Comings and goings at 'Downton Abbey' next season

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley MacLaine will be returning to "Downton Abbey" next season, and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast.MacLaine will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley's freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and "Masterpiece" on PBS said Saturday. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa will play a house guest....

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Husband and wife behind 'The Bible' miniseries

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Burnett was taken aback by the scale of what his wife, actress Roma Downey, had in mind when she suggested over tea one morning four years ago that they make a television miniseries based on the Bible."Momentarily, I think he thought I'd lost my mind," Downey recalled. "He went out on his bicycle and he prayed on it and he came back and said, 'You know what, I think it's a good...

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Donald Trump returns to the 'Apprentice' boardroom

NEW YORK (AP) — There is something Donald Trump says he doesn't know.Trump has welcomed a reporter to his 26th-floor corner office in Trump Tower to talk about "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice." And here in person, this one-of-a-kind TV star, billionaire businessman, ubiquitous brand mogul and media maestro strikes a softer pose than he has typically practiced in his decades on public display.Relaxed...

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Van Cliburn, American classical pianist, dies

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Van Cliburn, the internationally celebrated pianist whose triumph at a 1958 Moscow competition helped thaw the Cold War and launched a spectacular career that made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock-star status, died Wednesday after a fight with bone cancer. He was 78.Cliburn died at his home in Fort Worth surrounded by loved ones, said his publicist and longtime...

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Dorothy Hamill and Andy Dick among 'Dancing' stars

NEW YORK (AP) — A gold-medal figure skater, a country music legend and a kooky comedian are stepping their way onto "Dancing With the Stars."ABC says Dorothy Hamill, Wynona Judd and Andy Dick are among 11 contenders for the mirrored ball on the new season of the celebrity dance competition.Other famous faces in the show's 16th edition include standup comic and actor D.L. Hughley, Baltimore Ravens...

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The Onion apologizes for offensive actress tweet

NEW YORK (AP) — The Onion is apologizing for calling the 9-year-old star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" a vulgar and offensive name on Twitter, an attack that led to a firestorm online.The satirical newspaper on Sunday referred to Quvenzhane Wallis with an expletive intended to denigrate women. The Onion was lambasted overnight and asked for forgiveness Monday."It was crude and offensive — not to...

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Oscars have clear favorites, wild-card MacFarlane

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some firsts and other rarities are possible at Sunday night's Academy Awards. But if the Oscars could be just a little less predictable, the show might really be one for the record books.Ben Affleck's "Argo" looks like it will uniquely claim best picture without a directing nomination, while "Lincoln" filmmaker Steven Spielberg and star Daniel Day-Lewis are favored to join exclusive...

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Oscars expand social media outreach for 85th show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is encouraging celebrities to tweet during the Oscars.The film organization has expanded its digital outreach for the 85th Academy Awards with a new feature that lets stars to snap photos of themselves backstage during Sunday's ceremony and instantly post them online.What Twitter calls a "Magic Mirror" will take photo-booth-style pictures...

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Mindy McCready's funeral set for Tuesday in Fla.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mindy McCready's funeral has been scheduled for Tuesday in her hometown of Fort Myers, Fla.The funeral for the late country star will be held at Crossroads Church and will be private. A Friday news release says a memorial organized by friends and the music community is tentatively scheduled for March 6 at Cathedral of the Incarnation.McCready committed suicide Sunday at her...

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YouTube data now part of Billboard Hot 100 chart

NEW YORK (AP) — Viral videos are hits on the Web, and now they can help propel a song to the top of the Billboard charts.Billboard has announced that U.S. YouTube data is now one of the factors when ranking Hot 100 songs and songs on its other charts.The new rule went into effect this week, with the viral-video hit "Harlem Shake" debuting at No. 1. Other factors include radio airplay, digital download...

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Autopsy confirms Mindy McCready's death as suicide

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Authorities in Arkansas say preliminary autopsy results confirm country music singer Mindy McCready's death was a suicide.The Cleburne County sheriff said in a statement Wednesday that preliminary autopsy results from Arkansas' state crime lab show McCready's death was a suicide from a single gunshot wound to the head.Investigators have said McCready apparently shot and...

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Clive Davis reveals in memoir that he's bisexual

NEW YORK (AP) — Record executive Clive Davis says he's bisexual.In his new memoir, out Tuesday, the 80-year-old, who is twice divorced, reveals that he had sex with a man in the 1970s. Davis writes in "The Soundtrack of My Life" that he hadn't been repressed or confused during his marriages and that sex with a man "provided welcome relief."He also writes that he started dating a man from 1990 to 2004,...

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Singer Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Perhaps there was one heartbreak too many for Mindy McCready.The former country star apparently took her own life on Sunday at her home in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, and left behind two young sons.McCready had attempted suicide at least three times since 2005 as...

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Willis' new 'Die Hard' scores with $25M debut

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bruce Willis remains a die-hard at the box office.Willis' action sequel "A Good Day to Die Hard" debuted as the weekend's top draw with a $25 million debut from Friday to Sunday. The 20th Century Fox release raised its domestic total to $33.2 million since opening Thursday for Valentine's Day to get a jump on the long President's Day weekend.The movie comes 25 years after the original...

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Charlie Sheen pays for injured teen's therapy dog

MILWAUKEE (AP) — MILWAUKEE (AP) — There's a 15-year-old Florida girl who didn't really know much about Charlie Sheen before this week — but does now.The actor wired $10,000 to Teagan Marti and her family on Thursday for a therapy dog to help in her rehabilitation from injuries sustained when she plummeted 100 feet from a Wisconsin amusement park ride in 2010."I think he's a very kind person for helping...

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Maggie Smith: I haven't seen 'Downton'

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people have watched Maggie Smith on "Downton Abbey." But she's not one of them.The 78-year-old actress, who portrays Lady Grantham in the popular PBS series, told "60 Minutes" that she hasn't watched the drama because doing so would only make her agonize over her performance. She said she may watch it someday.Smith told Steve Kroft, in an interview to be televised Sunday,...

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Eric Church leads ACM Awards nominations with 7

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — They don't call him Chief for nothing: Eric Church is the top nominee at this year's Academy of Country Music Awards.The rising country music star has seven nominations for the April 7 awards show in Las Vegas. Hunter Hayes is next with six, followed by Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert at five apiece.Swift and Lambert are up for the academy's top honor — entertainer of the...

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Back to New Orleans: Beyonce to perform at Essence

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Beyonce is coming back to New Orleans and back to the Superdome.After entertaining a huge television audience in a packed dome during the Super Bowl halftime show, Beyonce is now scheduled to perform at the Essence Festival.Festival officials said Monday that she will return to the dome to headline one of three night concerts during the festival, which is set for the Fourth of July...

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Grammy audience down, still 2nd highest since 1993

NEW YORK (AP) — While the Grammy Awards couldn't come close to the freakishly high ratings generated in 2012 because of Whitney Houston's death and Adele's smashing success, this year's show had the second-largest audience for the program since 1993.The Nielsen company said Monday that music's annual awards show was seen by 28.4 million people Sunday night on CBS.The Grammys this year were packed...

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Beckham weaves some English influences into fall

NEW YORK (AP) — Of course Victoria Beckham had hot cups of tea at the ready at her New York Fashion Week show on Sunday. It was cold outside, and Beckham knows how to take care of her guests, just like she does her customers.The cozy, refined, do-it-the-right-way vibe made it to the runway. She has figured out how to keep the signature chic that has made her label a fashion powerhouse instead of celebrity...

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