Mon, Dec 18, 2006 page13

• Planet Pop

  • AGENCIES
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  Actress Natasha Lyonne, the star of American Pie accused of threatening to sexually molest a dog, turned herself in at a New York court on Friday.

  A warrant was issued for her arrest in January after Lyonne, who has also appeared in Blade, and Scary Movie 2, missed four court hearings.

  The 27-year-old faced a number of charges including criminal mischief, harassment and trespassing after accusations she threatened to sexually molest her former neighbor's dog and ripped a mirror off the wall during a 2004 argument.

  At the Manhattan Criminal Court appearance, drug counselor Heather Hayes said Lyonne had completed an in-patient drug program in February and continued to attend outpatient rehabilitation groups.

  Judge Anthony Ferrara said the charges would be dropped if the actress stayed out of trouble for the next six months.

  In the court complaint, Lyonne's former roommate claimed Lyonne trashed their apartment and then banged on a neighbor's door, rushed into that apartment and picked up her dog, telling the woman, "I'm going to sexually molest your dog."

  Lyonne pleaded guilty in 2002 to driving under the influence of alcohol in Miami.

  She was fined, sentenced to six months probation and 50 hours community service.

  Also making the news for antisocial behavior was Britney Spears, who has ignited a media firestorm by flashing her apparent lack of underwear to the paparazzi — on four separate occasions a few weeks ago.

  In the latest development her new friend Paris Hilton fell victim last week to a hoaxer who wrote a widely publicized Web posting in Hilton's name defending Spears' "partying ethics."

  Hilton's spokesman Elliot Mintz said whoever wrote the entry this week on Hilton's page on the popular social networking site MySpace.com "crafted a very nice piece and the sentiments that were expressed were extremely articulate."

  Mintz said the hotel heiress was a frequent target of impersonators on the Internet and no one knew who had written the blog entry.

  The note defended Spears against criticism that she was neglecting her two young sons by embarking on a round of all-night clubbing.

  Spears, 25, has been photographed — sometimes without panties under her mini-skirts — out on the town with Hilton since the pop star filed for divorce from Kevin Federline last month.

  "Did she write that piece? No, she did not," Mintz said of Hilton. "I have no idea who did."

  Last month in a post on Spears' MySpace.com page, a female fan urged Spears "to read this so you understand how your fans may see the situation ... now your children need you so do the right thing brit, and be a mother and forget the partying."

  And talk show host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey is venturing into prime-time television with two new reality series, at least one of which will feature Winfrey herself, a US network and producers said on Friday.

  No time frame has been set for the two shows, both described as combining elements of wish fulfillment and charity — favorite themes of Winfrey on her long-running daytime talk program, the highest rated in broadcast syndication.

  The show's concepts were laid out in a joint press release issued by her Harpo Productions company and the Walt Disney-owned ABC network, many of whose network-owned stations and affiliates currently carry the The Oprah Winfrey Show.

  The first new series, tentatively titled Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give, presents 10 people with large sums of money and other resources and challenges them to find "the most powerful, sensational, emotional and dramatic ways to give to others."

  The contestants will gradually be narrowed as the group confronts a "big catch" each week complicating their efforts, with the winner getting his or her "wildest dream come true."

  A similar format figured in a recent two-episode broadcast of Winfrey's talk show in which she gave members of her studio audience US$1,000 gift cards and implored them to find ways to help as many people as possible.

  A second Winfrey-produced show, this one with the working title Your Money or Your Life, will dispatch an "expert action team" each week to help a family overcome a crisis through a "total money and life makeover."
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