Entertainment Today: Showbiz news

FOURTH SEASON FOR 'THIRD WATCH'

NBC has ordered a full-season of 22 episodes of "Third Watch" -- guaranteeing the drama a fourth season on the network's primetime schedule this fall.

NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker made the announcement.

"'Third Watch' is just hitting its stride creatively and has begun to attract a loyal audience that appreciates intense, personal drama," said Zucker. "The show just keeps getting better every year and struck a national chord this year with its relevant stories of New York's heroes working to save lives on the streets."

The weekly drama about police, paramedics and firefighters on the 3-11 p.m. shift -- the "third watch" -- took on several issues related to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. One episode earned the series a Peabody Award.

MARIAH'S NEW DEAL

After a year in which she suffered a nervous breakdown, a movie flop and a well-publicized dissolution of one of the richest contracts in the history of recorded music, Mariah Carey is well along the road to rehabilitating her career.

LAUNCH.com reports that Carey will join Jay-Z and Ja Rule at the Island/Def Jam Music Group, with a deal that calls for her to operate her own record label under the company's umbrella.

In a voice message on her Web site (mariahcarey.com), Carey told fans she is back in the studio, working on her first project since EMI bought out her Virgin Records contract in January.

"I've been busy recording, and things of that nature," she said in the April 27 posting. "Everything is going really well."

Carey pocketed a reported $49 million on the Virgin deal -- a $28 million payoff to nullify her multimillion-dollar contract, plus the $21 million she was paid to sign the deal in April 2001. The only album she released with Virgin was the soundtrack from her ill-fated movie "Glitter."

HONORS FOR LEGUIZAMO, BANDERAS, FENDER

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has announced that John Leguizamo ("Moulin Rouge") will receive the Entertainer of the Year award and Antonio Banderas ("Spy Kids," "The Mask of Zorro") will receive a special achievement award at the 2002 ALMA Awards (American Latino Media Arts Awards).

The show will feature a special tribute to Freddy Fender. Paul Rodriguez ("Tortilla Soup," "Ali") will host.

Producers also announced that Marc Anthony, Nelly Furtado and Juanes, Fender, Ozomatli, Paulina Rubio and La Ley will perform on the show, which will be taped on May 18 for broadcast on ABC on June 1.

'SPIDER-MAN' LARGESS

Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has already grossed more than $125 million on "Spider-Man" -- not counting the receipts for Tuesday and Wednesday -- has decided to spread the wealth a bit among the hired hands.

The studio reportedly has told its employees that they can start their July 4 holiday weekend early on July 3, and take an extra vacation day on July 5. That will give the folks a four and-a-half day weekend.

ACTORS GET HELP FROM LABOR HEAVYWEIGHTS

The AFL-CIO has come out in support of the Screen Actors Guild in its test of wills with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over the union's new policy of global implementation of a rule banning members from working in non-union productions.

AMPTP president Nick Counter recently notified the Association of Talent Agents that the union's attempt to enforce the rule outside the United States violates the AMPTP/SAG labor agreement and is unenforceable. He demanded that the union cease and desist implementing its Global Rule One.

SAG Executive Director Robert Pisano accused Counter of threatening agents with litigation to try to get them "to breach their fiduciary obligations" to clients. He suggested that SAG might resort to legal remedies in response.

In a statement Wednesday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the producers are interfering with SAG internal business in violation of their basic agreement with SAG.

"For the AMPTP to question the right of a union to enforce its own rules is without merit," said Sweeney. "To deny SAG members contributions to their pension and health funds, residual payments and important safety provisions is just wrong and in violation of the spirit and intent of the collective bargaining agreement."

Sweeney sounded a note of warning to producers if they do not accept SAG's Global Rule One.

"The AFL-CIO stands ready to support SAG in its efforts to provide its members with the hard won protections of their contracts wherever they work," he said.

DIRECTORS GUILD WILL PUSH DIVERSITY

Directors Guild of America President Martha Coolidge has put TV networks on notice that the guild will hold them to their commitments to hire more minority and female directors.

So far this year, the DGA looked at 826 episodes of the top 40 primetime drama and comedy series from the 2000-01 season and found white man had directed 80 percent of the shows. Women had done 11 percent of the work, blacks 3 percent, Latinos 2 percent and Asian-Americans 1 percent.

"There is both real unity and frustration among the DGA's elected leaders over the networks' failure to fulfill their obligation to hire more women and minority directors," said Coolidge in Daily Variety. "It's stunning the statistics have not been getting any better even though we've been active on this front for many years."

The DGA has launched a campaign to promote diversity in hiring -- three years after a multiethnic coalition persuaded the networks to hire more women and minority directors. Each year since then, the networks have reported that they are making progress, even as they conceded they need to do more.