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Showbiz Tonight
Duke Rape Case all Over Media
Aired April 20, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: A rare look at how federal agents track down child pornographers. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: And late-night host Craig Ferguson on the Hollywood baby everyone`s talking about. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. TV`s only live entertainment news show starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER (voice-over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the rape case that has captivated the nation and TV viewers everywhere. Duke University lacrosse players charged with raping an exotic dancer. Tonight, are the media treating the alleged victim unfairly? And what about the students accused of the terrible crime? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT looks into why the rape case has become the hottest story on TV.
Also, we can hardly believe it ourselves. "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria, one of the sexiest women in the world, telling SHOWBIZ TONIGHT even she has beauty issues.
EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: I was the ugly duckling in a family.
HAMMER: Oh, come on. Tonight, Eva opens up about body image in Hollywood and being in love. It`s the revealing interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer live in New York City.
ANDERSON: I`m Brooke Anderson live in Hollywood.
And A.J., it`s the story that everybody is talking about. Television can`t seem to get enough of it. The Duke University rape case.
ANDERSON: And maybe it`s because the story of the stripper allegedly raped at a party held by the Duke lacrosse team seems like a plotline from a TV crime show. Two people arrested, claims that the cops have the wrong guy. A drama unfolding piece by piece on the air and on the front page of newspapers all across the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER (voice-over): From network morning news shows.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How sound do you think the D.A.`s case is?
HAMMER: To the nighttime cable talk shows.
NANCY GRACE, HOST, "THE NANCY GRACE SHOW": Tonight, bombshell in the Duke gang rape investigation.
HAMMER: To the all-day news coverage.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A third suspect may still be charged.
HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you that America is fascinated with the Duke lacrosse rape case, which seems like a story line from primetime TV.
LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: This case is the perfect media storm. It`s a little bit of "CSI: Miami" meets "Wild On" meets Martin Luther King Jr.`s "I have a dream" speech playing in the background.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": What makes this a huge story for the media, fairly or unfairly, is that you have white athletes being accused of sexually assaulting a black dancer.
You have two different schools in the Durham area kind of choosing up sides. You have the class issue. You have starkly disputed testimony about who was there and who did what to whom and what did the DNA tests show?
Television loves a melodrama, and this is shaping up to be a first class one.
HAMMER: And although those involved are mostly speaking through their attorneys, on TV you have plenty of people speaking about both the accuser...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lady involved has some serious credibility problems. I mean, she`s a stripper.
HAMMER: ... and the accused.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me remind you also that Collin Finnerty had a run-in with the law, too, in Washington, D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up and speak the truth.
HAMMER: And the constant chatter has some saying the worst thing critics can say about a criminal case, that it`s being tried in the media.
JOHN WALSH, HOST, FOX`S "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": I think it`s a nightmare.
HAMMER: "America`s Most Wanted" host John Walsh, who knows a thing or two about TV`s relationship with crime, tells CNN`s Larry King that he doesn`t like what he`s seeing in this case.
WALSH: It`s almost like the old days of the -- you know, the vigilante, let`s get them out of jail and hang them. Or let`s beat the victim up. Let`s make her look like the world`s worst. And she`s a mom. She`s got two kids. So I just wish people would back off on this for a minute.
HAMMER: But in this case, it appears that backing off is the last thing the media plans to do.
KATIE COURIC, CO-HOST, NBC`S "THE TODAY SHOW": Photos from that Duke lacrosse party. What do they say about what happened that night?
HAMMER: NBC raised some eyebrows by airing photos that are said to be from the party where the alleged rape took place. The photos include a shot of the accuser. Now, even though her face is blurred, it`s raising a red flag among many media critics.
"Washington Post" and CNN`s Howard Kurtz tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that usually the media is really conservative about showing these kinds of pictures.
KURTZ: We collectively decided that it would discourage women from reporting and prosecuting sexual assault cases if we were to blare their image on the airwaves.
Even with a blurry image, I`m comfortable with the notion of any news organization carrying some kind of a picture of the accuser here.
HAMMER: In contrast, photos of both of the suspects are everywhere on TV. And some say that`s not fair.
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: Prior to the there being a conviction, a determination of guilt or innocence, we are basically protecting accusers, and not after. But we`re doing it at the time when there has been no determination of whether or not that accuser is telling the truth. And that`s really not fair to criminal defendants in this country.
HAMMER: But some say something good may come from all the attention to this case.
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: Often, it is very hard for Americans to discuss complicated issues of race and class and rape and sexual abuse in everyday conversations. So sometimes these cases which are played out on television, on cable television, seem to lend to people the opportunity to discuss these very complicated issues in a forum that doesn`t seem to be as threatening.
HAMMER: So in a country that still wrestles with the hot-button issues of race, sex and class, this case is showing us that there are some buttons that may very well need to be pushed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: And since this whole thing began, the defense and the prosecution in the case have been making their cases quite publicly. So we can certainly expect plenty of media coverage of this case in the near future.
HAMMER: And we want to hear what you think about the whole thing. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Duke rape case: has the media coverage been fair? Vote at CNN.com/ShowbizTonight. Send us an e- mail: ShowbizTonight@CNN.om. We`re going to read some of your thoughts later on in the show.
HAMMER: All right. So it`s graphic stories like this particular case, the Duke rape case, that often end up as made-for-TV movies. The question is why are we so fascinated by TV shows and movies based on real- life crimes?
Joining me from Hollywood famed attorney Gloria Allred. She represented Amber Frey in the Scott Peterson murder case.
Nice to see you, Gloria.
And live here with me in New York Catherine Crier from Court TV.
Together the ladies are hosting "Ripped from the Headlines", a movie marathon based on real-life murders, airing on Lifetime.
Again, good to see you both. Catherine, always a pleasure.
CATHERINE CRIER, HOST, LIFETIME`S "RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES": Nice to see you.
HAMMER: So this Duke rape case, with wall to wall coverage, every single show. It is getting so much coverage on your show on Court TV. What is it about this particular case that is more or less the perfect storm of elements for a story that we see covered on TV constantly? Because there are rape cases every day.
CRIER: Well, I hate to sort of burst the bubble, but how many times in a year do we say here we go, another perfect storm. We`ve got the Scott Peterson case or we`ve got -- we could go through the list.
This is another. You`ve got the racial issues. You`ve got the class issues. The townies versus the school. These bad-boy lacrosse players. All these sorts of things. So it makes for a fascinating, titillating, tantalizing story. But actually, the crime genre gives us these stories on a relatively regular basis.
HAMMER: Sure, sure. And we certainly saw that in the Scott Peterson case.
And Gloria, you represented Amber Frey. She admitted to having a relationship with Scott Peterson. He, of course, was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci. Amber`s story splashed everywhere, sort of like what we`re seeing in this particularly case with Duke.
So is this type of media coverage, Gloria, a good thing or is it a bad thing or sometimes a little of both?
GLORIA ALLRED, HOST, LIFETIME`S "RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES": Well, I think you`re right. It is a little bit of both and it`s a question of who it`s coming from and when.
Right now there is no trial, for example, in the Duke case. But of course, there is a trial going on in the court of public opinion as to whether or not to believe the accuser or those who are being accused.
And so yes, it is interesting. The public is going to reach their conclusion. Hopefully, they`ll wait, though, for their final decision until there is a trial and then they can judge it based on the evidence that is put forth in the trial.
But I`m excited, by the way -- I`m here for Lifetime today -- that many of these kinds of cases like Amber Frey`s are translated into movies after they are completed as real-life cases. And then those movies are shown on Lifetime, where people really can put the whole thing together and see what happened.
HAMMER: So what is, Catherine, about these particular movies or the stories that become the movies that -- what is that common thread that make them compelling enough to be made into movies that everybody sits down and watches?
CRIER: There`s a beginning, a middle and an end. They`re stories that we can follow through. They are intriguing mysteries, but they`re real life. They`re not the soap operas; they`re not fiction.
I used to tell people turn off the soaps, come down to the courthouse, sit in any room and it will be more interesting than what you`re going to see on the television. And so when you translate them into film, they`re the things that captivate us the most. And by the time the trial is over, we have conclusions so you can actually wrap the stories up.
HAMMER: And I find it interesting. Lifetime is the network that is airing this marathon that you and Gloria are co-hosting. You have a large female audience on Court TV.
CRIER: Certainly.
HAMMER: Gloria, there are inevitably going to be a lot of women tuning into this mini-marathon. And there`s a reason that Lifetime is the one that`s doing it. Is there something that particularly strikes a cord with these cases, with the female audience?
CRIER: Well, I mean, I think that a lot of these cases do involve women. You take the Alex Kelly story, for example, that`s going to be on next Tuesday on Lifetime as a movie. There are -- there are allegations that he sexually assaulted a number of young women.
Or the Betty Broderick story is coming up next week on Wednesday and Thursday. And of course, there`s a woman who has been convicted of killing her husband and why. And of course, she says that she is innocent, even though she has been convicted.
And so I do think that this resonates with a lot of women. They are interested in themes that have to do with their lives. Maybe some anger or rage that they may feel. And they want to try to get to the end of the mystery. And it`s a great whodunit and decide whether or not these people, in fact, really were guilty.
CRIER: And of course this week there was the Sante Kimes story. And to some extent "Murder in the Hamptons", which is coming up, involves Danny Pelosi. But you also had, you know, the woman that he pursued, which -- she was a little bit of a bad actor.
So women aren`t always the victims. Sometimes we can play a bit of the criminals ourselves.
HAMMER: But what is the deal in general with the crime genre? And why it has been so wildly popular? It`s always been the most popular drama genre on television. We have "CSI" and all the franchises.
CRIER: But think about it. Go back to the Greeks, go to Shakespeare. What was it? Murder and incest and mayhem and violence. This is the kind of thing that has always compelled people. And certainly, women are fascinated with these. But there is nothing more compelling than -- than the dark side of human nature. That`s what these stories are all about.
HAMMER: And it is what has kept you going throughout your career. And Gloria it certainly what has driven you throughout the years, as well. I want to thank you both for coming on Court TV -- on Court TV. Here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT here on CNN. I`m plugging your show once again.
Gloria Allred joining us live from Hollywood. Catherine Crier here in New York. And the show, or the marathon is called the "Ripped from the Headlines True Crime Movie Marathon." It`s tonight as well as Monday through Thursday of next week on Lifetime.
ANDERSON: OK, he`s one of the funniest guys on late night TV, and we`re sure he has a thing or two to say about Tom and Katie`s news. Craig Ferguson joins us live coming up.
HAMMER: Plus, we`ve got a rare look inside a forensic lab to see how child porn trackers catch offenders. Fascinating story. That`s coming up.
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LONGORIA: I was the ugly duckling in the family. I didn`t blossom until college.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: It`s hard to believe Eva Longoria has had issues with her looks, right? But she says it`s true. More from Eva coming up in the revealing interview you will see only here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
HAMMER: First it`s tonight`s "`Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." On "Everybody Loves Raymond", Ray and Debra meet when Ray delivers what to Debra`s house? Was it groceries, a futon, dry cleaning, or a television? Hang out. We`re coming right back with the answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fade up, music under. Late night host Craig Ferguson coming up in just a second on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. But first the quiz answer from L.A. Dissolve seven, go.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Charles.
So again tonight`s "`Entertainment Weekly Great American Pop Culture Quiz." On "Everybody Loves Raymond", Ray and Debra meet when Ray delivers what to Debra`s house? Groceries, a futon, dry cleaning, or a television? The answer is B, a futon.
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. We are TV`s only live entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer.
It`s time now for the story today that basically made us say, "That`s ridiculous!" I want you to check this out.
This is a hot spring in Japan where people are getting fish pedicures. Pay close attention. This is very important stuff. Hundreds of people line up every day to stand in water packed with schools of fish that feed on the dead flaky skin on their feet. In fact one happy customer said it doesn`t hurt at all, just kind of itches a little bit.
Be that as it may, we still had to say, that`s ridiculous.
And now this concerns me, Brooke, because all those years that I had fish and would feed them with the little flaky food. Is that what was in the little flaky food jar?
ANDERSON: Who knows? Apparently these fish, they`re called doctor fish in their native Turkey, A.J., they can only feed on dead flaky skin. So no worries about the toes or anything like that. So I guess it`s a safe way to get a pedicure.
HAMMER: Can we move on?
ANDERSON: Yes, we can.
HAMMER: I`m grossed out.
ANDERSON: I would like to do that in fact. It is still the talk of the town, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and baby Suri. And one of the first people to get the baby news from the daddy himself was Diane Sawyer.
This morning on "Live with Regis and Kelly", the "Good Morning America" anchor told Kelly and guest host Craig Ferguson how she got on Cruise`s e-mail list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, CO-HOST, ABC`S "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": I did an interview with him.
KELLY RIPA, CO-HOST, ABC`S "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": Of course we all watched. Yes.
SAWYER: And in the middle of it I whined, which is a well-known journalist technique.
CRAIG FERGUSON, HOST, CBS`S "LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON": I`ve noticed it before. Not just journalists.
SAWYER: I whined loudly, "If you have the baby would you e-mail me?" And he said yes. I never thought he would. And he e-mailed me the night after it happened, and he said, "She is glorious." And he said that Katie is a champ. Is and was a champ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Well, you just saw Craig Ferguson was filling in for Regis this morning. But normally we see him in the wee hours on the morning on "The Late Late Show". Ferguson, of course, keeps us up late for the self- deprecating monologue, dead on impressions and, of course, his take on the news of the day.
Now he`s tackling everything from his Scottish heritage to pop culture in his first novel, which is called "Between the Bridge and the River." Craig Ferguson joining me live in New York.
When I mentioned impressions you laughed. You don`t think they`re so dead on?
FERGUSON: I don`t say they`re that dead on. But I thank you very much for it. It`s a lovely way of talking about it.
I actually, if I may steer you away from talking about my novel, which I`m here to plug. I want to talk to you more about the dead feet fish thing.
HAMMER: Tell me about this.
FERGUSON: Well, I -- I think that sounds like a very nice idea. But I think you need bigger fish.
HAMMER: What type of fish would you recommend?
FERGUSON: I`d have a piranha or a shark. Piranha, yes, yes. Piranha or a shark, some kind of biting fish in there. Because that would get the very hard skin going. You know the hard skin on your heel? You want a bigger fish, a hammer head shark, tiger shark, something like...
HAMMER: So I guess for the calluses and things you want a more aggressive fish.
FERGUSON: And throw a little meat in. When you get your -- a basin of water. Go to the pet store. Do this at home. Go to the pet store. You get a basin of water in your house. Throw in a little meat, a couple of piranha fish, you`ll have feet like a young ballet dancer.
HAMMER: And the piranha fish, as well.
FERGUSON: Piranha fish. I like to say "piranya" instead of "piranha", because "piranya" is the way a Bond villain would say piranha fish. "Be careful of my `piranya` fish, Mr. Bond."
HAMMER: We`d also -- I`m sitting here with you. I wouldn`t know that that`s not how you pronounce it in your native land.
FERGUSON: I don`t know if it is. I just made it up now. But that`s how people pronounce it from now on, piranha fish.
HAMMER: Would you do the fish pedicure yourself?
FERGUSON: I think I might. I would start one fish at a time, though. And I think if I put my feet into a fish pond, the fish would die. So I don`t think that that would be a good idea.
HAMMER: That is self-deprecating.
FERGUSON: I have germ warfare feet.
HAMMER: Do you not do the pedicures?
FERGUSON: I don`t know anything with my feet. I haven`t changed my socks since 1974. So if I -- if I -- I`m European. So if I put my feet in there, these are weapons of mass destruction. If the U.N. knew about my feet we`d be in trouble.
HAMMER: Our stage manager actually just passed out and I was wondering why that happened.
So you`re out, you`re promoting this book...
FERGUSON: Yes.
HAMMER: ... "Between the Bridge and the River." And somehow you got this great booking on the Letterman show last night.
FERGUSON: Yes, I don`t know how that happened.
HAMMER: How`d that happen? Actually, for people who don`t know, he technically is your boss.
FERGUSON: More than technically, he is my boss.
HAMMER: He is your boss.
FERGUSON: Yes, yes, yes. But David Letterman owns the Worldwide Pants company that owns "The Late Late Show", which I host. So yes, he`s my boss. It`s funny to be on David`s show, to be interviewed by your boss.
HAMMER: And how did that go for you and how is he as a boss to have?
FERGUSON: He`s the greatest boss I`ve ever had in my entire life. We`re on TV. What can I tell you? Of course he`s the greatest.
HAMMER: Do you just love him to death?
FERGUSON: I love him to death. We live in the same house, actually. I have a room above his garage, and we meet every other day and discuss gags, what he`ll do. What I`ll do.
HAMMER: Sure you do. You change the oil in his cars, too.
FERGUSON: I clean his cars. I wax them up every now and again, make things look good for him.
HAMMER: Well, for him that`s a full-time job.
FERGUSON: He has like 150,000 cars.
HAMMER: Has he ever taken you out to the...?
FERGUSON: We go out for drives. We go up and down the PCH, you know? We have to be careful, though.
HAMMER: Wearing your sun hats.
FERGUSON: We wear our sun hats, a little bit of nose cream, and we go up and down. We talk and laugh. We stop for a burger, you know.
HAMMER: Well, in the book you`re talking about everything. It is a novel, but you deal with everything from showbiz to the news to reality television. But writing a novel, entirely different from doing a comedy act or hosting your own television show, because you can pretty much can do whatever the heck you want.
FERGUSON: You can do whatever you want. And that`s why I like to do it. I mean, I can do a lot -- I`m very protected in "The Late Late Show", as well. The monologues from the start are very protected. And I like to do that.
But the -- you know, I can say what I want within reason. But the difference is, I guess, when you`re on television I always think you`re a guest in someone`s house if you`re on television. Do you know what I mean? You have to really follow their rules.
HAMMER: You don`t want to be rude.
FERGUSON: Right, you don`t want to go too far.
HAMMER: So in the book did you cross that line?
FERGUSON: In the book you`re in my house. So I can be...
HAMMER: Give me an example.
FERGUSON: Well, I can`t. It`s very rude.
HAMMER: You`re in my house now. Go ahead.
FERGUSON: No, I`m in their house. And I think -- I think it`s -- and also it`s longer. And you can get more involved and you can take more detours and side trips and be indulgent, I guess.
HAMMER: Make all the decisions.
FERGUSON: That`s the other part of it, you know. Because I had written screen plays and stuff for movies before. And actually, you know, during the -- you know we have to deal with the director. When the studio and the actor doesn`t want to wear a red hat. He wants to wear a blue hat. And we doesn`t want to say that.
You don`t have to bother with any of that. Tell the story exactly the way you want to tell that.
HAMMER: Put anybody in any color hat you want. One of the things you talk about, reality television, in fact, is dealt with in here. Are you a fan of the "American Idol"? Are you watching that at all?
FERGUSON: I have never seen it. I think I must be the last person in America not to have seen it, which I don`t know if that effects my citizenship test. If there`s any "American Idol"...
HAMMER: It`s coming up.
FERGUSON: Yes, it`s coming up. And if any of these questions come up, and you know, who`s going to win, I will have to write, you know, "Corky" or something.
HAMMER: The name William Hung, does that mean anything to you now?
FERGUSON: Now, that`s the guy...
HAMMER: Who became famous for being bad.
FERGUSON: It`s kind of a porn star-sounding name there, isn`t it? It`s like William Hung.
HAMMER: You may be onto something. Craig, I want to thank you for stopping by. Hanging out with us here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
The book again is called "Between the Bridge and the River." And you`ll find it in stores now.
ANDERSON: Is Julia Roberts shining on Broadway? Or is "Three Days of Rain" all wet? The reviews are in, and we will tell you what the critics say about Julia`s Broadway debut. That`s next.
HAMMER: Also coming up, it`s hard to believe that this desperate housewife once considered herself an ugly duckling. I don`t believe it for a minute. Eva Longoria talks about body image in Hollywood. That`s coming up in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hardest part of this job is looking into their eyes and trying to imagine the pain that they must be going through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: A rare look inside forensic labs to see how child porn trackers conduct their investigations. That`s still ahead on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Stay with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s Thursday night. We`re coming right back with a lot more. Master, roll the break and take one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: And the reviews are in. Pretty woman Julia Roberts made her official New York Broadway debut last night in "Three Days of Rain." But what the critics have to say, well, it`s not so pretty.
"The New York Times" said she was, quote, "Stiff." "The Washington Post" said Julia is in over her head. And "The New York Post" hated her but liked the rain. Ouch, that one hurt.
One good one, though. "USA Today" did say she was, quote, "credible and sweetly funny."
But Roberts did receive a standing ovation during her curtain call from a celebrity-filled crowd, and she told us the whole night was a blast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA ROBERTS, ACTRESS: It was beautiful. It was lovely. And the audience was great to us, and that makes all the difference.
ROSIE PEREZ, ACTRESS: I think it was warm and then it was very loving. And it was also very, very sincerely generous.
MARCIA GAY HARDEN, ACTRESS: I feel like Julia transformed into both - - she plays two characters in it -- into both of them beautifully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: "Three Days of Rain" has a 12-week limited run which is virtually sold out.
So in spite of the lukewarm reviews, A.J., fans will still flock to see her in person. And that says a lot for her, because plays normally need the strong reviews to survive. But apparently, her star power, her name is enough.
HAMMER: Yes. It`s nice to see the people who do what she does, that we just saw, saying nice things about her. They`re not critics. They know what they`re talking about.
All right. What`s in a name anyway? Suri Cruise. Only the beginning. Do you know which star named his kid Pilot Inspector? We`re going to play the celebrity baby name game. That`s coming up.
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hardest part of this job is looking into their eyes and trying to imagine the pain that they must be going through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We`re going inside crime labs to see how child porn trackers catch the bad guys.
HAMMER: And Eva and ugly. Those are two words you usually don`t hear together in the same sentence. Well, this desperate housewife tells us why she has had some issues with her look. Eva Longoria, coming up in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, which will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It is 31 minutes past the hour on a Thursday night. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
ANDERSON: I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood, and you are watching TV`s only live entertainment news show.
A.J., tonight Eva Longoria is opening up to us about the love of her life and also why she, on of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, actually felt like an ugly duckling at one point.
HAMMER: Hard to believe.
ANDERSON: And her thoughts on -- I know -- her thoughts on body image and much more, coming up.
HAMMER: Let me throw a couple of names out at you: Apple, Moses, Suri...
ANDERSON: Gwyneth Paltrow.
HAMMER: Yes, you wouldn`t think of those as baby names, but they are. They`re weird baby names, and they only scratch the surface. We`re going to get into weird baby names, coming in just a few minutes.
ANDERSON: They just keep getting better and better, A.J.
But first tonight, it`s a tough issue to talk about: sick child predators scouring the Internet for young victims. Now, the U.S. attorney general has issued a wake-up call to combat online child pornography.
Today, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Project Safe Childhood to eliminate the exploitation and victimization of children. He says the threat of Internet predators is very real and wants Congress to toughen the penalty for Internet providers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: It is not an exaggeration to say that we are in the midst of an epidemic in the production and trafficking of movies and images depicting the sexual abuse of children. Now, more than ever, we need to educate the public on the realities of the dangers posed by child sexual predators, abusers, and pornographers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: And child predators have become increasingly tech savvy, which means the authorities who catch them really have to stay one step ahead. Well, tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT goes inside the high-tech efforts to gather evidence on a known child pornographer and put him behind bars. Here`s CNN`s Thelma Gutierrez for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cebu City, the Philippines, a favorite destination for American tourists.
For one California man, it was the perfect place to tour the city`s Catholic churches and practice his religious devotion. But 61-year-old retired auditor Edilberto Datan (ph) had a dark secret, and U.S. agents knew all about it.
JORGE GUZMAN, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, ICE: Mr. Datan went to the Philippines for the sole purpose of engaging in sex with minors.
GUTIERREZ: Agents with ICE, the Immigration Customs Enforcement Bureau, in Long Beach, California, mobilized to try to catch Datan coming into the country with child pornography.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ICE investigations.
GUTIERREZ: This is a rare look inside the forensic lab where ICE agents, child porn-trackers, conduct their investigations.
DAVID DRASIN, SENIOR SPECIAL AGENT, ICE: The hardest part of this job is looking into their eyes and trying to imagine the pain that they must be going through.
GUTIERREZ: Assistant special agent in charge, Jorge Guzman, says after ICE agents were tipped off of Datan`s trip to Cebu City, they began tracking his movements.
GUZMAN: He was engaged in sexual misconduct with these young boys, as young as 14 years old from what we`ve learned. They could be younger.
GUTIERREZ: According to federal authorities, Edilberto Datan (ph) enticed young boys to his room.
RUPA GOSWAMI, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: He would take them for food. He would offer them T-shirts and backpacks, not huge amounts of money for access to them.
GUTIERREZ: For as little as $2, Datan took pictures of the kids with his digital camera.
GUZMAN: It also showed other young males in very disturbing scenes, including very detailed close-ups of the genital area of these young boys.
GUTIERREZ: Datan would lure as many as 18 boys to his room during his trip.
GOSWAMI: There`s images of him naked with a naked child on top of him. There`s also a series of photographs of the children sort of splayed out.
GUTIERREZ: The images would be stored on small devices called memory cards or memory sticks, which he would then smuggle out of the Philippines and trade with his friends.
As Datan returned to Los Angeles from the Philippines and made his way through customs, an officer ran his passport through the database. His name was flagged; Datan was pulled aside and searched.
GUZMAN: He had three memory sticks from a camera that were taped inside the pocket of his jeans.
GUTIERREZ: A fourth stick was found in his camera. A federal search warrant turned up more than a dozen boxes of child pornography in his San Diego home. The boxes and his computer were seized, but to lock up their case, agents still needed to prove that Datan took the photos.
Just as investigators at a crime scene take special care with physical evidence like blood and fingerprints...
GUZMAN: We`re using both databases.
GUTIERREZ: ... forensic agents would have to take special care in analyzing Datan`s camera, memory sticks, and computer hard drive without contaminating the original electronic evidence.
DRASIN: What we do at that point is we will make an exact duplicate copy; some people would call it a mirror image.
GUTIERREZ: When Datan`s memory sticks were accessed, agents found more than 100 photos of Filipino boys.
GUZMAN: The memory sticks was the most important piece of evidence against Mr. Datan, because it basically showed him in the act of exploiting children and basically working as a predator.
GUTIERREZ: Each photo would have to be analyzed.
DRASIN: Each child pornographic image has one digital fingerprint, just like people that only have one fingerprint.
GUTIERREZ: The evidence is run through a sophisticated software program, where crucial information begins to emerge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes they`ll find the camera make, model, date the picture was taken, other internal data that the user won`t see when they look at the picture.
GUTIERREZ: In addition to tying the perpetrator`s camera to the crime, the digital fingerprints can also help identify the child. This digital information is run against a database in Washington of known victims of child pornography. If a match is found, investigators can identify the child.
GOSWAMI: The images are really -- they`re of a crime scene. We just didn`t get there time.
GUTIERREZ: Forensic agents were able to match Edilberto Datan`s (ph) camera to the images on the memory sticks he was carrying, and authorities in the Philippines were able to identify eight of Datan`s victims.
GUZMAN: He never thought he was going to get caught, and what`s equally disturbing is that Mr. Datan exhibited a lackadaisical attitude after being apprehended or arrested for his crime. He, basically, thought he had done nothing wrong.
GUTIERREZ: In the end, Datan pled guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors and producing child pornography and is now serving a 17-year sentence in a federal prison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: That was CNN`s Thelma Gutierrez for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. And Mr. Datan was also forced to pay $17,000 to his young victims in the Philippines. This is the very first time that a perpetrator has been ordered to pay restitution to victims overseas.
ANDERSON: We`ve got news on Brad Pitt in tonight`s "Hot Headlines." For that, we go to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas here Hollywood.
Hi, Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.
Tonight, Brad Pitt may be in Africa at the moment, but he`s hard at work in the Big Easy. Pitt, who is a big fan of architecture, is calling for people to submit environmentally friendly designs to rebuild parts of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. It`s part of a competition that he`s sponsoring. The actor will help select six finalists to work on more detailed proposals.
Well, some pretty big Lindsay Lohan casting news tonight. Lohan`s publicist tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT the teen queen is in talks to star alongside Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman in "Georgia Rule." It`s about a rebellious young woman, played by Lohan, who is sent by her mother to spend her summer with her grandmother. Huffman would play the mother and Fonda the grandmother.
Well, Tiger Woods is stepping off the links while his father battles prostate cancer. The champion golfer is taking a self-imposed break from the PGA tour to spend more time with his father, Earl. Woods says his dad is hanging in there, calling him, quote, "an absolute fighter and a walking miracle."
And those are tonight`s "Hot Headlines." We certainly wish him a speedy recovery.
ANDERSON: Yes, we do. His father has been quite an influence in his life. No surprise he`s taking time off. Sibila, thanks so much.
HAMMER: Well, coming up, Mick Jagger robbed? What? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT will tell you why the Rolling Stones frontman is signing up to get cleaned out.
ANDERSON: And TomKat`s TomKitten -- yes, I said it again, A.J. -- little Suri Cruise, the latest celebrity baby with an unusual name. But there are even more farfetched monikers in Hollywood. Try Banjo or Moxie Crimefighter. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT plays the celebrity baby name game, coming up.
Plus, we`ve also got this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: I was the ugly duckling in a family, and I didn`t blossom until college.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: It`s hard to believe "Desperate Housewives`" Eva Longoria was ever desperate in the looks department, but the actress says it`s true. I can`t believe it. We`ve got more from Eva. That`s coming up in the revealing interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s only live entertainment news show. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood.
Tonight, a revealing interview with "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas is back with us again here live in Hollywood to tell what she had to say -- Sibila?
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we chatted about her new role as a Secret Service agent in the new film "The Sentinel" and a lot of hot topics, from immigration reform -- Eva`s from a Mexican-American family -- to out-of-control tabloids.
Get this: Well, she pretty much can`t go anywhere nowadays without being hounded by the paparazzi. It hasn`t always been that way for little Eva. In fact, before becoming a sexy swan on "Desperate Housewives," she claims she used to be, well, an ugly duckling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: Because I didn`t grow up with the superficiality of my looks, I was the ugly duckling in a family, and I didn`t blossom until college.
VARGAS: Eva, that`s hard to believe that you`re the ugly duckling.
LONGORIA: Girl, look up some pictures. Look them up. Look them up.
VARGAS: They must be just beautiful models.
LONGORIA: No, my sisters were, you know, very light-skinned, light- eyed, really, really blond hair. And I was the called (INAUDIBLE) which was "The Ugly Dark One." And I thought my name was Faya (ph) forever.
Body images never really affected me. I mean, I`ve always been petite and skinny, I mean, so skinny to the point of, you know, I`m always trying to gain weight.
Now, I`m really comfortable with my weight, but I do think it is a problem, especially with the amount of magazines that are out there now. I think, you know, the magazines tend to exploit a certain image that everybody should be.
And even though I am, you know, fit, I work very hard at it, and not so much staying thin, but being healthy. And it`s not about, you know, looking good, it`s about feeling good.
VARGAS: This immigration reform that we`ve been seeing so much, I know that you`re of Mexican-American dissent. How do you feel about that? Where do you stand?
LONGORIA: Well I think it`s an oxymoron, because America is a land of immigrants. So, to me, it`s just absurd that we`re even having these, you know, discussions and debates about the future of our immigration laws.
You know, I`m from south Texas, where I didn`t cross the border; the border crossed us. And one day I was Mexican, and the next day I wasn`t.
And so, for me, you know, I think if you look at anybody in America who has a job, they wouldn`t be where they are if their ancestors didn`t have an opportunity when they were immigrants in this country, whether you were Irish, or English, or whatever you were, you were an immigrant at one point or another.
So I think everybody should kind of educate themselves and get rid of the ignorance that you have, as to, "Oh, get rid of the Mexicans." It`s not the solution, you know? You need to be educated about what the Mexicans and what we contribute to this society and this economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LONGORIA: Yes, plain, I can handle. Carlos, since that woman has walked into our house, the clocks have stopped working.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: I know your character is pretty tough. Now, I know Gabrielle Solis in "Desperate Housewives" is tough, but let`s talk about the comparisons there.
LONGORIA: Well, I definitely wouldn`t give Gabrielle a gun.
VARGAS: No, she`d be dangerous with that.
LONGORIA: She`d be a little dangerous with the gun. You know, she`s the complete opposite of Gabrielle. She`s ambitious, but doesn`t like to use her looks to get what she wants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LONGORIA: Agent Breckinridge? Jill Marin, sir. Your secretary said I could come in.
KIEFER SUTHERLAND, ACTOR: You`re late.
LONGORIA: A minute past.
SUTHERLAND: Yes, and that makes you late.
LONGORIA: Right, sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONGORIA: I was really blessed to have the dynamic of being rookie in the movie to Kiefer and Michael, but also being the rookie of the film world to Kiefer and Michael. And they just took me under their wing and made it so easy and fun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: All right, keep your eyes open. You may learn a lot, so listen to everything he`s got to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: This is on a much lighter note. I heard of people, like, wearing their love on their sleeves, but you have actually worn your love on your pants.
LONGORIA: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
VARGAS: His name. I mean, you make no bones about it, and I think that`s such a refreshing thing about you, is that you say, "You know what? I`m crazy about this guy, and I`m letting everybody know about it."
LONGORIA: You can`t ever win. When you`re secretive and private, you know, they`re like, "Trouble in Paradise: Eva Doesn`t Speak." And then you`re outspoken about it, and they`re like, "Trouble in Paradise: Eva Speaks Out."
So I just go with my heart. And, you know, I`m in love, and so I want to yell it from the highest mountain.
VARGAS: Do you think that he might be the one that you might settle down and have a family with him one day?
LONGORIA: We`ll see. We`ll see. Only God knows that. And if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VARGAS: You see, I tried to ask, but she wouldn`t say if she was getting married. But her good friend Jamie Foxx went on "The Ellen Show" on Monday and accidentally slipped that Eva and Tony are, indeed, tying the knot. So I guess we`ll have to stay tuned for that.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: That`s right, and you tried, Sibila.
VARGAS: I tried.
ANDERSON: You did try...
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: ... and they seem madly in love, and you two like you could have been sisters there. Great job.
VARGAS: Aw.
ANDERSON: OK, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas here in Hollywood. Thanks.
HAMMER: Well, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger robbed? Only on TV. Jagger`s publicist tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT the rocker is going to make a cameo appearance in a new ABC television pilot. He`s going to be playing himself. It`s a comedy where, according to "The Hollywood Reporter," he`s the target of a planned celebrity robbery.
Jagger is also one of the pilot`s executive producers. He joins up with fellow Brit Elton John in the ABC lineup. Elton is the executive producer of the pilot "Him and Us."
ANDERSON: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, two of Hollywood`s newest parents, and the latest in Tinseltown to give their child an unusual name: Suri Cruise. So SHOWBIZ TONIGHT wants to know: What`s with all the celebrities giving their children these wacky names? We hit the streets to find out.
And here`s CNN`s Jeanne Moos for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At least after all those public displays of affections, they have something to show for it. Tom plus Katie equals...
PETER CASTRO, EXEC. EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: TomKat.
MOOS: And a TomKat baby equals...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A TomKitten.
MOOS: The parents smitten with their TomKitten named her Suri, a name that means "princess" in Hebrew and "red rose" in Persian. But in Japanese...
(on camera): ... but apparently it means "pickpocket" in Japanese.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you have a red rose, Persian princess who pickpockets?
MOOS (voice-over): It could be worse. The star of "My Name is Earl" named his kid Pilot Inspektor. Rachel Griffiths from "Six Feet Under" named hers Banjo. And Penn from Penn and Teller named his Moxie Crimefighter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the parents did it to satisfy their ego.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically, I like Tom, Dick, Harry, John, Fred. Then you have nothing to live up to.
MOOS: It`s one thing to name your dog Twiggy -- hey, Twiggy -- another to name your daughter Apple, as Gwyneth Paltrow did.
(on camera): Like if your kid`s name`s Apple, what kind of jokes are people going to make?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, apple sauce. What, are you kids going to be, apple sauce, when you beat them or something? I don`t know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`ll call her a fruit.
MOOS (voice-over): Nothing wrong with fruit, as Gwyneth explained to Oprah. Apples are so sweet, and they`re wholesome, and it`s biblical. And I just thought it sounded so lovely and clean.
Not quite lovely and clean was what Tom Cruise told "GQ" magazine.
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": He says that, after his baby is born, he`s going to eat the placenta and the umbilical cord.
MOOS: Jon Stewart pointed out that Tom was joking, but what with all the couch-hopping, word spread on the Web that the Scientologist was serious.
STEWART: Pan-roasted, with a little bit of leek.
MOOS: And what are the chances of Tom`s fiancee giving birth...
CASTRO: ... not only on the same day, but in the very same hospital and on the same floor as his former nemesis, Brooke Shields.
MOOS: Remember how Tom and Brooke parted ways over taking drugs for postpartum depression?
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: And she doesn`t understand the history of psychiatry.
MOOS: It`s been a long nine months. Poor little TomKitten`s already the butt of jokes on the Internet. "TomKat Baby from Outer Space" portrays TomKitten as an alien. And "Dial a Fetus" shows TomKitten talking on a cell to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie`s fetus. When TomKitten is born, it takes one look around and decides to return to the womb. The womb would look pretty good, if you knew these people would kill for a baby picture.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: That was CNN`s Jeanne Moos for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
A.J., I think Suri`s kind of nice, compared to some of those names.
HAMMER: I like the wacky baby names. You know, people give me a hard time when I say I want to name my kids Tarmac and Veranda. And if I have a third, I`m thinking Liquid.
ANDERSON: You deserve a hard time for those. Didn`t Jermaine Jackson name one of his kids Jermajesty? I mean, they`re so creative with these names. It`s amazing.
HAMMER: Well, coming up, after the break, we`re going to read some of your e-mails, no matter what your name is. We`ve been asking you our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day." The Duke University rape case: Has the media coverage been fair?
Still time to vote at CNN.com/showbiztonight or e-mail us at showbiztonight@CNN.com. We`ll be right back with your thoughts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer. And throughout show tonight, we`ve been asking you to vote online on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day." We`ve been asking: The Duke University rape case: Has the media coverage been fair?
Here`s how the vote`s been going tonight: 41 percent of you say yes; more of you say no, 59 percent.
Some of the e-mails we`ve received including one from Todd in California. He writes, "Defendants are prosecuted by the press, the public, et cetera, when they haven`t even been tried yet."
We also heard from T in Colorado. T thinks, "The media is biased. The message here is very clear," T writes. "If you are an African-American victim, you are a liar."
You can continue to vote by going to CNN.com/showbiztonight.
Well, that is it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Thank you very much for watching. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
ANDERSON: And I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Have a great night, everyone, and stay tuned for more from CNN Headline News.
END
