Entertainment Briefs March 22, 2010
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The children's animated TV series "Handy Manny Big Race" is going prime time Saturday night with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
NASCAR star Earnhardt voices the character of Chase Davis, who steps in to help Manny compete in the Wood Valley 500 auto race. The special, debuting at 7 p.m. PDT Saturday on the Disney Channel, stars Wilmer Valderrama as the voice of Manny.
Earnhardt said he decided to participate in "Handy Manny" because his 4-year-old niece is a fan of the show. The Disney Channel series is designed to teach preschoolers about working together and problem-solving.
The "Handy Manny" special also features a new song performed by Lance Bass, who voices the character of Elliot.
Valderrama, who describes himself as a "huge" car fan and races as a hobby, said he was delighted that Earnhardt agreed to lend his voice to a "Handy Manny" character.
"I have a lot of respect for that sport," Valderrama said, adding that Earnhardt's participation could introduce the series to a new set of families.
A music video of "One Step at a Time," the song performed by Bass and Valderrama in the special, is online at Disney.com. The "Handy Manny" series airs weekdays at 9 a.m. EDT and on weekends at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. EDT as part of Disney Channel's programming block for preschoolers.
Actresses' Twitter account part?of suicide help
CASSELBERRY, Fla. (AP) - Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening Friday when an 18-year-old man threatened to commit suicide.
Moore's Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself in his front yard in Casselberry, north of Orlando. Moore - with more than 2.5 million followers - and husband Ashton Kutcher are both active on the social network.
Vardalos' eponymous account included a message that she had called a suicide hotline and been connected to Florida police. "I gave his name+city. They went to home, helped him," one message read.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said authorities received two calls around 2:30 a.m., one from California and one from Vancouver, British Columbia. Both callers reported the suicide threat on Twitter. There was no record of the callers' names, Lt. Sonia Pisano said.
Deputies went to a home and took the man to a hospital, Pisano said.
The teen's mother told the deputy responding that her son "was very emotional and diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder," according to a report released Friday by the sheriff's office. Her son was sitting at his computer desk crying when he told the officer he "did not know what to do with himself without help" and admitted to posting the tweet.
The man was then placed in protective custody.
A phone message left by The Associated Press at the home was not immediately returned.
Calls to representatives for Moore and for Vardalos, who starred in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," went unanswered early Friday.
Moore's Twitter account was involved in a similar case last April, when a California woman messaged that she was going to kill herself. San Jose police said they took a woman to a hospital for "psychiatric evaluation" after someone called about a tweet sent to Moore threatening suicide.