He has gone to great lengths to shake off his once dour image, but a trip to Springfield is a step too far for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Brown says he has no plans to follow predecessor Tony Blair in making a cameo appearance on Fox network's The Simpsons.
Yeardley Smith, who provides the voice for the show's Lisa Simpson - the gifted sister of delinquent Bart - has said she believed Brown should be invited to appear.
Blair recorded a voice-over for The Simpsons in 2003, starring in an episode in which the Simpson family visited Britain. Blair reportedly delivered his lines in a single take.
"I think Tony Blair did that, I don't think that is for me," Brown said yesterday, when asked if he would consider a cameo role.
Networks so-so on diversity. In a report closely mirroring last year's findings, a coalition of minority advocacy groups concluded Tuesday that the four major television networks had made some progress in increasing ethnic diversity in front of and behind the camera, the Los Angeles Times reported. But the networks still fell short in demonstrating an overall commitment to cultural diversity in their prime-time lineups.
The conclusions by the National Latino Media Council, American Indians in Film and Television, and the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition were part of their seventh annual report cards measuring strides made by CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox to boost minority representation. Those networks in 1999 forged an agreement with the minority groups, and with the NAACP, to increase diversity.
Esteban Torres, chairman of the National Latino Media Council, said ABC got excellent grades for placing Hispanic talent in each of the network's most popular series and for its success with the comedy Ugly Betty. The group gave marks ranging from B+ to B- to CBS, NBC and Fox.
The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition awarded a C+ to Fox and NBC, and a C to both CBS and ABC.
Leaders for American Indians in Film and Television did not award grades but charged each of the networks with largely ignoring American Indians in front of and behind the camera. The NAACP did not participate in the report but said it would issue its own diversity findings later.
''Samantha Who?'' extended. ABC has picked up a full season of Samantha Who?, reports Zap2it.com. The freshman comedy has used advantageous scheduling to earn the biggest audiences of any new show so far this season.
The series, which stars Christina Applegate, has had nine episodes added to its initial order of 13, bringing its total to the industry-standard 22.
In its three airings, Samantha Who? has drawn an average of about 14.5 million viewers and a healthy 4.6 rating in the adults 18-to-49 demographic that advertisers covet. The total-viewer number is the highest of any new series, and its demographic numbers trail only another ABC show, Private Practice.
At least some of Samantha's success can be attributed to airing after Dancing With the Stars on Monday nights. But the show has also retained more of the Dancing audience than anything else that has aired after the dance competition, and Monday's episode actually built on its lead-in among adults 18 to 34. It also hit a high among total viewers (15 million-plus) and adults 18 to 49 (4.9, pending updated figures).
The show is the third ABC series to earn a full-season order, following Private Practice and Pushing Daisies.
