March 28, 2007
Nielsen Remix: When Nature Calls
The push from Oprah paid off: Discovery broke out of cable and into broadcast-size numbers last week. Hereâs how its "Planet" series stacked up against the rest of the shows...
Showtime for "Wendell"
"Bottle Rocket" fanatics, start your engines: After sitting on the shelf for an interminable two years, "The Wendell Baker Story" is finally coming out in the U.S., in limited release...
Day 47: When Does Melky Play?
Does anyone else wonder if Joe Torre is really going to find enough playing time for Melky Cabrera? Does anyone else think that an infrequently used Cabrera could be hitting...
Francis: I don't hate Isiah
By MARC BERMAN It was almost humorous to hear Isiah Thomas this morning say how he thinks Steve Francis has every right to complain publicly about his minutes because he's...
PROMO: Malaysia, Truly Awful
Anyone who's ever been stuck watching BBC World to hear another English-speaking voice on a long trip to foreign lands knows about the bizarre tourist board commercials that play in...
AIR SUPPLY: What's behind the Heathrow problem
Next time you're fighting for fresh air to breathe at London's Heathrow and wondering, why so crowded, think of these words:â68 million passengers will fly through Heathrow this year in...
Deal of the Day
FCUK flats! Wedge espadrilles are the perfect summer shoe and French Connection has these striped canvas Crista Wedges on sale for $49.99 down from $108.They give some comfortable height with...
Award picks
By MARK HALE In today's Post baseball preview, you can check out the award predictions from our baseball columnist, Joel Sherman. I wanted to make my own award picks, though,...
My Fair Grindhouse
About a year and a half ago, I was driving along Astoria Boulevard in East Elmhurst, Queens, on the way to my mom's nursing home when I suddenly spotted a...
What would HRH Say?
So what does Helen Mirren do now that she's finally won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Elizabeth II in "The Queen''? According to Jo Blo, she's going for a...
Rock of Ages
Daniel Lehman of NYU's student newspaper, Washington Square News asked Chris Rock what he thought of my savage pan of Rock's "I Think I Love My Wife.'' You might think...
FLORIDA - THE SUNSHINE STATE
On March 3, 1845, the peninsula of Florida became the 27th state to join the union. It covers 53,997 square miles. The capital city is Tallahassee. Legend has it that...
MOURNING AFTER
AFTER he'd read just a few pages of the galley proofs from "The Year of Magical Thinking" - Joan Didi on's searing memoir about the year in which she mourned...
AMBITIOUS, NO STAYING POWER
THERE'S so much theatrical ambi tion on display in "Stay," a new play by Lucy Thurber, that it's a shame to report that it doesn't work. This fantastical effort about...
DADDY CLEAREST
TALK about a coincidence - the same lab "Maury" uses for its famous paternity tests is involved in the paternity mystery surrounding Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn. So why...
LAST STAND
HEY, you wise guys, it's good to see all o' youse again. I know I shouldn't feel this way about a bunch of fictional characters, but after all these years...
'IDOL' WILL TAKE MORE TIME TO SAY GOOD-BYE
FOX has suddenly de cided to expand the popular "American Idol" results show by a half hour starting next month. "Idol" executives say they went up a half hour to...
HOWARD'S GIRL LOOKS 'VIEW-ISH'
ROSIE O'Donnell didn't like it very much when Howard Stern used to call her "Pumpkinhead" on his radio show. Well, who would? The nickname rankled Rosie, she said yesterday on...
STARR REPORT
Mills' lane Is Heather Mills planning for a longer stay in the U.S. post- "Dancing with the Stars"? Mills is looking for a "holiday home" in Malibu Co lony, according...
SCHLOCK AROUND THE CLOCK
IF you want to sample Times Square moviegoing in all of its raffish glory from the 1970s and early 1980s, you don't need a time machine - just take the...
BUY YOUR OWN GRINDHOUSE
MUCH has been made of the copious violence and sex in "Grindhouse," but if the Tarantino-Rodriguez flick is the worst thing you see all year, well then, you're just not...
ONLY SONG REMAINS THE SAME
THE music in "U-Carmen" - Bi zet's 19th-century opera "Car men" - is familiar, even to someone who has never set foot in an opera house. But the setting -...
GREECE IS THE WORD
WHEN it comes to rolling the restaurant dice, the stakes don't run higher than at Anthos, which just planted its "New Greek" flag at 36 W. 52nd St., across from...
PRANKSGIVING DINNER
THIS Sunday, let us give pranks - for the brutal, often hilarious antics in restaurant kitchens. No one does April Fools' Day, or any other excuse for a practical joke,...
JUST OPENED
* Azza 137 E. 55th St., at Lexington Avenue (212) 755-7055 Starters: $5 to $14; entrees: $20 to $32 Midtown now has its little patch of North Africa in this...
ALBANY OKS BUDGET DEAL
ALBANY - Gov. Spitzer and the leaders of the Legislature last night announced a tentative deal on a new state budget that adds $850 million in Medicaid and school-aid spending...
MIKE'S 'STAND' ON TAXICABS
Backing up his taxi chief, Mayor Bloomberg expressed doubts yesterday that yellow-taxi drivers could be lured to stands outside Manhattan. "If it worked, I think it'd be a great idea,"...
HI-TECH 'GRATE' ESCAPE
Firefighters rescued a man and woman from a burning Upper West Side building yesterday - thanks to a thermal-imaging sensor that detected the pair huddled beside a rear window blocked...
SAY IT SAINT JOE - TUITION IS 25G
The New York Archdiocese is inviting youngsters back to a Greenwich Village parish schoolhouse it shuttered last year - at $25,000 a pop. Now, working-class parents who had paid about...
IT'S ROME OR BUST
Parishioners of two Manhattan churches closed by Edward Cardinal Egan have taken the first step toward what they ultimately expect will be an appeal to the Vatican to reopen their...
COOKING UP MATZO DEAL
It's a compromise worthy of King Solomon. If a Rockland County rabbi can produce the paperwork showing his school-bus oven is safe, then officials won't force him to move the...
NEW TRIAL FOR LIVERY 'KILLER'
ALBANY - The state's highest court yesterday overturned the murder conviction of a man accused of killing a Manhattan livery driver. In ordering a new trial for Nico LeGrand, the...
WEINER REVS UP '09 BID
Rep. Anthony Weiner has stepped up his bid for mayor in 2009, sending letters to big-time Democratic donors and following up with phone calls to hit them up for campaign...
COLUMBIA WRIST-SLAP
Columbia University gave seven students who rushed the stage and prevented the head of the Minutemen from speaking a slap on the wrist following a probe of the Oct. 4...
YOU'LL GET BURNED IF YOU BREAK THE RULES
Eating ice cream on Main Street was once prohibited under the laws of Fire Island's unofficial party capital, the Village of Ocean Beach. While that rule has since been dissolved,...
'BEASTS' OF THE BEACH
Fire Island's Ocean Beach is a lawless site of cops "gone wild," the district attorney claimed yesterday, warning that several officers - and even the mayor - could be charged...
BLOOMBERG DEFENDS NYPD 'SPIES'
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday vigorously defended the NYPD's surveillance operations leading up to the 2004 Republican National Convention, saying they were intended to uncover terrorists, as well as disruptive activists. "We...
'1997 BODY' HORROR
Some people have skeletons in their closet, others just store them in the basement. The decomposed remains of a carnival worker who was reported missing 10 years ago were found...
VESTS FOR ALL AUXILIARIES
Two weeks after a pair of Manhattan auxiliary cops were murdered, Mayor Bloomberg said the city will spend $3.3 million to outfit every such officer with a protective vest. The...
COP SHOT MAKING POT BUST
A Brooklyn cop was shot last night by a drug suspect who was quickly arrested, police said. It was the fifth attack on an NYPD member in two weeks, including...
IT'S MARTHA VS. KATONAH
Martha Stewart has designs on trademarking the name of the Westchester town she recently moved to - but residents there don't think the scheme is such a good thing. The...
BELL TATTLER SHOOTS DOWN OWN TALE
A Queens ex-con who apparently told police that Sean Bell shot him last year in a drug turf battle - a few months before Bell was killed in a hail...
I 'CHECK MATED' GARSON
There's no such thing as a free lunch - unless your name is Gerald Garson. In the first day of his testi mony against the former judge, star witness Paul...
CAR HITS GIRL, 2, WALKING TO DADDY
A 2-year-old girl was hit by a car in Brooklyn yesterday as she tried to cross a street to see her father, police said. The toddler had been with her...
GAY WINS HISTORIC S.I. VOTE
Staten Island voters decided yesterday to send the borough's first openly gay lawmaker to the state Assembly. Democrat Matthew Titone won the 61st Assembly District seat with 49 percent of...
CONEY IS. CONDO PULLBACK
A developer proposing a $2 billion, Vegas-style entertainment complex for Coney Island is desperately trying to convince City Hall to back it by shifting more than 900 planned luxury condo...
HOUSE ME$$ES WITH CITY
The House last night rammed through a sweeping homeland-security funding change that would force the NYPD to go hat-in-hand to bus and rail agencies for grant money to protect mass-transit...
'MOBSTER BOOKIES' BUSTED
A massive, mob-backed sports-betting ring was smashed yesterday when cops surprised 10 alleged crew members with arrest warrants at their homes, authorities said. The defendants, allegedly associates of the Genovese...
SUBWAY HERO'S LAWYERS AT WAR
The lawyer whom the Subway Superman accused of demanding big bucks in order to hawk his story has been jilted by her business partner - and yesterday put the blame...
STAB COP'S AMAZING RETURN
The young cop stabbed in the brain during a wild Brooklyn subway battle two weeks ago is leaving the hospital today, and vowed yesterday to be back on the beat...
CHECK UP ON MALPRACTICE DOCS
A medical watchdog group yesterday announced the first national public database of malpractice suits against doctors. The state court records, compiled by HealthGrades - a health-care rating organization - mentions...
'MOB' ATT'Y: MY HANDLE IS TOO HOT
Skinny Dom's attorney apparently wants to be known as Joey No-Name. Joseph Corozzo, the lawyer for Dominic "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia, has asked a federal judge presiding over his client's upcoming...
A 'GRAN' SLAM
ALBANY - The Republican-controlled state Senate yesterday unanimously approved the "Granny Bill" to increase penalties for attacks against senior citizens - but it appeared the proposal would be dead on...
BUILDING COLLAPSE
Workers on a vacant Harlem building escaped with their lives yesterday when it collapsed around them. The four-story building on Lexington Avenue between East 115th and 116th streets started crumbling...
STUDENT-SEX RAP VS. TEACH
A Long Island substitute teacher was charged yesterday with sexually abusing a 16-year-old student, authorities said. Suffolk County Deputy Inspector Robert Oswald said Thomas Baudier, 22, who has been working...
CUNY'S $CHOLARS HONORED
Five City University students have combined for a hat trick - taking home three of the nation's most prestigious scholarships. Christine Curella, who studied urban planning around the world as...
OY! IT'S KOSHER COMBAT
Everything is kosher at Manhattan's popular Le Marais steakhouse, its owners insist. And they've filed a $10 million lawsuit to bar a former supervisor at the restaurant from saying otherwise....
ASTOR-NOMICAL SPENDING
Brooke Astor's financial guardian blew through $1.2 million of her massive $130 million estate in two months after wresting control of her finances from her son, court papers show. Between...
COP TENANT-SLAY TRIAL STARTS
Brooklyn prosecutors opened their case yesterday against a decorated NYPD lieutenant, alleging that the 18-year veteran acted recklessly when he whipped out a tiny, five-shot Colt and pumped three bullets...
'SOPRANOS' MOB SCENE
It was a blood-red carpet premiere for "The Sopranos" yesterday as the stars came out to Radio City Music Hall to watch the first two episodes of what is supposed...
SNOW CANCER SHOCK
The colon cancer that presidential press secretary Tony Snow survived two years ago has returned and spread to his liver, stunned White House officials said yesterday. "I'm gonna beat it...
NO WAY, HILLARY
WASHINGTON - A poll released yesterday shows that half of all voters will not back Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. Despite her front-runner status in the Democratic primary field, a...
JUDD BOOTS 'PERV' HUBBY
Country singer Wynonna Judd yesterday said she's divorcing her husband of nearly four years after he was busted for allegedly sexually abusing a minor. Nashville police said Daniel Roach, 49,...
DEATH OF ANNA SON IS PROBED
The coroner's inquest into the death of Anna Nicole Smith's son got off to a slow, secret start yesterday, with lawyers and a judge meeting all day behind closed doors....
SINGLE-FOLK TALE
One-third of all American kids live in single-parent homes or with unmarried parents, according to Census Bureau figures released yesterday. The bureau, which polled 100,000 homes nationwide, found that about...
SAD BRIDE MISSES TRAGIC CHIARA
DANVILLE, Ky. - The tragic Manhattan beauty caught in a fatal gang crossfire in Boston was three months away from fulfilling a childhood dream - being the maid of honor...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
Manhattan* Police arrested a thug in the fatal stabbing of one man and wounding of another in Washington Heights, cops said yesterday. Daniel Lizardo, 48, allegedly attacked Norberto Colon-Noa, 37,...
LOTTERY
NEW YORK Midday Nos. Tue.: 340 Lucky Sum: 7 / Midday Win-4 Tue.: 1466; Lucky Sum: 17 / Evening Nos. Tue.: 992; Lucky Sum: 20 / Evening Win-4 Tue.: 8977;...
WFP: WEINGARTEN'S FAKE PROTESTERS
The far-left Working Families Party and its minions - 27 members of the City Council, led by Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson, answering to teachers-union boss Randi Weingarten - are...
THE SENATE'S ARMCHAIR GENERALS
"Wars cannot be run from these hallowed and comfortable and sanctified chambers 10,000 miles away from the war zone. How about allowing the officers, the men and the commanders in...
KEEP ON CRACKING DOWN
More than a decade after a revolutionary approach to policing sent crime in New York City tumbling to lows not experienced since the early '60s, new evidence suggests that it...
HOSTAGE SAILORS -- BRITAIN'S IMPOTENCE
IT'S been a tough month for the British Navy. On March 7, it learned that Tony Blair's Labor government was going ahead with drastic cuts in its budget and number...
GULF CRISIS -- HOW U.S. CARRIERS CAN HELP
YESTERDAY, a second U.S. carrier battle group, centered on USS Stennis, joined the Eisenhower battle group in the Gulf off Iran for what were described as dual-strike exercises - in...
KEEPING NYERS SAFE
EDITOR'S NOTE: Below are remarks the mayor prepared for delivery to the media yesterday. THE 2004 Republican National Convention was the largest event the city had held since 9/11. We...
THE PRICE OF ULSTER'S PEACE
THE 13 years since the Downing Street Declaration, when the British announced negotiations on Northern Ireland's future that would include Sinn Fein-IRA, and the eight years since the Good Friday...
ILLNESS ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
THE ISSUE: John Edwards' announcements about his wife's cancer and his campaign plans. Maybe I'm being cynical, but I don't think that if John Edwards were leading in the polls,...
IRAN GOES OVERBOARD: A MARITIME MISTAKE
THE ISSUE: Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint. There is no better time for England to force Iran's hand than now ("Iranians Grab Brit's Ship," March...
TRIBUNE DEBT MAY SINK ZELL: ANALYSTS
Winning the auction for Tribune Co. may prove to be only half the battle for Sam Zell. The Chicago real estate billionaire's late-inning bid is now considered the frontrunner in...
THE HARD SELL
Gap, struggling to lure shoppers to its stores, faces an even harder sell when it comes to finding a new marketing chief. After slumping sales, fashion missteps and an exodus...
CHILD IS KILLED, PARENT AXES 60
Meredith Corp. is shutting Child magazine and firing 60 people across its publishing group, including all 30 people on the magazine. Only six staffers will be kept on board to...
BOSOM BUDDIES
JANE Pratt, the trailblazing magazine editor who either quit or was forced out of her eponymous mag Jane at Condé Nast in mid-2005, finally launches a comeback with her own...
WARNER WHACK
Call it one sad song. It goes like this: For the past 26 days since EMI rejected a takeover bid by Warner Music, the New York-based company has suffered a...
SORRELL DOESN'T TAKE LAWSUIT PERSONALLY
Investors in the world's second largest ad group are protesting the use of their profits to pay for chief Martin Sorrell's personal legal fight over a "sex and the dwarf"...
HOSPITAL GETS HEALTHY BIDS
IN order to build its own research facility, Mt. Sinai Hospital is selling a pre-war apartment building at 1212 Fifth Ave., along with the rights to construct a 315,000-foot building...
$1.15B FOR 230 PARK
Dubai-based investment holding company Istithmar has reached an agreement to sell the Helmsley Building at 230 Park Ave. back to Anthony Westreich of Monday Properties and Goldman Sachs for $1.15...
OFFICE CALLED: YOU'RE OFF TODAY
Bosses can now reach you anywhere instantly at the touch of a button, but it's probably for your own good. New York's first big-brother hookup that will saturate employees' cell...
REEL GOOD TIME FOR TROUT FANS
THE opener for New York State's trout season on Sunday will see an ever increasing number of anglers heading to the Catskills for that rite of spring. Delaware County will...
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
AMERICAN LEAGUE CY YOUNG Josh Beckett, Red Sox No one will benefit more from Daisuke Matsuzaka's arrival than Beckett, who, under less scrutiny and with more understanding when to use...
FLAMEOUTS AT 60-FEET, 6-INCHES
For every Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden who have taken the Apple by storm, there have been many other young pitchers who failed to live up to their advanced billing....
FOOLISH PLEASURES
WE WERE taken in because we wanted to be taken in. We were fooled because we wanted to be fooled, because there is nothing that captures the imagination of a...
NL PREVIEW
That other league has the Yankees, the Tigers, and all the buzz with the Red Sox, but the National League has the World Champion Cardinals. The competition, the improving West...
AL PREVIEW
THE AL is fascinating. Aside from the Orioles, Devil Rays, Royals and perhaps the Mariners, you can make a case for every other team in the league to make the...
WELL SCHOOLED
One of the greatest careers ever turned in by a Georgetown Hoya almost ended before it began when four men sat in a small office in Maryland's Northwestern High School...
TREY-MENDOUS!
John Beilein saw former Nebraska coach Danny Nee draw up an inbounds play during Beilein's coaching clinic in November and immediately had his team run it during a scrimmage. The...
CLEMSON DODGES DISASTER
K.C. Rivers said that getting to the NIT Championship game helps "get the bitter taste out of my mouth." The "bitter taste" comes from the crumbling of a Clemson season...
RULAND, IONA SETTLE
A week after The Post reported it, Iona and Jeff Ruland have officially reached a settlement on the final two years of his contract. "Jeff Ruland has been a loyal...
BERGTRAUM'S TWO IN WOMEN'S FOUR
Ed Grezinsky may have a difficult decision to make next week. The Bergtraum head coach has two players in the women's Final Four after Shannon Bobbitt helped Tennessee past Ole...
RUTH LEADS LEGENDS SEMIS
The Post's Legends Mania is knee-deep in the semifinals round, as Babe Ruth leads Walt Frazier big early on, and Lawrence Taylor holds a mild edge over Mark Messier. In...
SPORTS SHORTS
TENNIS: Federer falls again Two weeks after ending Roger Federer's 41-match winning streak, Guillermo Canas beat Federer again yesterday, this time 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (5) in a fourth-round epic...
MITCHELL'S HAPPY HERE
Kawika Mitchell admitted that his free-agency experience was not what he expected it to be. More than three weeks into signing period, there were few NFL teams interested in his...
IN DIPI-TTS
Too-familiar gloom settled over Nassau Coliseum like fog over Long Island Sound last night, just as the Devils celebrated clinching their playoff berth. The last time the Islanders won a...
DESPERATE MEASURES
A desperate Isiah Thomas, his Knicks sinking into oblivion and playoff hopes fleeting, gathered his team after practice in the middle of the gym floor yesterday. The Knicks coach/president begged...
NO 1-ON-1 FOR FRANCIS, COACH
So buried in Isiah Thomas' doghouse, Stevie Franchise may want to change his nickname to Stevie Fido. Thomas declined yesterday to sit down with Francis and explain why he's receiving...
'PEN RUNNING DRY
VIERA, Fla. - Omar Minaya believes there is somebody with the Mets' bullpen that is going to be the key to the relief corps. He won't reveal who. "It wouldn't...
DOC OF THE TOWN
THE greatest phenom in the history of New York baseball was able to ease his way into the spotlight 23 years ago, to enter the city's baseball cauldron via the...
OMAR ON HUNT FOR AN A+ ARM
1. With so much parity in the game and so many teams feeling they are in the race, June and July trades do not all follow the familiar formula of...
METS' NEXT BANNER READS 'NL CHAMPS'
THE Mets have to achieve two goals this year. But they're unusual because at the same time, the Mets have to repeat and also exceed last season. In 2007, the...
ACHING MILLEDGE STILL WONDERING IF HE'LL MAKE TEAM
VIERA, Fla. - Lastings Milledge's right hand contusion didn't improve yesterday. "Same," Milledge said. The Mets outfielder is still trying to make the team to start the season, but he...
EIGHT BALL
There are times, over the course of the NBA season, when the legs move a little slower, the jump shots are a little flatter and the defense becomes more porous....
RED-HOT BLUESHIRTS HUMBLED BY HABS
MONTREAL - The NHL season is a long and forgiving one, but not so charitable as to allow five months of sloth to be entirely erased by a single month...
AGONY OF DEFAULT
FORT MYERS - The Yankees' Opening Day starter by default is the American Idle. Unless Carl Pavano suffers an injury or illness between now and Monday, Joe Torre will name...
MONEY WELL-SAVED
A GAME was played in the hotel lobby at the Winter Meetings: When will the New York teams break? It was clear the White Sox were auctioning veteran starters such...
STRIKE UP THE BAND FOR YANKEE PARADE
THE Yankees' season hinges on how well they pitch. It's no secret they have been bounced in the first round the past two seasons. Randy Johnson, an October bust in...
A-ROD WILL GO OUT WITH WHIMPER
1. Alex Rodriguez lost 12 pounds and freed his mind of having to fake like he is still pals with Derek Jeter. But all will again not be well with...
PETTITTE: 'NO CHANCE' BACK PUTS ME ON DL
FORT MYERS - It's going to take another injury to land Andy Pettitte on the disabled list. "No chance, unless I get hurt," the Yankees pitcher answered when asked about...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
A Minnesota man was busted for stealing a statue of the Virgin Mary from a cemetery and painting it to look like a clown. Briceson Bryan, 20, knocked the 5-foot...
Ranger Rally Falls Short
Despite two goals in the third to bring the score to within one, the Rangers couldn't mount a comeback against Montreal. After cutting the deficit to 5-4, the Rangers looked...
Habs Spank Rangers in Second
After a great start to the game, the Rangers held a two-goal lead at the end of the first period. A nifty conversion on the rebound by Michael Nylander opened...
RETURN OF THE FROGS
Am driving across Florida again today. Good news.That restaurant on Route 60 has frogs again, they were out last time I drove across the Sunshine State.Will fill you in tomorrow...