Former Child Star

Former Child Star Zachery Ty Bryan Sues Hotel For Assault

San Diego, CA (CNS) - Actor Zachery Ty Bryan is suing a hotel franchiswr over an incident in April wherein he was allegedly assaulted by the manager of the hotel he was staying in.

The former "Home Improvement" star has filed a lawsuit against Choice Hotels International over an April incident.

According to TMZ, he was staying at the Quality Inn Hotel in San Diego when he decided to grab a Gatorade with his friends. When he came back after midnight, the hotel wouldn't let him upstairs since his room wasn't booked on his name.

His attorney said Bryan tried to explain that his wife was in the room but the hotel refused to call her. And to make things worse, an off-duty manager came out of nowhere and used a taser gun on his neck.

The former child actor is seeking damages in excess of $25,000.

Bryan played the eldest son Brad Taylor in the hit TV series "Home Improvement," which ran from 1991 to 1999.

He's the straight man, the Every Bate-man

The part reads, "mild-mannered, middle-aged white guy, kind of idealistic, sort of a cheerleader, not the utter pushover he seems." And oh yeah, "Make him funny."

Sounds like a job for an acting Every Man, a superhero among supporting players. It sounds like a job for ... duh duh duuuuuh ... BATE-man!

Jason Bateman, who will wear "Arrested Development" as a career highlight to the end of his days, plays a lot of those movie Average Joes, the guy who doesn't really want to grow up and raise a child in "Juno," the nerdy accountant seemingly immune to the magical pull of "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium."

"I'm the Every Man, the straight man, the middle-aged white guy who isn't overly skinny, overly tall, overly short, somebody who reacts to the funny things around him," Bateman, 39, says from Los Angeles. "My mother's British, so I kind of come by this reactionary comedy thing by default. It's in my genes."

His most Jason Bateman-ish role ever just might be in "Hancock," the new superhero action comedy starring Will Smith. Bateman plays Ray, a do-gooder public relations man who wants to save the Earth, feed the hungry, house the homeless and maybe fix the wrecked image of the drunken superhero title character.

"Ray's a nice counterpoint — naive, idealistic — to the cynicism of Hancock, creating the conflict of opposites that you need for comedy," says Bateman, who should know, seeing as has been making comedy since he was a kid. "I typically play the guy who is the surrogate for the audience, just normal enough to make the absurdity of whatever is going on stand out. That makes the role actor-proof."

He's being modest. "Hancock's" reviews aren't the best of Will Smith's career. But Bateman is winning almost universal praise. "No one has given him such a juicy part in years," Stephen Farber wrote in The Hollywood Reporter. "The actor rips into it lustily."

Bateman took the occasion of the cancellation of his much-loved, short-lived TV show, "Arrested Development," to grab seemingly every role in sight, a veritable actor's smorgasbord of wacky best friends ("The Break-Up"), strung-out lawyers ("Smokin' Aces") and wise-cracking F.B.I. analysts ("The Kingdom"), with cameos as a boorish TV star in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and an obnoxiously upbeat corporate coach, a "team builder," in "The Promotion."

"I have been grabbing stuff from all over the place, just to avoid being pigeon-holed again," Bateman says. "If the TV show hadn't come along, I honestly don't know what I'd be doing with this half of my life. Not acting, I'm guessing. So I am working toward building the kind of broad-based, not-a-big-star, not-a-celebrity career that will give me another 30 years of employment." He'll jump at the chance to work in a big summer action picture "just for the whole Will Smith of it all." But he's also teaming with Mike Judge ("King of the Hill," "Office Space") for a low-budget comedy, "sort of an Office Space 2.0, a small town workplace film, lo-fi, below the radar, and hopefully a cool comedy."

And Bateman holds out hope that all those Hollywood fans of "Arrested Development" will find the cash, make the planets align and figure out a way to make a big-screen version of the series. A former child actor (he's Justine Bateman's brother) whose acting life all but ended when childhood did, Bateman says he owes everything "in this second half of my career" to the Mitchell Hurwitz-created show, something his "Juno" director, Jason Reitman, acknowledges caused him to hire Bateman.

"You look at the role he played in that cast and the way he played it, you have to be a fan of the Bateman," Reitman says.

"All roads lead back to 'Arrested Development,'" Bateman says. "It was a re-set point for my career, giving me the chance to have this second half. The audience for that was small, but it must've been entirely in Hollywood. It seems as if every job I get is from a fan of the show. So if there's a chance to do it, the will is there."

By Roger Moore
The Orlando Sentinel

Former child actor's home destroyed by fire

Fire destroys home, Sedona Now Network studio

Jude Belanger, Glenn Scarpelli and their dog, Schnebly are shaken but in good health after an early afternoon electrical fire destroyed their home on Mountain Shadows Drive in West Sedona. Two men who were also in the home when the blaze started escaped unharmed.

Mr. Belanger was treated and released at the scene by Sedona Fire District emergency crews for minor smoke inhalation.

The fire started in an upstairs spare bedroom at about 12:30 p.m., shortly after Mr. Belanger and Mr. Scarpelli returned home from a trip.

“If only we hadn’t unpacked the car,” Mr. Belanger said, lamenting the clothes and other personal effects lost in the fire.

Mr. Belanger is not sure what caused the fire, but he suspects it may have been the wiring in the lamps or the wall outlets near a bed in the room. Mr. Belanger and Mr. Scarpelli had recently installed solar electric in the home. The Sedona Fire District is investigating.

Solar electric panels recently installed on the roof the Belanger/Scarpelli home melted during the blaze. Witnesses said the solar power did not shut off when power was cut to the home, which might have contributed to one fire fighter who was reportedly electrocuted and transported to Sedona Medical Center.

Mr. Belanger was stunned because he thought he was prepared, having several fire extinguishers in the home.

“It was like 30 seconds. It went so fast,” Mr. Belanger said. He tried to fight the fire with an extinguisher but as soon as he discharged it, “all of a sudden this wall of black just hit me. I was lost and I ran out. I couldn’t even go back in to get the car keys.”

“God, all our sculptures; all our artwork … ,” Mr. Belanger said. Luckily, he had taken pictures for insurance purposes.

Mr. Belanger and Mr. Scarpelli were planning to take a trip out of the country in about three weeks. “Can we get new passports in time?” Mr. Belanger asked, stating they did save their identification.

The home was a total loss, including the Sedona Now Network studio, a local visitor entertainment television station that also broadcasts statewide once a month on KTVK Channel 3TV in Phoenix.

Jason Bateman survives childhood stardom

In an industry that can devour its youngsters, Jason Bateman is one child star who made good.

"I certainly did not come through unscathed," he says. "But I was just a little smarter about getting caught and didn't spend 24 hours a day being an idiot or an outlaw. That's not an overriding instinct for me, to do massive amounts of drugs or rob liquor stores. I don't have to fight that urge."

Bateman, 38, started acting professionally when he was 10 years old. He was the scheming Derek Taylor in the teen TV hit Silver Spoons and its spinoff, It's Your Move. He starred in a series of Valerie Harper shows (Valerie, Valerie's Family and The Hogan family) before he reinvigorated his career with the cult TV comedy Arrested Development.

As a young star, he recalls, "the borders are a little wider for you. People let you get away with a lot of stuff. But if you have the right kinds of friends and family, they don't let you get away with being a jerk."

Bateman is now moving into a movie career that is headed in many directions: as a U.S. soldier captured by terrorists in the drama The Kingdom, or as a straitlaced accountant in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which opens Friday.

"I'm just trying not to screw it up," he says, and that means knowing his place in the hierarchy and taking smaller roles in better films.

He wants to be a supporting player with big stars, the people he calls "the cool kids:" actors like Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx (from The Kingdom), or Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helen Mirren (from State of Play, an upcoming film in which he plays a bisexual sex club promoter), or Will Smith and Charlize Theron (from John Hancock, which he just finished.)

"Any movie I'm offered the lead of right now is a pretty stinky movie," he says.

"The films I'm offered to do, where I'm the lead, are not great scripts. The films I'm offered to do where I'm third or fourth down on the call sheets, they're pretty good films, because numbers one, two and three on the call sheet are great actors, so they have consequently attracted a great director."

He's even willing to play second banana in a movie that was his own idea: an action comedy called The Remarkable Fellows about two "revenge specialists" who hire themselves out to rich people who want to pay back their enemies. He calls it Dirty Rotten Scoundrels meets The Bourne Identity, and he plans to play No. 2 brother, "and some great big huge guy will be the star. A cool kid."

Ex-child star Portman gets to be a kid again in 'Emporium'

Although Natalie Portman got her big acting break as a kid (in Luc Besson’s “The Professional”), her role as toy shop assistant in “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” marks her first children’s movie.

“It did take me back to my childhood,” Portman said. “What was interesting was because I started working as a kid when I was 11, I was never in a kids movie. All of a sudden I’m in a kids movie but I don’t get kid treatment because I’m the grownup. That was sort of bizarre.”

After her breakout role in “The Professional,” Portman noted that childhood stardom sparked envy from her classmates. So much so that she had to change schools.

“Look, I’m very happy with how everything worked out for me,” the 26-year-old actress said. “I feel very, very lucky. And there’s also this crazy thing that almost all the actresses working today in my age range started out as kids. I mean if you look at Lindsay Lohan, Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Kirsten Dunst, Christina Ricci, Claire Danes, Reese Witherspoon, all of us started really young! I mean like between 8 and 10. So it clearly gives people help if they want to do it as adults.”

Portman paused. “I have awesome parents, but now seeing a lot of kid actors, it makes me worried. And I definitely did miss out on a lot of kid things. Everyone has their different path and it’s not something where I’m like ‘Oh I missed my childhood.”’

Bonaduce Gives Celebs Life Lessons in New Mobile TV Series

Former child star Danny Bonaduce stars in CBS Mobile's first original program set to launch next week -- a series of fictitious, satirical Dr. Katz-esque cartoon vignettes titled Danny Bonaduce: Life Coach. No stranger to tabloidom and public scandal himself (have you seen Breaking Bonaduce?), each episode shows the former Partridge Family star giving dubious advice to popular celebrities, followed by the disastrous results.

For example, the premier episode, "Britney Explained," goads viewers to wonder if Brit's breakdown is all part of a lengthy and clever Bonaduce-style career move. We're guessing not, but it's still a fun watch.

New episodes debut biweekly, and will take inspiration from current celebrity scandals. Fans who double as gluttons for punishment and are interested in Bonaduce's words of wisdom can sign up for regular life-coaching sessions and tips on how to "get it together." The show launches Monday, Nov. 12, on AT&T, Sprint and other wireless carriers via CBS Mobile. Episodes can also be streamed from the CBS site

Shia LaBeouf Arrested in Chicago

Shia LaBeouf was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing after the "Transformers" star refused to leave a Chicago drugstore.

A security guard told LaBeouf that he needed to leave the Walgreens store because he appeared to be drunk, police said Sunday.

When LaBeouf, 21, refused to leave, the security guard detained him and called police at about 2:30 a.m., according to police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak.

After he was arrested, police noted that LaBeouf was "very courteous and polite," Kubiak said. Police said he posted bond before 7 a.m., but Kubiak didn't know the amount.

LaBeouf, of Glendale, Calif., is scheduled to appear in Cook County court on Nov. 28.

Police didn't administer a sobriety test because LaBeouf was not driving a vehicle, Kubiak said.

Publicists for LaBeouf didn't immediately return calls for comment.

The actor co-stars with Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," due in theaters next year.

'Kid Nation' is not a good place for kids

Paul Petersen called it "the worst serial workplace violation since children were lifted from English coal mines in 1812."

The former child star of the "The Donna Reid Show" also blasted those involved for engaging in "a criminal conspiracy to deprive children of their right to be free from commercial exploitation."

When Petersen talks about children working in the entertainment industry, one is well-advised to pay attention. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, including the abuses to which generations of young performers have been subjected, Petersen is a passionate advocate for critically needed reforms.

The organization that he founded in 1990, "A Minor Consideration," is the go-to source for everything of significance concerning children employed in a very risky business.

Petersen's ire was directed at "Kid Nation," a reality show currently being aired by CBS-TV on Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m.

Although not the blockbuster hit envisioned by network executives, "Kid Nation" is doing well enough in the ratings for children to be auditioned for a planned second season. That's bad news because this exploitive, predatory production is so riddled with serious legal problems and disturbing ethical questions that the first season should have been left to die in the desert sun.

For the production of "Kid Nation," 40 children, ages 8 to 15, were brought to Bonanza City, billed as a New Mexico "ghost town" from the 19th century, and given 40 days to turn it into a thriving community by "fixing their forefathers' mistakes."

Isolated from their parents for the entire time and deprived of modern conveniences, they were required to do such things as cook their own meals, clean outhouses, haul heavy wagons over long distances, and establish their own government.

Except for when they were undressed, the youngsters were on camera for more than 14 hours every single day, in some instances from 7 a.m. to midnight. Although the production was filmed in its entirety during the school year, there were no teachers on the set and no education provided.

The production staff points out that a safety net of adults were standing by at all times. Still, several children required medical treatment after they drank bleach that was inadvertently left in an unlabelled soda bottle. Another youngster was burned on the face with hot grease.

THE CONTRACT

Each child appearing in "Kid Nation" received $5,000 which, when apportioned over the 960 hours to which the producers will concede that they were filmed, amounts to less than the minimum wage.

Parents were required to sign an exhaustive, finely detailed contract which, among other things, exonerated the producers from liability for any injury sustained by a child for any reason whatsoever, including failure to provide adequate medical care or safe housing.

The parents also surrendered the rights to their children's stories, "in perpetuity and throughout the universe," and further consented to those stories being fictionalized either in whole or in part.

Despite the phony hype, Bonanza City was not chosen because it's a ghost town -- most of its buildings were constructed in the last 20 years -- but rather because it is in New Mexico, a state which, prior to the "Kid Nation" fiasco, provided little protection to child actors.

Still, in a laughable response to mounting criticism, the producers claim that the children aren't really performers but merely kids attending "summer camp." They also maintain that the $5,000 paid to each child was not compensation for services rendered, but a stipend for some other nebulous purpose.

"Kid Nation" is making money for its producers and CBS while the children who made it happen were paid peanuts, deprived of an education, placed in physical and emotional jeopardy, stripped of their privacy rights, and had their personal stories given away forever.

Apparently hypnotized by show biz's lure, parents from around the country shipped their children to New Mexico and completely entrusted them to an array of perfect strangers for six weeks.

"Kid Nation" couldn't have been filmed in most states because the entire production violated what has become fairly standard legal requirements for the employment of young performers. These strictly limit the number of hours a child may work each week, mandate that a parent or guardian be within sight and sound of the child at all time, and require that a teacher be on the set to meet the youngster's educational needs.

New Mexico has since amended its laws so that if there is a second season of "Kid Nation," it won't be filmed there either. Still, the protection of young performers should be a matter specifically addressed at the national level. There is obviously something very wrong when producers, intoxicated with visions of power and profit, are free to scour the nation in search of the easiest state in which to exploit a child.

Source: The Staten Island Advance.

'Family Ties' actor Bonsall gets probation

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Brian Bonsall, who played Andy Keaton in Family Ties, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in a case involving his girlfriend and was sentenced to two years' probation, prosecutors said. Three other charges against Bonsall, 25, were dismissed under a plea agreement entered on Friday. He was arrested in March after his girlfriend told police he poured an alcoholic drink on her face while she slept, put her in a choke hold and threw her onto a bed when she tried to leave.

Bonsall told investigators he pushed her down in self-defense after she cut his arm and face with a steak knife. She denied the claim and wasn't charged in the case.

Bonsall's lawyer, Paul McCormick, said Bonsall went through a 30-day rehab program and has been sober for over five months. Prosecutor Peter Maguire said Bonsall has been compliant with sobriety monitoring.

McCormick said Bonsall, who is working in construction and playing in a band, has gotten back together with his girlfriend and they are in couples counseling.

Bonsall appeared in three seasons of Family Ties, the NBC sitcom that helped launch Michael J. Fox's career in the 1980s. He later appeared in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 1993 film Father Hood.

Source

"Kid Nation" has CBS on defensive

By Joanne Ostrow, Denver Post TV Critic

CBS hopes its awful-sounding new reality show is television's most controversial social experiment yet.

It is potentially more grievous than the vicariously disgusting sight of people eating larvae on a dare, and even possibly worse than seeing 20-something housemates drinking, coupling and unraveling on the air. This one involves 40 children, average age 11, who were taken out of school for 40 days and left unsupervised in a ghost town, trailed by film crews.

"Kid Nation" debuts on CBS Sept. 19, but promotional clips are everywhere, along with outrage. Even before it begins, producers face allegations of child abuse and endangerment. Documents surfaced last week confirming that the producers were warned by the New Mexico attorney general's office during filming in April that they were in violation of child labor laws.

The oldest-skewing network is delighted to have this much buzz surrounding one of its programs.

"In order for a reality show to really get out there and change the landscape of television, you have to stir public debate," CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler told critics in Los Angeles last month. "We knew we were going to create some controversy."

Go for it, CBS legal department.

"Kid Nation," in which the kids live a "Lord of the Flies" scenario for the entertainment of a voyeuristic nation, marks the first time underage youths have been commercially exploited for unscripted "reality" television. Tears, fears and homesickness are captured up-close as the children struggle to self-govern and otherwise organize in a supposed ghost town (actually the remains of old movie sets in the desert outside Santa Fe), unregulated by grown-ups.

So far, one parent of a participant has written a letter of complaint to New Mexico officials, alleging the experience bordered on abuse and neglect. According to reports verified by CBS, four children required medical attention after accidentally drinking bleach that had been left in an unmarked soda bottle, and one 11-year-old girl suffered a grease burn while cooking.

It is unclear whether the production violated state child labor laws in New Mexico. The show couldn't have been shot in other states where youth labor restrictions are tougher. New Mexico has since tightened a loophole that allowed the producers to work the kids 14 hours a day. For their part, the producers claim the kids weren't contracted to "work," in the legal sense.

Legalities aside, let's just say the act of taking 40 children out of school in April and May, to a state chosen for its lack of child-actor labor laws, then having those children work 14-hour days without adult supervision, violates basic assumptions about the proper care of children.

At a particularly hostile news conference last month, critics hammered producers with questions about the ethical and moral obligations involved in the recruitment of the kids.

The producers call it summer camp with TV cameras. Most critics call it the most disagreeable project on the fall schedules.

I ridicule the parents who let their young ones be exploited more than I blame a for- profit corporation eager to grab attention.

Initially I reserved judgment, wanting to screen the pilot before voicing an opinion. I wondered if the controversy was overblown, manufactured by CBS in order to make a mild, forgettable show sound more interesting than it actually is. Since the accusations of child endangerment surfaced, I'm less tentative.

Like "Survivor" and "The Real World" before it, "Kid Nation" may mark a new chapter in the evolution of intriguing unscripted TV - a greedy new low.

Many of the "pioneer" kids, who ranged in age from 8 to 15, are labeled "gifted and talented" or high-achieving - which supposedly gives them a leg up on starting an economy, cooking, cleaning and setting up a town council.

You can imagine a PBS version of this project, along the lines of "Frontier House," with families and gifted kids making do without modern conveniences. Apparently that wouldn't be exciting or dangerous enough for commercial TV.

"Nobody is voted off 'Kid Nation,' you only leave if you want to," the promo teases. And some did. In addition to a $5,000 inducement per participant, a $20,000 prize is awarded by the town council in each episode.

The network figures there's no such thing as bad publicity. They're already casting the second season, hoping the thing turns into an ongoing franchise.

Creator-producer Tom Forman ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Armed and Famous") maintains there was "a large adult safety net" in place during production. He doesn't mean the phalanx of CBS lawyers who tweaked the definition of "work." Forman said pediatricians, child psychologists and an animal wrangler were standing by.

An ethicist would have been helpful, too. TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.

Source

TV child star didn't go down the tube

His name is Barry Williams, but he probably is better known by his TV character's name, Greg Brady of “The Brady Bunch.”

Now 52, Williams continues a career in show business, including appearances across the country in 1970s-themed promotions. He also sings the national anthem at baseball games, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

Williams was asked if it's difficult singing the anthem at huge baseball venues.

“It depends on the conditions,” he said. “If you have a big delay, it can be very intimidating. Like Yankee Stadium has a second-and-a-half delay, so while you're singing you hear what you sang a second and a half ago, and that can be very disorienting. But I find it kind of thrilling, too. It's not an easy song, but I've done 75 or so musicals and there are other songs that are 'rangier.' Really, it's a pleasure to sing the song Mr. Key wrote.”

As for sports in general:

“I've been an athlete my whole life. Before 'The Brady Bunch,' I played Little League and all that. And my whole life I've done things like surf and snorkel and body surf and a lot of the water sports.”

How does Williams explain the continuing popularity of “The Brady Bunch”?

“I just think people watch that show and see some of the values we had and how close-knit the cast was. You could see we really enjoyed being around one another and putting on a good, wholesome show. Every episode has been shown across the world 175,000 times.”

Source

Neil Patrick Harris' Emmy nod for ladies' man proves gay actors can play straight

Just on the merits alone, it makes sense that Neil Patrick Harris snagged a supporting-actor Emmy nomination for "How I Met Your Mother." The CBS comedy has earned plenty of critical praise, if less than fabulous ratings, and as Barney, the dapper, sardonic ladies' man with the memorable catchphrases ("Suit up!") and the extensive porn collection, Harris has thrived in the type of juicy, scene-stealing role he never thought he'd get.

"The romantic cad is always a fun foil to the sympathetic lead," Harris said last week. "I think it's hilarious I was cast as that guy. I've always been cast as the average, Middle American nice guy." Yet it's possible, just possible, that Emmy voters were looking to send a larger message than simply patting Harris on the back for a job well done. His is the latest career swept up in a larger cultural debate about actors' roles and their personal lives and the willingness of the public to distinguish between the two.

The Emmy nod comes following an awkward year in which Harris, the onetime child actor who became famous playing the title role in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," reluctantly came out as gay after Web sites questioned his sexuality; for the first time, his personal life became tabloid fodder. (It seems to be the year for this kind of thing — "Grey's Anatomy's" T.R. Knight also scored his first Emmy nod, as supporting actor in a drama series, after coming out. In Knight's case, the decision to go public came after co-star Isaiah Washington reportedly tagged him with a gay slur.)

In November, after the Internet rumors surfaced, Harris' PR rep at the time said the actor was "not of that persuasion." The next day, though, Harris issued a statement to People magazine, saying he was "quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love." Wow. The actor who plays Barney, TV's irrepressibly heterosexual playboy, is gay!

Guess what — no one cares. Or at least Emmy voters don't.

Harris, in real life, is a mild-mannered guy with a sense of amused detachment from things and a winningly relaxed, self-effacing nature — not the typical off-screen description of a TV actor.

Since the kerfuffle over his outing, he's turned down many interview requests; the studio that makes "Mother" pushed hard to make this one happen, largely in hopes of wooing Emmy voters who will be making their final decisions this month.

But Harris isn't moaning about his fate, opting instead for a philosophical view.

"I figured, playing Barney, my personal life would become an inevitable newsworthy discussion," Harris, 34, said.

"I just didn't know what circumstances would make that public," he went on. "And, thankfully, it wasn't scandal, which would have been the worst. I'm not very scandalous. It sort of happened in a way that allowed me to make a statement, and squelch rumors, that was a pro-active affirmation, without it becoming a big, giant deal." It was, though, a fairly big deal, at least within Hollywood, which once kept actors' secrets locked forever in studio vaults but in recent years has played a vanguard role in the shifting politics of gay awareness and acceptance.

For the people who make entertainment, the question is whether, a decade after Ellen DeGeneres' coming-out landed her on the cover of Time ("Yep, I'm Gay," read the headline), Americans of all stripes can agree it's OK to be gay and play straight. Has the country finally moved past the point where an actor's sexual orientation matters? Or is the fact that Washington could mouth an old insult toward gays and then, after getting bounced by ABC, still get rehired by another studio (for NBC's "Bionic Woman") discouraging proof of how far we haven't come?

The subtext of Harris' Emmy nomination seems to be an effort to reassure gay actors: Relax — you can come out and still play straight guys. Even playboys, cads and heels. Just like straight guys can play gay cowboys.

Michael Jensen, an editor and columnist for the site AfterElton.com, which examines the roles of gays in entertainment, takes Harris' Emmy nod as an affirmation that, at least when it comes to entertainers, society has moved beyond its "Is he or isn't he?" hang-up. Or mostly, anyway; with the exception of British star Rupert Everett, not many actors up for leading-man parts are rushing to step out.

"This puts us one step away from that hurdle," Jensen said. "Playing a cad on a sitcom is one step away from playing the lead on a romantic comedy."

Carter Bays, executive producer of "Mother," theorized that Harris has done much to "dispel that myth" that the audience won't accept gays playing straight parts. Although, he added, Barney's over-the-top personality may make the actor's personal life less relevant: "We always wrote that character almost as a parody of a single heterosexual guy." The closet is filled with terrified actors, of course, and Harris said he understands that the fear of losing work resonates in the industry. But he insisted that, in his case, the long reluctance to come out had less to do with fear than principle.

"I'm still a firm believer that the less Middle America knows about the day-to-day life of an actor, the more you can believe the actor in the role," he said.

And that's how Harris wants to be known: as a working actor. Not as the Guy Who Made Headlines by Turning Out to Be Gay.

"I have a great personal life that's a small, close-knit group of friends," he said, "and we drink wine and cook meals and watch reality TV on TiVo. It's kind of dull." As for the on-screen life, his faith abides that that will take care of itself, Emmy or no. "If you're talented in this business," he said, "you'll keep working."

Source

Fred Savage brings his child acting experience to new role as film director

Fred Savage knows from experience what it’s like to work with child actors.

“It’s just incredibly important, particularly with young actors, to have a positive atmosphere on the set,” said Savage, who makes his big-screen directing debut with “Daddy Day Camp,” now in theaters. “I want it to be a place where the kids are looking forward to going to every day, and hate to leave when they have wrapped.”

Savage was 12 when he first appeared as Kevin Arnold, the wide-eyed kid growing up in the 1960s in “The Wonder Years,” which ran six seasons on ABC. Since then, he has matured as both an actor (starring in the short-lived sitcoms “Working” and “Crumbs”) and as a director of episodic TV — including stints on such kid-centric series as “Zoey 101,” “Hannah Montana,” “That’s So Raven” and “Unfabulous.”

“My experiences working as a young actor helped inform the way that I approach directing other young actors, and with actors in general,” said Savage, 31, now married and with a year-old son. “You know what approaches worked and what didn’t, and where you really made a connection with the director and where you didn’t feel connected at all. And you try to incorporate the good stuff and leave out the bad stuff.”

In “Daddy Day Camp,” Cuba Gooding Jr. plays day-care operator Charlie Hinton (the role Eddie Murphy played in 2003’s “Daddy Day Care”), this time working to rescue his childhood summer camp from bankruptcy.

The movie was filmed last summer in Utah, with a cast of child actors mostly chosen locally.

Hiring that much local talent is unusual, said Judi McKee, Utah casting director for “Daddy Day Camp.” Usually, major child roles are cast in Hollywood.

There are, however, budgetary issues. “When you have to bring a kid in from out of town, you also have to cart along their parents,” McKee said. “It gets very complicated and expensive, so they really like to find kids locally.”

“There tends to be a veneer of professionalism with kids in L.A.,” Savage said. “The ones we got in Salt Lake were totally professional, but they were just real kids.”

Of the 10 major child roles in “Daddy Day Camp,” eight are filled by Utah kids. (One child is from Las Vegas, and the 10th, the role of Charlie’s son, is played by Spencir Bridges — the son of former “Diff’rent Strokes” child actor Todd Bridges.)

McKee said Savage worked with the child actors during the auditions, helping them work through their nerves.

“I loved being in the auditions,” Savage said. “We talked to the kids, and they wanted to get out of there quick because they had Little League practice to go to, or they were missing camp. I loved that, because that meant to me they were real kids. Being in a movie wasn’t nearly as important as having a great summer.”

Most child actors, past and present, are great kids, Savage said.

“The majority of child actors turn out to be great, and to have these terrific and fulfilling and wonderful lives, whether it’s in the business or not,” he said. “People tend to focus on the tabloid sensations of a few kids who have had troubles.”

Many of the most talked-about cases happened “a generation or two” before “The Wonder Years,” Savage said. “As awful as it was for those actors to go through those problems and those struggles, the positive is that we, the generations that followed, learned from those mistakes.”

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Gellar Credits Child Star Status with Saving Her

Former Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar credits her experiences as a child actress with saving her from leading a Hollywood bad-girl lifestyle.

The actress insists growing up on TV series All My Children protected her from the excesses and behaviour of the current crop of notorious L.A. troubled stars such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie.

She says, "You don't party when you're on a TV show. You got to bed for 10 hours and you learn your lines. I never smoked and I didn't drink alcohol until I was 21."

But Gellar believes young stars who do go off the rails are simply "badly equipped for fame".

She adds, "I don't understand the need to give in to excess and lead your life in public. It doesn't make sense to me. I look at all these kids getting fame and attention now and they're just not equipped to deal with success at such a young age."

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Gary Coleman cited for disorderly conduct

PROVO, Utah - Former child star Gary Coleman was cited for disorderly conduct after witnesses said they saw him in a heated argument with a woman in a parking lot.

Coleman, 39, and the woman were in his vehicle discussing their relationship Friday night when two people saw him hit the steering wheel with his hands, Capt. Cliff Argyle said.

"Mr. Coleman was very excited and loud. ... At one point he exited his vehicle, waving his arms, yelling and screaming," Argyle said. "Vehicles were unable to exit the parking lot because of Mr. Coleman's actions."

He cooperated with officers who were called to the scene, Argyle said.

The disorderly conduct citation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail and a $750 fine.

"What the city attorney proceeds with, I don't know," Argyle said. "It could end up being an infraction" similar to a traffic violation.

A number for Coleman could not be found Tuesday.

Coleman moved to Santaquin, about 55 miles south of Salt Lake City, in 2005, around the time he starred in "Church Ball," a comedy based on basketball leagues formed by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Coleman once fought a bitter legal battle with his parents over whether he was fit to handle his own affairs. In 1999, he pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace after he punched an autograph-seeker he claimed insulted him.

He played Arnold on the sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," which aired from 1978 to 1986.

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Paul Petersen, Former Child Actor Slams CBS

(Broadcasting & Cable) Paul Petersen, best-known for playing Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show, has joined the growing chorus of outrage over CBS' forthcoming reality series Kid Nation.

A longtime children's-rights activist, Petersen says CBS violated child-labor laws when they put 40 kids, ages 8-15, in a New Mexican ghost town and filmed their efforts at self-government. "Children working for 40 straight days ' parents deliberately kept away, in the middle of the school year," Petersen tells B&C. "It's almost breathtaking the size of this travesty."

Having endured his own travails as a child actor, Petersen, now 61, founded A Minor Consideration in 1990 to offer support to troubled child performers and lobby for protections against exploitation.

Beyond the legal issues, he also worries about potential damage from the media exposure: "Does anybody seriously think that, on Sept. 20, the day after Kid Nation premieres, these 40 children are going to have a good and pleasant time at school?" Given that CBS essentially asked for the controversy, isn't Petersen playing into the network's marketing scheme? "Maybe I am," he says. "Except that there are 40 real, live children involved. And if this ever comes to court'and it very well might'CBS is a drop-dead loser."

Kid Nation Executive Producer Tom Forman calls the criticism "inaccurate and wildly premature" and denies there were labor violations. "[The kids] don't have SAG cards," he says. "They took part in an experience. We followed them some of the time with cameras."

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'Wonder Years' actress: 'Smart is cool'

NEW YORK (AP) - Danica McKellar has a message for girls: Cute and smart is better than cute and dumb.

Danica McKellar wants girls to steer away from the example set by Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

McKellar, who played Winnie on the 1990s television show "The Wonder Years," is coming out with a book, "Math Doesn't Suck," to encourage girls to get into math.

"When girls see the antics of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, they think that being fun and glamorous also means being dumb and irresponsible," the 32-year-old McKellar told Newsweek for editions to hit newsstands Monday.

"But I want to show them that being smart is cool," she said. "Being good at math is cool. And not only that, it can help them get what they want out of life."

McKellar should know. The actress once struggled with the subject around the seventh grade, but a teacher helped her through. McKellar eventually majored in math in college. She co-authored a scientific paper while a student at UCLA.

The book includes tips to avoid mistakes on homework, ways to overcome test-day anxiety and profiles of three beautiful mathematicians.

"I want to tell girls that cute and dumb isn't as good as cute and smart," she said.

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Man who killed actress Rebecca Schaeffer stabbed by another inmate in California prison

SAN FRANCISCO - The man convicted of stalking and killing actress Rebecca Schaeffer in 1989 was stabbed repeatedly by another inmate in the prison where he is serving a life sentence, corrections officials said.

Robert John Bardo, 37, suffered 11 stab and puncture wounds Friday at Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County, authorities said. He was treated at University of California, Davis, Medical Center and returned to the prison, officials said.

"We have a number of high-notoriety cases, so we cannot jump to the conclusion as to whether his notoriety was a factor in the attack," said prison Sgt. Chris Weathersbee.

The slaying of Schaeffer, a former teenage model who co-starred in the 1980s TV comedy "My Sister Sam," helped prompt anti-stalking laws. She was shot when she answered the door of her home in Los Angeles.

According to trial testimony, Bardo, then 19, was obsessed with Schaeffer, and sent her letters and tried to visit her. He obtained her address through a private detective, who got it from the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Bardo was housed in a maximum-security unit for inmates with sensitive needs, including former gang members, notorious prisoners and those convicted of sex crimes.

State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said he was stabbed in the prison yard while inmates were on their way to breakfast. Two inmate-made weapons were found at the scene. The suspect in the attack was identified as a man serving an 82-years-to-life sentence for second-degree murder.

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The Two Coreys: America's Original Child Stars

Corey Feldman and Corey Haim Launch a New Reality Show and Discuss the New Class of Troubled Child Stars

In America, the child star on the skids has become a cultural cliche. But before the days of Lindsay Lohan, Shannon Doherty and Britney Spears came the pioneers of this particular genre of the true Hollywood story: Corey Feldman and Corey Haim.

In the 1980s, "the two Coreys," as they were known, were the titans of teen cinema, starring in hit films like "Lost Boys," "License to Drive" and "Dream a Little Dream," before seeing it all evaporate after very public struggles with drugs, alcohol and the law.

"We were kind of really at the tip of the iceberg," said Feldman. "You didn't really see kid stars getting busted at that point. It all kind of started snowballing after that. ... We were the predecessors."

They were two of the first child actors to take fans through that now-familiar - but still seemingly irritable - saga of kids whose sweet-face, on-screen personas are contradicted by their ugly off-screen entanglements with fame, money and drugs.

Haim on Lindsay Lohan: 'I Feel Bad for Her'

Corey Haim, for example, went from the loveable little brother in "Lost Boys" to a crack and Valium addict who made a reported 15 trips to rehab and then bloated up to more than 300 pounds.

Haim says he empathizes with Lindsay Lohan, who after a recent arrest for alleged cocaine possession and driving under the influence, has reportedly headed back to rehab for a third time.

"Yeah, I just feel bad for her. It is watching a person who is doing movies, singing, very talented, very pretty, doing what I did, and it is just, she doesn't realize that she's getting sick. She doesn't realize that she's sick. ... For me, rock bottom was I couldn't even look in the mirror anymore," Haim said.

He continued, "I felt guilty about myself and everybody and what I was doing, this and that, I just did something about it on my own, but she's young enough to catch it. I see, just a version of me that is female and younger and I just hope that she catches it now, you know?"

Feldman: Scrutiny Doesn't Help

Corey Feldman played the wiseacre in such '80s chestnuts as "The Goonies."

He was later arrested for alleged heroin and cocaine possession. Even though his friend and co-star River Phoenix fatally overdosed on drugs, Feldman says he thinks child actors are at no greater risk for drug abuse than kids who are not famous.

"I know plenty of people that are young, wealthy and famous that have never touched a drug," Feldman said.

However Feldman says that it's much harder to get better while under the klieg light.

"When somebody like Lindsay Lohan is going through something like this, it is hard enough to realize that you messed up and you have to wake up and wipe the dust off, and go on with your day, but imagine every time you turn around somebody is making fun of you, or laughing at you, or kicking dirt in your face, and that's wrong, that's wrong. It doesn't help anybody," he said.

But should we really feel bad for the young, famous and wayward? Isn't scrutiny a small price?

"I was overridden with guilt," said Feldman. "That made it the hardest part of the whole thing. For me, it wasn't about how hard it was to fight the disease, it wasn't about letting down my family, and it was about letting down my fans. The day that I got arrested and I had to wake up and see it all over the news."

Feldman explained, "I was just heartbroken, because here I was an advocate for 'Just Say No!' and for all sorts of things that were positive and beneficial for children and I thought, 'Man, look what I've done. I've destroyed them.' & And that's really unhealthy. "

"I feel like with myself I ruined myself to the point where I wasn't functional enough to work for anybody, even myself. I wasn't working," said Haim. "You know, if I'm not working, how anybody else can expect me to work for them if I'm not working. I mean physically working. My brain wasn't working."

A&E Presents 'The Two Coreys'

Both Haim and Feldman are now back at work in a new A&E show called "The Two Coreys," which is a mixture of improv comedy and reality TV - such as the moment when Haim cries as Feldman tells him that he will not be offered a part in the sequel to "Lost Boys."

On-screen drama notwithstanding, Feldman and Haim seem to be enjoying working together again.

As they promote their show with the media, however, they find themselves constantly bombarded with questions about Lohan's travails.

"For me it was almost 18 years ago, so 17 years ago, and yet, Lindsay Lohan has a problem and yet my name is brought up in every single newspaper throughout the country connected with it. And it's like come on guys, isn't that old news?" Feldman said.

But they are willing to talk about it because, hey, it gets attention for their show, increasing the odds that they can somehow recapture some of their old fame. And fame, after all, may be the toughest drug of them all to kick.

By DAN HARRIS Source

Taran Noah Smith's Bizarre Divorce

"Home Improvement" star Taran Noah Smith is in a brutal money battle with his parents as he married an older woman at age 17.

His marriage and his life have exploded and he's in the middle of fighting his estranged wife for what is left of his fortune, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

Taran ran away from home to wed a woman nearly twice his age over his parents' strong objections, but now tells The ENQUIRER that he recently left his wife because she announced that she preferred girls to guys!

The couple agreed to have an open marriage, yet when Taran found a steady girlfriend, his angry wife smashed every dish they owned!

Now the two are not only divorced, they're fighting over ownership of a business they started together- a vegan cashew cheese making company!

Those are the latest bizarre twists in the May-December love story of Taran and Heidi Van Pelt, a raw foods chef who was 32 when she married Taran three weeks after his 17th birthday. "I guess I'm living proof that love is blind," Taran, now 23, told The ENQUIRER.

"I've lost my house, and now I'm fighting to stop my wife from taking my livelihood away from me. I'm done with older women."

Taran earned nearly $2 million playing Mark, the youngest of Tim Allen's three sons, on ABC's "Home Improvement" from 1911 to 1999.

"Heidi told me she preferred girls to guys," Taran told The ENQUIRER. "She began to bring girls home. But if they paid more attention to me than to her, she'd get jealous. Finally, we agreed to have an open marriage. But when I began seeing another girl, Heidi got so mad she broke every dish in the house."

Eventually, the couple decided to split and Heidi moved to Kansas City, Mo., where she ran Playfood with her mother.

Soon after, a new man- a musician 12 years Heidi's junior- moved in with her, Taran said. And things went downhill from there.

The business started to suffer first. "Heidi was fighting with the staff and even fired her mother," Taran said. "Then she wanted to name her boyfriend the general manager. Now we're in court, fighting over a divorce and control of Playfood," he said.

"I've also had to take out a restraining order to stop Heidi from transferring Playfood's assets to another company that she started in her name. It's all a mess."

Meanwhile, the couple's former home- a $1 million, four bedroom, four-bathroom pad in L.A. - has been trashed. Taran claims he sold the house and moved out months ago.

"Squatters have been living there," he said. "I have a lot of artist friends, and they spray-painted the walls."

In yet another twist, Heidi has gotten a restraining order against Taran- claiming he's transferring Playfood assets into a California company that he owns.

"Heidi has not been a part of Playfood for seven months. She wants to get back into the company and continue to build it," her attorney Phillip Willoughby Jr. told The ENQUIRER.

As for Taran's claim that Heidi prefers women, her publicist J.R. Savet fired back (somewhat humorously): "That's definitely not the case. Is Taran saying that he turned Heidi gay?"

Heidi's attorney Willoughby added: "Heidi loves her husband and her company, and is extremely disheartened at the way this has developed. She has never backed off loving Taran. This is breaking her heart."

Meanwhile, Taran has apologized to his parents, David Smith and Candy Bennici.

"I had to go back to them and say: ‘I'm sorry. You were right about Heidi.'"

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