Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe EMINEM LINED UP FOR '8 MILE' PARTY Universal Studios Home Video announced in Los Angeles Tuesday that Eminem will host a party for the home viewing release of "8 Mile." Advertisement Eminem's "8 Mile" co-star Mekhi Phifer will also appear at the release party at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit on March 13, and rap artists D-12 and Xzibit are scheduled to perform. The movie will be released on DVD and VHS on March 18. The DVD will include bonus materials including rap battle outtakes from the film and Eminem's "Superman" music video. HONORS FOR DUSTIN HOFFMAN The San Francisco Film Society will present Dustin Hoffman with its Peter J. Owens Award at the 46th San Francisco International Film Festival next month. The award -- named after local cultural benefactor and long-time festival board member Peter J. Owens -- honors actors whose work "exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity." Hoffman will receive the honor at the festival's Film Society Awards Night on April 23 at San Francisco's Ritz Carlton Hotel. Advertisement There will be a tribute to Hoffman the following day at the Castro Theatre, featuring an onstage interview with Hoffman, a film clip retrospective of his career, and a screening of "Lenny." Hoffman was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his 1974 portrayal of comedian Lenny Bruce. Hoffman joins a list of Peter J. Owens Award recipients that includes Nicolas Cage, Stockard Channing, Sean Penn, Winona Ryder and Kevin Spacey. Festival organizers previously announced that they will present director Robert Altman with the Film Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing. The festival runs from April 17-May 1. TOM SELLECK'S NEXT NBC announced in Burbank, Calif., Tuesday that Tom Selleck will guest-star in four upcoming episodes of the drama "Third Watch." The four episodes will close the show's fourth season on NBC in late April and May. Selleck -- who recently announced that he will star in a new comedy series pilot for NBC -- will play a journalist who becomes romantically involved with paramedic Kim (Kim Raver), and works as a confidential police informant. Advertisement The new pilot -- "Touch 'Em All McCall" -- is described as a romantic comedy in which Selleck will play a former big league baseball player who returns to his hometown to manage a minor league team. JACK BLACK'S NEXT According to a report in Daily Variety, HBO has a deal with Jack Black to develop a comedy series about a couple of guys running a record shop in Hollywood. Black ("High Fidelity," "Shallow Hal") will produce the series, "Black Market Music." Seth Rogen and Jason Segel -- who have written for and appeared in the TV series "Undeclared" -- will star as the record store owners who have different ideas of success. Black -- who played a similar character in "High Fidelity" -- said he hoped to bring actual musicians into the show, with recording artists appearing in storylines and performing on the show. REALITY TV AND LAWSUITS According to the Hollywood Reporter, the reality TV craze is engendering a companion trend -- more lawsuits. The paper said that entertainment industry leaders and the international group that oversees format rights foresee reality TV becoming a battleground for legal disputes over format-rights disputes. Independent reality TV producers said they are already getting hit with a storm of "paper pitches" for potential new shows -- and it's just a matter of time before some of those who are tossing ideas out there take the producers to court, accusing them of stealing original ideas. Advertisement David Lyle, chairman of the Format Recognition and Protection Group, said reality TV formats have become the new El Dorado -- a national lottery with potentially huge amounts of money at stake and no end of people lining up to sell their ideas for new shows. "We are seeing unscripted formats being pitched that are reduced to just three or four lines," said Lyle. "The problem is that these are not true formats that can be protected; they are concepts, and this is fraught with potential legal problems." GAMES NETWORKS PLAY NBC plans to bring back two classic reality shows, "The Dating Game" and "The Newlywed Game." The network has ordered eight episodes of each show, with plans calling for airing them back-to-back during the 2003-04 TV season. Both shows were prime time hits for ABC in the late 1960s. PUBLICIST IMPROVES SPEED IN L.A. MARATHON Julian Myers, a veteran Hollywood publicist, ran in Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon at 85 -- and actually improved considerably on his time from last year. Myers covered the 26.2-mile course in eight hours, 36 minutes, 50 seconds. That was seven minutes faster than last year. A few days before the race, Myers told United Press International that he was concerned about how well he would perform. Advertisement "They tell me it's age," he said. "My body feels the same, but I know I've slowed down." Myers was competing in his 19th marathon, dating back to 1983.
