Hollywood Digest

SAY IT AIN'T SO CHER

Gossip columnist Liz Smith dropped a hint Wednesday that Cher might announce her farewell tour when she appears on "Oprah" Friday.

Cher fans get two bites at the apple Friday, since she is scheduled to sing both on "Oprah" and on the ABC prime time special "American Bandstand's 50th ... A Celebration."

Cher has at least two other high-profile TV appearances coming up -- as a guest-star on NBC's "Will & Grace" season finale on May 16, and as the star of VH1's "Diva Show -- Live from Las Vegas" on May 23.

BERRY'S NEXT

Halle Berry plans to produce and star in a remake of the 1974 Pam Grier movie "Foxy Brown" -- with a view toward turning the assignment into a franchise.

In the original, the title character seeks revenge when gangsters kill her government agent boyfriend. Producers of the remake say they plan to bring the story up to date and make it a "larger-than-life" vehicle for the Oscar-winning Berry, with a screenplay by Tyger Williams ("Menace II Society.")

Berry has also signed to produce and star in "Brown-Eyed Girl" -- described as a story about the life and loves of a modern woman.

CREDITS WHERE THEY'RE DUE

Discovery Networks U.S. seems to be giving in somewhat to criticism from TV producers, by softening a recently announced policy that would have virtually eliminated on-screen credits from its telecasts.

Discovery executives had said that cutting the credits would translate into higher ratings. But after briefing producers on the plan, the network brass heard enough complaints about it and decided to amend the new policy.

Rather than cutting the credits altogether, Discovery announced Tuesday that it will leave it up to producers to decide whether to continue running credits -- or to go with a new system that will show some credits at the beginning of a show and a five-second card at the end, directing viewers to a Web site where complete credits would be listed.

A Discovery Networks executive, John Ford, issued a statement saying that some producers supported the new plan.

"Many of our producers," Ford said, "told us that they prefer the new option as a way to help them build their businesses -- by improving audience flow, providing front-end credits and giving them robust credit links on the Web."

Discovery Networks operate the Discovery channel, the Travel Channel and Animal Planet.

The International Documentary Association, the Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences joined in the criticism of the plan to eliminate show credits.

DATE SET FOR JACKIE CHAN'S NEXT

DreamWorks Pictures has set Aug. 16 as the release date for the new Jackie Chan action-comedy, "The Tuxedo."

Original plans had called for an earlier release, but that had to be put off because of the movie's special effects demands.

Chan stars with Jennifer Love Hewitt in the story of a chauffeur who turns into a superhero when he puts on a special tuxedo. It was written by a team of screenwriters that includes Michael J. Wilson ("Ice Age"), Phil Hay ("Crazy/Beautiful"), Michael Leeson ("The Cosby Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") and Matt Manfredi ("Crazy/Beautiful").

It's the feature film debut of commercial director Kevin Donovan.

PLANNING AHEAD

TV news departments are planning special programming to observe the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

ABC will turn over the whole day to the news division, beginning with "Good Morning America" and running straight through "Nightline." Plans call for a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C.

NBC is planning special prime time programming on Sept. 10, followed by extended coverage during the day on Sept. 11.

CBS has not yet announced what it will do. The network drew an audience estimated at 39 million for its March 10 documentary "9-11," and is expected to rebroadcast it during its anniversary programming.

HEAD ROLLS AT ABC

Steve Bornstein had just been on the job for about one year when he resigned Tuesday as president of ABC-TV to pursue "other interests."

Bornstein rose within the ranks at Disney, reaching the top TV job after getting much of the credit for building ESPN into a major cable player.

Network officials say Bornstein will not be replaced. Instead, other executives will pick up his responsibilities.

His departure is the latest in a series of changes at the top at ABC-TV. Bornstein succeeded Robert Callahan in April 2001, barely one year after Callahan took the job.