bus With My Sister" this Sunday night on CBS.

BRYANT: Will an entertainment gizmo that cuts tear up the entertainment world? It`s our "SHOWBIZ Showdown."

And a man of disguise is tonight`s man of style, "Alias`s" Michael Vartan.

HAMMER: Now tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." In which city has the MTV reality series "The Real World" not been filmed, Seattle, Las Vegas, Miami or Washington, D.C.? We`re coming right back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. So once again, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." In which city has the MTV reality series "The Real World" not been filmed, Seattle, Las Vegas, Miami or Washington, D.C.? Well, the show has been filmed everywhere, from Los Angeles to Paris, but they never filmed in D, Washington, D.C.

BRYANT: It is almost 18 minutes past the hour, time now for the "SHOWBIZ Showdown." Cleaning up DVDs. There is a new so-called filtering technology that removes sexy or violent scenes from DVDs, and President Bush just signed a law making it legal. A company called Clearplay sells special DVD players that clean up movies. For example, the filter for "The Godfather" is pre-programmed to recognize the nude scenes, violence and rough language in that movie. The technology does not change the DVD itself, however.

But it does have some filmmakers hopping mad. They say it infringes on their copyrights and their art.

Joining us live from Los Angeles is Bill Aho, CEO of Clearplay. And also in LA is Marshall Herskovitz, producer of TV shows, like "30- Something," "My So-Called Life," "Once and Again," movies like "Traffic" and "The Last Samurai."

So Marshall, you are adamant about this, and you were recently quoted saying that, "It is easy to see a time when you could go into a store and say, Well, I`d like to have movies with no Jews in them, and let`s take movies with no black people. There`s this whole range of things you could take out of your movies based on personal preference."

That`s -- that`s pretty extreme. Do you really think it could go there?

MARSHALL HERSKOVITZ, MOVIE/TV PRODUCER: I think it could go there and even further, as a matter of fact. What we`re doing is legitimatizing people customizing content that`s copyrighted by artists. And that`s been disallowed for hundreds of years, and also by the 1st Amendment of our Constitution.

BRYANT: Bill, what do you say on this? Obviously, you`re in favor of it.

BILL AHO, CEO OF CLEARPLAY: Well, I think that`s alarmist rhetoric, but I really think it`s a dangerous argument. The notion that -- if you have a personal freedom to watch what you want in your home, then it really doesn`t matter what your ideology is. And this idea that because these freedoms could result in people doing things that we don`t like, well, that`s a dangerous way of thinking.

I don`t like a lot of the movies that Hollywood makes. I don`t like the glorification of violence. I don`t like the glamorizing of teen sex. But never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that because I don`t like the messages that I would prohibit their right to make the movies they want.

BRYANT: Well...

HERSKOVITZ: But we`re not talking about what people do in their homes. We`re talking about the commercial distribution of changed content, which is what your company does. What people do in their own homes is their own business. If they want to edit their films for their own personal use, that`s fine.

AHO: You know, I`ve heard that before, and I really don`t buy it. I mean, what Clearplay does is allow you in your home to watch a movie the way you want. Now, I`ve heard Hollywood say, Hey, it`s OK to do this with a remote control in your home, but using a tool or a technology that makes it easier for you, like Clearplay, well, we`re not going to allow you to do that.

BRYANT: Well, Bill, why...

AHO: I mean, how magnanimous.

BRYANT: Why wouldn`t you just, though, not watch those movies? I mean, do you really have to watch the movies with that content with your children?

AHO: No, we don`t have to do anything. The beauty is, is that it gives people another choice. Certainly, you can choose to only watch certain kinds of movies. But I think it`s just a little bit disingenuous that Hollywood, on the one hand, is making PG-13 movies that have more and more violence, more and more sex, more and more language, spending up to $50 million a movie marketing them to kids and then sitting back rather smugly and saying, Parents, just say no.

HERSKOVITZ: No, there`s no smugness here. I`m sorry. What there is is a 1st Amendment that allows artists, whether they be writers or film makers, to decide what the content of their films is going to be. And if you change this in your offices in Utah -- we`re not talking about what happens in people`s homes -- you are putting the changes to these programs on a hard drive and sending them to people`s homes. That is what you`re doing, and you`re doing it as a commercial distribution, and that is clearly copyright infringement.

BRYANT: And Marshall, why does this upset you more than what, let`s say, an airline does, when they edit a film?

HERSKOVITZ: Well, what happens on an airline is that people are exposed to material that they have no choice about. It`s on a screen in front of them...

BRYANT: Sure.

HERSKOVITZ: ... and if it`s objectionable to them, they have no choice. People have rights in a situation like that. But when you`re talking about a book or a DVD that you have to buy or rent and bring into your home, then the rights of the author prevail. That`s what`s been established for hundreds of years.

BRYANT: All right, well, gentleman, I`m sorry...

AHO: What about television?

BRYANT: We`ve got to -- we`ve got to end...

AHO: People certainly have a right...

BRYANT: ... this now. I know. You -- I`m telling you, I can tell this is going to go on and on. And I wouldn`t be...

HERSKOVITZ: This will go on for a long time.

BRYANT: ... would not be surprised if we...

HERSKOVITZ: To the Supreme Court.

BRYANT: ... revisit -- all right. OK, Marshall. Well, thanks for joining us, Marshall and Bill. And again, you know, I`m sure we`ll have you guys back. This is a hot subject, A.J.

HAMMER: Very hot subject, indeed. And we`ll be buzzing about it a little bit later.

But first: He`s a super-spy on "Alias," and now we spy on his wardrobe. We`ve got "Thursday In Style" with Michael Vartan on the way.

BRYANT: And Jo Dee Messina is doing all right. The country star has got a new album out, and she`s joining us live. That`s coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Time for "Thursday In Style."

HAMMER: Tonight: He`s "Alias`s" stylish spy and "In Style`s" main man of style, Michael Vartan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE ZUCKERMAN, "IN STYLE" MAGAZINE: Michael Vartan actually doesn`t believe that clothes makes the man. He does believe that it`s how you wear your clothes that makes you look good.

MICHAEL VARTAN, "ALIAS": My character on "Alias" wears suits all the time because he works for the CIA, whereas my character in "Monster-in-Law" is a lot more relaxed. He`s a little cooler, a little hipper, wears more colors and just a little more fun.

ZUCKERMAN: What he loves about LA is that he can wear whatever he wants all the time. He can walk into the chicest and fanciest restaurant wearing his favorite old ratty (INAUDIBLE) T-shirt and jeans and nobody bats an eye. He is horribly good-looking, though, so that might be part of it.

VARTAN: I would say my off-camera style is very relaxed. As I`m forced to wear suits to work every single day on "Alias" for the past four years, I tend just to stay away from suits and shirts as much as possible, more T-shirts and jeans, you know, boots, tennis shoes, sweatpants. You know, anything that`s comfortable is really the way I like to go.

ZUCKERMAN: It`s a little-known fact that "Alias`s" Michael Vartan actually grew up in France until he was 18. He didn`t really have any sort of consciousness of fashion or labels or what was hip and chic and cool to wear. Occasionally, however, they would have a school dance or some kind of social event, and everybody would whip out that collared Lacoste shirt and the fanciest, shiniest shoes they could find.

VARTAN: I don`t have a style idol because I like to dress so comfortably. Most of the people who do have style dress a little more fashionably than I do. So I sacrifice style for comfort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: And if you want to read more on Michael Vartan`s personal style, pick up a copy of May`s "In Style" magazine on newsstands now.

BRYANT: Massachusetts, my home state, is known for the Red Sox, "chowda" -- and country music? Not usually, but Jo Dee Messina tells us how she went from Boston to the "Billboard" charts. She`s coming up live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

BRYANT: Jo Dee Messina`s "Delicious Surprise." Her give a damn may be busted, but her new album is working out just fine. We Jo Dee Messina in the showbiz sit-down.

HAMMER: X marks the spot. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is hanging with Ice Cube, star of "XXX, State of the Union."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: I`m Rosie O`Donnell. If it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Stop making fun of me. Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, 31 minutes past the hour. I`m AJ Hammer.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. Here are tonight`s hot headlines.

HAMMER: Revelations of another idol arrest. Today we learned "American Idol" contestant Bo Bice was arrested back in 2001 for felony cocaine possession. The case was dismissed after he entered a drug diversion program. Fox said Bice`s past was well known to "American Idol" producers and he was honest and forthcoming about his indiscretions.

BRYANT: "Star" magazine is standing by its fake cover photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie tonight. Inside there`s a disclaimer in tiny print that admits the photo is doctored, a composite of two separate photos.

HAMMER: The pictures of the new couple. Here`s the happy couple right now. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, just a day after the news broke that they have been dating. They`re in Rome right now where Tom Cruise is being honored with a lifetime achievement award from Italy`s president.

BRYANT: And that leads us again to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, the most serious one of the week, Tom and Katie, will it last? Please keep voting at cnn.com/showbiztonight and send us your e-mails at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`re going to share some of your thoughts at 55 past the hour.

HAMMER: It is time now for another showbiz sit-down with country music star Jo Dee Messina.

She has sold over five million albums and scored eight number one singles. Her latest huge hit, which you`re watching right now, "My Give a Damn Is Busted" comes from "Delicious Surprise," her first studio album in four years. Jo Dee Messina, nice to see you. Thanks for stopping by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

JO DEE MESSINA, MUSICIAN: Thank you for having me. It`s good to be here.

HAMMER: And listening to this album, I spent the day with it in this office here at the headline prime studios in New York City and I feel like even if somebody who has never seen you before, even if they don`t know you, we get to know you during this, a strong, independent woman, basically get out of my way, and if you don`t get out of my way, I`m going to deal with you.

MESSINA: You know, the record, if I have to sum it all up, I usually say it`s got something for everybody. From beginning to end, it doesn`t matter what mood, what emotion, it`s there. It doesn`t matter if you`re male, female, young, old, there`s something on the record for you.

HAMMER: And your fans love you and they really support you. We actually got a great e-mail last night after we mentioned the fact that you were going to be on the show tonight. Louise wrote us from Nashville, great music town, as you know. She wrote that, we love this new album, not to diminish the exceptional nature of the previous albums, but this one really lets us inside here amazing journey over the past five years. Love to you on your journey, look forward to the continued ride along the way.

MESSINA: Well, I actually think I know that fan. She was like one of the first members of my fan club.

HAMMER: Not a stalker, though?

MESSINA: No, no, no.

HAMMER: Nothing we need to call security about.

MESSINA: No, no.

HAMMER: But she mentions your journey and it really has been over the past five years. I mean a couple of things you`ve been through. You had the split from your fiance, who was also your tour manager. You changed your management. You changed your publicist. How has all those experiences made you a better person?

MESSINA: I think that we - I always say life is like a pinball machine. And you have to be like the ball and go down and hit all the bumpers on the way down and get the mallets so you can go back up and score more points. And I think every day it`s just like that. We have choices in our daily lives and we have lessons in our daily life and five years, that`s a lot of living. That`s about how long it took to make the record. So there`s a lot of living on that album.

HAMMER: When you walked in here tonight, one of the first things I noticed and people have told me that this was the case with you, you`re extremely physically fit. You`ve got the good firm handshake. You`re in great shape obviously. In that video, you`re in terrific shape. Did fitness become a part of your life as a result of the experiences that you went been through over the past five years?

MESSINA: I`ve always been a jock. My dad was an athletic director, so I grew up playing every sport from ice hockey to football. I`ve always kind of been a jock, but the last year I really got into seriously eating six times a day, eating clean, being real regimented with my exercising and my lifting and that kind of stuff.

HAMMER: Well, it`s working out.

MESSINA: Thanks.

HAMMER: You look terrific. Can I feel that grip one more time?

MESSINA: Yeah. It`s all yours.

HAMMER: Continued success with the album, Jo Dee Messina, thanks for stopping by. And Joe Dee Messina`s latest album "Delicious Surprise" is in stores now.

BRYANT: They have been talking all day and we`ve been listening. We do it every night. It`s the best from today`s talk shows. Today things got a little heated on Regis and Kelly, when Kelly`s husband Mark Consuelos was a guest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGIS PHILBIN, CO-HOST, "REGIS & KELLY": Take a look at you and Vivica A. Fox on "Missing."

KELLY RIPA, CO-HOST, "REGIS & KELLY": which is weird, because that wasn`t even a scene. That was just.

PHILBIN: She`s been very busy around here. Check this out, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: That`s never going to happen around here. Tomorrow on "Live With Regis and Kelly," Paris Hilton.

HAMMER: I don`t know exactly how to take that, Karyn.

He`s had a huge following since his days with rapper NWA and then he emerged on to Hollywood as an actor. Well, this weekend, fans of Ice Cube get to see him in his very first action leading role in the new film, "XXX."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (voice-over): He`s the next XXX threat and he`s coming to a theater near you. Ice Cube plays Darius Stone, a highly decorated special- ops soldier who`s locked up in a military prison for striking an officer, but when the National Security Agency`s underground operations center is attacked, it becomes apparent pretty quickly that a new XXX agent is needed.

With the help of NSA agent Augustus Gibbons played by Samuel L. Jackson, Stone breaks out of prison to become the new XXX agent. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT sat down with Ice Cube to talk about taking over the role that Vin Diesel made famous. Cube said he`s done everything he can to make sure audiences know he`s the new bad guy in town.

ICE CUBE, "XXX, STATE OF THE UNION": To me, it was something that I really fought to make that sequence spectacular, because if I`m taking over this new XXX, you have to feel it from the minute I hit the screen, you know? There`s nothing that I wanted to warm people up to. I wanted one of the best sequences to be up top.

HAMMER: And with such intense action-packed scenes, it looks like Ice Cube got his wish. Cube also got the chance to work with Sam Jackson, someone he`s looked up to since his early movie days.

ICE CUBE: I watched since he was doing Spike Lee movies. To get a chance to work with him he`s been in everything. He`s worked with everybody. You know, he has a ton of knowledge when it comes to acting and I never went to school for it, so, you know, I learned as much as I can.

HAMMER: And in an interview with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Jackson said Cube`s street cred and reputation in the music world makes him a great XXX.

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: Cube brings a whole other kind of flavor to this franchise. I guess that`s the purpose of it, to find a new guy who fit the situation every time. In an urban environment, he brings a lot of street credibility to this particular character. He has all this military expertise and you combine the two things, you get a guy who`s a little bit tougher than the average guy who`s out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Samuel L. Jackson`s the only actor in "XXX" to return to the franchise. He`s also starring in the highly anticipated "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith." Of course, "XXX, State of the Union" is in theaters tomorrow.

BRYANT: Well, the news has only been out for about 24 hours, but it already seems like they`re the new hit couple in Hollywood. Tom and Katie, we`ll take it to the buzz bench coming up.

HAMMER: Plus "Cold Case" hits up and we have Danny Pino in another "SHOWBIZ Sitdown" on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Let`s go, time for the "Buzz Bench." Here`s what we`re buzzing about tonight -- Cruise and Holmes, of course, tabloid tricks, and the new entertainment law.

BRYANT: Joins us on the buzz bench tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT contributor Amy Kean, VH1 classic host Amy Scott, and comedian and TV personality Leigh Kessler. So topic number one, Tom Cruise got a new girlfriend. It`s actress Katie Holmes. There`s a bit of an age difference. He`s 42 and she is 26. He`s been married twice before and she broke off an engagement recently to Chris Klein. Leigh.

LEIGH KESSLER, COMEDIAN AND TV PERSONALITY: Tom Cruise gets his braces off and now he`s dating the hottest girl at Capeside High School, very impressive. I got to say, a lot of people are saying maybe it`s a publicity stunt, and even if it is a publicity stunt, what proof of the great benefit of being a Hollywood star. Tom Cruise people are like we need a little marketing buzz for the show, would you mind dating Katie Holmes? Would you do that for us? We don`t want to put you out.

AMY KEAN, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT CONTRIBUTOR: He`s too old for her, don`t you think?

AMY SCOTT, VH1: It`s only 16 years.

KESSLER: Mimi Rogers, he was six years younger so he`s kind of going..

KEAN: It just seems - I think it seems like a publicity stunt.

SCOTT: Tom Cruise is a very, very smart man and if it was a publicity stunt, he`s manufacturing it perfect timing. He`s got "War of the Worlds" coming out. She`s got "Batman: Begins" or whatever, what a perfect time for him to have -- his own sister, his publicist put out this press release.

KEAN: Maybe so, but I think it definitely smells phony to me.

HAMMER: Can we throw up one of those photos that we have of them in Italy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They look cute together.

HAMMER: In a couple of the photos, she genuinely - mean she`s thrilled. She`s having the time of her life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s much taller than him. I think he should be careful. He should make sure he dates tiny women, because it makes him look even shorter.

KESSLER: Can you imagine these stars are enamored of each other when they date? You know, I can`t believe you`re Tom Cruise. I can`t believe you`re Katie Holmes.

BRYANT: She even said as a kid, she was going to grow up and marry Tom Cruise. That was what (INAUDIBLE)

HAMMER: We`re going to move on to topic number two, because this affected another Hollywood couple in the way this was portrayed. Tabloid magazine`s altering photos. On the cover of "Star," magazine, there was this photo of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. They put it together. It turns out a tiny little disclaimer on page eight, that the photos have been altered. Amy Scott, what`s your take?

SCOTT: What do we expect? Isn`t the "Star" one step above like Sasquatch ate my baby or something?

BRYANT: (INAUDIBLE) has good stories.

SCOTT: Funny though, because "Us Weekly "paid $500,000 for a photo and then they embellish the story around the photo. That really is a non- story. We don`t know that they`re actually having a relationship. They`re just seen together on the beach. Then the "Star" takes two photos and further embellishes this non-story, but again it`s the "Star." I think it`s good for you.

BRYANT: When I look at those magazines when I`m in the grocery store, I always imagine that they`re doctored in some way. It doesn`t really, that looks sort of phony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a picture of Maddox as a very young child. He`s about three years old. He`s in college now -- no. She`s in Virginia, and he`s in the Caribbean in these two photos.

BRYANT: And she looks bigger than him.

(CROSSTALK)

BRYANT: They need to learn photo shop all over again. OK, I`m going to move on to topic number three now. We were talking about this in the show. Now the bill was passed yesterday, signed into law, that says you can use equipment to sensor DVDs at home as a filtering device and they`re also saying that they`re going to really snap down on people who are pirating movies illegally, the ones who go to the movie theater and tape it. You can get up to five years in jail now.

KEAN: And $250,000 fine, which is like, are murderers and rapists even getting that? It just seems a little bit serious to me what they`re doing, but at the same time I feel like they have to do something, because clearly this is a problem. When you walk down any street in New York, you see these bootlegs.

BRYANT: You can get "Star Wars" already. I was wondering about the quality.

SCOTT: And you can hear people munching popcorn in the background. You can see the back of some guy`s head.

KESSLER: I find, on a serious note, this particular bill has two elements of it that are contradictory to each other. I mean one is about the rights of ownership of the studios and the fact that they own that and they should reap the rewards and then the other side is that, well, people who don`t agree with what the studios are putting out, have the right to change it at will. I think that`s a very dangerous way to enter and it`s packaged together.

BRYANT: We have to end it there for the bench, but good thought, Leigh. Good thinking point. Leigh, Amy and Amy, thanks for joining us here on the buzz bench.

HAMMER: OK. Right now, time to get your laugh on in laughter dark, as we do every night, bringing you the late-night laughs you might have missed.

BRYANT: Late night with Conan O`Brien is now broadcasting in high- definition, long story short. It means there`s more room on the screen, which Conan is putting to good use.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O`BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: This is one idea we had. Pamela Anderson right there pole dancing. We should just stick with this. I know we`re kind of kidding around, but I swear to God, we would be the highest- rated show on NBC, which by the way isn`t hard to do these days. There`s Abe Vigoda shooting baskets. Let`s see if he can get one in. C`mon, Abe, you can do it. C`mon! C`mon Abe. C`mon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: More bang for your buck with the (INAUDIBLE). Tonight, Conan welcomes actor John C. Reilly in high-def of course, and Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson are going to perform.

BRYANT: Yes, well, the start star of "Cold Case" joins us live. We are one on one with Danny Pino in the showbiz sit-down coming up next.

HAMMER: Plus, strike up the band, the band-aids, some famous faces and the jingle that will definitely ring a bell, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Time for another showbiz sit-down. Danny Pino plays Detective Scotty Valens (on the hit drama "Cold Case." He joins us live from Hollywood. Good to see you Danny.

DANNY PINO, ACTOR: Good to see you Karyn. Thanks for having me.

BRYANT: Not a problem. Now before we begin, we`re going to take a look at a clip from the upcoming episode. In this one you`re arguing with a detective from another unit about crimes possibly committed by someone you`re involved with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PINO: No, she said she would be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you clown me, help her out?

PINO: Careful what you ask me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s (INAUDIBLE) cop to cop courtesy. I`m so whipped, I`ll do anything for this broad.

PINO: Keep going, please, anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Well, I`ve seen the show many times, but for those who haven`t what sets "Cold Case" apart from all the other sort of cop shows out there.

PINO: I think it`s a very dynamic show, first off. I think you have a lot of the procedural aspects of cop dramas, but I think you also have, as you saw there, elements of their personal lives as well. We have some forensics, but I think what really separates our show from other shows is our use of flashback and our use of time as a character. And time is illustrated a lot with the music that we`re able to use on the show, along with, you know, makeup and hair and wardrobe and, you know, the camera department with the film stock usage, the writing with the vernacular of the era that we`re depicting, so there`s so many departments that go into it, but that flashback is very reminiscent of features, actually, you know, a movie element to the show.

BRYANT: Now, this week I know you guys are doing something special with the Rocky Horror show? There`s a little bit of that theme in there.

PINO: Yeah, that`s going to be exciting.

BRYANT: Are you doing the time warp?

PINO: I don`t personally do the time warp, but I think some people will be.

BRYANT: Yeah. And Barry Bostwick is co-starring in it this week and it should be a good episode.

PINO: I think people are going to be really surprised with Barry`s performance. He really came on the set and delivered. I was excited to be working with him and, you know, every week on the show there`s a special performance by a guest star. And Barry really came on the show and did his thing.

BRYANT: Knocked it out of there.

PINO: Knocked it out of the park.

BRYANT: I did read, too, you`re really excited about an upcoming film project with Andy Garcia?

PINO: Actually, last summer we worked on a film called "The Lost City." It`s been his baby for like the last almost 20 years. To be working with Andy, he`s one of those guys that I`ve always grown up looking up to, so to not only work with him, but to be directed by him is so exciting for me and the movie is just going to look beautiful and it means a lot to me, being Cuban and this movie is about the Cuban revolution, a story that is rarely told about the Cuban revolution, so I`m extremely excited to be a part of it.

BRYANT: Great. All right. We look forward to that and we thank you for joins us here, Danny Pino.

PINO: Thank you.

BRYANT: And (INAUDIBLE) not a problem. You can catch a new episode of "Cold Case" this Sunday on CBS.

HAMMER: It`s time for a bit of nostalgia. Believe it or not, band- aids are celebrating their 85th anniversary today. You may remember the jingle, but you may not remember that the commercials featured some budding young stars way back when.

Recognize anybody? Well, that was Terri Garr. Before that it was John Travolta, Brooke Shields was also in a Band-Aid commercial way back in the day.

BRYANT: . vote online on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, Tom and Katie, will it -- the vote very one-sided. Seven percent of you say yes, Tom and Katie will last, 93 percent of you say no, they won`t and you`ve also been sending e-mails. Alma says Amarillo, Texas, says, I do not think this will last too long. She is too young to be dating Tom Cruise.

And Mark from Atlanta, Georgia, adds, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Sounds like risky business.

HAMMER: Karyn, you go home and vote. It`s time now to see what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

BRYANT: Let`s take a look at the showbiz marquee. Marquee guy, take it away.

ANNOUNCER: She`s the ex of Britney`s hubby, Kevin Federline. She`s Shar Jackson. She`s got a new gig to tell us about, but what will she tell us about Britney`s baby news? So much to talk about, and we will, with Shar Jackson live tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

Also tomorrow, "Everybody Loves Raymond" and nobody loves good-byes. We`re behind the scenes at Raymond`s good-bye party. Look for the marquee guy. I`ll be the one with the lampshade on my head. This is the marquee guy and as we all know, everybody loves the marquee guy.

BRYANT: That`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I am Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I`m AJ Hammer. Now before we go, we do want to say good-bye and god luck to CNN`s Judy Woodruff. She announced today that after 30 years, she`s leaving daily journalism to work on some other projects. Judy, you will be missed. Stay tuned for the very latest from CNN headline news.

END


Aired April 28, 2005 - 19:00:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: The couple that`s got everyone chatting.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: And another "American Idol" arrest. I`m A.J. Hammer.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Tom and Katie -- how did they hook up? Hollywood`s jaw- dropping dating story that`s got the world abuzz.

BRYANT: And Rosie O`Donnell is buzzing about it, too. You`ll hear what she has to say. Plus, she tells us about her new movie with Anjelica Huston.

HAMMER: Judging "American Idol." Constantine hears...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are going home tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: The crowd jeers, and Paula`s in tears. Former "Idol" finalist Kimberly Caldwell, live.

BRYANT: But we give a damn. Country star Jo Dee Messina brings us a delicious surprise.

HAMMER: And hot as Ice. It`s the "XXX" sequel, and Ice Cube is square in the middle of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL VARTAN, "ALIAS": Hi. I`m Michael Vartan. And if it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Hello. I`m Karyn Bryant, and you are at the top of the show.

HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. We are live with you from Headline Prime studios in New York City for the next hour.

BRYANT: Tonight, look no further. We have the scoop on the hottest new couple in Hollywood.

HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was the first to report on air last night that Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes are an item. Well, today it was the talk of the town in towns across America and the world. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer is here with the latest -- David.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: Boy, the buzz continues today. She is the 28-year-old hottie that hooked America with the TV hit "Dawson`s Creek," and he is, of course, a 42-year-old hunk whose film career is almost, almost as old as she is. And together, they`re the hottest couple in Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The big news broke yesterday around the world when these photos of the lovebirds were taken walking hand in hand in Rome. Their relationship is a new one, and already, they`re being photographed like Hollywood royalty.

This was the scene today in Rome when the two emerged from their hotel -- flashbulbs, sunglasses, limousines. The two were in town for the Oscars of Italy, where Cruise was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the president of Italy. Lots of press for such a fledgling relationship.

JESS CAGLE, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: It`s a very new relationship. They met simply when he asked her out on a date. And they`ve only been going out a couple of weeks, so there`s not a whole lot to know about this relationship so far.

HAFFENREFFER: Holmes isn`t wasting any time getting back in the saddle. She only recently called off her engagement to actor Chris Klein. The two were dating for about five years. Katie is certainly a cutie, but a far cry from Cruise`s last love interest, Spanish bombshell Penelope Cruz. Tom Cruise also had two high-profile marriages, to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, and both ended in high-profile divorces. Will Katie be able to deal with the limelight?

CAGLE: From now on, for Katie Holmes, the spotlight is going to be much more intense just because she`s dating Tom Cruise. The good news about dating Tom Cruise is he is a very well-oiled machine. So when he wants to go somewhere privately, he`s able to do that.

HAFFENREFFER: Both stars have some high-profile movies hitting theaters this summer. Cruise will star in "War of the Worlds," a modern- day version of H.G. Wells`s classic book, and you can expect Holmes in "Batman Begins," which explores the Batman legend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Katie Holmes is 26 years old, so does their romance mean more bucks for their films? "People" magazine`s Jess Cagle says Katie may get a little bit more attention when she promotes her movie, but it won`t necessarily impact ticket sales -- A.J.

HAMMER: All right, David. Thanks very much.

Well, one of Cruise`s biggest fans is Rosie O`Donnell, and you can be she has a lot to say about this. And we`ll have a "SHOWBIZ Sitdown" with Rosie coming up in just a few minutes.

Now, ever since the story broke, we`ve been hearing people around the water cooler saying, Not going to last, or, Great for them. And we do hang out around the water cooler. We want to know what you think. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, and Karyn is already at the computer, voting. Tom and Katie: Will it last? We`d like you to vote by going to cnn.com/showbiztonight. Got more to say than just yes or no? E-mail us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`ve got your thoughts and a look at the voting later on in the show.

BRYANT: I tell you, A.J., I barely slept last night. It`s the craziest thing!

Well, tonight the tabloid "Star" magazine, as you see right here, is defending its controversial cover showing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie together on a beach. If you take a look, the headline screams, "Brad and Angelina caught together on vacation," and the picture sure does look like the are together. But as it turns out, "Star" created the picture from separate photos of Pitt and Jolie.

Now, the only way you`d know that is by the teeny, tiny print, which is not on the cover, but it`s in the table of contents and on the article inside, where it says the picture is a composite, two pictures glued together.

Now, "Star" stands by its work, saying that these disclaimers are clear. "Us Weekly," which reportedly paid half a million dollars for real shots of Brad with Angelina, told us tonight, quote, "`Us Weekly" is flattered by `Star`s` fake imitation cover, but expects that readers will prefer `Us`s` authentic photos."

HAMMER: Well, tonight another "American Idol" arrest from the past to tell you about. Bo Bice, this season`s long-haired finalist from Alabama, was once arrested for felony cocaine possession. This happened in 2001 in Huntsville, Alabama, and the case was dismissed after Bo entered a drug diversion program.

Now, this isn`t the first time the show has been rocked with arrests being made public. About a month ago, it came out that finalist Scot Savol was arrested on a domestic charge also in 2001. So we called Fox today, and here`s what a spokesperson had to say about Bo. "The information disclosed on various salacious gossip Web sites regarding Bo Bice`s past was already well known to Fox and the producers of `American Idol.` From the beginning, Bo was honest and forthcoming in revealing his previous indiscretions and their outcome."

BRYANT: Well, last night`s "American Idol" outcome was truly a shocker. Paula broke down, the audience gasped in disbelief. Now, as we do every week, we are judging "American Idol." Joining us live from Los Angeles is second-season "American Idol" finalist and the host of the new TV Guide channel show "Idol Chat." It`s Kimberly Caldwell.

KIMBERLY CALDWELL, TV GUIDE CHANNEL: "Idol Chat."

BRYANT: Good to see you, but before we start talking...

CALDWELL: How are you?

BRYANT: I`m well. But we`re going to take a look at the action from last night`s show which sent heartthrob Constantine Maroulis back home to New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America voted, and Constantine, you are going home tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: It still stings, doesn`t it, Kimberly.

CALDWELL: Yes, it does.

BRYANT: What do you think?

CALDWELL: I was watching in the office over at the TV Guide channel, and there was a roar in the office. Everybody was, like, running through the halls, screaming. It was horrible. It was horrible. I definitely did not expect that. I really did not.

But at the same time, you know, just like Randy said, Constantine`s performance was at a high. He was amazing. His performance was flawless. But his vocals were not.

BRYANT: Right.

CALDWELL: His vocals were at a low. And you know, they go hand in hand. You got to give 100 percent of the performance. You got to give 100 percent of the vocals. So I think that`s maybe what hurt him in this competition. And I also think that people thought, you know, Constantine`s safe, he`s been one of the frontrunners from the beginning. So I think that maybe, you know, some of his fans didn`t vote as much as they should have because they figured, Dude, Constantine is going to be there...

BRYANT: Right.

CALDWELL: ... no matter what.

BRYANT: How can you...

CALDWELL: But you never know.

BRYANT: You never know. I cannot explain -- and if you watched Scot Savol during the show, he even looks amazed he`s still there. To what do you attribute his being in the competition still?

CALDWELL: I do believe that Scot has, you know, given up a little bit. I do.

BRYANT: Yes!

CALDWELL: And I don`t -- and I do. And I -- you know, I don`t think that it was Constantine`s turn to go. And I think Anthony did a flawless job, and he did not deserve to be in the bottom three, especially from Tuesday`s performance. But you know, Scot is a very simple guy. And he`s -- you know, he`s very blue-collar, and he goes out there in simple outfits, he sings simple songs, and he just does his thing, you know? And I think that...

BRYANT: But this is not called "American"...

CALDWELL: ... the normal people -- right, but I think the normal people...

BRYANT: ... "Average."

CALDWELL: ... in America can really connect with him because they`re normal people, you know what I`m saying? And that`s really my only explanation...

BRYANT: All right, Kimberly.

CALDWELL: ... that I have. I don`t think that -- and I don`t think that -- I don`t think that he deserves to be there over Constantine. I do not.

BRYANT: OK. Well, it was -- it was an incredible week, and thank you for joining us.

CALDWELL: Thank you.

BRYANT: I`ll see you next Thursday. Of course, you guys at home can watch Kimberly on "Idol Chat" on the TV Guide channel.

Well, it is time for "SHOWBIZ Shorts," a look at more stories making news today. Is Brosnan still Bond? Judi Dench, who plays 007`s boss, M, tells London`s "The Mirror" that Pierce Brosnan will return as James Bond. Rumors have been swirling that Clive Owen or Daniel Craig would take over the role. Brosnan`s people told us today that he has not been asked to do another Bond film.

Holy rescheduling, Batman! It`s an early start for "Batman Begins." We learned today that Warner Bros. has bumped up the release date for "Batman Begins" by two days. The movie now opens Wednesday, June 15.

HAMMER: Tonight in our "SHOWBIZ Sitdown," Rosie O`Donnell, comedienne, talk show host, actress and raving blogger. Rosie has done it all. And this Sunday, she makes a return to the small screen in the made- for-TV movie "Riding the Bus With My Sister." Rosie joins us now from Los Angeles. Nice to see you, Rosie O`Donnell.

ROSIE O`DONNELL, "RIDING THE BUS WITH MY SISTER": Thank you. Nice to sort of see you, although I don`t, but I hear you.

HAMMER: You`re on this intense press schedule right now, I know. Are you hanging in there with it all?

O`DONNELL: Yes, it`s good. It`s just hard for me to believe I used to do it every day because it`s sort of exhausting.

HAMMER: Well, one thing that I know that you get to do at the end of your day, go back to your hotel room and probably pop open the laptop and you write on your blog. And we here at SHOWBIZ TONIGHT are huge fans of the Rosie O`Donnell blog.

O`DONNELL: Well, that`s so nice. Thank you very much. You know, I started doing it in December, and then I lost it. I couldn`t find where it was. And so then I found it, and then all of a sudden, somebody picked up on it and it became a big Internet thing. But it`s sort of fun to do alone in your hotel room or your home. And -- you know, it`s a fun way to express yourself.

HAMMER: What we love is this very stream of consciousness, and we love the fact that -- well, you`ve never been shy about your admiration for Tom Cruise. And we`ve been on this story since it came out yesterday. And may I read to you from your blog?

O`DONNELL: Sure.

HAMMER: You wrote this last night, I guess. "My Tommy has a new babe, Katie Holmes, who is a great actress. He looks happy, and that makes me happy." That`s nice!

O`DONNELL: Well, it`s the truth. You know, I don`t know what it is about that man, but every time I see him since "Risky Business," he just gives me endorphins and he makes me smile. And in real life, he`s very, very, very kind. Every birthday, he send me flowers. Every, you know, six months, he leaves me a message -- How are you doing? Are you all right? How are the kids? You know, he`s a great, great guy. And I love him and I want him to be happy.

HAMMER: That`s terrific. And another thing that you remarked upon, you were quite shocked, like so many people, Constantine getting the boot from "American Idol." What about that?

O`DONNELL: You know, he was my favorite. I love him. I think he`s fabulous, and he`s got a lot of charisma, and I think he`ll go places. And I just reminded him that, you know, Elvis Presley was in a talent contest once, and he lost, too.

HAMMER: During your appearance on Leno this week, you sort of alluded a couple of times to the fact that there were certain things that you missed about doing the talk show on a day-to-day basis, not the least of which, giving stuff away. And you actually gave a bunch of cameras out to the audience, which was pretty cool.

O`DONNELL: Yes, you know, that was my favorite part of my show. And when I started doing my show, I said to the producers and Warner Bros., I said, I want to give everybody in the audience a gift. And they`re, like, You can`t do that. I`m, like, Yes, you can. And they`re, like, No, you can`t. And I`m, like, Well, let`s try. So soon enough, corporate sponsors stepped in and gave us stuff to give away, and it was amazing. So when I do a show now as a guest, I always feel like I want to bring a gift.

HAMMER: Well, I want to talk about the show that you have on on Sunday, "Riding the Bus With My Sister," where you play Beth. Before we talk about it, I want to play a clip from it, where you`re basically walking to the bus with your sister, who is played by Andie MacDowell. Let`s take a look at this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Oh, here comes the bus!

ANDIE MACDOWELL: Beth, you know...

O`DONNELL: What?

MACDOWELL: You know, maybe a group home would not be such a bad idea.

O`DONNELL: No.

MACDOWELL: It doesn`t have to be the same group home.

O`DONNELL: No, thank you!

MACDOWELL: (INAUDIBLE) They could have art.

O`DONNELL: No.

MACDOWELL: And they could have fun things...

O`DONNELL: No, no!

MACDOWELL: ... and you could meet people like yourself.

O`DONNELL: They`re not like me, Rachel! You know it. Because I`m different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: And tell us about Beth. How is she different?

O`DONNELL: Well, when she was a young woman -- she`s my age, so in the `60s, she was diagnosed just as mentally retarded, which sort of is an overall word that is not used anymore to describe people who fall somewhere in the autism spectrum. I think she actually would be diagnosed closer with something to Asperger`s syndrome.

So she`s a fascinating character to play. She has a regimented routine. She fixates on the bus schedule in the town that she lives, and she knows every bus driver, what route they take. She could tell you how to transfer and, you know, which bus got more gas and ran out of gas. She`s just the way that sort of "Rainman" was fixed on watching Judge Wapner, she is with fixated on the bus schedule, although she`s much more interactive than the character that Dustin played in "Rainman." She`s much more socially aggressive and opinionated than any character we`ve really seen portrayed with autism. They`re usually characterized as very innocent and docile, and she`s anything but that.

HAMMER: Well, it seems like a real challenging role. We look forward to seeing you in it. And you know, we`re in New York, and you`re a New Yorker, so please come by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT any time, hang out on the "Buzz Bench," talk about the blog, whatever you like.

O`DONNELL: All right. Frankly, I`m unemployed, so I`ll be there.

HAMMER: All right. Well, you can catch Rosie O`Donnell in the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" special "Riding the Bus With My Sister" this Sunday night on CBS.

BRYANT: Will an entertainment gizmo that cuts tear up the entertainment world? It`s our "SHOWBIZ Showdown."

And a man of disguise is tonight`s man of style, "Alias`s" Michael Vartan.

HAMMER: Now tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." In which city has the MTV reality series "The Real World" not been filmed, Seattle, Las Vegas, Miami or Washington, D.C.? We`re coming right back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. So once again, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." In which city has the MTV reality series "The Real World" not been filmed, Seattle, Las Vegas, Miami or Washington, D.C.? Well, the show has been filmed everywhere, from Los Angeles to Paris, but they never filmed in D, Washington, D.C.

BRYANT: It is almost 18 minutes past the hour, time now for the "SHOWBIZ Showdown." Cleaning up DVDs. There is a new so-called filtering technology that removes sexy or violent scenes from DVDs, and President Bush just signed a law making it legal. A company called Clearplay sells special DVD players that clean up movies. For example, the filter for "The Godfather" is pre-programmed to recognize the nude scenes, violence and rough language in that movie. The technology does not change the DVD itself, however.

But it does have some filmmakers hopping mad. They say it infringes on their copyrights and their art.

Joining us live from Los Angeles is Bill Aho, CEO of Clearplay. And also in LA is Marshall Herskovitz, producer of TV shows, like "30- Something," "My So-Called Life," "Once and Again," movies like "Traffic" and "The Last Samurai."

So Marshall, you are adamant about this, and you were recently quoted saying that, "It is easy to see a time when you could go into a store and say, Well, I`d like to have movies with no Jews in them, and let`s take movies with no black people. There`s this whole range of things you could take out of your movies based on personal preference."

That`s -- that`s pretty extreme. Do you really think it could go there?

MARSHALL HERSKOVITZ, MOVIE/TV PRODUCER: I think it could go there and even further, as a matter of fact. What we`re doing is legitimatizing people customizing content that`s copyrighted by artists. And that`s been disallowed for hundreds of years, and also by the 1st Amendment of our Constitution.

BRYANT: Bill, what do you say on this? Obviously, you`re in favor of it.

BILL AHO, CEO OF CLEARPLAY: Well, I think that`s alarmist rhetoric, but I really think it`s a dangerous argument. The notion that -- if you have a personal freedom to watch what you want in your home, then it really doesn`t matter what your ideology is. And this idea that because these freedoms could result in people doing things that we don`t like, well, that`s a dangerous way of thinking.

I don`t like a lot of the movies that Hollywood makes. I don`t like the glorification of violence. I don`t like the glamorizing of teen sex. But never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that because I don`t like the messages that I would prohibit their right to make the movies they want.

BRYANT: Well...

HERSKOVITZ: But we`re not talking about what people do in their homes. We`re talking about the commercial distribution of changed content, which is what your company does. What people do in their own homes is their own business. If they want to edit their films for their own personal use, that`s fine.

AHO: You know, I`ve heard that before, and I really don`t buy it. I mean, what Clearplay does is allow you in your home to watch a movie the way you want. Now, I`ve heard Hollywood say, Hey, it`s OK to do this with a remote control in your home, but using a tool or a technology that makes it easier for you, like Clearplay, well, we`re not going to allow you to do that.

BRYANT: Well, Bill, why...

AHO: I mean, how magnanimous.

BRYANT: Why wouldn`t you just, though, not watch those movies? I mean, do you really have to watch the movies with that content with your children?

AHO: No, we don`t have to do anything. The beauty is, is that it gives people another choice. Certainly, you can choose to only watch certain kinds of movies. But I think it`s just a little bit disingenuous that Hollywood, on the one hand, is making PG-13 movies that have more and more violence, more and more sex, more and more language, spending up to $50 million a movie marketing them to kids and then sitting back rather smugly and saying, Parents, just say no.

HERSKOVITZ: No, there`s no smugness here. I`m sorry. What there is is a 1st Amendment that allows artists, whether they be writers or film makers, to decide what the content of their films is going to be. And if you change this in your offices in Utah -- we`re not talking about what happens in people`s homes -- you are putting the changes to these programs on a hard drive and sending them to people`s homes. That is what you`re doing, and you`re doing it as a commercial distribution, and that is clearly copyright infringement.

BRYANT: And Marshall, why does this upset you more than what, let`s say, an airline does, when they edit a film?

HERSKOVITZ: Well, what happens on an airline is that people are exposed to material that they have no choice about. It`s on a screen in front of them...

BRYANT: Sure.

HERSKOVITZ: ... and if it`s objectionable to them, they have no choice. People have rights in a situation like that. But when you`re talking about a book or a DVD that you have to buy or rent and bring into your home, then the rights of the author prevail. That`s what`s been established for hundreds of years.

BRYANT: All right, well, gentleman, I`m sorry...

AHO: What about television?

BRYANT: We`ve got to -- we`ve got to end...

AHO: People certainly have a right...

BRYANT: ... this now. I know. You -- I`m telling you, I can tell this is going to go on and on. And I wouldn`t be...

HERSKOVITZ: This will go on for a long time.

BRYANT: ... would not be surprised if we...

HERSKOVITZ: To the Supreme Court.

BRYANT: ... revisit -- all right. OK, Marshall. Well, thanks for joining us, Marshall and Bill. And again, you know, I`m sure we`ll have you guys back. This is a hot subject, A.J.

HAMMER: Very hot subject, indeed. And we`ll be buzzing about it a little bit later.

But first: He`s a super-spy on "Alias," and now we spy on his wardrobe. We`ve got "Thursday In Style" with Michael Vartan on the way.

BRYANT: And Jo Dee Messina is doing all right. The country star has got a new album out, and she`s joining us live. That`s coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Time for "Thursday In Style."

HAMMER: Tonight: He`s "Alias`s" stylish spy and "In Style`s" main man of style, Michael Vartan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE ZUCKERMAN, "IN STYLE" MAGAZINE: Michael Vartan actually doesn`t believe that clothes makes the man. He does believe that it`s how you wear your clothes that makes you look good.

MICHAEL VARTAN, "ALIAS": My character on "Alias" wears suits all the time because he works for the CIA, whereas my character in "Monster-in-Law" is a lot more relaxed. He`s a little cooler, a little hipper, wears more colors and just a little more fun.

ZUCKERMAN: What he loves about LA is that he can wear whatever he wants all the time. He can walk into the chicest and fanciest restaurant wearing his favorite old ratty (INAUDIBLE) T-shirt and jeans and nobody bats an eye. He is horribly good-looking, though, so that might be part of it.

VARTAN: I would say my off-camera style is very relaxed. As I`m forced to wear suits to work every single day on "Alias" for the past four years, I tend just to stay away from suits and shirts as much as possible, more T-shirts and jeans, you know, boots, tennis shoes, sweatpants. You know, anything that`s comfortable is really the way I like to go.

ZUCKERMAN: It`s a little-known fact that "Alias`s" Michael Vartan actually grew up in France until he was 18. He didn`t really have any sort of consciousness of fashion or labels or what was hip and chic and cool to wear. Occasionally, however, they would have a school dance or some kind of social event, and everybody would whip out that collared Lacoste shirt and the fanciest, shiniest shoes they could find.

VARTAN: I don`t have a style idol because I like to dress so comfortably. Most of the people who do have style dress a little more fashionably than I do. So I sacrifice style for comfort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: And if you want to read more on Michael Vartan`s personal style, pick up a copy of May`s "In Style" magazine on newsstands now.

BRYANT: Massachusetts, my home state, is known for the Red Sox, "chowda" -- and country music? Not usually, but Jo Dee Messina tells us how she went from Boston to the "Billboard" charts. She`s coming up live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

BRYANT: Jo Dee Messina`s "Delicious Surprise." Her give a damn may be busted, but her new album is working out just fine. We Jo Dee Messina in the showbiz sit-down.

HAMMER: X marks the spot. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is hanging with Ice Cube, star of "XXX, State of the Union."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: I`m Rosie O`Donnell. If it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Stop making fun of me. Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, 31 minutes past the hour. I`m AJ Hammer.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. Here are tonight`s hot headlines.

HAMMER: Revelations of another idol arrest. Today we learned "American Idol" contestant Bo Bice was arrested back in 2001 for felony cocaine possession. The case was dismissed after he entered a drug diversion program. Fox said Bice`s past was well known to "American Idol" producers and he was honest and forthcoming about his indiscretions.

BRYANT: "Star" magazine is standing by its fake cover photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie tonight. Inside there`s a disclaimer in tiny print that admits the photo is doctored, a composite of two separate photos.

HAMMER: The pictures of the new couple. Here`s the happy couple right now. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, just a day after the news broke that they have been dating. They`re in Rome right now where Tom Cruise is being honored with a lifetime achievement award from Italy`s president.

BRYANT: And that leads us again to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, the most serious one of the week, Tom and Katie, will it last? Please keep voting at cnn.com/showbiztonight and send us your e-mails at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`re going to share some of your thoughts at 55 past the hour.

HAMMER: It is time now for another showbiz sit-down with country music star Jo Dee Messina.

She has sold over five million albums and scored eight number one singles. Her latest huge hit, which you`re watching right now, "My Give a Damn Is Busted" comes from "Delicious Surprise," her first studio album in four years. Jo Dee Messina, nice to see you. Thanks for stopping by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

JO DEE MESSINA, MUSICIAN: Thank you for having me. It`s good to be here.

HAMMER: And listening to this album, I spent the day with it in this office here at the headline prime studios in New York City and I feel like even if somebody who has never seen you before, even if they don`t know you, we get to know you during this, a strong, independent woman, basically get out of my way, and if you don`t get out of my way, I`m going to deal with you.

MESSINA: You know, the record, if I have to sum it all up, I usually say it`s got something for everybody. From beginning to end, it doesn`t matter what mood, what emotion, it`s there. It doesn`t matter if you`re male, female, young, old, there`s something on the record for you.

HAMMER: And your fans love you and they really support you. We actually got a great e-mail last night after we mentioned the fact that you were going to be on the show tonight. Louise wrote us from Nashville, great music town, as you know. She wrote that, we love this new album, not to diminish the exceptional nature of the previous albums, but this one really lets us inside here amazing journey over the past five years. Love to you on your journey, look forward to the continued ride along the way.

MESSINA: Well, I actually think I know that fan. She was like one of the first members of my fan club.

HAMMER: Not a stalker, though?

MESSINA: No, no, no.

HAMMER: Nothing we need to call security about.

MESSINA: No, no.

HAMMER: But she mentions your journey and it really has been over the past five years. I mean a couple of things you`ve been through. You had the split from your fiance, who was also your tour manager. You changed your management. You changed your publicist. How has all those experiences made you a better person?

MESSINA: I think that we - I always say life is like a pinball machine. And you have to be like the ball and go down and hit all the bumpers on the way down and get the mallets so you can go back up and score more points. And I think every day it`s just like that. We have choices in our daily lives and we have lessons in our daily life and five years, that`s a lot of living. That`s about how long it took to make the record. So there`s a lot of living on that album.

HAMMER: When you walked in here tonight, one of the first things I noticed and people have told me that this was the case with you, you`re extremely physically fit. You`ve got the good firm handshake. You`re in great shape obviously. In that video, you`re in terrific shape. Did fitness become a part of your life as a result of the experiences that you went been through over the past five years?

MESSINA: I`ve always been a jock. My dad was an athletic director, so I grew up playing every sport from ice hockey to football. I`ve always kind of been a jock, but the last year I really got into seriously eating six times a day, eating clean, being real regimented with my exercising and my lifting and that kind of stuff.

HAMMER: Well, it`s working out.

MESSINA: Thanks.

HAMMER: You look terrific. Can I feel that grip one more time?

MESSINA: Yeah. It`s all yours.

HAMMER: Continued success with the album, Jo Dee Messina, thanks for stopping by. And Joe Dee Messina`s latest album "Delicious Surprise" is in stores now.

BRYANT: They have been talking all day and we`ve been listening. We do it every night. It`s the best from today`s talk shows. Today things got a little heated on Regis and Kelly, when Kelly`s husband Mark Consuelos was a guest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGIS PHILBIN, CO-HOST, "REGIS & KELLY": Take a look at you and Vivica A. Fox on "Missing."

KELLY RIPA, CO-HOST, "REGIS & KELLY": which is weird, because that wasn`t even a scene. That was just.

PHILBIN: She`s been very busy around here. Check this out, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: That`s never going to happen around here. Tomorrow on "Live With Regis and Kelly," Paris Hilton.

HAMMER: I don`t know exactly how to take that, Karyn.

He`s had a huge following since his days with rapper NWA and then he emerged on to Hollywood as an actor. Well, this weekend, fans of Ice Cube get to see him in his very first action leading role in the new film, "XXX."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (voice-over): He`s the next XXX threat and he`s coming to a theater near you. Ice Cube plays Darius Stone, a highly decorated special- ops soldier who`s locked up in a military prison for striking an officer, but when the National Security Agency`s underground operations center is attacked, it becomes apparent pretty quickly that a new XXX agent is needed.

With the help of NSA agent Augustus Gibbons played by Samuel L. Jackson, Stone breaks out of prison to become the new XXX agent. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT sat down with Ice Cube to talk about taking over the role that Vin Diesel made famous. Cube said he`s done everything he can to make sure audiences know he`s the new bad guy in town.

ICE CUBE, "XXX, STATE OF THE UNION": To me, it was something that I really fought to make that sequence spectacular, because if I`m taking over this new XXX, you have to feel it from the minute I hit the screen, you know? There`s nothing that I wanted to warm people up to. I wanted one of the best sequences to be up top.

HAMMER: And with such intense action-packed scenes, it looks like Ice Cube got his wish. Cube also got the chance to work with Sam Jackson, someone he`s looked up to since his early movie days.

ICE CUBE: I watched since he was doing Spike Lee movies. To get a chance to work with him he`s been in everything. He`s worked with everybody. You know, he has a ton of knowledge when it comes to acting and I never went to school for it, so, you know, I learned as much as I can.

HAMMER: And in an interview with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Jackson said Cube`s street cred and reputation in the music world makes him a great XXX.

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: Cube brings a whole other kind of flavor to this franchise. I guess that`s the purpose of it, to find a new guy who fit the situation every time. In an urban environment, he brings a lot of street credibility to this particular character. He has all this military expertise and you combine the two things, you get a guy who`s a little bit tougher than the average guy who`s out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Samuel L. Jackson`s the only actor in "XXX" to return to the franchise. He`s also starring in the highly anticipated "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith." Of course, "XXX, State of the Union" is in theaters tomorrow.

BRYANT: Well, the news has only been out for about 24 hours, but it already seems like they`re the new hit couple in Hollywood. Tom and Katie, we`ll take it to the buzz bench coming up.

HAMMER: Plus "Cold Case" hits up and we have Danny Pino in another "SHOWBIZ Sitdown" on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Let`s go, time for the "Buzz Bench." Here`s what we`re buzzing about tonight -- Cruise and Holmes, of course, tabloid tricks, and the new entertainment law.

BRYANT: Joins us on the buzz bench tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT contributor Amy Kean, VH1 classic host Amy Scott, and comedian and TV personality Leigh Kessler. So topic number one, Tom Cruise got a new girlfriend. It`s actress Katie Holmes. There`s a bit of an age difference. He`s 42 and she is 26. He`s been married twice before and she broke off an engagement recently to Chris Klein. Leigh.

LEIGH KESSLER, COMEDIAN AND TV PERSONALITY: Tom Cruise gets his braces off and now he`s dating the hottest girl at Capeside High School, very impressive. I got to say, a lot of people are saying maybe it`s a publicity stunt, and even if it is a publicity stunt, what proof of the great benefit of being a Hollywood star. Tom Cruise people are like we need a little marketing buzz for the show, would you mind dating Katie Holmes? Would you do that for us? We don`t want to put you out.

AMY KEAN, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT CONTRIBUTOR: He`s too old for her, don`t you think?

AMY SCOTT, VH1: It`s only 16 years.

KESSLER: Mimi Rogers, he was six years younger so he`s kind of going..

KEAN: It just seems - I think it seems like a publicity stunt.

SCOTT: Tom Cruise is a very, very smart man and if it was a publicity stunt, he`s manufacturing it perfect timing. He`s got "War of the Worlds" coming out. She`s got "Batman: Begins" or whatever, what a perfect time for him to have -- his own sister, his publicist put out this press release.

KEAN: Maybe so, but I think it definitely smells phony to me.

HAMMER: Can we throw up one of those photos that we have of them in Italy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They look cute together.

HAMMER: In a couple of the photos, she genuinely - mean she`s thrilled. She`s having the time of her life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s much taller than him. I think he should be careful. He should make sure he dates tiny women, because it makes him look even shorter.

KESSLER: Can you imagine these stars are enamored of each other when they date? You know, I can`t believe you`re Tom Cruise. I can`t believe you`re Katie Holmes.

BRYANT: She even said as a kid, she was going to grow up and marry Tom Cruise. That was what (INAUDIBLE)

HAMMER: We`re going to move on to topic number two, because this affected another Hollywood couple in the way this was portrayed. Tabloid magazine`s altering photos. On the cover of "Star," magazine, there was this photo of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. They put it together. It turns out a tiny little disclaimer on page eight, that the photos have been altered. Amy Scott, what`s your take?

SCOTT: What do we expect? Isn`t the "Star" one step above like Sasquatch ate my baby or something?

BRYANT: (INAUDIBLE) has good stories.

SCOTT: Funny though, because "Us Weekly "paid $500,000 for a photo and then they embellish the story around the photo. That really is a non- story. We don`t know that they`re actually having a relationship. They`re just seen together on the beach. Then the "Star" takes two photos and further embellishes this non-story, but again it`s the "Star." I think it`s good for you.

BRYANT: When I look at those magazines when I`m in the grocery store, I always imagine that they`re doctored in some way. It doesn`t really, that looks sort of phony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a picture of Maddox as a very young child. He`s about three years old. He`s in college now -- no. She`s in Virginia, and he`s in the Caribbean in these two photos.

BRYANT: And she looks bigger than him.

(CROSSTALK)

BRYANT: They need to learn photo shop all over again. OK, I`m going to move on to topic number three now. We were talking about this in the show. Now the bill was passed yesterday, signed into law, that says you can use equipment to sensor DVDs at home as a filtering device and they`re also saying that they`re going to really snap down on people who are pirating movies illegally, the ones who go to the movie theater and tape it. You can get up to five years in jail now.

KEAN: And $250,000 fine, which is like, are murderers and rapists even getting that? It just seems a little bit serious to me what they`re doing, but at the same time I feel like they have to do something, because clearly this is a problem. When you walk down any street in New York, you see these bootlegs.

BRYANT: You can get "Star Wars" already. I was wondering about the quality.

SCOTT: And you can hear people munching popcorn in the background. You can see the back of some guy`s head.

KESSLER: I find, on a serious note, this particular bill has two elements of it that are contradictory to each other. I mean one is about the rights of ownership of the studios and the fact that they own that and they should reap the rewards and then the other side is that, well, people who don`t agree with what the studios are putting out, have the right to change it at will. I think that`s a very dangerous way to enter and it`s packaged together.

BRYANT: We have to end it there for the bench, but good thought, Leigh. Good thinking point. Leigh, Amy and Amy, thanks for joining us here on the buzz bench.

HAMMER: OK. Right now, time to get your laugh on in laughter dark, as we do every night, bringing you the late-night laughs you might have missed.

BRYANT: Late night with Conan O`Brien is now broadcasting in high- definition, long story short. It means there`s more room on the screen, which Conan is putting to good use.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O`BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: This is one idea we had. Pamela Anderson right there pole dancing. We should just stick with this. I know we`re kind of kidding around, but I swear to God, we would be the highest- rated show on NBC, which by the way isn`t hard to do these days. There`s Abe Vigoda shooting baskets. Let`s see if he can get one in. C`mon, Abe, you can do it. C`mon! C`mon Abe. C`mon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: More bang for your buck with the (INAUDIBLE). Tonight, Conan welcomes actor John C. Reilly in high-def of course, and Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson are going to perform.

BRYANT: Yes, well, the start star of "Cold Case" joins us live. We are one on one with Danny Pino in the showbiz sit-down coming up next.

HAMMER: Plus, strike up the band, the band-aids, some famous faces and the jingle that will definitely ring a bell, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Time for another showbiz sit-down. Danny Pino plays Detective Scotty Valens (on the hit drama "Cold Case." He joins us live from Hollywood. Good to see you Danny.

DANNY PINO, ACTOR: Good to see you Karyn. Thanks for having me.

BRYANT: Not a problem. Now before we begin, we`re going to take a look at a clip from the upcoming episode. In this one you`re arguing with a detective from another unit about crimes possibly committed by someone you`re involved with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PINO: No, she said she would be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you clown me, help her out?

PINO: Careful what you ask me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s (INAUDIBLE) cop to cop courtesy. I`m so whipped, I`ll do anything for this broad.

PINO: Keep going, please, anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Well, I`ve seen the show many times, but for those who haven`t what sets "Cold Case" apart from all the other sort of cop shows out there.

PINO: I think it`s a very dynamic show, first off. I think you have a lot of the procedural aspects of cop dramas, but I think you also have, as you saw there, elements of their personal lives as well. We have some forensics, but I think what really separates our show from other shows is our use of flashback and our use of time as a character. And time is illustrated a lot with the music that we`re able to use on the show, along with, you know, makeup and hair and wardrobe and, you know, the camera department with the film stock usage, the writing with the vernacular of the era that we`re depicting, so there`s so many departments that go into it, but that flashback is very reminiscent of features, actually, you know, a movie element to the show.

BRYANT: Now, this week I know you guys are doing something special with the Rocky Horror show? There`s a little bit of that theme in there.

PINO: Yeah, that`s going to be exciting.

BRYANT: Are you doing the time warp?

PINO: I don`t personally do the time warp, but I think some people will be.

BRYANT: Yeah. And Barry Bostwick is co-starring in it this week and it should be a good episode.

PINO: I think people are going to be really surprised with Barry`s performance. He really came on the set and delivered. I was excited to be working with him and, you know, every week on the show there`s a special performance by a guest star. And Barry really came on the show and did his thing.

BRYANT: Knocked it out of there.

PINO: Knocked it out of the park.

BRYANT: I did read, too, you`re really excited about an upcoming film project with Andy Garcia?

PINO: Actually, last summer we worked on a film called "The Lost City." It`s been his baby for like the last almost 20 years. To be working with Andy, he`s one of those guys that I`ve always grown up looking up to, so to not only work with him, but to be directed by him is so exciting for me and the movie is just going to look beautiful and it means a lot to me, being Cuban and this movie is about the Cuban revolution, a story that is rarely told about the Cuban revolution, so I`m extremely excited to be a part of it.

BRYANT: Great. All right. We look forward to that and we thank you for joins us here, Danny Pino.

PINO: Thank you.

BRYANT: And (INAUDIBLE) not a problem. You can catch a new episode of "Cold Case" this Sunday on CBS.

HAMMER: It`s time for a bit of nostalgia. Believe it or not, band- aids are celebrating their 85th anniversary today. You may remember the jingle, but you may not remember that the commercials featured some budding young stars way back when.

Recognize anybody? Well, that was Terri Garr. Before that it was John Travolta, Brooke Shields was also in a Band-Aid commercial way back in the day.

BRYANT: . vote online on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, Tom and Katie, will it -- the vote very one-sided. Seven percent of you say yes, Tom and Katie will last, 93 percent of you say no, they won`t and you`ve also been sending e-mails. Alma says Amarillo, Texas, says, I do not think this will last too long. She is too young to be dating Tom Cruise.

And Mark from Atlanta, Georgia, adds, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Sounds like risky business.

HAMMER: Karyn, you go home and vote. It`s time now to see what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

BRYANT: Let`s take a look at the showbiz marquee. Marquee guy, take it away.

ANNOUNCER: She`s the ex of Britney`s hubby, Kevin Federline. She`s Shar Jackson. She`s got a new gig to tell us about, but what will she tell us about Britney`s baby news? So much to talk about, and we will, with Shar Jackson live tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

Also tomorrow, "Everybody Loves Raymond" and nobody loves good-byes. We`re behind the scenes at Raymond`s good-bye party. Look for the marquee guy. I`ll be the one with the lampshade on my head. This is the marquee guy and as we all know, everybody loves the marquee guy.

BRYANT: That`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I am Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I`m AJ Hammer. Now before we go, we do want to say good-bye and god luck to CNN`s Judy Woodruff. She announced today that after 30 years, she`s leaving daily journalism to work on some other projects. Judy, you will be missed. Stay tuned for the very latest from CNN headline news.

END