Racially divided 'Survivor' stirs the pot
NEW YORK, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- "Survivor: Cook Islands" host Jeff Probst says the plan to divide the tribes by race this season will probably divide the audience too.
Dividing the contestants into four tribes -- African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians -- was one the freshest ideas he had seen since season one, Probst told CBS' "The Early Show" Friday.
He said it will make the reality show more interesting and controversial.
In addition, Probst told co-anchor Harry Smith "it's very likely" the viewers will be divided as well.
"I think it's very natural to assume that certain groups are going to have audience members rooting for them simply because they share ethnicity," he said. "At the end of the day, I think it will come down to what it always comes down to: Who do I like?"
Minority members of New York's City Council and state Legislature denounced the racial theme and called on CBS "to pull the plug," the New York Post reported Friday.
"Is this going to help to bring people together? I don't think so," said Robert Johnson, the Democratic co-chairman of the Legislature's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus.
The 13th installment of "Survivor" begins at 8 p.m. Eastern, Sept. 14, on CBS.
Filmmaker frustrated by 'danger' status
NEW YORK, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Emmy-nominated documentary maker Laura Poitras has been marked as a U.S. security risk because she spent two years filming Iraq, The Los Angeles Times reports.
"It's very Kafkaesque," she told the Times by phone from her New York home. "What concerns me is there doesn't seem to be anyone who can give me information about why I got on this list, other than I made a film in Baghdad."
Poitras' Iraqi film, "My Country, My Country," has been screened at film festivals worldwide and her 2003 "Flag Wars" was nominated for an Emmy.
She said she did not know she was on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's list of dangerous people until she was recently pulled aside and detained by security at the airport in Newark, N.J.
Armed guards met her at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport this week when she flew from the Vienna Film Festival to promote her film before its U.S. opening Sept. 15, she told the newspaper.
"Basically, I get stopped going on and off every plane," Poitras said.
Katie Couric is most known TV anchor
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Even before taking her seat as the new CBS evening news anchor, Katie Couric is already a more familiar personality than her NBC and ABC counterparts.
When asked to give their general impressions of each of the three main journalists for the ABC, NBC and CBS, 66 percent of the surveyed people could offer up an opinion on Couric, compared with fewer than half who could offer a response for Brian Williams or Charles Gibson, the Pew Research Center reported Friday.
Most Americans who have seen them anchor before had positive things to say about each of the new evening news anchors. "Good" was by far the most mentioned word for all three.
Couric had more specific words used to describe her, including perky, cute, nice, energetic, bubbly, and fluffy, along with knowledgeable, informed, smart and fair.
The words used for the other two news anchors were less about personality and style and more focused on their job performance. NBC's Brian Williams was often summed up as fair, and also as informative, knowledgeable and professional. Trustworthy was frequently offered as positive description of ABC's Charles Gibson along with informed, professional and competent.
Jazz legend Maynard Ferguson dead at 78
VENTURA, Calif., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Renowned trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, who embraced nearly every genre of music, has died in Ventura, Calif., at the age of 78.
The Canadian jazz icon died Wednesday from kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Inspired by his violinist mother, Ferguson became a star in Canada at an early age and eventually dropped out of school and moved to the United States at the age of 20.
He anchored the Stan Kenton Orchestra and was named best jazz trumpeter in Down Beat magazine's poll from 1950 to 1952. He also played on Hollywood film soundtracks like "The Ten Commandments" and "Rocky," which gave him the pop hit, "Gonna Fly Now."
He appeared with symphony orchestras, dabbled in disco as well as jazz-rock, but returned to straight-ahead jazz about 15 years ago, the Times said.
Ferguson and his Big Bob Nouveau Band played a series of sold-out shows in New York last month and recorded an album due out later this year. The group was scheduled to start a tour in Tokyo next month.
He is survived by his four children.
