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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Lawyer says Lohan committed to turning life around

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan is committed to turning her life around and wants to record public service announcements on the dangers of domestic violation, alcohol abuse and drunken driving, her attorney said Wednesday.Mark Heller told The Associated Press that the actress' plans are independent of a criminal case that could return her to jail on charges that she lied to police about being a passenger...

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Lohan's attorney seeks deal with prosecutors

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan's attorney has suggested to prosecutors that the actress serve as a motivational speaker and perform non-jail activities to resolve her latest criminal case.Attorney Mark Heller suggests in a letter obtained Tuesday that Lohan record public service announcements and give inspirational speeches at schools and hospitals to show she is making a serious commitment to improving...

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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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'Parade's End' keeps British TV invasion going

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tom Stoppard is sitting on the patio of a Sunset Boulevard hotel, bathed in California winter sunshine, framed by bamboo landscaping and looking very much out of his element in Hollywood.The acclaimed British playwright professes to feeling that way as well, despite having pocketed a Writers Guild of America lifetime achievement award the night before for his screenplays, including...

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David Gregory re-ups as 'Meet the Press' host

NEW YORK (AP) — David Gregory has re-upped as host of "Meet the Press."NBC News shared no details, but described the new deal as "a long-term commitment.""What a great vote of confidence from NBC," a pleased-looking Gregory said Thursday. He said his first four years in the moderator's chair have passed quickly."In some ways, it feels like we're just getting started," he said.The 42-year-old Gregory...

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Palestinian doc director held briefly at LAX

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Immigration officials briefly detained the Palestinian director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "5 Broken Cameras" on his way into town for Sunday's Academy Awards.Emad Burnat says that when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Turkey with his wife and 8-year-old son late Tuesday, he was told he didn't have the proper proof that he was a nominee. After about an...

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McCartney, Mumford top eclectic Bonnaroo lineup

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — There will be a British invasion of the main stage at Bonnaroo this year.Paul McCartney and Mumford & Sons are among the headliners for the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn.The four-day festival, held on a rural 700-acre farm, always features an eclectic roster, but the June 13-16 event is even more varied than usual.Returnees Tom Petty &...

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McCready's ex: Anyone close could see it coming

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Mindy McCready threatened to kill herself after losing custody of her sons earlier this month, yet she was allowed to leave a court-ordered drug rehabilitation program days before she apparently killed herself, her ex-boyfriend said Monday.Billy McKnight, who was in a long, rocky relationship with McCready and who is the father of her oldest child, Zander, said the 37-year-old...

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Discovery bets on 2 dope series about pot growers

NEW YORK (AP) — Cupcake makers, pawnbrokers and storage container raiders have all had their moments in reality television's spotlight. Now the time may be right for marijuana growers — and the people who chase them.The Discovery network debuts a six-episode series, "Weed Country," at 10 p.m. Wednesday and will replace it with "Pot Cops" in April. Both examine the marijuana trade in northern California.It...

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Romanian movie 'Child's Pose' wins at Berlin fest

BERLIN (AP) — A Romanian drama that centers on a woman's effort to cover up her son's responsibility for an accident in which a boy is fatally injured won the Berlin film festival's top Golden Bear award on Saturday."Child's Pose," directed by Calin Peter Netzer, emerged as the winner from a field of 19 films that included a strong eastern European contingent this year — the 63rd edition of the event,...

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Judge sets trial date for Kardashian divorce case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge says Kim Kardashian's divorce trial should begin in early May.Kardashian had been urging the judge to set the trial so her marriage to Kris Humphries can end before July, when her child with Kanye West is due to be born.Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon set a May 6 trial date on Friday over the objections of an attorney for her estranged husband, an NBA player.Humphries'...

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Emmett Till's family reacts to Lil Wayne lyric

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A cousin of the late Emmett Till wonders if Lil Wayne understands just how damaging it was when he rapped a vulgar reference to the black U.S. teen whose death in 1955 became a significant moment in the civil rights movement.Airickca Gordon-Taylor says Till's family would like an apology from Lil Wayne for the brief but disturbing lyric on Future's "Karate Chop" remix. But...

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First lady plugs 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama on Wednesday gushed over the Oscar-nominated film "Beasts of the Southern Wild," calling it one of the "most powerful and most important" movies in a long time in a ringing endorsement delivered less than two weeks before this month's Academy Awards ceremony.The first lady commented during a Black History Month workshop at the White House for about 80 middle- and high-school...

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Raindrops, gloomy skies can't stop Mardi Gras

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Despite threatening skies, the Mardi Gras party carried on as thousands of costumed revelers cheered glitzy floats with make-believe monarchs in an all-out bash before Lent. In the French Quarter, as usual, Fat Tuesday played out with all its flesh and raunchiness.Crowds were a little smaller than recent years, perhaps influenced by the forecast of rain. Still, parades went off...

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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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All eyes on Frank Ocean as Grammy Awards approach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Everybody's thinkin' about Frank Ocean.Ocean is a cause celebre and the man with the momentum as Sunday's Grammy Awards approach. One of six top nominees with six nominations apiece, the 25-year-old R&B singer turned cultural talking point will have the music world's attention.It remains to be seen if it will be the "Thinkin Bout You" singer's night, but there's no question...

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Stars salute MusiCares honoree Bruce Springsteen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Be it concert or charity auction, Bruce Springsteen can bring any event to a crescendo.Springsteen briefly took over auctioneering duties before being honored as MusiCares person of the year Friday night, exhorting the crowd to bid on a signed Fender electric guitar by amping up the deal. The 63-year-old rock 'n' roll star moved the bid north from $60,000 by offering a series of...

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