British Accent

As part of the latest British invasion of U.S. television, CBS has picked up the award-winning animated special "Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire," but it will arrive on these shores missing much of its English accent. British pop star Robbie Williams, who narrated the stop- action short that first aired in Britain in 1999, will be replaced, reportedly by James Woods.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Consider a game of WikiWars. The Gregory Brothers, a comedy troupe famous for creating viral online videos , has just released a new video that introduces the world to WikiWars, the high-stakes game of competitive Wikipedia searching. The premise of the game is fairly simple; Players are given a start word and an end word. Both players begin on the start word's Wikipedia page, and must get to the end word's Wikipedia page by clicking on highlighted links on the various pages.

Westminster police Friday night were searching for "a man with a thick British accent" who held up the Household Bank, 14011 Beach Blvd., and escaped with $5,000. Sgt. Bill Lewis of the Westminster Police Department said the man entered the bank about 6:05 p.m. and handed a threatening note to the clerk. "He held his hand under his sweater," as if he had a weapon," Lewis said. "We don't know for sure he had a weapon.

The rants are familiar to any listener of talk radio - blistering critiques of the Occupy Wall Street movement, outrage over Washington's intrusion into the lives of Americans and mockery of a congressional dispute over whether tomato sauce on a pizza counts as a vegetable. But the voice espousing the familiar tea party fare was not. No country twang or flat Midwestern accent; the voice was distinctly British - proper, posh, clipped, biting and incredulous. It was Simon Conway, Iowa's newest radio phenom.

The rants are familiar to any listener of talk radio - blistering critiques of the Occupy Wall Street movement, outrage over Washington's intrusion into the lives of Americans and mockery of a congressional dispute over whether tomato sauce on a pizza counts as a vegetable. But the voice espousing the familiar tea party fare was not. No country twang or flat Midwestern accent; the voice was distinctly British - proper, posh, clipped, biting and incredulous. It was Simon Conway, Iowa's newest radio phenom.

Re Nic Harcourt [Overrated, Jan. 31; Letters, Feb. 7]: Who would you trust, a guy with a British accent, or a guy who prints his comments upside down? Robert Shoji Torrance

Kidnapers lowered their ransom demand to $5 million for return of the 5-year-old daughter of a Lebanese construction magnate who pleaded he could not pay $13 million demanded earlier, police said today. A caller speaking Spanish with a British accent told the national newspaper ABC that the kidnapers of Melodie Nakachian were making a "last offer" of $5 million for her release.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Consider a game of WikiWars. The Gregory Brothers, a comedy troupe famous for creating viral online videos , has just released a new video that introduces the world to WikiWars, the high-stakes game of competitive Wikipedia searching. The premise of the game is fairly simple; Players are given a start word and an end word. Both players begin on the start word's Wikipedia page, and must get to the end word's Wikipedia page by clicking on highlighted links on the various pages.

"Dawson's Creek" star Michelle Williams is a self-proclaimed bookworm, always curled up with something to read. "Certainly on the set there are many times where she will be off to the side curled up reading a book," says Paul Stupin, executive producer of the WB's teen-angst drama. While making the British feature "Me Without You," which opened Friday, Williams spent her downtime on the set reading the esoteric Marcel Proust.

Roxbury has expanded its empire from one famous strip to another. The long-running Sunset Strip club has opened an annex next to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Last week's opening weekend saw 5,000 guests--including David Copperfield and Claudia Schiffer, Tia Carrere, Eric Dickerson, Cameron Bancroft and Taylor Negron--squeeze through the dance floors, lounges and balconies.

UNDERRATED "Wonders of the Universe" with Brian Cox : Unlike other topic-specific networks like MTV and History Channel, the Science Channel is building a roster of quality shows true to its name. Examining the cosmos in a manner akin to the network's "Through the Wormhole," this engrossing documentary series gains a boost in the stylish Cox, a U.K. physicist who can break down the universe's vastness and inevitable demise with a genial serenity that borders on perverse.

Gillian Anderson returns to American television Sunday night as Wallis Simpson in the "Masterpiece Classic" miniseries "Any Human Heart," based on William Boyd's sweeping novel of one man's life spanning the 20th century. The PBS series, also starring Matthew Macfadyen, Jim Broadbent, Hayley Atwell and Kim Cattrall, runs through Feb. 27. Wallis Simpson seems to be everywhere these days. She's also a character in "The King's Speech," although your portrayal of her in "Any Human Heart" was very different.

Here's the surprise of the new incarnation of "The Wolfman," starring Benicio Del Toro -- there isn't one. No bite either, or humor, or camp. And the real killer . . . almost no spine-tingling dread. So I guess this is a kind of a horror story after all. Also starring, and squandering, the talents of Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving, the film is built around the ancient myth of the cursed creature -- part man, part wolf, part of the time -- who battles to control the monster he discovers inside.

The folks behind "Family Guy" have been saying some of the most alarming things. Like "sweet and funny" and "sense of family." They are using these words to describe "The Cleveland Show," a "Family Guy" spinoff that premieres Sunday night. Coming from Seth MacFarlane's crew, such descriptions are like tiny time bombs disguised as rubber ducks, or festively wrapped birthday gifts filled with fake vomit and itching powder. Because while executive producer Rich Appel may be sincere when he says "The Cleveland Show" is "kinder and gentler" than its predecessor, he is working from the same warped palette that gave us Stewie, the erudite and profane baby who most recently beat his dog to a bloody pulp for laughs on the Emmy broadcast last Sunday.

Pitted against edgy procedurals, trendy reality shows or ensemble dramas, NBC's "Law & Order" for nearly 20 years has persevered as one of TV's most recognizable and durable brands. And if it lasts a few more seasons, the hybrid cop-and-lawyer series would eclipse "Gunsmoke" as television's longest-running drama.

Britain's announcement of an $87-billion bailout of its flailing banking system boosted confidence in the nation's financial sector Wednesday but didn't immediately alleviate the panic gripping investors. The unveiling of the rescue package sent shares soaring for beleaguered financial institutions such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, whose stocks had taken major hits in the preceding days.

Jessye Norman is on the phone in her suite at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. "I ordered room service 30 minutes ago. I think that's a rather long time to wait for a pot of tea," she says with an operatic gravity that makes the words quiver. Moments later a cart rolls in, and Norman, mollified, cheerily bustles about, serving the tea and passing a platter of sandwiches.

Monday through Thursday, Jean Smart puts on a honeyed Southern drawl and becomes the slightly daffy, eternally optimistic Charlene on CBS' "Designing Women." Thursday through Sunday, Smart dons a British accent and becomes Terry, a harried and cheated-upon housewife in Alan Ayckbourn's ultra-funny farce "How the Other Half Loves" at the Tiffany Theatre in West Hollywood. "My date night's gone," laments the actress.

Re Nic Harcourt [Overrated, Jan. 31; Letters, Feb. 7]: Who would you trust, a guy with a British accent, or a guy who prints his comments upside down? Robert Shoji Torrance

When The Beatles flew over from England in the '60s, it seemed the whole of young America gathered at the airport to scream a welcome. Now, when the United Kingdom's latest hopefuls, like the Streets or Ms. Dynamite, touch down at Kennedy or LAX, they're lucky if a record company minion shows up and pays their cab fare into town. Still, down the decades, there are intriguing parallels.