NBC - Kuwait Times

lifestyle

SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2016

Cosby wants another chance

to throw out sexual-assault case

Bill Cosby's lawyers have asked the state Supreme Court for another chance to have his criminal sexual-assault case thrown out. The defense argued that the current district attorney cannot go back on the word of a predecessor who has said he promised Cosby wouldn't be charged in the case. The defense said Cosby relied on that pledge when he testified in a related lawsuit about his contact with the accuser and other women who have accused him of drugging and molesting them.

"When a district attorney acts for the Commonwealth and assures a criminal defendant that he will never be prosecuted for a particular event, that promise must be enforced," the lawyers wrote in a brief posted Friday on the court's website.

"And it certainly must be enforced where, as here, the defendant detrimentally relies on that assurance in waiving constitutional rights, including his right against self-incrimination."

Cosby, 78, was arrested last year after his deposition in the decade-old case became public and Montgomery County prosecutors reopened the case. He is charged with felony sexual assault over his 2004 encounter with a former Temple University employee.

He has been free on $1 million bail since his arrest in December. He has a May 24 preliminary hearing scheduled unless the Supreme Court grants his appeal. A county judge and the state's Superior Court have previously rejected the defense arguments.

Cosby has not entered a plea in the case but said in the deposition that the encounter was consensual. Lawyers for the accuser say she was drugged and could not give consent.

Cosby, who played Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show" from 1984 to 1992 and has been married for decades, has denied the other women's accusations. The statute of limitations has expired in most of the cases against him. -- AP

NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA: Actor and comedian Bill Cosby arrives for a court appearance on

Feb. 3, 2016. -- AP

NBC cancels 5 shows,

clearing deck for new season

BEVERLY HILLS: Meghan Trainor arrives at the 2016 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. -- AP

Meghan Trainor laughs off `Tonight Show' fall

Meghan Trainor is taking things in stride after losing her balance and falling at the end of a performance on Thursday night's "Tonight Show."

As she turned around to face the audience following her performance of her new single, "Me Too," Trainor appeared to roll her right ankle. She reached out to grab the microphone stand but couldn't stop from falling and ended up flat on her back.

Trainor appeared to be OK and host Jimmy Fallon tried to make the best of it, calling it "one of those things" before lying next to the singer on the stage. Trainor is laughing off the mishap on Friday. She has sent several videos of the fall on Twitter and writes that she's "all good" and has "barely a scratch."-- AP

NBC pulled the plug Friday on Eva Longoria's "Telenovela," a comedy spoof of the Spanish-language soap operas, after only a few months on the air.

It was one of five series cancellations made by the network, as it clears the deck for a new schedule to be announced today. With the broadcasters all presenting next season's schedules to advertisers next week, there's been a flurry of pink slips delivered in Hollywood, along with the happier news that pilots are being picked up for the schedule. Between ABC, Fox and CBS, more than a dozen prime time shows were axed on Thursday.

"Telenovela" debuted in December. The comedy "Undateable," which lasted longer than many thought it would, also was canceled. It premiered as a summer series in 2014 and earned two other seasons - the most recent one with the gimmick that the show aired live.

Three other NBC series that were barely around long enough for many people to know they existed learned they wouldn't come back for second seasons. They are "Crowded," a sitcom featuring a couple whose empty nest is filled again by adult children; "Game of Silence," a drama that debuted last month featuring five friends who tried to keep a long-ago secret; and "Heartbeat," about a female heart transplant surgeon working in a male-dominated field.

Meanwhile, NBC has ordered new comedies "Great News," a Tina Fey-produced series about a young news producer whose mother comes to work at her television station; and "Marlon," which stars Marlon Wayans and is loosely based on his life. NBC has also ordered the new drama "Midnight, Texas," based on the book series by Charlaine Harris.

CBS ordered four new dramas and two comedies for inclusion on next year's schedule. They include a TV remake of the film "Training Day"; the medical drama "Pure Genius"; a remake of the TV series "Macgyver"; and "Bull," a drama inspired by Dr. Phil McGraw and his

trial consulting business. The comedies are "Man With a Plan," starring Matt LeBlanc of "Friends" as a dad taking care of his kids while his wife works, and "The Great Indoors," with Joel McHale as an adventure writer learning how to deal with an office full of millennials. -- AP

Eva Longoria as Ana Sofia Calderon, left, and Jencarlos Canela as Xavier Castillo in a scene from the recently canceled NBC comedy series, Telenovela. -- AP

SOMERS, CONNECTICUT: A replica of Thomas

Jefferson's Monticello. -- AP

James McAvoy and

Anne-Marie Duff announce divorce

Actors James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff are ending their nearly 10-year marriage. The couple released a joint statement Friday announcing their divorce and commitment to co-parenting their five-year-old son.

McAvoy, 37, stars in "X-Men: Apocalypse," opening later this month. Duff, 45, is a regular on the Showtime show "Shameless." The couple asked for privacy in their statement as they plan to move forward with "continued friendship, love and respect for one another and the shared focus of caring for our son."-- AP

Ice cream magnate auctioning

off Monticello mansion replica

Just before his 100th birthday, ice cream magnate S. Prestley Blake gave himself a $7.7 million gift - a house built to replicate Monticello, the famed Virginia home of Thomas Jefferson.

Nestled a stone's throw from the Massachusetts line in the small Connecticut town of Somers, the 10,000-squarefoot house on more than 9 acres of land goes on the auction block May 31. It has never been lived in, failed to sell for the original asking price of $6.5 million and didn't get a buyer at the reduced listing of $4.9 million.

Jefferson's Monticello was built over 28 years at a cost of more than $100,000, according to its official website. Because much of the work was bartered or done by slave labor, it is impossible to figure out an exact cost, The Thomas Jefferson Foundation says.

Blake, the co-founder of the Friendly's ice cream and restaurant chain, lives a few doors down on adjacent property connected by a horse trail. He never meant to live in the replica. "This is my swan song," he said in 2014, when the house was built. "This is the last thing I'll leave for posterity. I want this to be an asset to the community."

Other than a three-car garage, the house was built to mimic the original Monticello from the outside. That includes the decorative railings on the roof and the hand-

made bricks imported from Virginia, laid in the same Flemish bond pattern used by Jefferson.

For its construction, Blake flew his contractor, Bill Laplante, to Virginia to study the original. Laplante said he used photographs and a book with original architectural drawings to help him build the replica. "I would say, with the exception of the garage and the rear elevation, it's probably 95 to 98 percent accurate," he said. "The footprint is pretty much the same."

The inside of the house is modern, complete with an elevator, gourmet kitchen and lights and heating that can be controlled from a smart phone app. The chandelier in the foyer also can be lowered electronically to replace light bulbs and a bookcase in the master bedroom opens to reveal a hidden safe.

Laplante said the house is also environmentally friendly, with a geothermal heating system. Much of the wood involved was harvested from the property. There are also a few elements inside, such as the finish carpentry on the moldings, which resemble the original.

Some potential bidders are considering it as a potential bed and breakfast or wedding venue; others are interested in living there, said Jack Hoyt, project sales manager for Concierge Auctions. The property has attracted inter-

est from as far away as Florida and Canada. "I try to guess where these auctions will end up and

I'm often wrong," Hoyt said. "I can tell you it will sell from anywhere from zero to $4.9 million. We may start the bidding at $500,000 or $1 million or something like that and then wherever the bidders drive it up to is what the final price will be."

Those who want to participate in the online auction must pay a $100,000 deposit in advance and provide proof they have the funds to purchase the home. The property comes with a couple of drawbacks. The house is visible from the road and people often stop to look and take photos. It's also less than 3 miles from several state prisons.

Now 101, Blake declined to comment for this story. "It's just a spectacular property," said Lisa Pellegrini, the town's first selectman. "What we would like to see is just somebody who would continue to take very good care of it."-- AP

LONDON: Actors Anne-Marie Duff and James McAvoy pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Suffragette," on Oct. 7, 2015. -- AP

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download