Celebrity Jews

Upbeat/downbeat

Live comedian news: In September, we profiled Stella, a comedy troupe made up of three, bright young Jewish comedians who formerly appeared on the MTV series "The State." Stella (Michael Ian Black, David Wain and Michael Showalter) are appearing at 9 p.m. Saturday, April 24, at the Independent, 628 Divisadero, S.F. (415) 771-1420.

Dead comedian news: Just released is the DVD version of Neil Simon's comedic gem "The Sunshine Boys," starring Walter Matthau and George Burns. The DVD extras of interest are the taped auditions of Jack Benny and Phil Silvers. Benny was cast as one of the two leads, but his sudden death (1974) led to his replacement by Burns, his best friend.

The semi-comic world of celeb Kabbalah was in the news again as British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Saks denounced the Kabbalah Center — the group most celeb kabbalists, including Madonna, belong to. Said Saks: "This organization does not fall within the remit of the chief rabbinate or any other authority in the U.K. recognized by us."

Apparently sharing Saks' disdain for this group is Madonna pal Stella McCartney, Paul's daughter and a top fashion designer. McCartney, a report says, was open to Kabbalah study since her late mother, Linda Eastman, was Jewish, but was put off by requests for big contributions to Madonna's group. As to reports that Madonna no longer plays on Shabbat and will tour Israel — well, we are sure the chief rabbi would join us in saying, "That's nice."




Dylan does lingerie

Less hilarious is the news that Victoria's Secret, the lingerie company, has canceled its high-rated TV fashion show this year because of the fallout from the Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl and the subsequent FCC indecency crackdown. A crackdown more than a bit motivated by election year politics. Meanwhile, Leslie Wexner, CEO of the company that owns Victoria's Secret, scored a publicity coup by getting rock legend Bob Dylan to appear in Victoria's Secret ads. So, what seemed a few weeks ago as a "sell-out" by Dylan now has aspects of a "free speech" statement.




Television gigs

On a more upbeat note, a bunch of Jewish actors have upcoming TV gigs: Adam Arkin ("Chicago Hope") will appear this May as Katey Sagal's new love interest in the hit series "Eight Simple Rules." He may become a regular next fall. (Sagal is Jewish on her father's side). ... Gina Gershon ("Showgirls") has landed the lead in the fall ABC comedy "Hot Momma," about a hip wedding planner. Gershon can be seen on the IFC cable channel in a documentary series, running through the end of April, about the music tour she did to support her 2003 film, "Prey For Rock and Roll."... Gene Simmons, veteran KISS rocker, will play a Mafia kingpin in a May episode of "Third Watch." ... William Shatner will almost certainly co-star in a fall spin-off of "The Practice." Shatner will also re-appear as an airhead beauty pageant host in the 2005 sequel of the hit film "Miss Congeniality."... Jessalyn Gilsig ("Boston Public") has been cast as an "NYPD Blue" detective for the last five episodes of the season. The attractive blonde is Jewish on her father's side.

"NYPD Blue" will end next year after an 11-year run. Its demise will mark the first time since 1981 that a Steven Bochco-created series hasn't been on the air — unless his fall 2004 Fox pilot, "NYPD 2069," is picked up. "2069" is about a present-day cop who is frozen in suspended animation and wakes up in 2069 ready to do his job again — but America is now a police state. Producer-writer Bochco had a remarkable run with the hits "NYPD Blue," "Hill Street Blues" and "LA Law." However, his last three series didn't last very long.

Finally, in the "What were they thinking?" category, there was the weak re-make of the great 1960 gladiator film, "Spartacus," on the USA network last week. The Stanley Kubrick-directed original starred Kirk Douglas, who gave an almost impossible-to-match performance. In a famous scene, all the defeated Roman slaves proclaim, "I am Spartacus," to frustrate a Roman hunt for Douglas' character. We could just envision Douglas meeting Goran Visnjic, who played the lead in the re-make: "Hello, I'm Goran"..."Hi, boychik, I am Spartacus."




Columnist Nate Bloom is the Oakland-based editor of www.Jewhoo.com.