BERLIN (AFP) ― It has seen wacky bets performed before millions and hosted an A-list of Hollywood stars, but after a three-decade run Germany’s once top-rated TV variety show is getting the axe.A victim of plummeting ratings, a fast-graying fan base and charges that its concept has grown stale, “Wetten, dass..? (Wanna Bet?)” will screen for the last time in December after 33 years.Such is the dated cult status of the silly-challenge show, once Europe’s most successful program, that Sunday newspa

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Mickey Rooney, the child actor who danced with Judy Garland, married Ava Gardner and made more than 250 movies, died Sunday at his home in North Hollywood. He was 93.Celebrity website TMZ said Rooney had been ill for some time and died of natural causes. Police in Los Angeles said members of his large family were at his side.“It is with sadness that I say my father has passed today,” his son, choreographer Michael Rooney, said on Twitter. “I loved him and so did the world. He

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Social media erupted in outrage and counter-attacks Friday after U.S. comedian Stephen Colbert used language that mocked Asian-Americans in what was intended as an anti-racist jibe.Colbert, who is liberal but parodies a blustery conservative on his late night talk show, took aim at the Washington Redskins football team whose name is considered offensive by many Native Americans.Colbert mocked team owner Dan Snyder who has announced a fund to support Native Americans while reje

PASADENA, California ― Jeremy Piven was 37 years old when he was anointed with “The Fresh Face of the Year” acting award. At that point he’d been performing for 29 years.He’d co-starred in nearly 40 movies and negotiated TV series like “Ellen,” “Cupid” and “The Larry Sanders Show.” But his wasn’t a household name. “I was a late bloomer compared to other people,” he says, in the board room of a hotel here. “But for me it was the right journey.”Piven actually grew up in the theater. His parents ra

Korean and foreign celebrities have joined hands to show viewers both at home and abroad what it is like to marry a person from another culture.Major South Korean broadcaster MBC and SM Entertainment are jointly launching the second season of “We Got Married ― Global Edition” in April.“We Got Married” is a television show that sets up celebrities in hypothetical marriages and shows how they live as “married couples” over the course of 15 episodes. The global edition of the show will feature both

CHICAGO (AP) ― Oprah Winfrey is selling Harpo Studios in Chicago to a developer, but the studio will remain on the property for another two years. Winfrey filmed “The Oprah Winfrey Show” at the studio from 1990 to 2011, when she ended the talk show to start the Oprah Winfrey Network on cable. “We have entered into a purchasing agreement with Sterling Bay for the four-building Harpo Studios campus in Chicago’s West Loop,” Harpo told Crain’s Chicago Business in a statement. “We expect the transact

In China, Korean TV drama “My Love from the Star” seems to have stirred up a syndrome that stands strong even amid a series of national tragedies ― a terrorist attack that left 33 people dead and a flight gone missing with another 152 of its nationals aboard.Kim Soo-hyun, the male lead in the drama, has become the heartthrob of Chinese girls. In the series, he played Do Min-jun, an alien in the form of a perfect male specimen who falls in love with an arrogant A-list actress played by Jun Ji-hyu

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron was looking for an anti-“Gravity” follow up to his blockbuster space film, and he found it with a rare excursion into television.Cuaron and sci-fi auteur J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” the “Star Trek” movies) are executive producers of “Believe,” a drama about a child whose supernatural powers put her and the world at risk.The premise came to him while he waited during “the endless process of special effects” on “Gravity,” Cuaron said at a media eve

Nostalgia for ’90s sparks retro culture boom

Former news anchor and reporter Chung Sung-keun, 59, has been named CEO of Arirang TV, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday. Chung will take over the chief post at the nation’s biggest English-language TV network from Sohn Ji-ae, a former CNN reporter. His three-year term starts March 1. He has served as a reporter, an anchor and an editor at the nation’s two largest radio and television networks, KBS and SBS. Arirang TV operates three channels ― Arirang World, Arirang Korea a

JYJ member to star as president’s bodyguard in SBS’ ‘Three Days’

The popular MBC variety show “Infinite Challenge” team took on another challenge to cast Jamaica’s sprint star Usain Bolt in the last episode, which aired on Saturday. The “Jamaica Special” episode featured the three cast members ― Haha, Jung Hyung-don and Noh Hong-chul ― trying to “lure” Bolt by tweeting a photo of them holding a sketchbook reading “We Love Bolt.” A few hours later, Bolt retweeted the message saying “Maaaad.” Haha, who was excited about Bolt’s reply, urgently called in the othe