'Simple Life' searching for host families
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Producers of Fox's "Simple Life" are searching for typical American families to host Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie for the show's second season.
Beginning Feb. 14, in Grand Canyon Village, Ariz., the casting department at Bunim-Murray Productions will audition "all-American families" who will provide their homes to Hilton and Richie as they take the show on the road during the next season, Zap2it.com reported Monday.
The casting crew also will make stops in Brooksville, Fla., and Lafayette, La. Casting and audition information is available at www.bunim-murray.com. Auditions will be ongoing throughout the month.
"The Simple Life," averaging nearly 10.6 million viewers per episode, proved to be Fox's surprise hit of the season. Since the original six episodes aired, the reality show has had numerous re-airings and specials.
Janet's beau resigns top post amid scandal
ATLANTA, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Jermaine Dupri, Janet Jackson's boyfriend, has resigned as president of a music industry association amid the Super Bowl scandal involving his girlfriend.
"I feel like I don't want to be a part of something that's not treating musical people in the right light," said Dupri, as reported by E! Online Monday. "I feel like what's going on with Janet is very unfair right now."
Dupri had been president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences -- the group that presents the Grammys, which were held Sunday. Dupri had chosen to boycott the annual awards event because Jackson was excluded from the event.
In further fallout from Jackson's R-rated Super Bowl performance, MTV, which produced the halftime show, has canceled plans for a one-hour behind-the-scenes special.
Jackson's performance prompted the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the incident. The FCC said it has received a record 200,000 complaints about Jackson's performance, overtaking the previous mark of 80,000 complaints after Nicole Richie's cursing at the Billboard Music Awards last year.
Brits vote 80s their favorite decade
LONDON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Despite obvious cultural low points, such as leg warmers, yuppies and shoulder pads, a British poll shows the 1980s is the most missed period of modern times.
Other results of the poll show the 60s had the best music and fashion, while the greatest films came from the 90s, according to the poll by Warner Breaks Just For Adults published in The Mirror Monday.
Boy George had the top 80s song with Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon," followed by Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax," "With or Without You" by U2 and Duran Duran's "Rio."
"ET" was voted best film, ahead of "Back to the Future," "Top Gun," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Batman."
The most unforgettable moment of the decade was the Band Aid concert, followed by the collapse of the Berlin Wall and John Lennon's assassination.
Bollywood producers lured to Britain
LEICESTER, England, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The city of Leicester has launched a $67 million tax relief plan to lure Bollywood producers to Britain, the BBC reported Monday.
The scheme, developed by the Trade and Industry Secretary and backed by the Leicester City Council, offers producers and investors of Indian films lucrative tax breaks on up to 10 films made in the city.
Leicester is an obvious locale for Bollywood films, given its large Indian base, which is 25 percent of the city's population.
Bollywood films have been made in England in the past, including the successful film "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham," but this is the first plan to produce so many films.
The new system, according to actor Dipesh Majithia, is win-win.
Bollywood producers wanted to work in Britain because of the "beautiful locations," Majithia said, "and people in the U.K. want to work with Bollywood producers because Bollywood is one of the biggest players in the film industry."
The stars in the Leicester-made films would be Bollywood favorites, such as Aishwarya Rai, the former Miss World, and Lara Dutt, the former Miss Universe, but the production, cutting, editing and post-production work would be done in Britain.
