Entertainment Briefs March 12, 2010
Sheen due back on 'Men'
LOS ANGELES - A spokesman for Charlie Sheen says the actor will soon be back at "Two and a Half Men" after undergoing rehab that temporarily halted production of CBS' top-rated sitcom.
Publicist Stan Rosenfield says Sheen will be returning to work and shooting will resume next Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Last month, Rosenfield announced that Sheen had voluntarily entered a rehab facility "as a preventative measure." He didn't specify why Sheen was seeking treatment.
The 44-year-old actor still faces legal problems arising from a fight with his wife in Aspen, Colo., in December. The most serious charge carries a maximum three-year prison term.
Sheen hasn't entered a plea. He is due back in court Monday.
Richter: 'Tonight' exit frustrating
NEW YORK - Andy Richter, Conan O'Brien's sidekick at "The Tonight Show," is acknowledging some ill will toward NBC and Jay Leno in the wake of the network's late-night upheaval.
"Why wouldn't I?" said Richter, who was filling in Tuesday for Regis Philbin on "Live! with Regis and Kelly."
Richter told Kelly Ripa he was frustrated that Leno was allowed to reclaim "The Tonight Show" host chair just nine months after O'Brien had inherited that plum assignment.
"NBC, definitely, everybody said they were going to do something and they didn't," said Richter, implying the network broke long-standing commitments it made to O'Brien.
O'Brien left NBC and "Tonight" in January amid complaints by NBC of low ratings. NBC had proposed reinstating Leno in the 11:35 p.m. PST slot and bumping O'Brien back a half-hour.
O'Brien's future is unclear. So is Richter's, though he said, for now, he's still an NBC employee, "so we'll see if those checks keep coming."
He called a rumored live concert tour for O'Brien and Co. "a distinct possibility."
It all ended much quicker than he could have imagined, said Richter, who figured his "Tonight" job was "as good as it gets in show business."
He said he figured "I'm a tenured professor of show business now," but quickly learned otherwise. "I guess I'm really good at getting kicked off the air, because it's what I've been doing for the last 10 years."
Ripa had a suggestion for his next career move.
"You and Conan should do another show on another network called 'We Were on The Tonight Show,'" she joked. "Wouldn't that be exciting!"
Witherspoon: DC's top fashionista
WASHINGTON - Actress Reese Witherspoon says her "Legally Blonde" character Elle Woods has been ousted as the most stylish woman to come to the nation's capital by first lady Michelle Obama.
Speaking Wednesday at a ceremony where Mrs. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented the annual International Women of Courage awards, Witherspoon jokingly complained that Woods, the bubbly blonde from Los Angeles who discovers her inner strength at Harvard Law School and then takes on Washington politics, no longer held that title.
"As an actress, I have always sought out roles that portrayed women as strong and powerful, such as Elle Woods, who was in the 'Legally Blonde' movies," she said to laughter from the audience in an ornate State Department reception room.
Woods, she said, "happened to be the biggest fashionista who ever came to Washington until Michelle Obama. Thanks a lot."
Clinton then introduced Mrs. Obama as "stylish," and the first lady returned the compliment to the entire crowd, saying: "You all look fabulous."
Witherspoon was at the ceremony as a global ambassador for the Avon Foundation, which supports breast cancer research, anti-domestic violence programs and women's empowerment projects. On Wednesday the group announced a $500,000 contribution to the State Department's Fund for Global Women's Leadership.