The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

'Criminal Minds' star tops with Church-going Americans

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 09:16 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Criminal Minds star Kirsten Vangsness topped a list on Thursday of the most appealing TV actors among faith-based audiences, while Sandra Bullock was the most popular movie star among that group.

Vangsness, 40, who plays fun-loving FBI technical analyst Penelope Garcia on the CBS show Criminal Minds, is openly gay and announced her engagement to her longtime girlfriend in 2009.

Actors on the popular crime shows NCIS and CSI also fared well in the 2013 rankings of the most appealing celebrities by survey respondents who said they attend regular services at their house of worship.

The findings, released by E-Poll Market Research, were based on surveys of 1,100 Americans aged 13 and older who were asked to rank more than 40 attributes as well as their awareness of celebrities.

James Earl Jones, Sean Connery and Morgan Freeman, who has played God or God-like figures several times, rounded out the top four movie stars.

NCIS actress Cote de Pablo ranked second among TV actors, followed by 91-year-old Hot In Cleveland actress Betty White and NCIS stars Sean Murray and Pauley Perrette.

Connery, Taraji P. Henson, Amy Adams, Dwayne Johnson and Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion Of The Christ, are all more popular with faith-based audiences than among the general U.S. population, the poll found.

Gerry Philpott, CEO of E-Poll Market Research, said it was no surprise that actors on CBS shows appealed to people who value their religious faith highly.

"For years, CBS was known as the conservative network. ... So I think people who might be more faith-based or religious may have a habit of watching CBS more often," Philpott said.

"These are very entertaining shows, but they don't push the envelope when it comes to content. They are not trying to be controversial," Philpott added.

More importantly, he said, the top 20 movie and TV actors do not have much dirty laundry.

"I don't think you could pull a scandal out of any of these film or TV actors, and I think that may be more telling than anything else," Philpott said.

US TV icon Barbara Walters set to retire in 2014: reports

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 05:48 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: US broadcasting icon Barbara Walters, 83, is poised to announce her retirement next year in the coming weeks, US news media reported Thursday.

The New York Times, quoting "an executive familiar with the newswoman's plans," said a formal announcement of Walter's retirement would likely be made on "The View," a daytime talk show on ABC that she co-hosts.

It would be followed by a number of specials and retrospectives on Walters' long career at ABC News, which she joined in 1976 after a long stint as co-host of the NBC breakfast show "Today," the source said.

The Hollywood Reporter, a showbiz trade journal, said it was told by its sources that Walters - who weathered a bout of chicken pox at the start of this year - was poised to retire in May 2014.

There was no immediate comment from ABC News or from Walters herself, who on March 20 told her 1.167 million Twitter followers that "The View" would return April 1 after a spring hiatus with "great guests to come - that's no joke!"

In a career spanning more than half a century, Walters sometimes made news herself.

In 1976 she became the first woman ever to anchor a US evening network newscast, and her interviews with entertainers and politicians, notably on ABC's "20/20" newsmagazine program, were often must-see viewing.-AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Khamis, 28 Mac 2013