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Show Ben Affleck kicks Staynraq) lai "Saturday Night Live" will open its 30th season with a host making his second appearance on the show this year. Ben Affleck has been tapped as host of the season premiere, scheduled for Oct. 2. "SNL's" producers had asked former President Bill Clinton to be the host for the opener, but he declined. Rapper Nelly will be the musical guest. The season premiere will be Affleck's third turn as "SNL" host; he last had the honor less than seven months ago, shortly before the premiere of his film "Jersey GirL" He also hosted in 2000 and has made a couple of cameo appearances as well DVDV deo releases 'Star Wars Trilogy CBS Jorja Fox, left and George Eads star in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.'' TV Ratings viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week that ended Sunday. Prime-tim- e 1. 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 223 million viewers. 2. 'Survivor Vanuatu," CBS, 20.1 million viewers. 3. 'NFL Monday Night Footbath Green Bay at Carolina,' ABC, 18.8 million viewers. 4. 'Will & Grace, NBC 16.5 million 12-ho- viewers. 5. 'Without a Trace," 16.1 million CBS, viewers. 6. '60 Minutes,' CBS, 16 million view- ers. 7. 'The Apprentice 2," NBC, lion viewers. 1 5.9 mil- 8. "Joey," NBC, 15.4 million viewers. 9. "NFL Monday Showcase,' ABC, million Viewers. 153 10. 'Siegfried and Roy: Miracle,' NBC 14.5 million viewers. NewYcrli Times List Best-sell-er HARDCOVER FICTION 1. TRACE, by Patricia Comweil 2. THE DA VINCJ CODE, by Dan Brown 3. JONATHAN STRANGE ft MR. NOR- REIL by Susanna Clarke 4. THE FWE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, by Mitch Albom 5. MURDER LIST, by Julie Garwood Spoiler alert: Darth Vader is Luke.Skywalker's dad. The Holy Grail for DVD enthusiasts finally arrives as George Lucas releases his first three "Star Wars" flicks in an elaboset. Hardcore rate four-dis- c fans already know this, but the versions of "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" are the special-editio- n upgrades reissued to theaters in the late 1990s, with extra scenes and augmented effects and creatures; Lucas considers those the definitive versions he would have made initially if he'd had the time, money and technology, and he has no intention of releasing the original versions. The centerpiece of the bonus disc is a mammoth 2 documentary tracing the history of "Star Wars" from Lucas' youth as a "Flash Gordon" fan, to his masterstroke in maintaining ownership of "Star Wars" merchandising and sequel rights, to his resurrection of the franchise with the current prequel trilogy. Besides Lucas, interviews inthe clude stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher; James Earl Jones, the original voice of Darth Vader; Lucas pal Steven Spielberg; and such notables as Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyers (Moyers notes that mythology theorist Joseph Campbell, who gave Lucas advice and insight for the story, once told him, the "best student he ever had was George Lucas"). Each film has commentary from Lucas, Fisher and others, and the set has sneak peek at a next summer's "Star Wars: The Revenge of Episode III the Sith," including footage of Hayden Christensen donning the Vader outfit. DVD set, . : nine-minu- $69.98. (20th Century Fox) HARDCOVER NONFICTION 1. UNFIT FOR COMMAND, by John E. O'Neill and Jerome HCorsi 2. AMERICAN SOLDIER, by Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell 3. MYUFE,byBinainton 4. SKYWRITING, by Jane Pauley 5. EATS, SHOOTS ft LEAVES, by Lynne Truss 'Mean Girls' After 2O03's hit "Freaky Friday," Lindsay Lohan proves she can anchor a movie on her own with this fairly funny, occasionally insightful look at one of life's most stressful war zones: high schooL Lohan plays a teen who grew up in Africa but is uprooted to a suburban US. school, where off 'SNL's' 30th year LucasFilm 06i-Wa- n Left to right Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, Alec Sir and Mark Hamill, in Star Wars. " Guinness played by she gets caught up in machina- tions and rivalry between the popular girls and the geeks. Director Mark Waters, producer Lome Michaels and screenwriter and Tina co-st- Fey collaborate on DVD com- mentary. The disc also includes nine deleted scenes with commentary from Waters and Fey, plus three mak-ing-featurettes. DVD, $29.95. (Paramount) that provides his livelihood. two-dis- c d set The features an archival interview with Fellini; interviews with Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg; an assemblage of rarely seen short films by Fellini; commentary by cinema historian Richard Schickel; and an introduction by director Alexander Payne, who notes that "La Dolce Vita" presents Fellini in transition films of from his the 1950s and the more fantastical, circuslike works of the later '60s and 70s. DVD set, $34.98. (Koch Lorber) well-stocke- co-st- ar neo-realist- 'Coffee and Cigarettes' Jim Jarmusch takes a nicotine and caff eine break with this offbeat collection of short films he's been making with friends since the The anthology features Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, Steve Busce-m- i, RZA and GZA, Alfred Molina, Roberto Benigni and others rambling on about Elvis Presley, Nikola Tesla, genealogy and other matters. Along with the film, the DVD. has a short montage of overhead shots of the various tablet ops loaded with coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays, an outtake with Murray, RZA and GZA and an amusing interview with Taylor Mead, who proclaimsjhe movie a blockbuster wttlino violence. Except for the coffee and ciga- 'Slacker mid-1980- s. Jar-musc- co-st- rettes.' DVD, $29.98. (MGM) 'La Dolce yfta' Federico Fellini's 1960 masterpiece, which brought the term "paparazzi" into the lingo, stars Marcello Mastroian-n- i as a tabloid reporter sucked into the decadent s life of Rome show-busines- Richard Linklater's 1991 feature is a freeform concoc-- ; tion presenting more than 100 characters mostly in snippets that coalesce into an engrossing portrait of artsy slackers who prefer talking to doing. The two-dis- c set also includes Linklater's first feature-lengt- h film, 1988's "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books." Both films have commentary by Linklater. DVD set, $39.95; (Criterion) non-acto- TV on DVD "MADtv. The Complete First Season" The : late-nig- ht comedy sketch show debuts set featuring in a three-dis-c the first 19 episodes. The set includes deleted material and the series' 200th episode, a reunion show that aired last seasoa DVD set, $39.98. (Warner Bros.) David Germain The Associated Press 'NipTuck bags Baldwin for finale Oscar and Emmy nominee Alec Baldwin will join the cast of "NipTuck" for the show's season finale next month. He'll play Dr. Barrett Moore, of "life coach" the Ava Moore (Famke Janssen), who has succeeded mostly in disrupting the lives of the show's lead characters. The episode is scheduled for Oct. 5. Baldwin will be joined in the finale by Joan Rivers, who will come for an unusual plastic-surger- y consultatioa 'Bram and Alice' star Howard joins 'Monk Traylof Howard, who's starred in such shows as "Boston Common" and "Bram and Alice,'ris joining the cast of ' USA Network's "Monk." She'll play a single mom and former bartender named Natal- ie who becomes neurotic detec, tive Adrian Monk's new assistant. Howard essentially replaces Bitty Schram, who left the show a couple of weeks ago. Bobby Brown show a go at Bravo Bravo President Lauren says they are about "providing programming that goes deep into the internal worlds of creative people." So the question with Bravo's latest pickup is this: How deeply do you want to explore the internal world of Bobby Brown? The network has ordered 10 one-hoepisodes of "Being Bobby Brown," an unscripted series that will follow the Brown, superstar wife Whitney Houston and their family as they, in Bravo's words, "put their respective lives back together." It's set to premiere in the first half of 2005. Zap2it.com |