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Showbiz Tonight

Showbiz Tonight for June 1st, 2005, CNNHN

Aired June 01, 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: We are live at "The Cinderella Man" premiere with Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger and Ron Howard.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: And the latest DVD technology for your home.

I`m Karyn Bryant.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT (voice-over): Tonight, a snapshot smash up. How Lindsay Lohan`s fender bender became a crash course in photography.

HAMMER: Also, the secret revealed, the controversy continues. America`s still buzzing about the shocker that rocked the nation.

HAL HOLBROOK, ACTOR: The important thing here is not who it was but why he did it.

HAMMER: The spin, the tale`s spun, the history and the handling. America`s best kept secret ripped open.

BRYANT: Plus...

(MUSIC)

BRYANT: Bo Bice live. He may have lost the sprint.

RYAN SEACREST, HOST, "AMERICAN IDOL": Carrie Underwood.

BRYANT: But so far, this "Idol" runner up is winning the music race.

RANDY JACKSON, JUDGE, "AMERICAN IDOL": Yo, this is Randy Jackson. If it happens today it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. You`re watching TV`s only live nightly entertainment news program.

HAMMER: Well, tonight, Lindsay Lohan is recovering from a car crash.

BRYANT: And authorities are -- are saying it may not have been an accident. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas is live in Hollywood.

Sibila, what happened?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, authorities are saying that the crash was caused by the paparazzi. And as celebrities know, photographers will go at great lengths to get that special snapshot. This time, it looked like 18-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan might be the most recent star to fall prey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS (voice-over): Another shocking display of overzealous paparazzi. This was a scene in L.A. yesterday after Lindsay Lohan emerged shaken but not injured after 24-year-old photographer Galo Ramirez hit Lohan`s car.

You`re looking at Lohan`s car after the run-in. Police there within minutes. The photographer arrested and booked on a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Her mother released a statement saying, "I thank God my daughter was able to walk out of the car."

Lohan has long been a target of the paparazzi, who can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars chasing celebrities for that single snapshot. Her song "Rumors" addresses the problem, and recently, when she promoted her album, she revealed to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT what she endures on a daily basis.

LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: There`s literally, like, eight to 10 cars at the bottom of my street every day.

They`re really nice guys and they`re just doing their job so, you know, you let them get their shots for half of the day and then they`re gone.

The more you hide from them the more they`re going to want your picture. So I always think it`s silly when people have, like, eight security guards covering them and they go in the back entrances. They`re going to find you eventually, and it`s going to be worse. And then it gets dangerous. So it`s -- you just let them do what they`re going to do.

VARGAS: Well, it did get dangerous, and it`s not the first time she`s been worried. Here`s what he told us about a paparazzi encounter she had with former boyfriend actor Wilmer Valderrama.

LOHAN: There was one night when I was coming home really late. I was with Wilmer, and we were getting home and I was coming home from set and I had driven, like, two hours home from set.

And there were people standing outside of my house by my gate, and I didn`t know who it was. And I got really nervous, and I just thought it was friends or something. And when I drove by, they hid in my bushes. So I was afraid to get out of my car. They wouldn`t leave.

So, Wilmer called the cops on them and then they just told them not to go on the street because it`s a private street. But it wasn`t a big deal. They were there waiting the next morning anyway.

VARGAS: Paparazzi have come under increased scrutiny since England`s Princess Diana died tragically at the hands of photographers chasing her car in 1997.

Just this spring, actress Reese Witherspoon called the police after her car was dangerously chased on the way home from the gym. And here`s actress Cameron Diaz yanking the camera away from a paparazzi last November, hoping to use it as evidence they were just too close.

But the paparazzi have no reason to stop. "US Weekly" reportedly paid $500,000 for this picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Africa. The magazine won`t confirm that number.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: Some reports have put the price tag on the Brad-Angelina picture closer to $1 million. Industry insiders have told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that as long as the demand for celebrity photos continues, so will the paparazzi.

Back to you, A.J.

HAMMER: OK, Sibila. Thanks very much. Sibila Vargas, live in Hollywood.

So now, that leads us to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. And it`s a topic that keeps coming back. Controlling the paparazzi, should there be a law? If you`d like to vote on our question, you can go to CNN.com/ShowbizTonight. Got more to say? E-mail us. ShowbizTonight@CNN.com is the address. We will run down some of our feedback later on in the show.

BRYANT: It was one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in American history. Today it`s the most talked solved mystery. Now that we know the true identity of Deep Throat, the secret source who helped bring down President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, we`ve breathlessly watched the end credits of an exciting suspense story 30 years in the making.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason is you mentioned his name again, I`ll kill you right now.

BRYANT (voice-over): Nail biting movie mysteries like "The Usual Suspects" come with shocking endings, and just like that movie`s bombshell revelation of Keyser Soze`s true identity, news of Deep Throat`s true identity, 91-year-old retired FBI official Mark Felt, is a real life bombshell that everyone is talking...

BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": It was the answer to one of Washington`s biggest mysteries.

VARGAS: ... and reading about today. It`s even hooked the president of the United States.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought it was very interesting. I`m looking forward to reading about it.

BRYANT: But on "The View," guest host James Benton of "Desperate Housewives" was less than impressed.

JAMES DENTON, ACTOR: Is it just me or was it really anti-climatic?

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Any time I can have a climax, I`m happy.

BRYANT: All laughs aside, there`s plenty of serious discussion of the newly unmasked Deep Throat, whose secret meetings with "Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein helped bring down President Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

HOLBROOK: If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure.

ROBERT REDFORD, ACTOR: We know that. And if we`re wrong, we`re resigning.

BRYANT: The 1970s Watergate movie "All the President`s Men" added some Hollywood flash to the Deep Throat mystery, and today, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has what two stars of that movie feel about that mystery`s latest twist.

REDFORD: I need to know what you know.

BRYANT: Robert Redford. Here he is playing Bob Woodward, said in a radio interview today that Woodward never told him who Deep Throat really was, and Redford kind of liked it that way.

REDFORD: The theatrical part of me, the romantic part likes the idea of there being some mystery that never gets disturbed or revealed. I kind of like the idea that I knew it was going to be good for the movie. And so I never -- I figured if Bob Woodward wanted to tell me who it was, he would tell me.

And once I realized that he was not going to tell me at the outset, I never pushed it.

HOLBROOK: It involves the entire U.S. intelligence community.

BRYANT: As for the man that played Deep Throat, Hal Holbrook says the mystery is only part of the story.

HOLBROOK: The important thing is here not who it was but why he did it. It`s called morality. That`s something that`s not very popular today.

BRYANT: Nevertheless, what Felt did is certainly not very popular with everyone. On "The Today Show" talk show pundit and former Nixon speechwriter Pat Buchanan had a bitterly different take.

PAT BUCHANAN, FORMER NIXON SPEECHWRITER: He lied and lied and lied for years, because he was ashamed of what he did, and what he did was help destroy an enormously popular president.

BRYANT: Felt`s admission may have reopened some of the decisiveness from the Watergate era, but judging what we saw on the airwaves today.

REGIS PHILBIN, CO-HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": And the secret - - it`s remarkable, that a secret of that magnitude lasted that long.

BRYANT: There`s something that everyone can agree on. In movies and in politics, everyone likes talking about a good mystery, even after it`s over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT: This story is already making waves in the book world. The 1979 book on the FBI that Mark Felt wrote and apparently autographed decades before his Deep Throat admission is currently on eBay. Bidding ends June 7.

HAMMER: And tonight, not only is Deep Throat the talk of the country, throughout TV, radio and print, it`s also all over the blogs. And joining us from Washington, D.C. is CNN`s Jackie Shechner.

Jackie, let`s talk about what`s happening online with Deep Throat.

JACKIE SHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let`s do it. All eyes yesterday were on "The Washington Post" to see what they would say when Deep Throat was revealed. And about 5:20 yesterday, they came out and said, yes, it was in fact Mark Felt.

Now, today, we went back online, and they`ve now got a blog that`s dedicated to this, called Deep Throat Revealed. And they`ve got a lot of things over there, international reaction to -- to the revelation of Mark Felt. They`ve also got who said what back when, and they have also got a link to an "Editor&Publisher" article speaking to Robert Redford, where he said he is not, in fact, Bob Woodward. Or that`s what the blog says, he is not Bob Woodward and he had no idea what we heard earlier.

There`s a lot of other things going on online. One interesting one is Nora Ephron`s post over at the uber celebrity blog, the Huffington Post. She says that she knew all along and nobody believed her. She says she would tell anyone who would listen that it was Mark Felt. And everybody thought that was just speculation. She, the ex-wife of Carl Bernstein, said he never told her, that she was just guessing based on a lot of different clues, saying, "Don`t say I didn`t warn you or didn`t try to tell you." This is now a huge load off for her.

HAMMER: I can imagine that a lot of people are blogging about what the motivation is behind why this all came out now. What are they saying?

SHECHNER: Well, there are a lot of things in that "Vanity Fair" article, A.J., where they were talking about was it money? Why is he coming out now? He`s old. They said that they wouldn`t reveal it until after he passed away. Is it dementia? Everyone is curious and wondering. There`s no shortage of speculation on the blogs.

There`s one blog we found called Morose.com (ph) where they did pick up on the money aspect. And they said that the rising cost of tuition is what is behind this, because Felt`s daughter saying that maybe they could make money off of this and help pay for her children`s education. That, at least, according to the "Vanity Fair" article.

The other thing that`s coming up is the idea is he a hero or is he a villain? There is no shortage of thought on either side of that. We heard a little bit of that earlier.

One person who says he`s a hero would be Steven Clemens (ph) out of Washington, D.C., here. He writes the Washington Note, and he says that the entire country owes him a huge amount of thanks, that what he did took a very strong stomach to stand up to the Nixon presidency.

On the other side, a guy we found out in L.A. He`s a satirical film writer or a film maker, rather, and writer, and on his blog -- his name is Colin Cowen (ph) -- and it says that hero of the time and it`s sarcastic, saying he ratted out a president and saying that he lied about it, then, for the next 30 years. What makes him a hero?

There`s lots out there. Just a small, small taste.

HAMMER: Well, I appreciate your hanging out with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tonight and letting us know about it, Jackie. It`s CNN`s Jackie Shechner in Washington.

BRYANT: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Ron Howard, they are at the premiere of "Cinderella Man," and so are we. We are live with them, coming up.

HAMMER: Also, we`re heading back in time to when Christopher Cross ruled The airwaves and CNN was just getting started. We`re heading back to 1980 to celebrate 25 years of CNN.

BRYANT: And Britney Spears wasn`t even born in 1980, but she`s making plenty of news today. Coming up, "People" magazine`s exclusive pregnancy interview with Britney.

HAMMER: Time now for tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." What was the band Fountains of Wayne named after? A vacation resort, a nightclub, a childhood friend or a lawn ornament store. We`re coming straight back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Once again, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." What was the band Fountains of Wayne named after? A vacation resort, a nightclub, a childhood friend or a lawn ornament store. The band that sings about Stacy`s mom, who`s got it going on, was named after D, a lawn ornament store.

BRYANT: Time now for the "Legal Lowdown," a look at stories making news in the legal world of entertainment.

Tonight, Bobby Brown is a wanted man. A Massachusetts judge issued an arrest warrant today for the singer, who is married to Whitney Houston. He failed to show up for a probate court hearing where he is dealing with a trust fund he promised to set up for two children he had with an ex- girlfriend. Bobby Brown`s people had no comment for us when we called.

And Snoop smack down. Tonight, we`re getting a first look at video from a Snoop Dogg concert over the weekend where a man says he was beaten up. The concertgoer says he was encouraged to climb onto the stage, where he was kicked and robbed. Snoop Dogg`s people told us in a statement today the man was not invited onto the stage and was a security threat. Officials are investigating.

HAMMER: Well, the hotly anticipated boxing film "Cinderella Man," starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, is premiering tonight right now here in New York City.

SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer is out there on the red carpet talking to the A-listers as they show up -- David.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A.J., a lot of business going on here at the moment, because Renee Zellweger is on the red carpet as we speak.

"Cinderella Man" itself is based on a real story. And it brings together the team that brought us the Oscar-winning film "A Beautiful Mind" just a few years ago: Ron Howard, Brian Grazier and Russell Crowe.

Russell Crowe in this movie playing a boxer who gets back into the ring in to help support his wife, played by Renee Zellweger, and his family during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Earlier tonight, we did have an opportunity to catch up with Ron Howard and ask him why Russell Crowe was so perfect for this role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON HOWARD, DIRECTOR: I think, you know, Russell Crowe had his eye on the role of Jim Braddock for a long time. But even as we went into the production of the film, he said, "Mow that I have a son, I think I understand the character even more."

On top of that, he got badly injured, dislocated his shoulder and had to undergo surgery about six weeks prior to filming. He was in pain the whole time. But you know what he said about that? He said, "Braddock fought in pain."

And, so, I think there was something about himself that he connected to with the Braddock character in ways that maybe he even hasn`t in other characters.

HAFFENREFFER: This is -- any advice on how to be a trainer?

PAUL GIAMATTI, ACTOR: I got some from Angelo Dundee, who`s the greatest boxing trainer who`s ever lived. He was Muhammad Ali`s trainer, and he was a technical adviser on the movie. So I actually did get lots of help from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAFFENREFFER: And a busy night here. Anyway, Russell Crowe just arriving, as well. Renee Zellweger, of course, you know, turning towards the still cameras. All as this film premiers here in New York City.

"Cinderella Man" it`s called, and it opens up this weekend.

But in the meantime, A.J., back to you in the studio.

HAMMER: All right, David, sounds like a loud party going on here in New York City. David Haffenraffer live in New York at "Cinderella Man" -- Karyn.

BRYANT: Well, we are singing "Celebration" today at CNN, because today marks our 25th anniversary. On June 1, 1980, CNN hit the airwaves for the very first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready 13? Pull. Ready camera 3. One center over.

DAVID WALKER, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I`m David Walker.

LOIS HART, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: And I`m Lois Hart. Now here`s the news. President Carter has...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Step into our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT time machine for a look at what was hot in pop culture the year CNN launched.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT (voice-over): Nineteen-eighty, a time when everything was big. The hair, the shoulder pads and the attitude.

And speaking of attitude, it was the mouth of the south, Ted Turner, who made television history in 1980 when he launched CNN, the first 24-hour news network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand by. Ready three. Take three my cue.

BRYANT: We`ve come a long way, haven`t we? And check this out. One of CNN`s very first entertainment reports on Luciano Pavarotti`s new movie, "Yes, Georgio."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Non-opera fans will probably recognize him as the bearded guy that does the American Express commercials. He says, "When I sing at the Met people say bravo, bravo. And when I travel people say, who, who?"

BRYANT: There was a general sense back in those days that no one was watching. Even when there were celebrities on, like Carol Burnett and Steve Martin.

STEVE MARTIN, COMEDIAN/ACTOR (singing): Why, what do you mean?

BRYANT: In 1980, Blondie was at the top of the charts, and roller disco was big, real big.

And big on the boob tube...

CATHERINE BACH, ACTRESS: Little Bo Peep calling sheep.

BRYANT: ... Daisy Duke, Boss Hogg and the good old boys of "Dukes of Hazzard."

And everybody was watching J.R. Ewing and the back stabbing antics of the cast of "Dallas."

But some things haven`t changed much since then. The No. 1 grossing movie of 1980? "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back."

It was the year that 7-Eleven Big Gulp was introduced, and offices around the country rejoiced at the invention of the Post-it note.

It was also a time of mourning. On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was assassinated in front of the Dakota in New York City.

And Christopher Cross sailed away with five, yes five, Grammy awards.

Nineteen-eighty was also a year of technological advances. Sony introduced the very first Walkman, freeing us from those bulky boom boxes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT: That same year, Robert De Niro won an Oscar for his performance in "Raging Bull." And Sissy Spacek took one home for "The Coal Miner`s Daughter."

HAMMER: "Cinderella Man`s" premier continues here in New York City. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer is live on the red carpet -- David.

HAFFENREFFER: A.J., thank you very much. And here we`re joined by Renee Zellweger, who plays in "Cinderella Man" the wife of Russell Crowe, May. Is that right?

RENEE ZELLWEGER, ACTRESS: Yes. That`s right. Nice to see you.

HAFFENREFFER: This is such a feel -- there`s so much dynamic going on in this film because it`s not only about the Depression and boxing, but it`s also about struggle.

ZELLWEGER: Yes.

HAFFENREFFER: And poverty.

ZELLWEGER: Yes.

HAFFENREFFER: And love.

ZELLWEGER: Yes.

HAFFENREFFER: What drew you to the role?

ZELLWEGER: Oh, gosh. I mean, besides the obvious in terms of, you know, who was involved, creatively to work with Russell Crowe, you know, I have always wanted to. And I`ve been such a fan of Ron Howard for such a long time.

It`s a beautiful story. It`s true. I mean, that this happened is so inspirational. I mean, what this man`s journey represented to the American people during that period of American history is just -- you know, it`s extraordinary. It`s very moving. Very moving.

HAFFENREFFER: Was this a role that pulled you in a direction emotionally as an actress?

ZELLWEGER: Yes. It`s very different. It is so much more quiet role than I`ve ever played before. You know, it`s a very, very quiet strength that May has in terms of maintaining her grace and composure throughout. I mean, dire straits and yet she managed to be supportive throughout.

HAFFENREFFER: You`ve got your Oscar. Just about everybody else working on this film has an Oscar, as well. What`s that like being on the set with a high powered group of people?

ZELLWEGER: It was a dream come true. It was a privilege. I was pinching myself every day. And it didn`t feel like what you said. It just felt like a whole bunch of buddies getting together to play, you know? It was very intense, focused. It felt like being in the middle of one of the most exceptional chess games of all time. It was fantastic. I loved it.

HAFFENREFFER: Well, we appreciate you talking to us tonight. Congratulations for the film and good luck and we wish you the best of successes.

ZELLWEGER: Thanks very much.

HAFFENREFFER: Renee Zellweger joining us here on the red carpet of "Cinderella Man," which opens up this weekend. Russell Crowe, just a huge cast to this film. Looks like it could very well get off to a good start.

Back to you in the studio.

HAMMER: All right. David Haffenreffer live in New York City, thanks very much. Go enjoy the show.

Well, do you remember those high school cliques? Of course you do. You know, the nerds and the pretty popular girls ever really paired up until now, and Ashton Kutcher is making it all happen. It`s beauty and the geeks coming up.

BRYANT: And this guy probably has no problem with the ladies. "American Idol" runner up Bo Bice is already running up sales, and he joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Audio Slave is riding the wave of its hit single, "Be Yourself," right to the top of the Billboard charts. The band`s sophomore album, "Out of Exile," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart in numbers out today.

Rapper Common debuts in second place with his record, called "Be." Our friend, Mariah Carey, "The Emancipation of Mimi," is at No. 3. System of a Down`s "Mezmerize" falls to No. 4. And from the No. 1 spot last week. And Toby Keith rounds it out at the top five with "Honkeytonk University."

HAMMER: Take some beautiful women and add in some smarts but socially challenged guys, mix in a dash of Ashton Kutcher, and you get a new reality show. The punk producer is bringing us "Beauty and the Geek." Now, this is being billed as the, quote, "ultimate social experiment." Hot girls and brainy guys are pairing up for physical and mental contests and a $250,000 cash prize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR/PRODUCER: The idea of the show was to put people in a scenario that was -- that would entice them to change who they are and become better people. And...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: You can catch "Beauty and the Geek" tonight on the WB.

Britney`s baby talk coming up. We`re going to take a look at "People`s" exclusive interview with the mom to be.

BRYANT: And if you`ve got some old baby home movies you want to put on DVD, stay tuned for "The DVD Deal" tonight in our weeklong series on the latest in DVD hardware.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

THOMAS ROBERTS, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi everybody. I`m Thomas Roberts. Here`s your Headline Prime Newsbreak. Emergency crews are at the scene of a massive landslide in Laguna Beach, California. Several expensive homes came crashing down. And authorities say the earth still is moving under the homes. No serious injuries are reported.

While the Hybrid Toyota Prius is zipping out of the dealerships, the government is checking reports the engines may stall without warning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says its received 33 complaints of stalling, mostly between 35 and 63 miles per hour. Toyota has said it investigating reports of the Prius stalling.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted for minutes earlier today. The closing bell rang at 3:56 p.m. Eastern time, four minutes early. An announcement over the public address system indicated there was a technical glitch. But so far no additional details

That is the news for now. Thank you for joining us. I`m Thomas Roberts. Let me take you back for more of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Britney`s baby talk. Tonight, the mom to be is speaking out on pregnancy, hormones and what sent her to the hospital.

BRYANT: Plus, he may have come in second on "American Idol," but he is first in another kind of competition. Bo Bice joins us live in the SHOWBIZ sit down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEECH RAINWATER, LONESTAR: Hey, I`m Keech Rainwater...

DEAN SAMS, LONESTAR: And I`m Dean Sams from the group Lonestar.

RAINWATER: If it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. 31 minutes past the hour. I`m Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer.

Here are tonight`s hot headlines. The stars are out in New York City right now for the premier of Ron Howard`s movie "Cinderella Man" starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. In fact, moments ago SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was there as those big names walked down the red carpet. "Cinderella Man" will open up on Friday.

BRYANT: Bobby Brown is in trouble with the law again. Tonight, a warrant is out for his arrest after he failed to show up for a hearing in a Massachusetts court. That hearing concerns the setting up of a trust fund for two of his children. Brown`s lawyer says he`s in a hospital in Atlanta, but the court says it can`t confirm that.

HAMMER: A photographer was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly crashing his minivan into Lindsay Lohan`s Mercedes. Police say Lohan received minor injuries during that crash and that she called police from the cell phone to complain she was being chased by paparazzi. The photographer was booked on felony assault charges. And is out on bail.

BRYANT: That leads us to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day." Controlling the paparazzi, should there be a law? Keep voting at CNN.com/showbiztonight and send your e-mails our way at SHOWBIZ TONIGHT at cnn.com. We`ll share some of you what you had to say at 54 past the hour.

HAMMER: Well, another star all to familiar with the paparazzi is Britney Spears. Britney, of course, is expecting her first baby in the fall. And she talked about her pregnancy exclusively to "People" magazine.

So, joining us me live from Los Angeles right now, associate bureau chief for "People" magazine Michael Fleeman to fill us in on what Britney and Kevin told him.

Michael, thanks for people here with us. You know, people have babies all the time. And it`s always life changing experience. Really no different for Britney and Kevin.

MIKE FLEEMAN, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: Well, the only thing different for Britney is she`s gone from a super star to sort of a home body mommy to be. She seems to have completely embraced the whole pregnancy and staying home and becoming a mother.

HAMMER: Now, when you had the chance to speak with them, I know you asked the all-important question what`s the sex of the baby? What did you find out?

FLEEMAN: Well, I didn`t find out an answer. You know, I asked them five different ways. I even said, please, give the readers the money`s worth and tell us. They said, you know, we don`t even know ourselves right now. We want to be surprised.

Although, they did say they`ll probably find out very soon. They`re starting to decorate the nursery. And they want to know.

HAMMER: Right, they`re doing a whole renovation on their house in Malibu. And actually, Britney`s mom is going to handle the nursery painting and the whole renovation there?

FLEEMAN: Yes, she is. You know, Britney who`s -- once a super star pop musician is now completely obsessed with renovating this house. And she`s turned to her mom to do the nursery and everything else in this house is completely being gutted and changed.

HAMMER: OK. One thing I was confused by in the interview. And maybe you were too, when you asked how she told Kevin, it almost seemed like they had different stories. Can you straighten that out for me?

FLEEMAN: Well, they did have different stories. And I asked them and Kevin said, well, you called me on the phone, didn`t you? She said, no, no, no we were in L.A. And then they paused for a minute. And they went into the corner and talked separately and had a minor little disagreement amongst themselves about it. And the came back. And as always Kevin deferred to Britney and said you told me in person.

HAMMER: Professional spinsters, both of them. And real quickly, of course, Britney has her television show on right now, "Chaotic." So that`s keeping her in the spotlight to some degree. What`s the deal with her music career, though. Will we see Britney as we once knew her?

FLEEMAN: No. The Britney Spears we once knew is no longer going to exist. She made it very clear -- and she was emphatic -- that she wants to give up that life. She wants to give up the touring and all the craziness of being a pop star. It`s over. It is done. She`s in semi retirement now. And if she does comes back, it is going to be on a much smaller scale, much more low key.

HAMMER: OK, Michael. Great get. And thanks for sharing us with. Michael Fleeman of "People" magazine in Los Angeles. The brand new issue of "People" featuring Britney and Kevin on parenthood will hit new stands on Friday.

BRYANT: At the age of 60, Rod Stewart is also expecting a new baby. He and his fiancee Penny Lancaster confirmed today she is pregnant. The couple says they held off confirming reports until she reached her 12th week of pregnancy.

Stewart says he is, quote, "overjoyed and extremely proud."

The baby is due in early December. And Stewart and Lancaster plan to get married next spring. This will be the 34-year-old Lancaster`s first child. Rod Stewart has five children from previous relationships.

HAMMER: Well, if you prefer to watch a DVD at home instead of the movie theaters, then you definitely want to hang with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT all week long for a special report, "The DVD Deal." We`re going to tell you all you need to know about DVDs, from the latest technology to the must have collections.

Tonight, DVD hardware. We are getting into the technology. And we`re going to talk about some of the basics first. DVDs are not high definition. What you getting is a higher resolution and a better color quality and a longer lasting medium than the VHS tapes that we all have had around for so many years. You also get surround sound capability and of course, the ability to skip and rewind instantaneously.

And joining us live to tell us everything we need to know about the DVD hardware, Peter Suciu of "Newsweek" magazine. We appreciate you dropping by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

PETER SUCIU, NEWSWEEK: Thank you.

HAMMER: And let`s talk first about the price range, the basics on DVD players. Because I notice, you can practically walk into a drugstore and see these hanging on the wall for $40. But you can also go out and spend upwards of $200, $300 on them.

What`s the primary difference here, Peter?

SUCIU: Well, really looks. It really looks -- it really depends on what you`re looking for, that is, with the DVD player. You can look online for something 40, $50, that`s a pretty bare bones player. Some of the higher end players, the $200, $30 price point come with features such as having MP3 capability. So, if you were to burn your to a CD-ROM, you can then play it back as well as photo viewers, features like that.

HAMMER: So, people want to have a slide show, they should look for the feature with the photo viewer?

SUCIU: Absolutely.

HAMMER: OK. And particular brands you`re fond of?

SUCIU: I really like some of the stuff coming out right now from Phillips and Sony.

HAMMER: OK. And just about every DVD player you see advertised, you see the term progressive scan. It seems to be on all of them. Can you explain what that is?

SUCIU: well, progressive scan really means that is the DVD player is going to be able to connect to a high definition picture. And you are going to get a better picture than you would as far as a nonprogressive scan DVD player. So it`s a higher resolution.

HAMMER: OK. And without getting too technical here, my best friend told me I have to buy for my HD television at home, an upconvert DVD player. For high def TVs, is that basically the best you can do right now?

SUCIU: That is the best you can do. But it is an absolute necessity if you have a high definition set. That`s how you get the best possible picture out of today`s DVD players.

HAMMER: All right. Well, anybody who`s flying these days is taking one of the portables along with them. So, let`s talk about the DVD portables. What`s the basic price range for these days?

SUCIU: These start as low of $150 upwards to about $300, maybe $350.

HAMMER: OK. And some of the features to look for?

SUCIU: I would absolutely look for the largest screen possible. Some players such as the new Samsung features a 10 inch. Also look for a portable that supports MP3 play back, so that if you don`t want to watch a movie, you`re tired of watching movies, you can still listen to your music on the go.

HAMMER: OK. Obviously, these are good for travelers. Anybody else you recommend them for?

SUCIU: Really I would say for travel. That`s really the main reason. If you`re just going to be sitting in the living room watching movies, better to hook it up to a TV.

HAMMER: All right. let`s talk about DVD recorders. You know, the VHS tapes were always capable of recording programing. DVD recorders are out there. What`s the price range of these?

SUCIU: The price range right now for these is $200 -- $200 and up. I`m not really sold on the DVD recorders, because there are some newer technologies coming down the pipe soon.

Really, it`s best if you have a large library of VHS home movies, you want to transfer them to a technology for the 21st Century, then I would say get a dual VHS/DVD recorder deck, transfer your home movies that way.

HAMMER: So, good for people who want to make archives. And real, real quickly, let`s talk about the future. You know, when are we going to see high def on DVDs, since we don`t have it yet?

SUCIU: Well, you`re going to possibly be seeing two formats as early as this Christmas. Blue Ray and the competing format HD-DVD. And right now there`s two formats, so we could be looking at a new VHS/BETA war. Hopefully there will be a resolution. And we`ll just see one format.

HAMMER: And the approximate price range for those?

SUCIU: No price has been announced. But since these devices will show up in the recordable format, probably a thousand dollars minimum, probably more likely $2,000 this holiday.

HAMMER: Always starts high. Peter Suciu, thanks very much for joining us from "Newsweek" magazine to fill us in on the DVD technology.

And tomorrow on the DVD Deal, we`re going to tell you about all those must have DVD collections out there.

BRYANT: OK. So if you have a bunch of DVDs cluttering your living room, we have got some help for you. Downloadable software can help you get organized and keep track of what you have. Here are some DVD sorting programs.

"DVD Profiler" available at Dvdprofiler.com. "Delicious Library" at Deliciousmonster.com. "Reader Ware VW" at Readerware.com. "Movie Collector" at collectorz.com That`s collectorz with a Z. And "DVD Aficionado" at dvdaficionado.com.

HAMMER: Well, he may have come in second, but we`re guessing "American Idol" runner-up Bo Bice has no complaints. He probably just has much love for everybody. And he will join us next live in a SHOWBIZ sit down.

BRYANT: Plus, it`s been 25 years since CNN first went on the air and changed TV news forever. Coming up, a look at what`s known as the CNN effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN ADAMS, SINGER: Hi, this is Brian Adams. And I`m listening to the "Libertines" right now. Check it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Tonight in our "Showbiz Sitdown," "American Idol" runner-up Bo Bice. You watched him battle it out for weeks on Fox. His rock star looks and compelling stage presence won him millions of fans, and now, Bo Bice is stepping out on his own. His first single drops June 21st, and presales are already topping "Idol" winner Carrie Underwood on barnesandnoble.com.

Bo Bice is with us live. Bo, what do you think of that? You`re beating Carrie.

BO BICE, "AMERICAN IDOL" RUNNER-UP: Wow. I was not aware of that until yesterday. So, it is pretty cool. It`s real cool.

BRYANT: Well, I mean, it`s -- you know, in fact, today when I was preparing to talk to you, I just kept thinking of you as the winner.

BICE: Oh. Well, you know, I`ve said it before in other interviews that I truly feel like the winner as far as what I`ve tried to accomplish which was just coming out here to get some better gigs. So, it`s just great. I feel -- I feel great that America`s really gotten behind me. You know? And, it`s -- it`s weird because six months ago, I`m playing in bars and clubs all over the southeast and now I`m in Los Angeles signing autographs at the airport and then I land in New York and I`m signing autographs at the airport and I`m like what is up here?

BRYANT: That`s the thing. Is stardom what you expected? Because, you know, certainly musicians wish for this to happen to them and now it`s here. How does that feel?

BICE: It truly does -- I mean, it`s something, obviously, that I`ve dreamed about my entire life, you know, dreaming about meeting -- you know, meeting cool people like you and, you know, meeting Jon Stewart, meeting all the other people, playing with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

BRYANT: You played with Skynyrd!

BICE: You know what I mean? Please!

BRYANT: Come on!

BICE: Does it get any better? I keep saying that. Every day single day, I say, it cannot, cannot, get any better than this, and then each day it continues to. So, I`m blessed.

BRYANT: Yes, we`ve got a shot of you right there with Skynyrd. I mean, that -- the smile, the joy, that says it all. Look at that.

BICE: Even Simon is smiling, yes.

BRYANT: So, speaking of Simon, what`s the best advice the judge gave you, even in regards to what was going on in the show or just something that you can really use in your career?

BICE: You know, I try to always listen to everything that the judges say, and take everything as constructive criticism. You know? This is a hard business to survive in, obviously. I`ve been trying to beat out a living in it for 12 years and with no real success. So, this is -- this was great and I`ll truly take away a little bit from each one of the judges.

And, you know, Simon, I agree with him 90 percent of the time. Paula`s just a -- a jewel. She`s incredible, and Randy, man, he`s just the coolest.

BRYANT: So, what are you going to do, though, with the idea that people are saying, look, Bo, you claim to be a rock guy and you won a pop -- well, see, again, I said you won -- you were a runner up in a pop show. How are you going to handle that credibility fight? You know?

BICE: I`m truly not even worried about it. You know, I`ve got -- one of the things that happened to me the first time I ever got recognized was at the Whiskey A-Go-Go. I was walking by, watching a band soundcheck, and this guy`s all covered in tattoos and he comes up and he taps me on the shoulder and he`s like -- and I said, aw, dude. Are you going to beat me up? He says, my wife loves you. And, I`m like, oh man.

BRYANT: Cool.

BICE: So, I really -- hopefully, the stigma of a pop show won`t stick with me. I hope people will just genuinely look at me and check out my music and try to find out what I`m about. You know? I`m grateful for the show.

BRYANT: Sure.

BICE: The show has given me a great launching pad for a career.

BRYANT: Heck yes.

BICE: But...

BRYANT: All right.

BICE: I think everybody identifies I`m not a pop guy.

BRYANT: Right, yes. Message received. Well, Bo Bice, congratulations to you.

BICE: Thanks.

BRYANT: Again, people can buy your single soon and, you know, more than 30 million people tuned in to watch Bo and Carrie battle it out last Wednesday. Numbers out today put "American Idol" as the most-watched show of the weekend. "American Idol" Tuesday in second place -- the one-two punch there. They were followed by "CSI: Miami." The season finale of "Lost," was in fourth place, and "House" came in fifth.

HAMMER: Tonight, a milestone. We`ve been telling you tonight how 25 years ago, that red button was pressed, and the Cable News Network went on the air. Well, since then, we`ve seen CNN become part of American everyday life. CNN`s Kelly Wallace, in New York right now to tell us more. Kelly?

KELLY WALLACE, CORRESPONDENT: Thanks A.J.

Well, in its 25 years, CNN has become part of the lexicon. Academics have even coined the term "the CNN effect," and it was what the network did with a major story back in 1991 that captured the attention of world leaders, academics, journalists and yes, even Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UM: You are able to hear me now or not.

COLIN POWELL, FMR SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the best source of how careful we have been is listening to CNN reporters who are watching it unfold.

DICK CHENEY, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The best reporting that I have seen on what transpired in Baghdad was on CNN.

WALLACE: Observers say to analyze the CNN effect, you have to go back to the first Gulf War when people around the world, even then-President Bush, watched the war play out live on CNN and only on CNN.

The night the war began, NBC`s Tom Brokaw interviewed CNN`s Bernard Shaw who was in Baghdad.

TOM BROKAW, NBC ANCHOR: CNN used to be called the little network that could. It`s no longer a little network.

WALLACE: It was during and then after the first Gulf War that U.S. policy makers knew what they said and did would now be broadcast around the world. Mike McCurry served as State Department spokesman and then White House press secretary in the Clinton administration.

MIKE MCCURRY, FMR CLINTON PRESS SECRETARY: Many foreign embassies have told me this. They used to monitor the coverage on CNN, the broadcasting of the various news briefings around town, and instantaneously relay that information.

WALLACE: McCurry says there is a downside, a press corps sometimes getting it wrong.

MCCURRY: Sometimes, in the need to report quickly on a breaking story, it`s very difficult to get on top of the facts.

WALLACE: Since the 1990s, academics have been analyzing what they have termed "the CNN effect," the impact of 24-hour news on our culture, not just from CNN now, but also, its competitors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has just speeded up incredibly the -- not only the way people expect to get news, but in fact, the way news is made to the degree that news is made by people like politicians.

WALLACE: Hollywood took notice, too.

JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: You can`t run for the president of the United States without CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two things that we can do. We can help or we can sit back and watch the country destroy itself on CNN.

WALLACE: From the big screen to television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leo Rezeray (ph) is a sadistic madman. This can`t possibly be argued. But he`s not a stupid man and he knows where CNN is on the television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sharon? You have been watching CNN for about eight weeks now. Don`t you want to watch something else?

WALLACE: Even the "Gilmore Girls."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you wish to be Christiane Amanpour?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don`t wish to be her exactly. I just want to do what she does.

WALLACE: And a sign CNN was truly part of the pop culture, kudos from one of the most famous women in the world.

OPRAH WINFREY, ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WOMEN IN THE WORLD: I just came back from Africa. I`ve been in other countries, and no matter where you are, CNN is there, your friend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And there were so many more clips -- too many to include in our story, but A.J., to give you an idea of how CNN has truly become part of the pop culture, when you log on to amazon.com for mentions of CNN, you get 117 books, 31 videos and six DVDs, and I bet there will be even more in the future. A.J.?

HAMMER: Wow, that`s great. Kelly Wallace in New York for CNN, thank you.

And, there`s still time now for you to sound off in our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Controlling the paparazzi: should there be a law? You can vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight. If you got more to say, write us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`re going to read some of your emails, coming up live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: We have been asking you to vote online on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Controlling the paparazzi, should there be a law? Well, here`s the votes so far: 94 percent said, yes, there should be a law. Pretty decided, and only 4 percent of you said, no, there should not be one.

We`ve gotten some e-mails on the subject as well, including one from Sean who writes, "Yes, there should be a law against paparazzi. This is harassment."

And, we also heard from Christopher in Canada -- love our friends in the great white north. Christopher wrote, "Photographers should ask themselves every moment they snap a shot whether they would like it if the roles were reversed."

We`d like you to continue to vote by going to CNN.com/showbiztonight.

BRYANT: Time to see what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

HAMMER: For that, we have to do it ourselves because the marquis guy is of, so here we go. Step it up, Karyn, step it up.

BRYANT: Ah-a-ahem. As the crow flies, we are flying high with "Cinderellaman" star Russell Crowe in the "Showbiz Sitdown" tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Also tomorrow, hit me, baby. Kind of like "American Idol" for the "Where are They Now?" set. Remember Tiffany? Former top-10 artists try to win back your hearts in the new reality show, and SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is there, tomorrow.

That was lame. That`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. Stay tuned for the latest from CNN Headline News.

HAMMER: We tried, though.

BRYANT: I did.

END


Aired June 1, 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: We are live at "The Cinderella Man" premiere with Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger and Ron Howard.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: And the latest DVD technology for your home.

I`m Karyn Bryant.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT (voice-over): Tonight, a snapshot smash up. How Lindsay Lohan`s fender bender became a crash course in photography.

HAMMER: Also, the secret revealed, the controversy continues. America`s still buzzing about the shocker that rocked the nation.

HAL HOLBROOK, ACTOR: The important thing here is not who it was but why he did it.

HAMMER: The spin, the tale`s spun, the history and the handling. America`s best kept secret ripped open.

BRYANT: Plus...

(MUSIC)

BRYANT: Bo Bice live. He may have lost the sprint.

RYAN SEACREST, HOST, "AMERICAN IDOL": Carrie Underwood.

BRYANT: But so far, this "Idol" runner up is winning the music race.

RANDY JACKSON, JUDGE, "AMERICAN IDOL": Yo, this is Randy Jackson. If it happens today it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. You`re watching TV`s only live nightly entertainment news program.

HAMMER: Well, tonight, Lindsay Lohan is recovering from a car crash.

BRYANT: And authorities are -- are saying it may not have been an accident. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas is live in Hollywood.

Sibila, what happened?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, authorities are saying that the crash was caused by the paparazzi. And as celebrities know, photographers will go at great lengths to get that special snapshot. This time, it looked like 18-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan might be the most recent star to fall prey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS (voice-over): Another shocking display of overzealous paparazzi. This was a scene in L.A. yesterday after Lindsay Lohan emerged shaken but not injured after 24-year-old photographer Galo Ramirez hit Lohan`s car.

You`re looking at Lohan`s car after the run-in. Police there within minutes. The photographer arrested and booked on a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Her mother released a statement saying, "I thank God my daughter was able to walk out of the car."

Lohan has long been a target of the paparazzi, who can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars chasing celebrities for that single snapshot. Her song "Rumors" addresses the problem, and recently, when she promoted her album, she revealed to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT what she endures on a daily basis.

LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: There`s literally, like, eight to 10 cars at the bottom of my street every day.

They`re really nice guys and they`re just doing their job so, you know, you let them get their shots for half of the day and then they`re gone.

The more you hide from them the more they`re going to want your picture. So I always think it`s silly when people have, like, eight security guards covering them and they go in the back entrances. They`re going to find you eventually, and it`s going to be worse. And then it gets dangerous. So it`s -- you just let them do what they`re going to do.

VARGAS: Well, it did get dangerous, and it`s not the first time she`s been worried. Here`s what he told us about a paparazzi encounter she had with former boyfriend actor Wilmer Valderrama.

LOHAN: There was one night when I was coming home really late. I was with Wilmer, and we were getting home and I was coming home from set and I had driven, like, two hours home from set.

And there were people standing outside of my house by my gate, and I didn`t know who it was. And I got really nervous, and I just thought it was friends or something. And when I drove by, they hid in my bushes. So I was afraid to get out of my car. They wouldn`t leave.

So, Wilmer called the cops on them and then they just told them not to go on the street because it`s a private street. But it wasn`t a big deal. They were there waiting the next morning anyway.

VARGAS: Paparazzi have come under increased scrutiny since England`s Princess Diana died tragically at the hands of photographers chasing her car in 1997.

Just this spring, actress Reese Witherspoon called the police after her car was dangerously chased on the way home from the gym. And here`s actress Cameron Diaz yanking the camera away from a paparazzi last November, hoping to use it as evidence they were just too close.

But the paparazzi have no reason to stop. "US Weekly" reportedly paid $500,000 for this picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Africa. The magazine won`t confirm that number.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: Some reports have put the price tag on the Brad-Angelina picture closer to $1 million. Industry insiders have told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that as long as the demand for celebrity photos continues, so will the paparazzi.

Back to you, A.J.

HAMMER: OK, Sibila. Thanks very much. Sibila Vargas, live in Hollywood.

So now, that leads us to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. And it`s a topic that keeps coming back. Controlling the paparazzi, should there be a law? If you`d like to vote on our question, you can go to CNN.com/ShowbizTonight. Got more to say? E-mail us. ShowbizTonight@CNN.com is the address. We will run down some of our feedback later on in the show.

BRYANT: It was one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in American history. Today it`s the most talked solved mystery. Now that we know the true identity of Deep Throat, the secret source who helped bring down President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, we`ve breathlessly watched the end credits of an exciting suspense story 30 years in the making.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason is you mentioned his name again, I`ll kill you right now.

BRYANT (voice-over): Nail biting movie mysteries like "The Usual Suspects" come with shocking endings, and just like that movie`s bombshell revelation of Keyser Soze`s true identity, news of Deep Throat`s true identity, 91-year-old retired FBI official Mark Felt, is a real life bombshell that everyone is talking...

BILL HEMMER, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": It was the answer to one of Washington`s biggest mysteries.

VARGAS: ... and reading about today. It`s even hooked the president of the United States.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought it was very interesting. I`m looking forward to reading about it.

BRYANT: But on "The View," guest host James Benton of "Desperate Housewives" was less than impressed.

JAMES DENTON, ACTOR: Is it just me or was it really anti-climatic?

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Any time I can have a climax, I`m happy.

BRYANT: All laughs aside, there`s plenty of serious discussion of the newly unmasked Deep Throat, whose secret meetings with "Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein helped bring down President Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

HOLBROOK: If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure.

ROBERT REDFORD, ACTOR: We know that. And if we`re wrong, we`re resigning.

BRYANT: The 1970s Watergate movie "All the President`s Men" added some Hollywood flash to the Deep Throat mystery, and today, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has what two stars of that movie feel about that mystery`s latest twist.

REDFORD: I need to know what you know.

BRYANT: Robert Redford. Here he is playing Bob Woodward, said in a radio interview today that Woodward never told him who Deep Throat really was, and Redford kind of liked it that way.

REDFORD: The theatrical part of me, the romantic part likes the idea of there being some mystery that never gets disturbed or revealed. I kind of like the idea that I knew it was going to be good for the movie. And so I never -- I figured if Bob Woodward wanted to tell me who it was, he would tell me.

And once I realized that he was not going to tell me at the outset, I never pushed it.

HOLBROOK: It involves the entire U.S. intelligence community.

BRYANT: As for the man that played Deep Throat, Hal Holbrook says the mystery is only part of the story.

HOLBROOK: The important thing is here not who it was but why he did it. It`s called morality. That`s something that`s not very popular today.

BRYANT: Nevertheless, what Felt did is certainly not very popular with everyone. On "The Today Show" talk show pundit and former Nixon speechwriter Pat Buchanan had a bitterly different take.

PAT BUCHANAN, FORMER NIXON SPEECHWRITER: He lied and lied and lied for years, because he was ashamed of what he did, and what he did was help destroy an enormously popular president.

BRYANT: Felt`s admission may have reopened some of the decisiveness from the Watergate era, but judging what we saw on the airwaves today.

REGIS PHILBIN, CO-HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": And the secret - - it`s remarkable, that a secret of that magnitude lasted that long.

BRYANT: There`s something that everyone can agree on. In movies and in politics, everyone likes talking about a good mystery, even after it`s over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT: This story is already making waves in the book world. The 1979 book on the FBI that Mark Felt wrote and apparently autographed decades before his Deep Throat admission is currently on eBay. Bidding ends June 7.

HAMMER: And tonight, not only is Deep Throat the talk of the country, throughout TV, radio and print, it`s also all over the blogs. And joining us from Washington, D.C. is CNN`s Jackie Shechner.

Jackie, let`s talk about what`s happening online with Deep Throat.

JACKIE SHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let`s do it. All eyes yesterday were on "The Washington Post" to see what they would say when Deep Throat was revealed. And about 5:20 yesterday, they came out and said, yes, it was in fact Mark Felt.

Now, today, we went back online, and they`ve now got a blog that`s dedicated to this, called Deep Throat Revealed. And they`ve got a lot of things over there, international reaction to -- to the revelation of Mark Felt. They`ve also got who said what back when, and they have also got a link to an "Editor&Publisher" article speaking to Robert Redford, where he said he is not, in fact, Bob Woodward. Or that`s what the blog says, he is not Bob Woodward and he had no idea what we heard earlier.

There`s a lot of other things going on online. One interesting one is Nora Ephron`s post over at the uber celebrity blog, the Huffington Post. She says that she knew all along and nobody believed her. She says she would tell anyone who would listen that it was Mark Felt. And everybody thought that was just speculation. She, the ex-wife of Carl Bernstein, said he never told her, that she was just guessing based on a lot of different clues, saying, "Don`t say I didn`t warn you or didn`t try to tell you." This is now a huge load off for her.

HAMMER: I can imagine that a lot of people are blogging about what the motivation is behind why this all came out now. What are they saying?

SHECHNER: Well, there are a lot of things in that "Vanity Fair" article, A.J., where they were talking about was it money? Why is he coming out now? He`s old. They said that they wouldn`t reveal it until after he passed away. Is it dementia? Everyone is curious and wondering. There`s no shortage of speculation on the blogs.

There`s one blog we found called Morose.com (ph) where they did pick up on the money aspect. And they said that the rising cost of tuition is what is behind this, because Felt`s daughter saying that maybe they could make money off of this and help pay for her children`s education. That, at least, according to the "Vanity Fair" article.

The other thing that`s coming up is the idea is he a hero or is he a villain? There is no shortage of thought on either side of that. We heard a little bit of that earlier.

One person who says he`s a hero would be Steven Clemens (ph) out of Washington, D.C., here. He writes the Washington Note, and he says that the entire country owes him a huge amount of thanks, that what he did took a very strong stomach to stand up to the Nixon presidency.

On the other side, a guy we found out in L.A. He`s a satirical film writer or a film maker, rather, and writer, and on his blog -- his name is Colin Cowen (ph) -- and it says that hero of the time and it`s sarcastic, saying he ratted out a president and saying that he lied about it, then, for the next 30 years. What makes him a hero?

There`s lots out there. Just a small, small taste.

HAMMER: Well, I appreciate your hanging out with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tonight and letting us know about it, Jackie. It`s CNN`s Jackie Shechner in Washington.

BRYANT: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Ron Howard, they are at the premiere of "Cinderella Man," and so are we. We are live with them, coming up.

HAMMER: Also, we`re heading back in time to when Christopher Cross ruled The airwaves and CNN was just getting started. We`re heading back to 1980 to celebrate 25 years of CNN.

BRYANT: And Britney Spears wasn`t even born in 1980, but she`s making plenty of news today. Coming up, "People" magazine`s exclusive pregnancy interview with Britney.

HAMMER: Time now for tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." What was the band Fountains of Wayne named after? A vacation resort, a nightclub, a childhood friend or a lawn ornament store. We`re coming straight back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Once again, tonight`s "Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." What was the band Fountains of Wayne named after? A vacation resort, a nightclub, a childhood friend or a lawn ornament store. The band that sings about Stacy`s mom, who`s got it going on, was named after D, a lawn ornament store.

BRYANT: Time now for the "Legal Lowdown," a look at stories making news in the legal world of entertainment.

Tonight, Bobby Brown is a wanted man. A Massachusetts judge issued an arrest warrant today for the singer, who is married to Whitney Houston. He failed to show up for a probate court hearing where he is dealing with a trust fund he promised to set up for two children he had with an ex- girlfriend. Bobby Brown`s people had no comment for us when we called.

And Snoop smack down. Tonight, we`re getting a first look at video from a Snoop Dogg concert over the weekend where a man says he was beaten up. The concertgoer says he was encouraged to climb onto the stage, where he was kicked and robbed. Snoop Dogg`s people told us in a statement today the man was not invited onto the stage and was a security threat. Officials are investigating.

HAMMER: Well, the hotly anticipated boxing film "Cinderella Man," starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, is premiering tonight right now here in New York City.

SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer is out there on the red carpet talking to the A-listers as they show up -- David.

DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A.J., a lot of business going on here at the moment, because Renee Zellweger is on the red carpet as we speak.

"Cinderella Man" itself is based on a real story. And it brings together the team that brought us the Oscar-winning film "A Beautiful Mind" just a few years ago: Ron Howard, Brian Grazier and Russell Crowe.

Russell Crowe in this movie playing a boxer who gets back into the ring in to help support his wife, played by Renee Zellweger, and his family during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Earlier tonight, we did have an opportunity to catch up with Ron Howard and ask him why Russell Crowe was so perfect for this role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON HOWARD, DIRECTOR: I think, you know, Russell Crowe had his eye on the role of Jim Braddock for a long time. But even as we went into the production of the film, he said, "Mow that I have a son, I think I understand the character even more."

On top of that, he got badly injured, dislocated his shoulder and had to undergo surgery about six weeks prior to filming. He was in pain the whole time. But you know what he said about that? He said, "Braddock fought in pain."

And, so, I think there was something about himself that he connected to with the Braddock character in ways that maybe he even hasn`t in other characters.

HAFFENREFFER: This is -- any advice on how to be a trainer?

PAUL GIAMATTI, ACTOR: I got some from Angelo Dundee, who`s the greatest boxing trainer who`s ever lived. He was Muhammad Ali`s trainer, and he was a technical adviser on the movie. So I actually did get lots of help from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAFFENREFFER: And a busy night here. Anyway, Russell Crowe just arriving, as well. Renee Zellweger, of course, you know, turning towards the still cameras. All as this film premiers here in New York City.

"Cinderella Man" it`s called, and it opens up this weekend.

But in the meantime, A.J., back to you in the studio.

HAMMER: All right, David, sounds like a loud party going on here in New York City. David Haffenraffer live in New York at "Cinderella Man" -- Karyn.

BRYANT: Well, we are singing "Celebration" today at CNN, because today marks our 25th anniversary. On June 1, 1980, CNN hit the airwaves for the very first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready 13? Pull. Ready camera 3. One center over.

DAVID WALKER, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I`m David Walker.

LOIS HART, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: And I`m Lois Hart. Now here`s the news. President Carter has...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Step into our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT time machine for a look at what was hot in pop culture the year CNN launched.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT (voice-over): Nineteen-eighty, a time when everything was big. The hair, the shoulder pads and the attitude.

And speaking of attitude, it was the mouth of the south, Ted Turner, who made television history in 1980 when he launched CNN, the first 24-hour news network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand by. Ready three. Take three my cue.

BRYANT: We`ve come a long way, haven`t we? And check this out. One of CNN`s very first entertainment reports on Luciano Pavarotti`s new movie, "Yes, Georgio."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Non-opera fans will probably recognize him as the bearded guy that does the American Express commercials. He says, "When I sing at the Met people say bravo, bravo. And when I travel people say, who, who?"

BRYANT: There was a general sense back in those days that no one was watching. Even when there were celebrities on, like Carol Burnett and Steve Martin.

STEVE MARTIN, COMEDIAN/ACTOR (singing): Why, what do you mean?

BRYANT: In 1980, Blondie was at the top of the charts, and roller disco was big, real big.

And big on the boob tube...

CATHERINE BACH, ACTRESS: Little Bo Peep calling sheep.

BRYANT: ... Daisy Duke, Boss Hogg and the good old boys of "Dukes of Hazzard."

And everybody was watching J.R. Ewing and the back stabbing antics of the cast of "Dallas."

But some things haven`t changed much since then. The No. 1 grossing movie of 1980? "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back."

It was the year that 7-Eleven Big Gulp was introduced, and offices around the country rejoiced at the invention of the Post-it note.

It was also a time of mourning. On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was assassinated in front of the Dakota in New York City.

And Christopher Cross sailed away with five, yes five, Grammy awards.

Nineteen-eighty was also a year of technological advances. Sony introduced the very first Walkman, freeing us from those bulky boom boxes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRYANT: That same year, Robert De Niro won an Oscar for his performance in "Raging Bull." And Sissy Spacek took one home for "The Coal Miner`s Daughter."

HAMMER: "Cinderella Man`s" premier continues here in New York City. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer is live on the red carpet -- David.

HAFFENREFFER: A.J., thank you very much. And here we`re joined by Renee Zellweger, who plays in "Cinderella Man" the wife of Russell Crowe, May. Is that right?

RENEE ZELLWEGER, ACTRESS: Yes. That`s right. Nice to see you.

HAFFENREFFER: This is such a feel -- there`s so much dynamic going on in this film because it`s not only about the Depression and boxing, but it`s also about struggle.

ZELLWEGER: Yes.

HAFFENREFFER: And poverty.

ZELLWEGER: Yes.

HAFFENREFFER: And love.

ZELLWEGER: Yes.

HAFFENREFFER: What drew you to the role?

ZELLWEGER: Oh, gosh. I mean, besides the obvious in terms of, you know, who was involved, creatively to work with Russell Crowe, you know, I have always wanted to. And I`ve been such a fan of Ron Howard for such a long time.

It`s a beautiful story. It`s true. I mean, that this happened is so inspirational. I mean, what this man`s journey represented to the American people during that period of American history is just -- you know, it`s extraordinary. It`s very moving. Very moving.

HAFFENREFFER: Was this a role that pulled you in a direction emotionally as an actress?

ZELLWEGER: Yes. It`s very different. It is so much more quiet role than I`ve ever played before. You know, it`s a very, very quiet strength that May has in terms of maintaining her grace and composure throughout. I mean, dire straits and yet she managed to be supportive throughout.

HAFFENREFFER: You`ve got your Oscar. Just about everybody else working on this film has an Oscar, as well. What`s that like being on the set with a high powered group of people?

ZELLWEGER: It was a dream come true. It was a privilege. I was pinching myself every day. And it didn`t feel like what you said. It just felt like a whole bunch of buddies getting together to play, you know? It was very intense, focused. It felt like being in the middle of one of the most exceptional chess games of all time. It was fantastic. I loved it.

HAFFENREFFER: Well, we appreciate you talking to us tonight. Congratulations for the film and good luck and we wish you the best of successes.

ZELLWEGER: Thanks very much.

HAFFENREFFER: Renee Zellweger joining us here on the red carpet of "Cinderella Man," which opens up this weekend. Russell Crowe, just a huge cast to this film. Looks like it could very well get off to a good start.

Back to you in the studio.

HAMMER: All right. David Haffenreffer live in New York City, thanks very much. Go enjoy the show.

Well, do you remember those high school cliques? Of course you do. You know, the nerds and the pretty popular girls ever really paired up until now, and Ashton Kutcher is making it all happen. It`s beauty and the geeks coming up.

BRYANT: And this guy probably has no problem with the ladies. "American Idol" runner up Bo Bice is already running up sales, and he joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Audio Slave is riding the wave of its hit single, "Be Yourself," right to the top of the Billboard charts. The band`s sophomore album, "Out of Exile," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart in numbers out today.

Rapper Common debuts in second place with his record, called "Be." Our friend, Mariah Carey, "The Emancipation of Mimi," is at No. 3. System of a Down`s "Mezmerize" falls to No. 4. And from the No. 1 spot last week. And Toby Keith rounds it out at the top five with "Honkeytonk University."

HAMMER: Take some beautiful women and add in some smarts but socially challenged guys, mix in a dash of Ashton Kutcher, and you get a new reality show. The punk producer is bringing us "Beauty and the Geek." Now, this is being billed as the, quote, "ultimate social experiment." Hot girls and brainy guys are pairing up for physical and mental contests and a $250,000 cash prize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR/PRODUCER: The idea of the show was to put people in a scenario that was -- that would entice them to change who they are and become better people. And...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: You can catch "Beauty and the Geek" tonight on the WB.

Britney`s baby talk coming up. We`re going to take a look at "People`s" exclusive interview with the mom to be.

BRYANT: And if you`ve got some old baby home movies you want to put on DVD, stay tuned for "The DVD Deal" tonight in our weeklong series on the latest in DVD hardware.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

THOMAS ROBERTS, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi everybody. I`m Thomas Roberts. Here`s your Headline Prime Newsbreak. Emergency crews are at the scene of a massive landslide in Laguna Beach, California. Several expensive homes came crashing down. And authorities say the earth still is moving under the homes. No serious injuries are reported.

While the Hybrid Toyota Prius is zipping out of the dealerships, the government is checking reports the engines may stall without warning. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says its received 33 complaints of stalling, mostly between 35 and 63 miles per hour. Toyota has said it investigating reports of the Prius stalling.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted for minutes earlier today. The closing bell rang at 3:56 p.m. Eastern time, four minutes early. An announcement over the public address system indicated there was a technical glitch. But so far no additional details

That is the news for now. Thank you for joining us. I`m Thomas Roberts. Let me take you back for more of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Britney`s baby talk. Tonight, the mom to be is speaking out on pregnancy, hormones and what sent her to the hospital.

BRYANT: Plus, he may have come in second on "American Idol," but he is first in another kind of competition. Bo Bice joins us live in the SHOWBIZ sit down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEECH RAINWATER, LONESTAR: Hey, I`m Keech Rainwater...

DEAN SAMS, LONESTAR: And I`m Dean Sams from the group Lonestar.

RAINWATER: If it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. 31 minutes past the hour. I`m Karyn Bryant.

HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer.

Here are tonight`s hot headlines. The stars are out in New York City right now for the premier of Ron Howard`s movie "Cinderella Man" starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. In fact, moments ago SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was there as those big names walked down the red carpet. "Cinderella Man" will open up on Friday.

BRYANT: Bobby Brown is in trouble with the law again. Tonight, a warrant is out for his arrest after he failed to show up for a hearing in a Massachusetts court. That hearing concerns the setting up of a trust fund for two of his children. Brown`s lawyer says he`s in a hospital in Atlanta, but the court says it can`t confirm that.

HAMMER: A photographer was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly crashing his minivan into Lindsay Lohan`s Mercedes. Police say Lohan received minor injuries during that crash and that she called police from the cell phone to complain she was being chased by paparazzi. The photographer was booked on felony assault charges. And is out on bail.

BRYANT: That leads us to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day." Controlling the paparazzi, should there be a law? Keep voting at CNN.com/showbiztonight and send your e-mails our way at SHOWBIZ TONIGHT at cnn.com. We`ll share some of you what you had to say at 54 past the hour.

HAMMER: Well, another star all to familiar with the paparazzi is Britney Spears. Britney, of course, is expecting her first baby in the fall. And she talked about her pregnancy exclusively to "People" magazine.

So, joining us me live from Los Angeles right now, associate bureau chief for "People" magazine Michael Fleeman to fill us in on what Britney and Kevin told him.

Michael, thanks for people here with us. You know, people have babies all the time. And it`s always life changing experience. Really no different for Britney and Kevin.

MIKE FLEEMAN, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: Well, the only thing different for Britney is she`s gone from a super star to sort of a home body mommy to be. She seems to have completely embraced the whole pregnancy and staying home and becoming a mother.

HAMMER: Now, when you had the chance to speak with them, I know you asked the all-important question what`s the sex of the baby? What did you find out?

FLEEMAN: Well, I didn`t find out an answer. You know, I asked them five different ways. I even said, please, give the readers the money`s worth and tell us. They said, you know, we don`t even know ourselves right now. We want to be surprised.

Although, they did say they`ll probably find out very soon. They`re starting to decorate the nursery. And they want to know.

HAMMER: Right, they`re doing a whole renovation on their house in Malibu. And actually, Britney`s mom is going to handle the nursery painting and the whole renovation there?

FLEEMAN: Yes, she is. You know, Britney who`s -- once a super star pop musician is now completely obsessed with renovating this house. And she`s turned to her mom to do the nursery and everything else in this house is completely being gutted and changed.

HAMMER: OK. One thing I was confused by in the interview. And maybe you were too, when you asked how she told Kevin, it almost seemed like they had different stories. Can you straighten that out for me?

FLEEMAN: Well, they did have different stories. And I asked them and Kevin said, well, you called me on the phone, didn`t you? She said, no, no, no we were in L.A. And then they paused for a minute. And they went into the corner and talked separately and had a minor little disagreement amongst themselves about it. And the came back. And as always Kevin deferred to Britney and said you told me in person.

HAMMER: Professional spinsters, both of them. And real quickly, of course, Britney has her television show on right now, "Chaotic." So that`s keeping her in the spotlight to some degree. What`s the deal with her music career, though. Will we see Britney as we once knew her?

FLEEMAN: No. The Britney Spears we once knew is no longer going to exist. She made it very clear -- and she was emphatic -- that she wants to give up that life. She wants to give up the touring and all the craziness of being a pop star. It`s over. It is done. She`s in semi retirement now. And if she does comes back, it is going to be on a much smaller scale, much more low key.

HAMMER: OK, Michael. Great get. And thanks for sharing us with. Michael Fleeman of "People" magazine in Los Angeles. The brand new issue of "People" featuring Britney and Kevin on parenthood will hit new stands on Friday.

BRYANT: At the age of 60, Rod Stewart is also expecting a new baby. He and his fiancee Penny Lancaster confirmed today she is pregnant. The couple says they held off confirming reports until she reached her 12th week of pregnancy.

Stewart says he is, quote, "overjoyed and extremely proud."

The baby is due in early December. And Stewart and Lancaster plan to get married next spring. This will be the 34-year-old Lancaster`s first child. Rod Stewart has five children from previous relationships.

HAMMER: Well, if you prefer to watch a DVD at home instead of the movie theaters, then you definitely want to hang with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT all week long for a special report, "The DVD Deal." We`re going to tell you all you need to know about DVDs, from the latest technology to the must have collections.

Tonight, DVD hardware. We are getting into the technology. And we`re going to talk about some of the basics first. DVDs are not high definition. What you getting is a higher resolution and a better color quality and a longer lasting medium than the VHS tapes that we all have had around for so many years. You also get surround sound capability and of course, the ability to skip and rewind instantaneously.

And joining us live to tell us everything we need to know about the DVD hardware, Peter Suciu of "Newsweek" magazine. We appreciate you dropping by SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

PETER SUCIU, NEWSWEEK: Thank you.

HAMMER: And let`s talk first about the price range, the basics on DVD players. Because I notice, you can practically walk into a drugstore and see these hanging on the wall for $40. But you can also go out and spend upwards of $200, $300 on them.

What`s the primary difference here, Peter?

SUCIU: Well, really looks. It really looks -- it really depends on what you`re looking for, that is, with the DVD player. You can look online for something 40, $50, that`s a pretty bare bones player. Some of the higher end players, the $200, $30 price point come with features such as having MP3 capability. So, if you were to burn your to a CD-ROM, you can then play it back as well as photo viewers, features like that.

HAMMER: So, people want to have a slide show, they should look for the feature with the photo viewer?

SUCIU: Absolutely.

HAMMER: OK. And particular brands you`re fond of?

SUCIU: I really like some of the stuff coming out right now from Phillips and Sony.

HAMMER: OK. And just about every DVD player you see advertised, you see the term progressive scan. It seems to be on all of them. Can you explain what that is?

SUCIU: well, progressive scan really means that is the DVD player is going to be able to connect to a high definition picture. And you are going to get a better picture than you would as far as a nonprogressive scan DVD player. So it`s a higher resolution.

HAMMER: OK. And without getting too technical here, my best friend told me I have to buy for my HD television at home, an upconvert DVD player. For high def TVs, is that basically the best you can do right now?

SUCIU: That is the best you can do. But it is an absolute necessity if you have a high definition set. That`s how you get the best possible picture out of today`s DVD players.

HAMMER: All right. Well, anybody who`s flying these days is taking one of the portables along with them. So, let`s talk about the DVD portables. What`s the basic price range for these days?

SUCIU: These start as low of $150 upwards to about $300, maybe $350.

HAMMER: OK. And some of the features to look for?

SUCIU: I would absolutely look for the largest screen possible. Some players such as the new Samsung features a 10 inch. Also look for a portable that supports MP3 play back, so that if you don`t want to watch a movie, you`re tired of watching movies, you can still listen to your music on the go.

HAMMER: OK. Obviously, these are good for travelers. Anybody else you recommend them for?

SUCIU: Really I would say for travel. That`s really the main reason. If you`re just going to be sitting in the living room watching movies, better to hook it up to a TV.

HAMMER: All right. let`s talk about DVD recorders. You know, the VHS tapes were always capable of recording programing. DVD recorders are out there. What`s the price range of these?

SUCIU: The price range right now for these is $200 -- $200 and up. I`m not really sold on the DVD recorders, because there are some newer technologies coming down the pipe soon.

Really, it`s best if you have a large library of VHS home movies, you want to transfer them to a technology for the 21st Century, then I would say get a dual VHS/DVD recorder deck, transfer your home movies that way.

HAMMER: So, good for people who want to make archives. And real, real quickly, let`s talk about the future. You know, when are we going to see high def on DVDs, since we don`t have it yet?

SUCIU: Well, you`re going to possibly be seeing two formats as early as this Christmas. Blue Ray and the competing format HD-DVD. And right now there`s two formats, so we could be looking at a new VHS/BETA war. Hopefully there will be a resolution. And we`ll just see one format.

HAMMER: And the approximate price range for those?

SUCIU: No price has been announced. But since these devices will show up in the recordable format, probably a thousand dollars minimum, probably more likely $2,000 this holiday.

HAMMER: Always starts high. Peter Suciu, thanks very much for joining us from "Newsweek" magazine to fill us in on the DVD technology.

And tomorrow on the DVD Deal, we`re going to tell you about all those must have DVD collections out there.

BRYANT: OK. So if you have a bunch of DVDs cluttering your living room, we have got some help for you. Downloadable software can help you get organized and keep track of what you have. Here are some DVD sorting programs.

"DVD Profiler" available at Dvdprofiler.com. "Delicious Library" at Deliciousmonster.com. "Reader Ware VW" at Readerware.com. "Movie Collector" at collectorz.com That`s collectorz with a Z. And "DVD Aficionado" at dvdaficionado.com.

HAMMER: Well, he may have come in second, but we`re guessing "American Idol" runner-up Bo Bice has no complaints. He probably just has much love for everybody. And he will join us next live in a SHOWBIZ sit down.

BRYANT: Plus, it`s been 25 years since CNN first went on the air and changed TV news forever. Coming up, a look at what`s known as the CNN effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN ADAMS, SINGER: Hi, this is Brian Adams. And I`m listening to the "Libertines" right now. Check it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRYANT: Tonight in our "Showbiz Sitdown," "American Idol" runner-up Bo Bice. You watched him battle it out for weeks on Fox. His rock star looks and compelling stage presence won him millions of fans, and now, Bo Bice is stepping out on his own. His first single drops June 21st, and presales are already topping "Idol" winner Carrie Underwood on barnesandnoble.com.

Bo Bice is with us live. Bo, what do you think of that? You`re beating Carrie.

BO BICE, "AMERICAN IDOL" RUNNER-UP: Wow. I was not aware of that until yesterday. So, it is pretty cool. It`s real cool.

BRYANT: Well, I mean, it`s -- you know, in fact, today when I was preparing to talk to you, I just kept thinking of you as the winner.

BICE: Oh. Well, you know, I`ve said it before in other interviews that I truly feel like the winner as far as what I`ve tried to accomplish which was just coming out here to get some better gigs. So, it`s just great. I feel -- I feel great that America`s really gotten behind me. You know? And, it`s -- it`s weird because six months ago, I`m playing in bars and clubs all over the southeast and now I`m in Los Angeles signing autographs at the airport and then I land in New York and I`m signing autographs at the airport and I`m like what is up here?

BRYANT: That`s the thing. Is stardom what you expected? Because, you know, certainly musicians wish for this to happen to them and now it`s here. How does that feel?

BICE: It truly does -- I mean, it`s something, obviously, that I`ve dreamed about my entire life, you know, dreaming about meeting -- you know, meeting cool people like you and, you know, meeting Jon Stewart, meeting all the other people, playing with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

BRYANT: You played with Skynyrd!

BICE: You know what I mean? Please!

BRYANT: Come on!

BICE: Does it get any better? I keep saying that. Every day single day, I say, it cannot, cannot, get any better than this, and then each day it continues to. So, I`m blessed.

BRYANT: Yes, we`ve got a shot of you right there with Skynyrd. I mean, that -- the smile, the joy, that says it all. Look at that.

BICE: Even Simon is smiling, yes.

BRYANT: So, speaking of Simon, what`s the best advice the judge gave you, even in regards to what was going on in the show or just something that you can really use in your career?

BICE: You know, I try to always listen to everything that the judges say, and take everything as constructive criticism. You know? This is a hard business to survive in, obviously. I`ve been trying to beat out a living in it for 12 years and with no real success. So, this is -- this was great and I`ll truly take away a little bit from each one of the judges.

And, you know, Simon, I agree with him 90 percent of the time. Paula`s just a -- a jewel. She`s incredible, and Randy, man, he`s just the coolest.

BRYANT: So, what are you going to do, though, with the idea that people are saying, look, Bo, you claim to be a rock guy and you won a pop -- well, see, again, I said you won -- you were a runner up in a pop show. How are you going to handle that credibility fight? You know?

BICE: I`m truly not even worried about it. You know, I`ve got -- one of the things that happened to me the first time I ever got recognized was at the Whiskey A-Go-Go. I was walking by, watching a band soundcheck, and this guy`s all covered in tattoos and he comes up and he taps me on the shoulder and he`s like -- and I said, aw, dude. Are you going to beat me up? He says, my wife loves you. And, I`m like, oh man.

BRYANT: Cool.

BICE: So, I really -- hopefully, the stigma of a pop show won`t stick with me. I hope people will just genuinely look at me and check out my music and try to find out what I`m about. You know? I`m grateful for the show.

BRYANT: Sure.

BICE: The show has given me a great launching pad for a career.

BRYANT: Heck yes.

BICE: But...

BRYANT: All right.

BICE: I think everybody identifies I`m not a pop guy.

BRYANT: Right, yes. Message received. Well, Bo Bice, congratulations to you.

BICE: Thanks.

BRYANT: Again, people can buy your single soon and, you know, more than 30 million people tuned in to watch Bo and Carrie battle it out last Wednesday. Numbers out today put "American Idol" as the most-watched show of the weekend. "American Idol" Tuesday in second place -- the one-two punch there. They were followed by "CSI: Miami." The season finale of "Lost," was in fourth place, and "House" came in fifth.

HAMMER: Tonight, a milestone. We`ve been telling you tonight how 25 years ago, that red button was pressed, and the Cable News Network went on the air. Well, since then, we`ve seen CNN become part of American everyday life. CNN`s Kelly Wallace, in New York right now to tell us more. Kelly?

KELLY WALLACE, CORRESPONDENT: Thanks A.J.

Well, in its 25 years, CNN has become part of the lexicon. Academics have even coined the term "the CNN effect," and it was what the network did with a major story back in 1991 that captured the attention of world leaders, academics, journalists and yes, even Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UM: You are able to hear me now or not.

COLIN POWELL, FMR SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the best source of how careful we have been is listening to CNN reporters who are watching it unfold.

DICK CHENEY, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The best reporting that I have seen on what transpired in Baghdad was on CNN.

WALLACE: Observers say to analyze the CNN effect, you have to go back to the first Gulf War when people around the world, even then-President Bush, watched the war play out live on CNN and only on CNN.

The night the war began, NBC`s Tom Brokaw interviewed CNN`s Bernard Shaw who was in Baghdad.

TOM BROKAW, NBC ANCHOR: CNN used to be called the little network that could. It`s no longer a little network.

WALLACE: It was during and then after the first Gulf War that U.S. policy makers knew what they said and did would now be broadcast around the world. Mike McCurry served as State Department spokesman and then White House press secretary in the Clinton administration.

MIKE MCCURRY, FMR CLINTON PRESS SECRETARY: Many foreign embassies have told me this. They used to monitor the coverage on CNN, the broadcasting of the various news briefings around town, and instantaneously relay that information.

WALLACE: McCurry says there is a downside, a press corps sometimes getting it wrong.

MCCURRY: Sometimes, in the need to report quickly on a breaking story, it`s very difficult to get on top of the facts.

WALLACE: Since the 1990s, academics have been analyzing what they have termed "the CNN effect," the impact of 24-hour news on our culture, not just from CNN now, but also, its competitors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has just speeded up incredibly the -- not only the way people expect to get news, but in fact, the way news is made to the degree that news is made by people like politicians.

WALLACE: Hollywood took notice, too.

JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: You can`t run for the president of the United States without CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two things that we can do. We can help or we can sit back and watch the country destroy itself on CNN.

WALLACE: From the big screen to television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leo Rezeray (ph) is a sadistic madman. This can`t possibly be argued. But he`s not a stupid man and he knows where CNN is on the television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sharon? You have been watching CNN for about eight weeks now. Don`t you want to watch something else?

WALLACE: Even the "Gilmore Girls."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you wish to be Christiane Amanpour?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don`t wish to be her exactly. I just want to do what she does.

WALLACE: And a sign CNN was truly part of the pop culture, kudos from one of the most famous women in the world.

OPRAH WINFREY, ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WOMEN IN THE WORLD: I just came back from Africa. I`ve been in other countries, and no matter where you are, CNN is there, your friend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And there were so many more clips -- too many to include in our story, but A.J., to give you an idea of how CNN has truly become part of the pop culture, when you log on to amazon.com for mentions of CNN, you get 117 books, 31 videos and six DVDs, and I bet there will be even more in the future. A.J.?

HAMMER: Wow, that`s great. Kelly Wallace in New York for CNN, thank you.

And, there`s still time now for you to sound off in our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Controlling the paparazzi: should there be a law? You can vote at cnn.com/showbiztonight. If you got more to say, write us at showbiztonight@cnn.com. We`re going to read some of your emails, coming up live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: We have been asking you to vote online on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Controlling the paparazzi, should there be a law? Well, here`s the votes so far: 94 percent said, yes, there should be a law. Pretty decided, and only 4 percent of you said, no, there should not be one.

We`ve gotten some e-mails on the subject as well, including one from Sean who writes, "Yes, there should be a law against paparazzi. This is harassment."

And, we also heard from Christopher in Canada -- love our friends in the great white north. Christopher wrote, "Photographers should ask themselves every moment they snap a shot whether they would like it if the roles were reversed."

We`d like you to continue to vote by going to CNN.com/showbiztonight.

BRYANT: Time to see what`s playing on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow.

HAMMER: For that, we have to do it ourselves because the marquis guy is of, so here we go. Step it up, Karyn, step it up.

BRYANT: Ah-a-ahem. As the crow flies, we are flying high with "Cinderellaman" star Russell Crowe in the "Showbiz Sitdown" tomorrow on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

HAMMER: Also tomorrow, hit me, baby. Kind of like "American Idol" for the "Where are They Now?" set. Remember Tiffany? Former top-10 artists try to win back your hearts in the new reality show, and SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is there, tomorrow.

That was lame. That`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer.

BRYANT: I`m Karyn Bryant. Stay tuned for the latest from CNN Headline News.

HAMMER: We tried, though.

BRYANT: I did.

END