Hollywood Digest

COUNSELING FOR WINONA RYDER?

Los Angeles County prosecutors are recommending that Winona Ryder be required to perform 60 days of community service, pay over $26,000 in fines and restitution and undergo drug and psychiatric counseling as a consequence of her conviction last month for shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

Ryder is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for felony grand theft and vandalism. Prosecutors had already said they will not ask the judge in the case to send Ryder to jail, even though she could have faced up to three years in jail for the offense.

Mark Geragos, Ryder's defense attorney, told the Los Angeles Times he has no plans to appeal the verdict.

"I'm certainly happy they're not asking for jail time," said Geragos. "I would imagine (Ryder) is pleased, too."

According to court transcripts made public after Ryder's trial, the Oscar-nominated star of "Girl, Interrupted" and "Little Women" was suspected of shoplifting on three other occasions at upscale stores. The judge in Ryder's case did not allow that information to be presented as evidence at her trial.

NEW REALITY SHOW FEATURES WOMEN 'STARTING OVER'

Producers of the MTV reality series "The Real World" and "Road Rules" have struck a deal with NBC's production arm to develop a new daily, one-hour syndicated show featuring women trying to make a new start in their lives.

Bunim/Murray Productions and NBC Enterprises announced that "Starting Over" will bring six women together to live in one house, and follow their attempts to get over troubling situations ranging from unhappy marriages to lack of education.

"It's exciting to work on a show that will not only be entertaining but will actually improve the lives of the women participating," said Bunim.

"With so much at stake for these women," said Bunim's producing partner Jonathan Murray, "and with the women holding each other accountable for achieving their goals, we can expect a lot of conflict and entertaining television."

The show, scheduled to premiere next fall, will feature "graduations" for women who succeed in reaching their goals. Producers said the women who fall short will have to face "the heartbreak of returning to their former lives."

TIM McGRAW, ELTON JOHN SET TO DUET

The 30th annual American Music Awards telecast will feature something of a show business event, when the Jan. 13 telecast opens with country superstar Tim McGraw and rock 'n' roll icon Elton John performing one of John's biggest hits, "Tiny Dancer."

McGraw opened his shows on his last tour with the song, and got such a positive response from fans that he recorded it for his new CD, "Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors." The song is also featured on "Elton John: Greatest Hits 1970-2002" -- a 2-CD set that was released last month.

Organizers of the American Music Awards said it was McGraw's idea to do the duet, and that John immediately agreed.

"What a fantastic way to start off our 30th anniversary show," said AMA executive producer Dick Clark. "I wish I could leave my backstage post at the producers' table and grab a seat out front for this one."

WILL SMITH'S NEXT

Will Smith -- who has starred in such sci-fi blockbuster movies as "Independence Day," "Men in Black" and "Men in Black II" -- will reportedly take another crack at the genre, as the star of the upcoming movie version of Isaac Asimov's 1940s short-story collection "I, Robot."

The movie tells the story of a futuristic detective who must investigate a crime that appears to have been committed by a robot, even though the rules governing robots -- as Asimov imagined them -- prohibit robots from breaking the law.

GIVING VOICE TO 'PINOCCHIO'

Breckin Meyer ("Josie and the Pussycats," "Rat Race") will provide the voice of Pinocchio in the English-dubbed version of Oscar-winning actor-director Roberto Benigni's new live-action version of the classic tale.

Benigni had intended to do the English dub himself, but decided to go with a voiceover cast of all English-speaking actors.

Glenn Close ("101 Dalmatians," "Fatal Attraction") is set to do the voice of the Blue Fairy. The cast also includes Kevin James ("King of Queens"), Queen Latifah ("Chicago") and Cheech Marin ("The Lion King").

"Pinocchio" opens on Christmas Day.

CHARLIZE THERON'S NEXT

Charlize Theron ("Men of Honor," "The Legend of Bagger Vance") has joined the cast of the upcoming HBO movie "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," starring Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") as the star of "Dr. Strangelove" and the "Pink Panther" movie series.

Theron will play Britt Ekland, the Swedish actress who was married to the legendary British comic actor.

STARS COME OUT FOR 'WILL & GRACE'

NBC has lined up Rosanna Arquette ('Pulp Fiction") and Dan Futterman ("Judging Amy") for guest-starring roles on "Will & Grace."

Arquette is scheduled to appear in one episode as a free-spirited masseuse who befriends Grace (Debra Messing) when she and her new husband (Harry Connick Jr.) move to their new home in Brooklyn. Futterman is scheduled to appear in five episodes, playing a cousin of Karen (Megan Mullally) who realizes at 35 that he is gay.