Comings and goings at 'Downton Abbey' next season

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley MacLaine will be returning to "Downton Abbey" next season, and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast.MacLaine will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley's freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and "Masterpiece" on PBS said Saturday. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa will play a house guest....

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Lindsay Lohan driving case returns to LA court

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan's attorney returns to court Friday for a hearing in the actress's latest criminal case, as discussions continue about a possible plea deal before trial.The 26-year-old isn't required to attend the hearing.The hearing is intended to take care of any issues before a March 18 trial on misdemeanor charges that Lohan lied to police about a June car crash and was driving...

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9/11 victim's mom upset film used son's last words

NEW CANAAN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman whose son died in the Sept. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center says she's upset the Oscar-winning movie "Zero Dark Thirty" used a recording of his last words without her permission.Mary Fetchet of New Canaan told CBS News and the Daily News this week that she was shocked the filmmakers didn't ask if they could use the voicemail her son, Bradley Fetchet,...

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'Argo' wins best picture on scattered Oscar night

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films. "Argo" won best picture as expected, along with two other prizes. But "Life of Pi" won the most awards with four, including a surprise win for director Ang Lee."Les Miserables" also won three Academy...

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Tyler, Perry lead Songwriters Hall of Fame class

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Songwriters Hall of Fame is saluting 1970s and '80s rock 'n' roll with its 2013 induction class.Joe Perry and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner will join the hall of fame this year along with the writers of iconic rock hits "Love Is a Battlefield" and "Heartache Tonight." The ceremony will be held June 13 in New York.Aerosmith and Foreigner...

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Lady Gaga says she's had hip surgery

NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga says she's had surgery to fix her hip.The 26-year-old singer posted on her blog late Wednesday that she had hip surgery and it "happened so fast." She canceled her "Born This Way Ball" tour last week.She thanked her fans in the post, saying they gave her "a lot of strength." Lady Gaga said that as she was wheeled to surgery, she reflected on her fans. She wrote: "Sometimes...

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Robin Roberts returns to 'Good Morning America'

NEW YORK (AP) — Five months after undergoing a bone marrow transplant, Robin Roberts is back on television in the morning.Roberts said Wednesday she'd been waiting 174 days "to say this, good morning America."The morning-show host is recovering from MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease. She looked thin with close-cropped hair but was smiling broadly, back at work on "Good Morning America" at ABC's...

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NBC hires former Obama strategist

NEW YORK (AP) — David Axelrod, former strategist and aide to President Obama, has landed a new job at NBC News.The network said Tuesday that Axelrod is joining as a senior political analyst. He'll contribute to broadcasts on both NBC News and the cable network MSNBC.Axelrod helped run Obama's successful campaigns in 2008 and 2012 and worked as an adviser to the president during his first term. The...

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Singer Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Perhaps there was one heartbreak too many for Mindy McCready.The former country star apparently took her own life on Sunday at her home in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, and left behind two young sons.McCready had attempted suicide at least three times since 2005,...

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TV show with Pistorius' dead girlfriend airs

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Reeva Steenkamp's last wish for her family before she was shot dead at boyfriend Oscar Pistorius' home was for them to watch her in a reality TV show that went on air in South Africa on Saturday night, two days after her killing.Sharon Steenkamp, Reeva's cousin, told The Associated Press that the model and law graduate was "proud of being in the show" and reminded them in their...

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Judge sets May trial date for Kardashian divorce

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kim Kardashian has a due date for her baby and now a trial date for her divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries.A judge on Friday set a May 6 trial for the reality TV star who wants to end her marriage before July, when her child with Kanye West is due.Kardashian filed for divorce on Oct. 31, 2011, after she and Humphries had been married just 72 days. Their lavish, star-studded...

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Stevie Wonder not happy with Lil Wayne's lyrics

ATLANTA (AP) — Stevie Wonder is not happy with Lil Wayne's vulgar lyrics that reference Emmett Till, a black teen who was killed in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman.The R&B legend says the rapper's disturbing verse should not have made it beyond the recording studio for the world to hear."You can't equate that to Emmett Till," Wonder said. "You just cannot do that. ... I think you...

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'Sesame Street' nears 1 billion views on YouTube

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearing 1 billion views on YouTube, "Sesame Street" is headed for Justin Bieber territory.The children's program is closing in on the kind of rarified digital milestone usually reserved for the likes of pop stars and cat videos. "Sesame Street" will soon pass 1 billion views on YouTube and it's celebrating the mark with a campaign to put itself over the hump."Sesame Street" on Thursday...

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Eric Church leads ACM Awards nominations with 7

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — They don't call him Chief for nothing: Eric Church is the top nominee at this year's Academy of Country Music Awards.The rising country music star has seven nominations for the April 7 awards show in Las Vegas. Hunter Hayes is next with six, followed by Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert at five apiece.Swift and Lambert are up for the academy's top honor — entertainer of the...

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Back to New Orleans: Beyonce to perform at Essence

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Beyonce is coming back to New Orleans and back to the Superdome.After entertaining a huge television audience in a packed dome during the Super Bowl halftime show, Beyonce is now scheduled to perform at the Essence Festival.Festival officials said Monday that she will return to the dome to headline one of three night concerts during the festival, which is set for the Fourth of July...

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Russell and Rhys play Russian spies in the 'burbs

NEW YORK (AP) — It all started with a slap for Matthew Rhys. Trying out for "The Americans," he took one in the puss from Keri Russell.This new FX drama, whose third episode airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST, focuses on two KGB spies posing as an ordinary American couple shortly after Ronald Reagan became president.As Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, they have a comfortable home in a Washington suburb,...

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All eyes on Frank Ocean as Grammy Awards approach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Everybody's thinkin' about Frank Ocean.Ocean is a cause celebre and the man with the momentum as Sunday's Grammy Awards approach. One of six top nominees with six nominations apiece, the 25-year-old R&B singer turned cultural talking point will have the music world's attention.It remains to be seen if it will be the "Thinkin Bout You" singer's night, but there's no question...

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Stars salute MusiCares honoree Bruce Springsteen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Be it concert or charity auction, Bruce Springsteen can bring any event to a crescendo.Springsteen briefly took over auctioneering duties before being honored as MusiCares person of the year Friday night, exhorting the crowd to bid on a signed Fender electric guitar by amping up the deal. The 63-year-old rock 'n' roll star moved the bid north from $60,000 by offering a series of...

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Uggs? Ugh. NY Fashion Week battles the elements

NEW YORK (AP) — Mother Nature is clearly not a fashionista.An impending blizzard forced Michael Kors to arrive at New York Fashion Week's Project Runway show on Friday in — gasp — Uggs."I came in looking like Pam Anderson," he joked backstage, where the offending boots had been traded for tasteful black leather.Marc Jacobs postponed his Monday night show until Thursday, citing delivery problems, but...

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Morrissey rules as The Governor in 'Walking Dead'

NEW YORK (AP) — "Brother against brother," says The Governor fiercely. "Winner goes free. Fight to the death."Is this any way to run a town?AMC's zombie drama "The Walking Dead" ended the first half of this season with a wrenching faceoff: roughneck brothers Merle and Daryl were pitted in a bloody test of loyalty to The Governor as he rallied his flock — the residents of Woodbury, Ga. — to goad them...

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