Bette Midler Joins CBS Fall Lineup
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CO-HOST: Hi, everybody. I'm Paul Vercammen in Hollywood. Laurin Sydney is in New York. Clint Eastwood is in Washington defending small business owners. He appeared before a House subcommittee Thursday, complaining that lawyers have exploited the Americans With Disabilities Act by filing lawsuits left and right. Eastwood himself was sued for failing to provide full disabled access to his California hotel. He says business owners should get 90 days to comply before facing an expensive and unnecessary legal battle. The actor maintains in his case the alleged violations were nonexistent.</s>CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: They claimed that some employee told them we didn't have handicapped bathrooms. Well, the truth is we did have handicapped bathrooms, but some employee -- this mythical employee they couldn't identify and none of the employees could identify the plaintiff, so it just went on and on and on.</s>VERCAMMEN: The Screen Actor's Guild is upset over this magazine ad which attempts to make light of the current strike over commercial fees. The ad taken out by Ridley Scott's commercial firm depicts a pair of breasts, above the head, "This is what SAG means in South Africa." It's intended to promote the -- Scott's company, which claims it can shoot commercials abroad, bypassing the strikers. SAG calls the ad racist and sexist.</s>LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: David Duchovny has solved a mystery worthy of his show, "The X-Files." He will return as Agent Mulder for an eighth season. He will be working less though, appearing on six to 11 episodes of Fox's sci-fi series. At the same time, Duchovny has settled his lawsuit against the network's syndication unit. Sources tell "Variety" that Duchovny's overall deal may be worth more than $20 million. CBS executives announced their fall lineup yesterday in New York, and while they may be betting on Bette Midler to launch a female- friendly block on Wednesday nights, they also will be getting a shot of testosterone up their sleeves with the return of "The Fugitive." Michael Okwu has more on CBS' fall schedule.</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BETTE") BETTE MIDLER, ACTRESS: I love him, but I just don't know if I should do</s>TV. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You did "Seinfeld."</s>MIDLER: Oh, but that was "Seinfeld."</s>LES MOONVES, PRESIDENT, CBS TELEVISION: We have a lot that's new. We have Bette Midler appearing in her first television show. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BETTE") MIDLER: But really, if I keep taking these guest spots, pretty soon I'll have my own series, and then I might just as well kill myself.</s>MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CBS unveiled seven new shows on its fall schedule, but it has most odds on "Bette."</s>MOONVES: Big scoop with Bette. I've been asking her for five years, saying please! And I think it finally was the material. She finally found the script that's about Bette herself, on stage and off.</s>CHRISTINE BARANSKI, ACTRESS: You have to tune in for Bette Midler and then just stick around for us.</s>OKWU: "Welcome to New York," a TV newsroom comedy with Christine Baranski, joins the "Bette" show on the list of newcomers.</s>HEATHER PAIGE KENT, ACTRESS: We got a new show, yeah!</s>OKWU: Heather Paige Kent headlines "That's Life" with Paul Sorvino.</s>ANTHONY CLARK, ACTOR: It's called "Yes Dear." It's Monday night, 8:30.</s>OKWU: "Yes Dear" is CBS' new season answer to the popularity of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "King of Queens."</s>MIKE O'MALLEY, ACTOR: We play brothers-in-law married to sisters.</s>OKWU: Jean Lousia Kelly and Liza Snider star with Anthony Clark and Mike O'Malley.</s>UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Awesome time slot, right before "Raymond."</s>UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Which is good.</s>UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Which is great.</s>MOONVES: We have "The Fugitive" coming back to television.</s>TIM DALY, ACTOR: That'd be me.</s>MYKELTI WILLIAMSON, ACTOR: That would be Tim, yes. And I am Lieutenant Phillip Girard, I'll be chasing Tim.</s>OKWU: Craig T. Nelson gets on the cops' case in "The District," based on the real-life trouble-shooter Jack Maple.</s>CRAIG T. NELSON, ACTOR: He came into different police departments all over the country and reorganizes them and restructures them.</s>OKWU: And Marg Helgenberger and William Petersen team up in "</s>C.S.I." MARG HELGENBERGER, ACTRESS: It stands for crime scene investigation, so we are a group of criminologists that work the graveyard shift in Las Vegas.</s>WILLIAM PETERSEN, ACTOR: These are the guys that come in on most cop shows on television, these are the guys that come in right when the scene ends. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "JUDGING AMY") TYNE DALY, ACTRESS: For your information, you are not the only judge I know.</s>OKWU: The legal dramas "Judging Amy" and "Family Law" got called back for a second season, as did "City of Angels," which had some surprised.</s>BLAIR UNDERWOOD, ACTOR: With no question, the reason we are back now is because of the audience. The audience, they mailed letters, they wrote, they called, they e-mailed.</s>OKWU: And for an audience, a network will take a safe "Bette." (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BETTE") MIDLER: Danny!</s>DANNY DEVITO, ACTOR: Hey, babe, great show.</s>OKWU: Michael Okwu, CNN Entertainment News, New York.</s>VERCAMMEN: And it's a safe bet that Pamela Lee will be back next fall with her syndicated series "VIP." Easy Pamela Lee fans, now the show winds up its season this week with a special guest star, a guy once assembled at a cost of $6 million. Sherri Sylvester visited the high price co-stars on the set.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Action! (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "VIP") PAMELA ANDERSON LEE, ACTRESS: Dad, is there something you want to tell me?</s>LEE MAJORS, ACTOR: Yes, watch the road.</s>SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pamela Anderson Lee is not the love child of celebrities, but she has cast Lee Majors as her father in her syndicated series, and this "VIP" sees a family resemblance to his one-time wife.</s>MAJORS: Someone said, you know, if you and Farrah had, had a child, maybe that's what it would look like. And when she turns around, with her hair in the back, it kind of resembles the ex. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "VIP") LEE: I'm armed.</s>MAJORS: Now, wait, listen.</s>SYLVESTER: Lee's "VIP" is a kind of high crimes in high heels descendent of "Charlie's Angels." But when she was a kid, Lee was drawn to the majors.</s>LEE: I just actually talked to my dad today, and I was like, "Dad, you know who is playing you?" And he's like, "Who?" I'm like, "Lee Majors." He's like, "That'll do. That'll do. That's a good one. That's great." Because we grew up watching "6 Million Dollar Man," "Fall Guy." (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "VIP") LEE: Oh, my God, He's not double 00 dad. He's the "6 Million Dollar Man."</s>SYLVESTER: Majors, now 61, recently finished a sitcom for the BBC, continuing a long run in television.</s>MAJORS: That would have been my eighth television series, and starting back with "The Big Valley" in the '60s, "The 6 Mill" through the '70s, and "The Fall Guy" through the '80s. I've about run out of gas, but I still like working. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "VIP") MAJORS: Well, this isn't something you can fix with a ribbon and a bracelet.</s>LEE: Dad, you just said that I was clever.</s>MAJORS: All the action shows that I've done over the years, they -- you have to almost stay in shape automatically, and I was always a physical person as far as playing sports.</s>SYLVESTER: Lee, who knows a thing or two about staying in shape, plays up her physical attributes in this campy crime series, which she produces. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "VIP") LEE: ... before it's too late.</s>LEE: After, you know, the "Baywatch" and the "Barb Wire," I wanted to kind of take that image and say it's ridiculous, it was just silly, and so I think I get to do that with this show, and I think -- and I've always wanted the show to be campy, and wacky, and a little out there.</s>SYLVESTER: Mission accomplished. The show does well in syndication and its high camp factor does draw a number of celebrity guests. Majors' episode airs this weekend during May sweeps. Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>SYDNEY: Disney hopes to capitalize on dinosaur mania with their new animated feature. And a fascinating documentary on a ground- breaking baseball legend.