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Showbiz Tonight

Former `American Idol` Contestant Alleges Relationship With Paula Abdul; Interview With `Elvis` Star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

Aired May 03, 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.


A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: An "American Idol" shocker.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: And the new Elvis in the "SHOWBIZ Sitdown." I`m Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

BRYANT: The runaway bride. No running away from the big guns. Diane, Katie, Oprah -- who will get the get? They`ll all ask, but who will get the big "I do"?

HAMMER: "Idol" alert. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is the first to know what`s in the report all America wants to see and the question everyone is asking: Is "American Idol" fixed?

BRYANT: Can`t help falling in love with the man who would be king. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers stars as Elvis in a new mini-series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elvis has left the building!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: More than just "A Little Less Conversation" live, in the "SHOWBIZ Sitdown."

HAMMER: Mark Consuelos live. He has "Hope and Faith," and his wife as a co-star. Mark Consuelos in another "SHOWBIZ Sitdown."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF PROBST, HOST, "SURVIVOR": Hey, I`m Jeff Probst. And if it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer, and you are at the top of the show.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. We are live with you from Headline Prime studios in New York City for the next hour.

HAMMER: Well, of course, The runaway bride is the runaway story that can`t be stopped, and we`ve got the possible Hollywood twists and turns in just a moment. But first, the runaway story on "American Idol."

BRYANT: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is the first to bring you the bombshell that could blow "American Idol" wide open. Just a short time ago, we got a first look at what will be in the ABC News expose on "American Idol" that`s going to air tomorrow night, and it is truly a shocker. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s" David Haffenreffer is here with the very latest -- David.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: A shocker, indeed, A.J. and Karyn. Just moments ago, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT obtained some of what the -- what the damaging report will have. It is explosive -- Sex, power and fame. And now, we have excerpts of the report. "American Idol" contestant Corey Clark tells ABC News correspondent John Quinones that he began an off- camera relationship with judge Paula Abdul, this while he was still a contestant on the show.

In the ABC News report, he says the relationship was at first platonic but then turned sexual. It all started, Corey says, with a private phone call after he says an Abdul associate slipped him a piece of paper with the judge`s phone number.

Clark says, quote, "So she was, like, You`ve got to have better song choices, and I`m going to help you do that. I want to look out after you like -- like I`m your mom. And then she was, like, Well, more like your sister. And I was, like, OK, cool, cool. And then she was, like, Well, maybe more like your special friend," end quote.

Now, Clark also alleges that "Idol" judge Paula Abdul helped him select what he would sing. Clark also claims that Abdul worked with him to improve his look by giving him money to buy expensive clothing, even giving him prescription cough medicine, with a prescription made out in her name, to soothe his throat.

Quinones asks, "She coached you?" "Right." "She picked your songs?" "yes." "She picked your clothes?" "Right, and got my hair cut for me." Quinones says, "And the idea of all this was?" "Polishing off that dust off of the dirty diamond and helping me shine a little bit, you know what I mean? Like, Yo, check him out now."

Now, minutes ago, Fox issued SHOWBIZ TONIGHT a statement in response, and here it is. "Disqualified `American Idol` contestant Corey Clark was removed from the show for failing to disclose his criminal arrest history."

Corey Clark was booted from the competition, you`ll recall, for not telling judges he was arrested after a domestic dispute with his sister.

Now, Fox continues, "We will, of course, look into any evidence of improper conduct we receive. In the meantime, we recommend that the public carefully examine Mr. Clark`s motives, given his apparent desire to exploit his prior involvement with `American Idol` for profit and publicity."

Now, do remember that he`s got a new book he`s trying to publish on these allegations, and he`s recorded a new song for an upcoming album. Abdul says he is a liar, as the allegations go toward her personal reputation. And there will be more fall-out. Karyn, back to you.

BRYANT: Thank you, David! That was a heck of a report over there! Nice job.

Now, our coverage on the story continues. "Celebrity Justice" reports there`s a bombshell audiotape that will provide the answers behind the allegations. So we go now to Pat Lalama of "Celebrity Justice," live in Burbank. Now, Pat, tell us about this tape.

PAT LALAMA, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Well, all right. This is the latest. As you know, or maybe don`t know, there are going to be other pieces of so-called evidence from ABC, phone records, for example, that show long conversations she allegedly had with Mr. Clark during the time of their courtship, for lack of a better term. But now we are told that recently, she allegedly called him and said, Don`t respond to inquiries from the media, as if it were some sort of, "or else."

Now, we spoke to people very, very close to Paula, who say, No, no, no, wasn`t anything like that. In fact, it was just the opposite, that he called her and said, I really got messed over, I should say, for a lack of a nastier term that he really did say, by "American Idol," and I want revenge. And I feel I have no choice, and so I`m going for this. I`m going for the jugular. And she said, Well, why would you -- you know, Don`t talk to the media. That could be harmful. And that he allegedly audiotaped...

BRYANT: OK...

LALAMA: ... this whole phone conversation, and then cut it up and used it against her. That`s the latest.

BRYANT: OK, now, Pat, if this is true, did Paula actually break any laws here?

LALAMA: Well, you know what? I would be really foolish to try to answer that. But I`m going to tell you what I think. I think you`re going to find, in the end, that there will be no criminality involved in any of this. There will be investigations, in terms of her contract, standards and practices, was she unwise, does she need to take a hike? All of those things will be considered. But I`ve been told by people within the federal government that this really is not their bailiwick...

BRYANT: Right. Right.

LALAMA: ... that they don`t even consider it, really, a quiz show. They consider this an entertainment show. So it`s all going to be about bad judgment and violating contracts, and you know, pretty much some really unwise decisions, it appears...

BRYANT: OK...

LALAMA: ... but no criminality...

(CROSSTALK)

BRYANT: All right. Well, Pat Lalama of "Celebrity Justice," thank you. You are out in Burbank, and we thank you for joining us.

LALAMA: OK.

BRYANT: And there is so much more to tell you in this story. Coming up: Is this latest revelation the downfall of "American Idol," or is the show, in fact, scandal-proof? We`ll explore it in "SHOWBIZ In Depth" in just a few minutes, so be sure to stick around.

HAMMER: Well, now the other story all of America continues to talk about. It`s the runaway bride, the Georgia woman who bailed on her wedding and took a bus to New Mexico, leaving behind her family and fiance, who feared the very worst. And the airwaves did not stop buzzing all day today about the most TV-friendly story going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is now holed up at her family`s lakefront home.

HAMMER (voice-over): Several days after Jennifer Wilbanks turned up safe in New Mexico on the day she was supposed to marry John Mason, the saga of the runaway bride is still providing made-for-TV drama for everyone, from cable news networks...

MILES O`BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities in Georgia still considering pressing charges against 32-year-old Jennifer Wilbanks...

HAMMER: ... to late-night comedy shows.

JAY LENO, HOST, "TONIGHT" SHOW: It`s pretty serious, though. She could be charged with filing a false police report, lying to authorities, and letting nearly 600 crab puffs go bad.

HAMMER: And now the morning and daytime giants are trying to land that first big interview with Jennifer Wilbanks. Producers working for the big guns, Diane, Katie, Oprah, are working frenetically for that first get in the runaway story too juicy to run away from.

DEVIN GORDON, "NEWSWEEK": When you have a size of a wedding as big as this one is and the bride-to-be hightails it across the country and then makes up a kidnapping story, it`s just one giant bombshell for an entertainment -- for an entertainment media and for people to gossip about, one right after another.

HAMMER: Although "The Runaway Bride" has already been a movie starring Julia Roberts, media observers say you shouldn`t be surprised if this real-life runaway bride ends up with a TV movie of her own.

GORDON: I`m sure it will happen. The question is, how quickly? It seems like networks can bang these things out in about a year or two, so I`m pretty sure we`ll see something soon. I guarantee you, there are conversations happening at the major networks about making this into a movie as we speak.

HAMMER: This real-life runaway bride saga does have a certain cinematic quality. You have a troubled leading lady, a sympathetic, lovestruck hero, who, we heard today, still wants to marry the troubled leading lady, a cast of hundreds, if you count all the police, searchers, and 600 people who got wedding invitations. There`s even Hollywood-style product placement for Greyhound, which provided the bus Wilbanks used to flee to New Mexico. This story certainly has everything, except one thing.

GORDON: We just need the ending.

HAMMER: Ah, yes, the ending. Dr. Phil has a suggestion on how John Mason should end this story.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": How would you counsel him?

DR. PHIL MCGRAW: I`d counsel him...

KING: He`s probably humiliated.

MCGRAW: ... to get him another bride.

HAMMER: That may very well happen. But everyone knows that audiences do love a happy ending, so maybe what people really want to see is John and Jennifer living happily ever after. Stay tuned.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, before we get to this story`s end, though, there is this cliffhanger that still has to be worked out. Georgia prosecutors say it could be weeks now before they decide whether to charge Wilbanks for making false statements.

BRYANT: Tonight, a "SHOWBIZ Sitdown" with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Now, you may know him best as the dreamy coach in "Bend it Like Beckham." Now Meyers is taking on the role of Elvis Presley in the upcoming CBS mini- series "Elvis." Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, welcome. Thanks for joining us here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS, "ELVIS": Hi. How`re you doing?

BRYANT: I am doing well. Now, first I want to ask you, you are an Irishman, and you are playing Elvis Presley. How hard was it for you to take on this role of an American icon?

RHYS-MEYERS: It was quite difficult, actually, just making the decision to have the temerity to go and play Elvis Presley, being from County Cork as I am. And when they first came and asked me to do this last July, I was doing a Woody Allen movie, so I was concentrating more on the Woody Allen movie than anything else, and so I really didn`t give much time to the Elvis script. And then they re-approached me in November and said, Would you really consider doing this? And I looked over the script again. I read it twice. And I thought, well, actually, it was very, very clever and a very, very beautiful part of his life. It`s only 18 to 33. So I said, you know, Why not? Why not put my fears behind me and do it?

BRYANT: All right. Well, we`re going to give our fans here a look at you in "Elvis: The Early Years." This is Jonathan Rhys-Meyers playing Elvis Presley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RHYS-MEYERS: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t care if it`s note-perfect. I don`t care if it`s flat. I don`t care if the timing`s off. It`s just got to feel right, and it doesn`t feel right with take 25. So we`re going to keep on doing it until it does feel right. Are we straight with that, Mr. Sholes (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re the boss, Elvis.

RHYS-MEYERS: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: So Jonathan, what did you have to do to become Elvis, as far as getting the physicality down and getting the look?

RHYS-MEYERS: Well, getting the physicality from the point of view of movements didn`t take as long as I thought it would. The look is not really up to me. The look is up to the make-up and the hair and...

BRYANT: But you got the lip thing going, though.

RHYS-MEYERS: Well, you know, I add as much as I could. You know, I tried to be relaxed in my own skin and really concentrated on giving the performance internally as best as I could, I suppose.

BRYANT: Now, I did see in the press package that came with this that you, in fact, stayed in character even when you were not on screen, when you weren`t filming. So anything strange happen with that or any sort fun things about that?

RHYS-MEYERS: Well, you know, when you stay in character as Elvis Presley, fun things are always going to happen to you. You know, I used to come home from set -- because we worked 16-hour days. It was very, very long days. And I used to come home from the set and order hamburgers. And from (INAUDIBLE) I was eating hamburgers religiously...

BRYANT: Sure.

RHYS-MEYERS: ... just to put on weight. And I kind of, like, Hey, yes, can I get a hamburger, please, ma`am, and some fries? And it was so funny because the woman who answers the phone, you know, she knew exactly who I was and what I was doing. So you know, she`d be, like, Oh, no, it`s getting better. It`s getting better. And I think one evening, I had to reorder my sandwich 18 times, just so I got it right for her ears.

BRYANT: Nice. Did you ever have a fried banana sandwich? Because isn`t that what Elvis liked?

RHYS-MEYERS: He did, yes. And I`m afraid I never did. I don`t like peanut butter.

BRYANT: OK. Well, last question. Did you understand the obsession with Elvis Presley before you took on this role? And do you understand it better now?

RHYS-MEYERS: You know, I understand the obsession with Elvis Presley because, of course, he was the first. And he basically put a commercial face on rock-and-roll and rhythm and blues. So you know, he was a very, very important innovator from the point of view of the music industry. But as a human being himself, he was electrifying as a performer on stage, more electrifying than you usually see in the videotapes or the performances that were filmed.

BRYANT: Right.

RHYS-MEYERS: His performances that weren`t filmed were much more outrageous.

BRYANT: Right, right.

RHYS-MEYERS: And you know, it was almost like seeing Iggy Pop...

BRYANT: Oh!

RHYS-MEYERS: ... in the 1970s. It was incredible.

BRYANT: Great.

RHYS-MEYERS: Yes. So I think, you know, in doing Elvis Presley, you basically get to be -- and there`s reasons they call him "The King," and it`s not because he sits on a throne.

BRYANT: Right.

RHYS-MEYERS: It`s because he invented the throne.

BRYANT: All right. Well, excellent. The first part the mini-series airs on Sunday. And by the way, I loved you in "Velvet Goldmine." It`s a fantastic movie.

RHYS-MEYERS: You`re very kind. Thank you.

BRYANT: It is "Elvis: The Early Years," and the mini-series airs this Sunday on CBS.

HAMMER: Well, it could be the scandal to end all scandals, but "American Idol" is no stranger to controversy. Coming up in "SHOWBIZ In Depth": Is the show scandal-proof?

BRYANT: Plus, Mark Consuelos in "Hope and Faith." He is back on screen with his wife, Kelly Ripa, and he joins us live in another "SHOWBIZ Sitdown."

Now tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." Which Eminem protege had an ongoing feud with rapper Ja Rule? Was it, A, Ludacris, B, Fabolos, C, Nelly, or D, 50 Cent? We`ll be right back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Welcome back. So once again, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." Which Eminem protege had an ongoing feud with rapper Ja Rule? Was it Ludacris, Fabolos, Nelly or 50 Cent? The answer is D, 50 Cent.

HAMMER: It is 17 past the hour and time now for "SHOWBIZ In Depth." Is "American Idol" scandal-proof? Now, just moments ago, we read excerpts from an ABC press release about tomorrow night`s "Primetime Live," in which former contestant Corey Clark says he was coached and helped by judge Paula Abdul. Plus, he says he also had a sexual relationship with her. All of this allegedly happened in season two.

Now, this year alone, the show has been plagued by one thing after another. First, it was that "Idol" phone snafu, you may remember, in which some contestants had the wrong phone number -- the wrong voting phone numbers flashed on the screen, causing Fox to have a do-over show. Next it was revealed that contestant Scott Savol had been arrested for felony domestic violence following an incident involving his girlfriend. Most recently, you may remember, it was revealed that another contestant, Bo Bice, had been arrested for cocaine and marijuana possession.

But even after all of that, "Idol" continues to pull in these high ratings numbers week after week after week. So the fact is, we need to know: Is "American Idol" scandal-proof? Joining us to discuss that live from Los Angeles, Christopher Lisotta from "TV Week," and here in New York, Nicholas Fonseca from "Entertainment Weekly."

And Nicholas, I want to start with you. Any other show getting pounded like this with seemingly scandal after scandal would probably have damage done to it, but it all seems to be bouncing off the bulletproof "American Idol." Why is that?

NICHOLAS FONSECA, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Well, A.J., there is a participatory fervor to this show that is unmatched by any other television show on air today. I mean, there are so many viewers who are so excited to be voting and to have their voice heard. You get to see the results immediately, and you can vote as many times as you want each week. So there`s something about that, I think, that Americans just love. They love knowing that they can come on -- you know, turn on their television set, see somebody they like, punch some numbers, and next night, hopefully, there they are on screen, winning.

HAMMER: Do you think that`s it, Nicholas, the fans are so involved that it just doesn`t matter.

FONSECA: There are. And it`s been 20 million, 25 million fans every single episode for four seasons. And there have been numerous scandals, so much trouble for this show, especially in the past few seasons, and it hasn`t affected it. The numbers go up and up and up. The controversy just continues to sell.

HAMMER: OK, well, let`s talk about this -- and Christopher, I`ll direct this at you. A lot of people are buzzed about the fact that maybe the voting is fixed in some way. Is that even possible? And do you think we could be facing another quiz show-like scandal that happened back in the `50s?

CHRISTOPHER LISOTTA, "TV WEEK": I mean, I think that Fox has handled this issue. They talk about it every season. Every season, reporters in different cities bring it up, saying their regions weren`t represented, and the network has handled it well. I mean, ultimately, it seems to be -- it`s an entertainment show, it`s not a game show. And in the long run, I think it all just adds to the publicity.

I mean, this network, unlike other networks, uses controversy to help drive interest in Fox. I mean, this is nothing new, if you think back to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" or even "The Simpsons," when it began it air. All these shows were faced with -- or "Married With Children." They`ve all faced incredible controversies, yet it only added to the whole spectrum of what Fox is, which is the in-your-face network...

HAMMER: Right.

LISOTTA: ... that will do things that other people won`t. And that, I think, is incredibly powerful, and this, I think, is just an extension of that.

HAMMER: Well, we just had some insight what we`re going to see on ABC`s "Primetime" program tomorrow night about the allegations against Paula Abdul. Paula is saying absolutely not true. Regardless, you know, if Paula is for some reason kicked off of the show, would that even affect the show? And I`m not saying that that`s going to happen, but people are going to be talking about that idea.

FONSECA: I return to my original line that controversy sells. I have no doubt that if Paula Abdul were kicked off the show, "American Idol" -- the producers of "American Idol" would handle it well, and they would probably find somebody 10 times more fascinating, 10 times more interesting, 10 times more polarizing than Paula and put them in her seat. I mean, look at who the most popular judge on the show is.

HAMMER: Right.

FONSECA: It`s Simon Cowell.

HAMMER: Right. All right. Well, thank you very much, Nicholas and Christopher. We`ll be all watching the ABC special tomorrow night, I`m sure, and I`m sure it`s going to do huge ratings, as well.

And of course, now we want to know what you think about all of this. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol": Do you think it`s fixed? Let us know what you think by taking our poll at cnn.com/showbiztonight. You can also e-mail us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`re going to share some of what you had to say later in the show.

BRYANT: Heidi Klum, a life in swimsuits. Heidi`s summer photo shoot. That is coming up in "Tuesday In Style." Plus, "Star Wars" spoiler alert. Kevin Smith saw "Revenge of the Sith" and has some strong opinions about it. He`ll tell us what he thought, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Time now for "Tuesday In Style." Heidi Klum is taking it to the beach, and "In Style" magazine`s Toby Tucker gives us a look at some of this summer`s swimsuits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBY TUCKER, "IN STYLE" MAGAZINE: We shot Heidi in a lot of one-piece bathing suits. And she said she discovered that one-pieces could actually be sexy when she was shot for the cover of "Sports Illustrated" in a one- piece. She said it was one of the sexiest pictures she`s ever taken.

She was a little self-conscious about her tummy because she had just given birth about seven months before, but she said the one-piece really kind of evened her out, especially this watercolor piece.

Water colors for swimsuits are a beautiful choice. They come from green to blue. This Joe Damara (ph) is an absolutely stunning, really deep steel blue. Its got that wonderful key-hole detail in the top. It`s about $192, which is kind of expensive, but well worth it for a suit that`s this well made.

Florals are everywhere in the swimsuit world. They`ve always been there. Usually, it`s kind of a Hawaiian tropical floral. And Heidi loved wearing this one-piece by Burberry (ph). It was actually straight off the runway, and she said it really made her feel like she wanted to go on a tropical vacation.

Guess is making this beautiful teeny-weeny bikini. If you`re up for it, this is the floral bikini for you to get. It`s around $90, and it`s got these really cute tie sides.

For the hemian look, we put Heidi in this absolutely gorgeous Gucci wrap bathing suit. It took us a little while to figure out how this thing worked. It`s a bottom, and then you wrap and wrap and wrap around the body, and the end result is this gorgeous hemian, flowy, bright pink beautiful bathing suit that she loved.

Milia Mills (ph) gets hemian swimwear right. This bathing suit, you can get the top and the bottom for about $90 each, and it`s well worth it. The best thing about this swimwear is you can buy different sizes, tops and bottoms. You`re not stuck buying one size top and bottom.

A wonderful trend in swimwear is this earthy trend. It really means colors. You`re looking at deep browns, wonderful sands, colors you find in nature, basically. Heidi was wearing this great Calvin Klein suit. It was a one-piece with a twisted top. She absolutely loved it. She said she felt very skinny in this suit, so we liked hearing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: For more on Heidi and this season`s swimsuits, pick up a copy of "In Style" magazine, on newsstands now.

HAMMER: Well, it may not be swimsuit season here in New York City just yet, but judging by an event last night, it is definitely glamour season. A huge party. We`re going to tell you what was up, and of course, show you all the pretty pictures. That`s coming up.

Plus, will we soon be seeing a lot more of "Will & Grace`s" Megan Mullally? We`re take that to the "Buzz Bench," which is on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

HAMMER: Smith on Sith. Kevin Smith, the guy who brought us Quirks and Jay and Silent Bob speaks out on the new "Star Wars" film.

BRYANT: And keep the faith, husband and wife in reality but will they end up together on TV? Marc Consuelos, live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BOYLE: Hi, I`m Peter Boyle, if it happened today it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It is 31 minutes past the hour. I am Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I am AJ Hammer. Here are tonight`s hot headlines.

BRYANT: Running after the runaway bride. It`s still the story the media is buzzing about, and the race is on to land an interview with Jennifer Wilbanks and media observers say it won`t be a surprise if this real-life drama ends up on the big screen in the near future.

HAMMER: Fallen Idol. This afternoon, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT got a first look at tomorrow`s ABC news prime-time live "American Idol" expose. Seconds season contestant Corey Clark who was disqualified for not telling the show about a prior arrest. Says idol judge, Paula Abdul, helped him pick his songs. He also claims a sexual relationship with her. Abdul said last week that Clark is a liar and in a statement released today, Fox says the public should quote, carefully examine Mr. Clark`s motives given his apparent desire to exploit his prior involvement with "American Idol" for profit and publicity.

BRYANT: And "American Idol" is the subject of our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol", do you think it`s fixed? Keep on voting at cnn.com/showbiztonight and send your e-mails to showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`ll share some of what you had to say at 55 past the hour.

HAMMER: It is time now for the show`s biz, a look at stories in the business of entertainment. Well, if you just can`t wait for "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," tonight you can always a little taste. The Sith sound track is out today. It includes a 70-minute bonus DVD hosted by Ian McDermott. He plays the emperor Palpatine. That combines music and video from all six films and the last "Star Wars" movie of course will open up on May 19th.

BRYANT: Time now for show blog tonight an early review of "Star Wars" revenge of the Sith. Director Kevin Smith has seen the movie and blogged about it on his site, viewaskew.com. Kevin joins us now from Los Angeles with the gripping details. Now Kevin, before we talk to you about your thoughts on the movie though, we are going to take a look at some of what you wrote on your blog. You said - "Revenge of the Sith" is quite simply, awesome. I saw a gorgeous digitally projected version of the flick and let me tell you, this is a beautiful looking film. The opening space battle sequence is the best in any of the six "Star Wars" movies. I was sad to see the flick end, but happy to know it`s not the end of the "Star Wars" universe entirely. I`ve read stuff about a TV show. Sith doesn`t happen. Sith rules.

OK, now, Kevin, I got to tell you, I`m a person who has almost nothing but "Star Wars" ornaments on my Christmas tree. So I`m a die-hard fan. Is this movie going to satisfy us?

KEVIN SMITH, WWW.VIEWASKEW.COM: I think this movie would satisfy somebody who hated the first five "Star Wars" movies. I think you could kind of go into this movie without having seen the other ones and still really dig on it. It`s an incredibly well-crafted film. It`s gorgeous to look at. The performances are great. Action from the opening sequence like right after the (INAUDIBLE) boom. You are thrust into the mid of the clone wars. It`s really, really well done and it`s the movie that, if you have been a "Star Wars" fan forever, you have been waiting for this movie for a long time. I was a kid when I read about how Darth Vader became half man, half machine by being dumped in the lava, after a light saber battle with Ben Kenobi. So 25 years later, 26 years later I finally get it see that come to fruition.

BRYANT: Was there a moment in this picture, though, where it came full circle, where you can see the end of this film matching up with the beginning of "Star Wars" as we know it from the very first film?

SMITH: A lot of link-up moments. Including, like, the twins are born, Luke and Lea and you see their fate as they get handed over to separate people. You finally see Anakin Skywalker get into the suit, and become Darth Vader and there is a wonderful -- last shot of him is him standing beside the emperor, who looks as the emperor does in "Return of the Jedi" at this point, looking at the construction of the death star, which of course is the big part of the plot of "Star Wars."

BRYANT: Cool, great. All right. I`m excited to see it. I am glad that you saw it and you wanted to tell us about.

SMITH: Where did you read about it again.

BRYANT: On vieweskew.com. And thank you, Kevin and of course, you at home can read more of Kevin`s blog once again at viewaskew.com.

HAMMER: That`s viewaskew.com. Well, they have been talking all day and of course we`ve been listening. Now as we do every night on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the best from today`s talk shows. The ladies of THE VIEW take a look at the latest female to be booted from THE BATCHELOR.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a very interesting theory as to why he wouldn`t want her. Take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are mean to me. Sometimes when -- because the way I look. And it sounds so stupid but like people hate me because I`m beautiful. Like -- and that is -- that sounds so horrible. But that is like a real thing. And it`s a curse, as much as it is a blessing to be pretty. I mean, like, no matter what, like there is a huge, like, prejudice and racist and when it comes down to, it that`s why this didn`t work out because if I would have just been a little uglier and a little less noticeable.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: I did not know that pretty was a protected race in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: The curse. Well, Goldie Hawn will be joining the gals tomorrow on "The View."

And tonight, in another showbiz sit down, Mark Consuelos. He`s currently starring in the Lifetime series "Missing," and this Friday, he gets to hang out with his real-life wife Kelly Ripa when he returns to ABC`s "Hope and Faith." Mark, thanks for hopping in to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tonight. We appreciate you coming by.

MARK CONSUELOS, ACTOR: Thanks for having me.

HAMMER: So the Gooch is back.

CONSUELOS: The Gooch.

HAMMER: Your character on "Hope and Faith" is the Gooch, a guy who doesn`t really have any trouble getting woman at all.

CONSUELOS: I took the name specifically for the name. It`s a great name. I walk in the streets and people yelling Gooch.

HAMMER: And the laugh, too. Doesn`t he have some trademark laugh?

CONSULELOS: Yeah, the laugh is kind of like I stole it from the movie "Dazed and Confused."

HAMMER: How does that go, just for people who don`t know. One more time.

CONSUELOS: You got to watch tomorrow night.

HAMMER: All right. Well, let`s take a look at what`s going to happen on -- I guess the series -- the season finale on Friday night. And apparently, this is you getting back to town. The Gooch is back in town and he`s trying to court Faith, who of course is played by your real-life wife, Kelly Ripa. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONSUELOS: What we had was great. It was just a fling. You know me, I`m a smooth operator.

KELLY RIPA, ACTRESS: Did Hope tell you to say that?

CONSUELOS: Yeah. But, listen, it`s true. You deserve to be happy with Harry.

RIPA: Larry!

CONSUELOS: Whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Well, of course, as a mentioned, your real-life wife there, Kelly Ripa. I always wonder about one thing when I am watching the program in the morning. She`s always talking about everything that`s going in your life. It`s out there. There is nothing that you can do about that.

CONSUELOS: Yeah, it`s out there so I guess there`s nothing to hide but you have to understand that, I mean, as much as a love her, she does exaggerate just a little bit.

HAMMER: Are you sure about that?

CONSUELOS: Well, sometimes it benefits me to exaggeration. But most of the time it hurts.

HAMMER: Does she ever come home from work though at the end of day, honey I really wish you wouldn`t have said this and that.

CONSUELOS: I stopped watching. I don`t know. I usually hear about it on the plane. If I`m on a plane going somewhere somebody will let me know what I did wrong.

HAMMER: Is anything off-limits?

CONSUELOS: Yeah!

HAMMER: You guys have been married I think coming up on your ninth anniversary.

CONSUELOS: We just had it this weekend.

HAMMER: Oh you did, well, congratulations. I figure this would be a good opportunity to a little SHOWBIZ TONIGHT quiz with you about your wife Kelly Ripa. Just a few quick questions (INAUDIBLE). Are you ready?

CONSUELOS: Yes.

HAMMER: The color of her eyes.

CONSUELOS: Blue.

HAMMER: All right. The town she was born in.

CONSUELOS: Oh, well, she`s from Berlin but she was born in Stratford.

HAMMER: Stratford, New Jersey, that is correct. She was a regular dancer back in the `80s.

CONSUELOS: Dance party USA.

HAMMER: Dance party USA, but is she a good dancer?

CONSUELOS: Amazing!

HAMMER: Differing opinions on that. Like your wife, you`re also involved in many different things. MISSING is another one of your projects and you are actually involved in spreading the word about diabetes prevention right now.

CONSUELOS: Yeah, I`m working with the makers of Glucerna and Freestyle. It`s a diabetes education awareness program and it`s pretty much to get the 18 million people that in America that have diabetes to pledge to manage your diabetes, through diet, exercise and glucose monitoring.

HAMMER: Why did you come to get involved with this?

CONSUELOS: Well it`s actually a cause that`s close to my heart. My father and a few people on his side of the family -- it`s prevalent in our family. And I`m proud of him because he`s been managing it for the past seven years and he`s been staying healthy.

HAMMER: You are doing well too by using your name to get the word out.

CONSUELOS: Thank you.

HAMMER: Mark Consuelos, thanks for stopping by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Appreciate it and you can catch Mark in the season finale of "Hope and Faith." It`s on Friday on ABC.

BRYANT: Does PG stand for poorly guided? A look at the way movies are rated.

HAMMER: And is "Will & Grace`s" assistant striking out on her own? Our "Buzz Bench" makes a graceful appearance.

Plus, graceful entrances. The stars put on their best Chanel duds for a party that was far from being a dud. We were there.

BRYANT: Now, to see what you tuned into, final Nielsen ratings just out today for last week`s shows. As we do every Tuesday, here is a first look at the network`s top five. "Desperate Housewives" won the week with its new episode on Sunday. "American Idol" on Tuesday came in second, followed by "CSI" in third. "American Idol" Wednesday was fourth and "Survivor: Palau" rounded out the top five.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: It is time now for the "Buzz Bench," where we talk about the talk of the town and tonight who`ll be the first to runaway with an interview? Rating the rating`s system and maybe a new talk show with the touch of WILL & GRACE.

BRYANT: Joining us on the buzz bench tonight, comedian and TV personality Leigh Kessler, TV writer and producer Matthew Ostrom, making his first appearance and SHOWBIZ TONIGHT contributor Amy Kean. I want to start with you, Amy. Morning, afternoon and evening shows, everybody is chasing after Kathleen Wilbanks, for she is of course the runaway bride. Now the story has captivated the world and everybody in the media is just dying to get this first interview. Who do you think is going to get the first interview? And why should we even care?

AMY KEAN, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT CONTRIBUTOR: I don`t think we should care and I`m not captivated. I don`t know if you guys are. I just don`t really get it. I don`t really understand what the obsession is. I think women disappear all of the time and really what it boils down to is anything that can either be on the cover of "People" or make a TV movie out of it, people seem to be obsessed with it because it`s not really that big a story. It`s not that important.

HAMMER: There`s so many compelling elements that we were talking about earlier on the program.

KEAN: Like what?

BRYANT: The enormous (ph) wedding that she is blowing off.

LEIGH KESSLER, COMEDIAN/TV PERSONALITY: Is that what it is, that it`s such a huge wedding because that`s the thing you focus on the most. But I just feel bad for this woman who, here she couldn`t even hack the pressure a 600-person wedding. And that freaked her out and now the scrutiny of the media.

KEAN: She`s a liar.

MATTHEW OSTROM, TV WRITER/PRODUCER: How lucky is the fiance that he found out now? You know what I mean? He got a jump start.

KEAN: But he still wants to marry her, though. He`s just as crazy as she is.

He`s getting into now, you know what I mean?

HAMMER: Regardless of how this all turns out, she just - she got the cold feet but now every eye in the world is on her. She wasn`t looking for that I don`t think. Whether Katie gets it or Diane gets it, or we get it, you know --

KEAN: I just want to say that it seems to me that when one network picks up on a story, it`s become just this feeding frenzy where everyone tries to scoop each other.

OSTROM: That`s way it works.

KEAN: And no one ever steps back and says is this really even a story.

BRYANT: Well, it`s going to be a big story.

HAMMER: Let`s move on to another story that we`re talking about tonight on the buzz bench. Hollywood is now getting rated on its ratings system. There was a study that came out from the University of California finding the movie rating system - you know G, PG, PG-13, R, all set by the Motion Picture Association f America is flawed and vague, saying parents should consult multiple sources before determining which movies they deem appropriate for their children. Matt, what is your take on this?

OSTROM: My take is, if you are trying to figure out if it`s a good system or a bad system, if you even have to ask the question, there is something wrong right away. I think parents, what they really want is a ratings system that speaks to the amount of violence that`s in movies. I think if you look at -- there are PG movies that have as much violent content as R-rated movies. And I think that families want something that they can look at that says, this is a violent movie. Maybe another rating that says this has a lot of sex. And then of course probably a final rating this has Ashton Kutcher in it. (INAUDIBLE) You really want to make sure.

KEAN: (INAUDIBLE) situation. Matt and I were talking about this before we came out. If you don`t have kids, I think you don`t really care very much. But if you have kids, it is a serious issue and want to be able to feel like you can give them $20 to go to the mall and know what they`re seeing.

KESSLER: I think children react to physical violence, and they think it is funny. In the case of a super hero who is violent, it`s a way for kids to understand good overcoming evil. In the case of something like ice age, where the saber-tooth attacks each other, that`s history. It`s not gratuitous.

BRYANT: We have to move on. I am sorry. We got to nail this last one, basically Megan Mullally, who play`s Grace assistant in WILL & GRACE may have her own daytime talk show? Leigh?.

KESSLER: I am a firm believer that only stand-up comedians should get talk shows, but I do think that, here is a woman who is very attractive. She`s almost 50 years old and she`s a very sexy woman and she really is a song and dance woman. I think she`ll grab people, but in a lot of ways, she doesn`t have her "Will & Grace" writers and she doesn`t have the voice that people have accustomed to and I don`t know how that will translate.

KEAN: I was surprised, I just want to say quickly, I was really surprised because I`ve seen her on talk shows and she`s really not Karen. She`s not funny.

HAMMER: She`s fantastic. We have to got to end it there, guys.

BRYANT: Nobody`s caring.

HAMMER: Matt, thank you for joining us for the first time and Leigh as well. We appreciate you all stopping by. And now it is time to get your laugh on. In laughter dark as we do every night, we bring those late night laughs you might have missed.

BRYANT: Late night talk show host are running away with jokes about what else, the runaway bride and the folks at "Jimmy Kimmel Live" found one press conference the other news organizations may have missed. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: A spokesman for the Wilbanks family addressed the clamoring media.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Wilbanks deeply regrets any pain she has caused her friends and family. And any inconvenience to local and national authorities. She also wants to make it clear that the wedding`s not been canceled. It`s just been postponed. Though, personally, I think it`s a mistake. She doesn`t love John. She loves me! Jenny, you can run and run and run, but I will always be here for you. Come make meet happiest spokesperson on earth! I want to make a baby in you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: That didn`t work out, did it?

BRYANT: Well from the runaway bride to a super famous runway name, the couture-filled red carpet that you won`t want to miss. That`s still ahead.

HAMMER: And there is still time for you to sound-off in tonight`s SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol", do you think it`s fixed? Go to the web to vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: All the fabulous and fashionable were out to party in New York City last night. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts costume institute celebrated its newest, newest exhibit, a tribute to the French fashion house Chanel.

BRYANT: And oh, la-la, quelle chic with all the star wattage there, you could have lit the eastern seaboard. Everyone was dressed to the nines and of course SHOWBIZ TONIGHT cameras had to be there.

HAMMER: It was indeed a shiny bash. The party has been a tradition since 1948. There was also no shortage of flowers to spruce up the night. Are you ready for this? 7,000 fresh gardenias were flown in just for the event.

BRYANT: Must have smelled amazing.

Well, throughout the show, we have been asking you to vote on line on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol", do you think it`s fixed? The votes so far, 66 percent of you say yes, "American Idol" is fixed. 34 percent of you say no, it is not fixed and you have been sending e-mails our way. Pamela from Boston, Massachusetts says "American Idol" is rigged. This year they`re pushing for (INAUDIBLE). You can continue to vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight or send your thoughts to us at showbiztonight@cnn.com.

HAMMER: It`s that time. It`s time for us to check out what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

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

ANNOUNCER: It`s Paris Hilton. Now she`s hot! So hot she can melt wax. Now, that`s hot. Now how about a whole house of wax? A showbiz sitdown with Paris Hilton. We hope she doesn`t melt the seat, wax on, wax off, wax to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, we get daffy at Disney. It`s a big celebration, 50 years of Disneyland. We`re live at the mouse house. Oh, Mickey you`re so fine, come spend some time with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow. This is the marquee guy, and let me tell you something, me and Mickey, we go way back. We`re like this.

HAMMER: I bet they do go way back like to the original Mickey animation is my guess.

BRYANT: They quite possibly could.

Well that is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT for tonight. I am Karyn Bryant and we had planned to bring you an interview with Chevy Chase today, but we`re going to have that tomorrow instead.

HAMMER: I`m AJ Hammer. Stay tuned for the very latest from CNN HEADLINE NEWS.

END


Aired May 3, 2005 - 19:00:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: An "American Idol" shocker.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: And the new Elvis in the "SHOWBIZ Sitdown." I`m Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

BRYANT: The runaway bride. No running away from the big guns. Diane, Katie, Oprah -- who will get the get? They`ll all ask, but who will get the big "I do"?

HAMMER: "Idol" alert. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is the first to know what`s in the report all America wants to see and the question everyone is asking: Is "American Idol" fixed?

BRYANT: Can`t help falling in love with the man who would be king. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers stars as Elvis in a new mini-series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elvis has left the building!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: More than just "A Little Less Conversation" live, in the "SHOWBIZ Sitdown."

HAMMER: Mark Consuelos live. He has "Hope and Faith," and his wife as a co-star. Mark Consuelos in another "SHOWBIZ Sitdown."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF PROBST, HOST, "SURVIVOR": Hey, I`m Jeff Probst. And if it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer, and you are at the top of the show.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. We are live with you from Headline Prime studios in New York City for the next hour.

HAMMER: Well, of course, The runaway bride is the runaway story that can`t be stopped, and we`ve got the possible Hollywood twists and turns in just a moment. But first, the runaway story on "American Idol."

BRYANT: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is the first to bring you the bombshell that could blow "American Idol" wide open. Just a short time ago, we got a first look at what will be in the ABC News expose on "American Idol" that`s going to air tomorrow night, and it is truly a shocker. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s" David Haffenreffer is here with the very latest -- David.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: A shocker, indeed, A.J. and Karyn. Just moments ago, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT obtained some of what the -- what the damaging report will have. It is explosive -- Sex, power and fame. And now, we have excerpts of the report. "American Idol" contestant Corey Clark tells ABC News correspondent John Quinones that he began an off- camera relationship with judge Paula Abdul, this while he was still a contestant on the show.

In the ABC News report, he says the relationship was at first platonic but then turned sexual. It all started, Corey says, with a private phone call after he says an Abdul associate slipped him a piece of paper with the judge`s phone number.

Clark says, quote, "So she was, like, You`ve got to have better song choices, and I`m going to help you do that. I want to look out after you like -- like I`m your mom. And then she was, like, Well, more like your sister. And I was, like, OK, cool, cool. And then she was, like, Well, maybe more like your special friend," end quote.

Now, Clark also alleges that "Idol" judge Paula Abdul helped him select what he would sing. Clark also claims that Abdul worked with him to improve his look by giving him money to buy expensive clothing, even giving him prescription cough medicine, with a prescription made out in her name, to soothe his throat.

Quinones asks, "She coached you?" "Right." "She picked your songs?" "yes." "She picked your clothes?" "Right, and got my hair cut for me." Quinones says, "And the idea of all this was?" "Polishing off that dust off of the dirty diamond and helping me shine a little bit, you know what I mean? Like, Yo, check him out now."

Now, minutes ago, Fox issued SHOWBIZ TONIGHT a statement in response, and here it is. "Disqualified `American Idol` contestant Corey Clark was removed from the show for failing to disclose his criminal arrest history."

Corey Clark was booted from the competition, you`ll recall, for not telling judges he was arrested after a domestic dispute with his sister.

Now, Fox continues, "We will, of course, look into any evidence of improper conduct we receive. In the meantime, we recommend that the public carefully examine Mr. Clark`s motives, given his apparent desire to exploit his prior involvement with `American Idol` for profit and publicity."

Now, do remember that he`s got a new book he`s trying to publish on these allegations, and he`s recorded a new song for an upcoming album. Abdul says he is a liar, as the allegations go toward her personal reputation. And there will be more fall-out. Karyn, back to you.

BRYANT: Thank you, David! That was a heck of a report over there! Nice job.

Now, our coverage on the story continues. "Celebrity Justice" reports there`s a bombshell audiotape that will provide the answers behind the allegations. So we go now to Pat Lalama of "Celebrity Justice," live in Burbank. Now, Pat, tell us about this tape.

PAT LALAMA, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Well, all right. This is the latest. As you know, or maybe don`t know, there are going to be other pieces of so-called evidence from ABC, phone records, for example, that show long conversations she allegedly had with Mr. Clark during the time of their courtship, for lack of a better term. But now we are told that recently, she allegedly called him and said, Don`t respond to inquiries from the media, as if it were some sort of, "or else."

Now, we spoke to people very, very close to Paula, who say, No, no, no, wasn`t anything like that. In fact, it was just the opposite, that he called her and said, I really got messed over, I should say, for a lack of a nastier term that he really did say, by "American Idol," and I want revenge. And I feel I have no choice, and so I`m going for this. I`m going for the jugular. And she said, Well, why would you -- you know, Don`t talk to the media. That could be harmful. And that he allegedly audiotaped...

BRYANT: OK...

LALAMA: ... this whole phone conversation, and then cut it up and used it against her. That`s the latest.

BRYANT: OK, now, Pat, if this is true, did Paula actually break any laws here?

LALAMA: Well, you know what? I would be really foolish to try to answer that. But I`m going to tell you what I think. I think you`re going to find, in the end, that there will be no criminality involved in any of this. There will be investigations, in terms of her contract, standards and practices, was she unwise, does she need to take a hike? All of those things will be considered. But I`ve been told by people within the federal government that this really is not their bailiwick...

BRYANT: Right. Right.

LALAMA: ... that they don`t even consider it, really, a quiz show. They consider this an entertainment show. So it`s all going to be about bad judgment and violating contracts, and you know, pretty much some really unwise decisions, it appears...

BRYANT: OK...

LALAMA: ... but no criminality...

(CROSSTALK)

BRYANT: All right. Well, Pat Lalama of "Celebrity Justice," thank you. You are out in Burbank, and we thank you for joining us.

LALAMA: OK.

BRYANT: And there is so much more to tell you in this story. Coming up: Is this latest revelation the downfall of "American Idol," or is the show, in fact, scandal-proof? We`ll explore it in "SHOWBIZ In Depth" in just a few minutes, so be sure to stick around.

HAMMER: Well, now the other story all of America continues to talk about. It`s the runaway bride, the Georgia woman who bailed on her wedding and took a bus to New Mexico, leaving behind her family and fiance, who feared the very worst. And the airwaves did not stop buzzing all day today about the most TV-friendly story going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... is now holed up at her family`s lakefront home.

HAMMER (voice-over): Several days after Jennifer Wilbanks turned up safe in New Mexico on the day she was supposed to marry John Mason, the saga of the runaway bride is still providing made-for-TV drama for everyone, from cable news networks...

MILES O`BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities in Georgia still considering pressing charges against 32-year-old Jennifer Wilbanks...

HAMMER: ... to late-night comedy shows.

JAY LENO, HOST, "TONIGHT" SHOW: It`s pretty serious, though. She could be charged with filing a false police report, lying to authorities, and letting nearly 600 crab puffs go bad.

HAMMER: And now the morning and daytime giants are trying to land that first big interview with Jennifer Wilbanks. Producers working for the big guns, Diane, Katie, Oprah, are working frenetically for that first get in the runaway story too juicy to run away from.

DEVIN GORDON, "NEWSWEEK": When you have a size of a wedding as big as this one is and the bride-to-be hightails it across the country and then makes up a kidnapping story, it`s just one giant bombshell for an entertainment -- for an entertainment media and for people to gossip about, one right after another.

HAMMER: Although "The Runaway Bride" has already been a movie starring Julia Roberts, media observers say you shouldn`t be surprised if this real-life runaway bride ends up with a TV movie of her own.

GORDON: I`m sure it will happen. The question is, how quickly? It seems like networks can bang these things out in about a year or two, so I`m pretty sure we`ll see something soon. I guarantee you, there are conversations happening at the major networks about making this into a movie as we speak.

HAMMER: This real-life runaway bride saga does have a certain cinematic quality. You have a troubled leading lady, a sympathetic, lovestruck hero, who, we heard today, still wants to marry the troubled leading lady, a cast of hundreds, if you count all the police, searchers, and 600 people who got wedding invitations. There`s even Hollywood-style product placement for Greyhound, which provided the bus Wilbanks used to flee to New Mexico. This story certainly has everything, except one thing.

GORDON: We just need the ending.

HAMMER: Ah, yes, the ending. Dr. Phil has a suggestion on how John Mason should end this story.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": How would you counsel him?

DR. PHIL MCGRAW: I`d counsel him...

KING: He`s probably humiliated.

MCGRAW: ... to get him another bride.

HAMMER: That may very well happen. But everyone knows that audiences do love a happy ending, so maybe what people really want to see is John and Jennifer living happily ever after. Stay tuned.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, before we get to this story`s end, though, there is this cliffhanger that still has to be worked out. Georgia prosecutors say it could be weeks now before they decide whether to charge Wilbanks for making false statements.

BRYANT: Tonight, a "SHOWBIZ Sitdown" with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Now, you may know him best as the dreamy coach in "Bend it Like Beckham." Now Meyers is taking on the role of Elvis Presley in the upcoming CBS mini- series "Elvis." Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, welcome. Thanks for joining us here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS, "ELVIS": Hi. How`re you doing?

BRYANT: I am doing well. Now, first I want to ask you, you are an Irishman, and you are playing Elvis Presley. How hard was it for you to take on this role of an American icon?

RHYS-MEYERS: It was quite difficult, actually, just making the decision to have the temerity to go and play Elvis Presley, being from County Cork as I am. And when they first came and asked me to do this last July, I was doing a Woody Allen movie, so I was concentrating more on the Woody Allen movie than anything else, and so I really didn`t give much time to the Elvis script. And then they re-approached me in November and said, Would you really consider doing this? And I looked over the script again. I read it twice. And I thought, well, actually, it was very, very clever and a very, very beautiful part of his life. It`s only 18 to 33. So I said, you know, Why not? Why not put my fears behind me and do it?

BRYANT: All right. Well, we`re going to give our fans here a look at you in "Elvis: The Early Years." This is Jonathan Rhys-Meyers playing Elvis Presley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RHYS-MEYERS: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t care if it`s note-perfect. I don`t care if it`s flat. I don`t care if the timing`s off. It`s just got to feel right, and it doesn`t feel right with take 25. So we`re going to keep on doing it until it does feel right. Are we straight with that, Mr. Sholes (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re the boss, Elvis.

RHYS-MEYERS: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: So Jonathan, what did you have to do to become Elvis, as far as getting the physicality down and getting the look?

RHYS-MEYERS: Well, getting the physicality from the point of view of movements didn`t take as long as I thought it would. The look is not really up to me. The look is up to the make-up and the hair and...

BRYANT: But you got the lip thing going, though.

RHYS-MEYERS: Well, you know, I add as much as I could. You know, I tried to be relaxed in my own skin and really concentrated on giving the performance internally as best as I could, I suppose.

BRYANT: Now, I did see in the press package that came with this that you, in fact, stayed in character even when you were not on screen, when you weren`t filming. So anything strange happen with that or any sort fun things about that?

RHYS-MEYERS: Well, you know, when you stay in character as Elvis Presley, fun things are always going to happen to you. You know, I used to come home from set -- because we worked 16-hour days. It was very, very long days. And I used to come home from the set and order hamburgers. And from (INAUDIBLE) I was eating hamburgers religiously...

BRYANT: Sure.

RHYS-MEYERS: ... just to put on weight. And I kind of, like, Hey, yes, can I get a hamburger, please, ma`am, and some fries? And it was so funny because the woman who answers the phone, you know, she knew exactly who I was and what I was doing. So you know, she`d be, like, Oh, no, it`s getting better. It`s getting better. And I think one evening, I had to reorder my sandwich 18 times, just so I got it right for her ears.

BRYANT: Nice. Did you ever have a fried banana sandwich? Because isn`t that what Elvis liked?

RHYS-MEYERS: He did, yes. And I`m afraid I never did. I don`t like peanut butter.

BRYANT: OK. Well, last question. Did you understand the obsession with Elvis Presley before you took on this role? And do you understand it better now?

RHYS-MEYERS: You know, I understand the obsession with Elvis Presley because, of course, he was the first. And he basically put a commercial face on rock-and-roll and rhythm and blues. So you know, he was a very, very important innovator from the point of view of the music industry. But as a human being himself, he was electrifying as a performer on stage, more electrifying than you usually see in the videotapes or the performances that were filmed.

BRYANT: Right.

RHYS-MEYERS: His performances that weren`t filmed were much more outrageous.

BRYANT: Right, right.

RHYS-MEYERS: And you know, it was almost like seeing Iggy Pop...

BRYANT: Oh!

RHYS-MEYERS: ... in the 1970s. It was incredible.

BRYANT: Great.

RHYS-MEYERS: Yes. So I think, you know, in doing Elvis Presley, you basically get to be -- and there`s reasons they call him "The King," and it`s not because he sits on a throne.

BRYANT: Right.

RHYS-MEYERS: It`s because he invented the throne.

BRYANT: All right. Well, excellent. The first part the mini-series airs on Sunday. And by the way, I loved you in "Velvet Goldmine." It`s a fantastic movie.

RHYS-MEYERS: You`re very kind. Thank you.

BRYANT: It is "Elvis: The Early Years," and the mini-series airs this Sunday on CBS.

HAMMER: Well, it could be the scandal to end all scandals, but "American Idol" is no stranger to controversy. Coming up in "SHOWBIZ In Depth": Is the show scandal-proof?

BRYANT: Plus, Mark Consuelos in "Hope and Faith." He is back on screen with his wife, Kelly Ripa, and he joins us live in another "SHOWBIZ Sitdown."

Now tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." Which Eminem protege had an ongoing feud with rapper Ja Rule? Was it, A, Ludacris, B, Fabolos, C, Nelly, or D, 50 Cent? We`ll be right back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Welcome back. So once again, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." Which Eminem protege had an ongoing feud with rapper Ja Rule? Was it Ludacris, Fabolos, Nelly or 50 Cent? The answer is D, 50 Cent.

HAMMER: It is 17 past the hour and time now for "SHOWBIZ In Depth." Is "American Idol" scandal-proof? Now, just moments ago, we read excerpts from an ABC press release about tomorrow night`s "Primetime Live," in which former contestant Corey Clark says he was coached and helped by judge Paula Abdul. Plus, he says he also had a sexual relationship with her. All of this allegedly happened in season two.

Now, this year alone, the show has been plagued by one thing after another. First, it was that "Idol" phone snafu, you may remember, in which some contestants had the wrong phone number -- the wrong voting phone numbers flashed on the screen, causing Fox to have a do-over show. Next it was revealed that contestant Scott Savol had been arrested for felony domestic violence following an incident involving his girlfriend. Most recently, you may remember, it was revealed that another contestant, Bo Bice, had been arrested for cocaine and marijuana possession.

But even after all of that, "Idol" continues to pull in these high ratings numbers week after week after week. So the fact is, we need to know: Is "American Idol" scandal-proof? Joining us to discuss that live from Los Angeles, Christopher Lisotta from "TV Week," and here in New York, Nicholas Fonseca from "Entertainment Weekly."

And Nicholas, I want to start with you. Any other show getting pounded like this with seemingly scandal after scandal would probably have damage done to it, but it all seems to be bouncing off the bulletproof "American Idol." Why is that?

NICHOLAS FONSECA, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Well, A.J., there is a participatory fervor to this show that is unmatched by any other television show on air today. I mean, there are so many viewers who are so excited to be voting and to have their voice heard. You get to see the results immediately, and you can vote as many times as you want each week. So there`s something about that, I think, that Americans just love. They love knowing that they can come on -- you know, turn on their television set, see somebody they like, punch some numbers, and next night, hopefully, there they are on screen, winning.

HAMMER: Do you think that`s it, Nicholas, the fans are so involved that it just doesn`t matter.

FONSECA: There are. And it`s been 20 million, 25 million fans every single episode for four seasons. And there have been numerous scandals, so much trouble for this show, especially in the past few seasons, and it hasn`t affected it. The numbers go up and up and up. The controversy just continues to sell.

HAMMER: OK, well, let`s talk about this -- and Christopher, I`ll direct this at you. A lot of people are buzzed about the fact that maybe the voting is fixed in some way. Is that even possible? And do you think we could be facing another quiz show-like scandal that happened back in the `50s?

CHRISTOPHER LISOTTA, "TV WEEK": I mean, I think that Fox has handled this issue. They talk about it every season. Every season, reporters in different cities bring it up, saying their regions weren`t represented, and the network has handled it well. I mean, ultimately, it seems to be -- it`s an entertainment show, it`s not a game show. And in the long run, I think it all just adds to the publicity.

I mean, this network, unlike other networks, uses controversy to help drive interest in Fox. I mean, this is nothing new, if you think back to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" or even "The Simpsons," when it began it air. All these shows were faced with -- or "Married With Children." They`ve all faced incredible controversies, yet it only added to the whole spectrum of what Fox is, which is the in-your-face network...

HAMMER: Right.

LISOTTA: ... that will do things that other people won`t. And that, I think, is incredibly powerful, and this, I think, is just an extension of that.

HAMMER: Well, we just had some insight what we`re going to see on ABC`s "Primetime" program tomorrow night about the allegations against Paula Abdul. Paula is saying absolutely not true. Regardless, you know, if Paula is for some reason kicked off of the show, would that even affect the show? And I`m not saying that that`s going to happen, but people are going to be talking about that idea.

FONSECA: I return to my original line that controversy sells. I have no doubt that if Paula Abdul were kicked off the show, "American Idol" -- the producers of "American Idol" would handle it well, and they would probably find somebody 10 times more fascinating, 10 times more interesting, 10 times more polarizing than Paula and put them in her seat. I mean, look at who the most popular judge on the show is.

HAMMER: Right.

FONSECA: It`s Simon Cowell.

HAMMER: Right. All right. Well, thank you very much, Nicholas and Christopher. We`ll be all watching the ABC special tomorrow night, I`m sure, and I`m sure it`s going to do huge ratings, as well.

And of course, now we want to know what you think about all of this. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol": Do you think it`s fixed? Let us know what you think by taking our poll at cnn.com/showbiztonight. You can also e-mail us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`re going to share some of what you had to say later in the show.

BRYANT: Heidi Klum, a life in swimsuits. Heidi`s summer photo shoot. That is coming up in "Tuesday In Style." Plus, "Star Wars" spoiler alert. Kevin Smith saw "Revenge of the Sith" and has some strong opinions about it. He`ll tell us what he thought, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Time now for "Tuesday In Style." Heidi Klum is taking it to the beach, and "In Style" magazine`s Toby Tucker gives us a look at some of this summer`s swimsuits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBY TUCKER, "IN STYLE" MAGAZINE: We shot Heidi in a lot of one-piece bathing suits. And she said she discovered that one-pieces could actually be sexy when she was shot for the cover of "Sports Illustrated" in a one- piece. She said it was one of the sexiest pictures she`s ever taken.

She was a little self-conscious about her tummy because she had just given birth about seven months before, but she said the one-piece really kind of evened her out, especially this watercolor piece.

Water colors for swimsuits are a beautiful choice. They come from green to blue. This Joe Damara (ph) is an absolutely stunning, really deep steel blue. Its got that wonderful key-hole detail in the top. It`s about $192, which is kind of expensive, but well worth it for a suit that`s this well made.

Florals are everywhere in the swimsuit world. They`ve always been there. Usually, it`s kind of a Hawaiian tropical floral. And Heidi loved wearing this one-piece by Burberry (ph). It was actually straight off the runway, and she said it really made her feel like she wanted to go on a tropical vacation.

Guess is making this beautiful teeny-weeny bikini. If you`re up for it, this is the floral bikini for you to get. It`s around $90, and it`s got these really cute tie sides.

For the hemian look, we put Heidi in this absolutely gorgeous Gucci wrap bathing suit. It took us a little while to figure out how this thing worked. It`s a bottom, and then you wrap and wrap and wrap around the body, and the end result is this gorgeous hemian, flowy, bright pink beautiful bathing suit that she loved.

Milia Mills (ph) gets hemian swimwear right. This bathing suit, you can get the top and the bottom for about $90 each, and it`s well worth it. The best thing about this swimwear is you can buy different sizes, tops and bottoms. You`re not stuck buying one size top and bottom.

A wonderful trend in swimwear is this earthy trend. It really means colors. You`re looking at deep browns, wonderful sands, colors you find in nature, basically. Heidi was wearing this great Calvin Klein suit. It was a one-piece with a twisted top. She absolutely loved it. She said she felt very skinny in this suit, so we liked hearing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: For more on Heidi and this season`s swimsuits, pick up a copy of "In Style" magazine, on newsstands now.

HAMMER: Well, it may not be swimsuit season here in New York City just yet, but judging by an event last night, it is definitely glamour season. A huge party. We`re going to tell you what was up, and of course, show you all the pretty pictures. That`s coming up.

Plus, will we soon be seeing a lot more of "Will & Grace`s" Megan Mullally? We`re take that to the "Buzz Bench," which is on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

HAMMER: Smith on Sith. Kevin Smith, the guy who brought us Quirks and Jay and Silent Bob speaks out on the new "Star Wars" film.

BRYANT: And keep the faith, husband and wife in reality but will they end up together on TV? Marc Consuelos, live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BOYLE: Hi, I`m Peter Boyle, if it happened today it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It is 31 minutes past the hour. I am Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I am AJ Hammer. Here are tonight`s hot headlines.

BRYANT: Running after the runaway bride. It`s still the story the media is buzzing about, and the race is on to land an interview with Jennifer Wilbanks and media observers say it won`t be a surprise if this real-life drama ends up on the big screen in the near future.

HAMMER: Fallen Idol. This afternoon, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT got a first look at tomorrow`s ABC news prime-time live "American Idol" expose. Seconds season contestant Corey Clark who was disqualified for not telling the show about a prior arrest. Says idol judge, Paula Abdul, helped him pick his songs. He also claims a sexual relationship with her. Abdul said last week that Clark is a liar and in a statement released today, Fox says the public should quote, carefully examine Mr. Clark`s motives given his apparent desire to exploit his prior involvement with "American Idol" for profit and publicity.

BRYANT: And "American Idol" is the subject of our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol", do you think it`s fixed? Keep on voting at cnn.com/showbiztonight and send your e-mails to showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`ll share some of what you had to say at 55 past the hour.

HAMMER: It is time now for the show`s biz, a look at stories in the business of entertainment. Well, if you just can`t wait for "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," tonight you can always a little taste. The Sith sound track is out today. It includes a 70-minute bonus DVD hosted by Ian McDermott. He plays the emperor Palpatine. That combines music and video from all six films and the last "Star Wars" movie of course will open up on May 19th.

BRYANT: Time now for show blog tonight an early review of "Star Wars" revenge of the Sith. Director Kevin Smith has seen the movie and blogged about it on his site, viewaskew.com. Kevin joins us now from Los Angeles with the gripping details. Now Kevin, before we talk to you about your thoughts on the movie though, we are going to take a look at some of what you wrote on your blog. You said - "Revenge of the Sith" is quite simply, awesome. I saw a gorgeous digitally projected version of the flick and let me tell you, this is a beautiful looking film. The opening space battle sequence is the best in any of the six "Star Wars" movies. I was sad to see the flick end, but happy to know it`s not the end of the "Star Wars" universe entirely. I`ve read stuff about a TV show. Sith doesn`t happen. Sith rules.

OK, now, Kevin, I got to tell you, I`m a person who has almost nothing but "Star Wars" ornaments on my Christmas tree. So I`m a die-hard fan. Is this movie going to satisfy us?

KEVIN SMITH, WWW.VIEWASKEW.COM: I think this movie would satisfy somebody who hated the first five "Star Wars" movies. I think you could kind of go into this movie without having seen the other ones and still really dig on it. It`s an incredibly well-crafted film. It`s gorgeous to look at. The performances are great. Action from the opening sequence like right after the (INAUDIBLE) boom. You are thrust into the mid of the clone wars. It`s really, really well done and it`s the movie that, if you have been a "Star Wars" fan forever, you have been waiting for this movie for a long time. I was a kid when I read about how Darth Vader became half man, half machine by being dumped in the lava, after a light saber battle with Ben Kenobi. So 25 years later, 26 years later I finally get it see that come to fruition.

BRYANT: Was there a moment in this picture, though, where it came full circle, where you can see the end of this film matching up with the beginning of "Star Wars" as we know it from the very first film?

SMITH: A lot of link-up moments. Including, like, the twins are born, Luke and Lea and you see their fate as they get handed over to separate people. You finally see Anakin Skywalker get into the suit, and become Darth Vader and there is a wonderful -- last shot of him is him standing beside the emperor, who looks as the emperor does in "Return of the Jedi" at this point, looking at the construction of the death star, which of course is the big part of the plot of "Star Wars."

BRYANT: Cool, great. All right. I`m excited to see it. I am glad that you saw it and you wanted to tell us about.

SMITH: Where did you read about it again.

BRYANT: On vieweskew.com. And thank you, Kevin and of course, you at home can read more of Kevin`s blog once again at viewaskew.com.

HAMMER: That`s viewaskew.com. Well, they have been talking all day and of course we`ve been listening. Now as we do every night on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the best from today`s talk shows. The ladies of THE VIEW take a look at the latest female to be booted from THE BATCHELOR.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a very interesting theory as to why he wouldn`t want her. Take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are mean to me. Sometimes when -- because the way I look. And it sounds so stupid but like people hate me because I`m beautiful. Like -- and that is -- that sounds so horrible. But that is like a real thing. And it`s a curse, as much as it is a blessing to be pretty. I mean, like, no matter what, like there is a huge, like, prejudice and racist and when it comes down to, it that`s why this didn`t work out because if I would have just been a little uglier and a little less noticeable.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: I did not know that pretty was a protected race in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: The curse. Well, Goldie Hawn will be joining the gals tomorrow on "The View."

And tonight, in another showbiz sit down, Mark Consuelos. He`s currently starring in the Lifetime series "Missing," and this Friday, he gets to hang out with his real-life wife Kelly Ripa when he returns to ABC`s "Hope and Faith." Mark, thanks for hopping in to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tonight. We appreciate you coming by.

MARK CONSUELOS, ACTOR: Thanks for having me.

HAMMER: So the Gooch is back.

CONSUELOS: The Gooch.

HAMMER: Your character on "Hope and Faith" is the Gooch, a guy who doesn`t really have any trouble getting woman at all.

CONSUELOS: I took the name specifically for the name. It`s a great name. I walk in the streets and people yelling Gooch.

HAMMER: And the laugh, too. Doesn`t he have some trademark laugh?

CONSULELOS: Yeah, the laugh is kind of like I stole it from the movie "Dazed and Confused."

HAMMER: How does that go, just for people who don`t know. One more time.

CONSUELOS: You got to watch tomorrow night.

HAMMER: All right. Well, let`s take a look at what`s going to happen on -- I guess the series -- the season finale on Friday night. And apparently, this is you getting back to town. The Gooch is back in town and he`s trying to court Faith, who of course is played by your real-life wife, Kelly Ripa. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONSUELOS: What we had was great. It was just a fling. You know me, I`m a smooth operator.

KELLY RIPA, ACTRESS: Did Hope tell you to say that?

CONSUELOS: Yeah. But, listen, it`s true. You deserve to be happy with Harry.

RIPA: Larry!

CONSUELOS: Whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Well, of course, as a mentioned, your real-life wife there, Kelly Ripa. I always wonder about one thing when I am watching the program in the morning. She`s always talking about everything that`s going in your life. It`s out there. There is nothing that you can do about that.

CONSUELOS: Yeah, it`s out there so I guess there`s nothing to hide but you have to understand that, I mean, as much as a love her, she does exaggerate just a little bit.

HAMMER: Are you sure about that?

CONSUELOS: Well, sometimes it benefits me to exaggeration. But most of the time it hurts.

HAMMER: Does she ever come home from work though at the end of day, honey I really wish you wouldn`t have said this and that.

CONSUELOS: I stopped watching. I don`t know. I usually hear about it on the plane. If I`m on a plane going somewhere somebody will let me know what I did wrong.

HAMMER: Is anything off-limits?

CONSUELOS: Yeah!

HAMMER: You guys have been married I think coming up on your ninth anniversary.

CONSUELOS: We just had it this weekend.

HAMMER: Oh you did, well, congratulations. I figure this would be a good opportunity to a little SHOWBIZ TONIGHT quiz with you about your wife Kelly Ripa. Just a few quick questions (INAUDIBLE). Are you ready?

CONSUELOS: Yes.

HAMMER: The color of her eyes.

CONSUELOS: Blue.

HAMMER: All right. The town she was born in.

CONSUELOS: Oh, well, she`s from Berlin but she was born in Stratford.

HAMMER: Stratford, New Jersey, that is correct. She was a regular dancer back in the `80s.

CONSUELOS: Dance party USA.

HAMMER: Dance party USA, but is she a good dancer?

CONSUELOS: Amazing!

HAMMER: Differing opinions on that. Like your wife, you`re also involved in many different things. MISSING is another one of your projects and you are actually involved in spreading the word about diabetes prevention right now.

CONSUELOS: Yeah, I`m working with the makers of Glucerna and Freestyle. It`s a diabetes education awareness program and it`s pretty much to get the 18 million people that in America that have diabetes to pledge to manage your diabetes, through diet, exercise and glucose monitoring.

HAMMER: Why did you come to get involved with this?

CONSUELOS: Well it`s actually a cause that`s close to my heart. My father and a few people on his side of the family -- it`s prevalent in our family. And I`m proud of him because he`s been managing it for the past seven years and he`s been staying healthy.

HAMMER: You are doing well too by using your name to get the word out.

CONSUELOS: Thank you.

HAMMER: Mark Consuelos, thanks for stopping by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Appreciate it and you can catch Mark in the season finale of "Hope and Faith." It`s on Friday on ABC.

BRYANT: Does PG stand for poorly guided? A look at the way movies are rated.

HAMMER: And is "Will & Grace`s" assistant striking out on her own? Our "Buzz Bench" makes a graceful appearance.

Plus, graceful entrances. The stars put on their best Chanel duds for a party that was far from being a dud. We were there.

BRYANT: Now, to see what you tuned into, final Nielsen ratings just out today for last week`s shows. As we do every Tuesday, here is a first look at the network`s top five. "Desperate Housewives" won the week with its new episode on Sunday. "American Idol" on Tuesday came in second, followed by "CSI" in third. "American Idol" Wednesday was fourth and "Survivor: Palau" rounded out the top five.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: It is time now for the "Buzz Bench," where we talk about the talk of the town and tonight who`ll be the first to runaway with an interview? Rating the rating`s system and maybe a new talk show with the touch of WILL & GRACE.

BRYANT: Joining us on the buzz bench tonight, comedian and TV personality Leigh Kessler, TV writer and producer Matthew Ostrom, making his first appearance and SHOWBIZ TONIGHT contributor Amy Kean. I want to start with you, Amy. Morning, afternoon and evening shows, everybody is chasing after Kathleen Wilbanks, for she is of course the runaway bride. Now the story has captivated the world and everybody in the media is just dying to get this first interview. Who do you think is going to get the first interview? And why should we even care?

AMY KEAN, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT CONTRIBUTOR: I don`t think we should care and I`m not captivated. I don`t know if you guys are. I just don`t really get it. I don`t really understand what the obsession is. I think women disappear all of the time and really what it boils down to is anything that can either be on the cover of "People" or make a TV movie out of it, people seem to be obsessed with it because it`s not really that big a story. It`s not that important.

HAMMER: There`s so many compelling elements that we were talking about earlier on the program.

KEAN: Like what?

BRYANT: The enormous (ph) wedding that she is blowing off.

LEIGH KESSLER, COMEDIAN/TV PERSONALITY: Is that what it is, that it`s such a huge wedding because that`s the thing you focus on the most. But I just feel bad for this woman who, here she couldn`t even hack the pressure a 600-person wedding. And that freaked her out and now the scrutiny of the media.

KEAN: She`s a liar.

MATTHEW OSTROM, TV WRITER/PRODUCER: How lucky is the fiance that he found out now? You know what I mean? He got a jump start.

KEAN: But he still wants to marry her, though. He`s just as crazy as she is.

He`s getting into now, you know what I mean?

HAMMER: Regardless of how this all turns out, she just - she got the cold feet but now every eye in the world is on her. She wasn`t looking for that I don`t think. Whether Katie gets it or Diane gets it, or we get it, you know --

KEAN: I just want to say that it seems to me that when one network picks up on a story, it`s become just this feeding frenzy where everyone tries to scoop each other.

OSTROM: That`s way it works.

KEAN: And no one ever steps back and says is this really even a story.

BRYANT: Well, it`s going to be a big story.

HAMMER: Let`s move on to another story that we`re talking about tonight on the buzz bench. Hollywood is now getting rated on its ratings system. There was a study that came out from the University of California finding the movie rating system - you know G, PG, PG-13, R, all set by the Motion Picture Association f America is flawed and vague, saying parents should consult multiple sources before determining which movies they deem appropriate for their children. Matt, what is your take on this?

OSTROM: My take is, if you are trying to figure out if it`s a good system or a bad system, if you even have to ask the question, there is something wrong right away. I think parents, what they really want is a ratings system that speaks to the amount of violence that`s in movies. I think if you look at -- there are PG movies that have as much violent content as R-rated movies. And I think that families want something that they can look at that says, this is a violent movie. Maybe another rating that says this has a lot of sex. And then of course probably a final rating this has Ashton Kutcher in it. (INAUDIBLE) You really want to make sure.

KEAN: (INAUDIBLE) situation. Matt and I were talking about this before we came out. If you don`t have kids, I think you don`t really care very much. But if you have kids, it is a serious issue and want to be able to feel like you can give them $20 to go to the mall and know what they`re seeing.

KESSLER: I think children react to physical violence, and they think it is funny. In the case of a super hero who is violent, it`s a way for kids to understand good overcoming evil. In the case of something like ice age, where the saber-tooth attacks each other, that`s history. It`s not gratuitous.

BRYANT: We have to move on. I am sorry. We got to nail this last one, basically Megan Mullally, who play`s Grace assistant in WILL & GRACE may have her own daytime talk show? Leigh?.

KESSLER: I am a firm believer that only stand-up comedians should get talk shows, but I do think that, here is a woman who is very attractive. She`s almost 50 years old and she`s a very sexy woman and she really is a song and dance woman. I think she`ll grab people, but in a lot of ways, she doesn`t have her "Will & Grace" writers and she doesn`t have the voice that people have accustomed to and I don`t know how that will translate.

KEAN: I was surprised, I just want to say quickly, I was really surprised because I`ve seen her on talk shows and she`s really not Karen. She`s not funny.

HAMMER: She`s fantastic. We have to got to end it there, guys.

BRYANT: Nobody`s caring.

HAMMER: Matt, thank you for joining us for the first time and Leigh as well. We appreciate you all stopping by. And now it is time to get your laugh on. In laughter dark as we do every night, we bring those late night laughs you might have missed.

BRYANT: Late night talk show host are running away with jokes about what else, the runaway bride and the folks at "Jimmy Kimmel Live" found one press conference the other news organizations may have missed. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: A spokesman for the Wilbanks family addressed the clamoring media.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Wilbanks deeply regrets any pain she has caused her friends and family. And any inconvenience to local and national authorities. She also wants to make it clear that the wedding`s not been canceled. It`s just been postponed. Though, personally, I think it`s a mistake. She doesn`t love John. She loves me! Jenny, you can run and run and run, but I will always be here for you. Come make meet happiest spokesperson on earth! I want to make a baby in you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: That didn`t work out, did it?

BRYANT: Well from the runaway bride to a super famous runway name, the couture-filled red carpet that you won`t want to miss. That`s still ahead.

HAMMER: And there is still time for you to sound-off in tonight`s SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol", do you think it`s fixed? Go to the web to vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: All the fabulous and fashionable were out to party in New York City last night. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts costume institute celebrated its newest, newest exhibit, a tribute to the French fashion house Chanel.

BRYANT: And oh, la-la, quelle chic with all the star wattage there, you could have lit the eastern seaboard. Everyone was dressed to the nines and of course SHOWBIZ TONIGHT cameras had to be there.

HAMMER: It was indeed a shiny bash. The party has been a tradition since 1948. There was also no shortage of flowers to spruce up the night. Are you ready for this? 7,000 fresh gardenias were flown in just for the event.

BRYANT: Must have smelled amazing.

Well, throughout the show, we have been asking you to vote on line on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. "American Idol", do you think it`s fixed? The votes so far, 66 percent of you say yes, "American Idol" is fixed. 34 percent of you say no, it is not fixed and you have been sending e-mails our way. Pamela from Boston, Massachusetts says "American Idol" is rigged. This year they`re pushing for (INAUDIBLE). You can continue to vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight or send your thoughts to us at showbiztonight@cnn.com.

HAMMER: It`s that time. It`s time for us to check out what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

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

ANNOUNCER: It`s Paris Hilton. Now she`s hot! So hot she can melt wax. Now, that`s hot. Now how about a whole house of wax? A showbiz sitdown with Paris Hilton. We hope she doesn`t melt the seat, wax on, wax off, wax to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, we get daffy at Disney. It`s a big celebration, 50 years of Disneyland. We`re live at the mouse house. Oh, Mickey you`re so fine, come spend some time with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow. This is the marquee guy, and let me tell you something, me and Mickey, we go way back. We`re like this.

HAMMER: I bet they do go way back like to the original Mickey animation is my guess.

BRYANT: They quite possibly could.

Well that is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT for tonight. I am Karyn Bryant and we had planned to bring you an interview with Chevy Chase today, but we`re going to have that tomorrow instead.

HAMMER: I`m AJ Hammer. Stay tuned for the very latest from CNN HEADLINE NEWS.

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