RADIO & TV
Halloween 'Worlds' War: "War of the Worlds" fans can hear both the classic and new versions of the panic-inducing radio play today. The frenzy kicks off at about 8:30 a.m., when KLOS-FM (95.5)'s "The Mark & Brian Show" will re-create the original 1938 broadcast using Howard Koch's script, with guest voices by actors William Shatner and Paul Sorvino and newscaster Paul Moyer. The event will air live from Beverly Hills' Museum of TV & Radio. At 9 p.m., KNX-AM (1070) will give its annual airing of the Orson Welles' classic about invaders from Mars--which many believed was an actual news account when it originally aired--during the "KNX Drama Hour."
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Keeping Anchors Happy: Spurred by CNN's interest in hiring Dan Rather, CBS is in negotiations to extend its chief anchor's contract and give him a pay hike. Sources said Thursday that the new deal would increase Rather's salary to $7 million per year (in line with what ABC's Peter Jennings and NBC's Tom Brokaw now make) while extending his contract through 2002. Rather's current contract runs through 1999. The veteran newsman, who turns 66 today, is not expected to bolt to CNN. Meanwhile, ABC's Diane Sawyer has signed a contract extension that will keep the "PrimeTime Live" anchor at the network through 1999 while allowing her to travel more often on investigative assignments.
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Abracadabra! It's Gone: ABC has canceled the new genie sitcom "You Wish" but is ordering more episodes of its other new Friday night comedy, "Teen Angel," as well as "Hiller and Diller," the low-rated Richard Lewis-Kevin Nealon series that follows Tuesday night's "Home Improvement." The latter may move to a different night, with sources saying ABC is contemplating scheduling changes affecting both Friday and Tuesday nights, especially after ABC came out on the short end ratings-wise Tuesday against NBC's lineup of "Mad About You" and "Frasier." "You Wish" will continue airing for the next few weeks, with a special "America's Funniest Home Videos" scheduled for Nov. 21.
MOVIES
Copier Copier?: Movie producer Aaron Russo ("Trading Places," "The Rose") and his partner, Heidi Gregg, have filed a $55-million L.A. Superior Court lawsuit against Imagine Entertainment and producer Brian Grazer claiming that Grazer and other defendants stole Russo and Gregg's idea for Jim Carrey's hit movie, "Liar Liar." Russo claims that he gave Grazer a copy of "The Man Who Told the Truth (The Lie Story)," about an attorney who is forced to tell the truth and deal with the consequences, after meeting with him in New York in 1993, and that Grazer kept the screenplay for several months before turning it down. The suit alleges that the Carrey film contained a number of similarities to Russo and Gregg's script, as well as two identical scenes. A representative at Grazer's Imagine Entertainment would not comment, saying the movie's producers had not seen the suit.
POP/ROCK
Musicians Against Drugs: Rock 'n' roll widows Courtney Love and Troy Nowell, who lost their respective husbands--Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Sublime's Brad Nowell--as a result of drug addiction, will appear at a Los Angeles press conference today announcing a series of anti-drug television ads starring Nowell and several musicians said to have "experience about the realities of drug addiction." Created by the Musicians' Assistance Program and Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the ads will also feature rapper Chuck D, the group Everclear, Fugees singer Lauryn Hill, the members of KISS and singer Scatman John. MAP will also announce a new $2-million grant toward its anti-drug efforts given by the Recording Industry Assn. of America.
