Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman Returning to Primetime in Kirstie's New Show on TV Land

A mini-Cheers reunion is on its way!

Former co-stars Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman are reuniting on the small screen this fall for Kirstie's New Show. The sitcom, picked up by TV Land, centers on Maddie (Alley), a Broadway star whose life gets turned upside-down when the son (Eric Petersen) she gave up for adoption seeks her out.

Pics-- Role Call: Who Got Hired In Hollywood?

"This cast is a TV Land dream team of stars," said network President Larry W. Jones in a statement announcing the newly greenlit series. "Seeing them all together is truly mind-blowing,"

Perlman will play Alley's assistant and best friend, Thelma. Seinfeld star Michael Richards will also co-star.

Related-- Director's Cut: Kirstie 'Cheers' Wild Times

Kirstie's New Show is slated to air this fall on TV Land.

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Chapman out of Herbalife








Robert Chapman, one of the first and most vociferous Herbalife bulls, has exited his entire stake in the embattled weight-loss and nutritional supplements company, he said today.

The Los Angeles hedgie told The Post he has either sold or hedged out of his entire position.

The investor said he still believes in Herbalife but thinks the shares — which have bounced between $46 and $26 over the last two months — could come under some pressure in the near term.

The $4.4 billion company has operated for most of its 33 years far out of the media spotlight but has been in the headlines since Dec. 19, when activist investor Bill Ackman made a $1 billion short bet against it, calling the company a “pyramid scheme.”




The company strongly refuted that charge.

Ackman foe Carl Icahn yesterday publicly revealed that he has taken a 13 percent stake in Herbalife — saying he didn’t believe in Ackman’s claims. “This is a boxing match, and you always want to bet on the guy who just got punched,” Chapman told The Post, referring to the Icahn-Ackman smackdown.

Chapman said the timing of the majority of Icahn’s Herbalife purchases — after the much-publicized TV debate with Ackman — tells him there is a “grudge component” to Icahn’s investment.

Herbalife shares jumped 17 percent early today, to $44.94, on news of the Icahn buy.

“The stock has overreacted to [the Icahn] news,” Chapman said.

Herbalife shares has sold off a bit after the robust opening and were up 7.4 percent in early-afternoon trading.

Chapman said that while he does not agree with activist Ackman that the company is a fraud, he said, “I expect that [the claim] will attract the attention of regulators some day, and I do not want to be long the day before a significant regulator has commenced an investigation of the company. That being said, I am extremely confident that the results of any such investigation will be benign and will vindicate Herbalife’s business model.”

Chapman recently visited Herbalife “quick response centers” and nutrition clubs in the Philippines on a due diligence tour of the company’s Asian operations and said “the results were extremely bullish.”

Chapman first commented on his latest Herbalife moves on Bloomberg TV this afternoon.










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Marshals seize Hollywood firm’s diet supplements




















U.S. Marshals have seized tainted dietary supplements from Globe All Wellness, a Hollywood company, because Food and Drug Administration investigators found the materials contained a dangerous drug, the FDA said.

“Several of the seized products contain sibutramine hydrochloride, ... the active ingredient in the obesity drug Meridia,” the FDA said in a press release issued Thursday. “In December 2010, Meridia was withdrawn from the U.S. market after clinical data demonstrated that the drug increased the risk of heart attack and stroke.”

Globe All markets claims its products can lower blood pressure and cholesterol, the FDA release stated. Such drugs need FDA approval -- which the products didn’t have.





“Companies that distribute products containing undisclosed drugs are not only breaking the law, they are putting consumers at risk,” said Howard Sklamberg, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in a prepared statement. “With these kinds of hidden dangers, consumers cannot make informed decisions about the products they are taking.”

The FDA made inspections of the Hollywood company in October and February and concluded that the supplements “were not manufactured in accordance with the current good manufacturing practice requirements.”

The marshals seized lots of products with the names SlimXtreme, SlimXtreme Gold, SlimPlus, SlimLee, GelSlim, SlimDrops and Colonew, the release said.

In July 2011, the company issued a voluntary product recall of its product Via Xtreme Ultimate Sexual Enhancer Dietary Supplement for Men.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday afternoon.





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Crime Watch: Steer clear of these latest email scams




















Today I want to share with you some interesting scam emails shared by readers. We truly need to be super-careful and not open or respond to any of them.

I personally got the one from Kabul and had to laugh because this was a new one for me. I am not showing the email address, but trust me it looked very official especially when I do have friends that are stationed in Kabul. Here is the email I got:

Subj: Greetings from Kabul.. ... .





Hello,

I am CPT. Greg Hooper an officer of the U.S Army presently serving with the 395th CSSB peace keeping forces in Afghanistan. You may not know me but i really need your help as i have some very important packages to ship to you for safekeeping until i return back home to the USA.

I will explain in details only if you meet my conditions. Thanks for your prayers & support as we hope to return in one piece!!

CPT. Greg Hooper.

The second email I want to share came from a read who had some very good suggestions and its really worth sharing, since he had a personal experience with the email. Here is what he had to say:

Dear Carmen:

Thank you for your article in The Miami Herald on Jan. 6, 2013, titled "Two email scams you shouldn’t fall for." I haven’t seen the second one you mentioned yet, but I’ve received the first one several times over the last two or three years. It’s amazing how many of my friends and acquaintances have been robbed overseas in the last few years!

I’m writing because I thought there was one element to the scam that I thought important to be emphasized, and, if you ever decide to re-publicize the information, I’d suggest including it. Sometimes, when I’ve received those e-mails, they are not only from someone I know, but the email address in the "FROM" line is identical to the email address of the friend who is supposedly writing to me. This instantly leads a person to trust that the email is legitimate. And, since a quick "reply to" will allow the recipient to verify that it’s true, it’s easy to fall for it.

However, when you hit "reply to", the e-mail address to which the message will be sent is NOT the same as the one from which it appeared to have been sent. The address changes — very, very subtly.

For example, I could receive a message from a friend at "FRIEND101@gmail.com", but, when I hit "reply to", the message will be sent to "FRIEMD101@gmail.com" (the "N" was subtly changed to a "M") or "FRlEND101@gmail.com" (the capital "I" has been changed to a lower-case "L"). So if I sent an email to the person using "reply to", asking "is this true?!?", I would likely receive a message back from the scammer verifying it’s fictitious validity.

Thanks for listening and for aiming to protect the public!

Jeff Rothkopf

Folks, like I always say the Internet is a wonderful form of communication, but it brings its dangers, therefore we all must be vigilant and astute when using it.





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Kaley Cuoco Reveals Her Valentine's Day Plans

ET caught up with The Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco at the Tommy Hilfiger Los Angeles Flagship Opening after party, where she shared that she definitely has more than one Valentine's Day date this year.

In fact, she has 27.

Pics: Pucker Up -- A-List Couples Kissing!

"Floor seats to the freaking Lakers. That's where I'll be with my sister, that's my Valentine's Day night!," Kaley replied when asked if she had any romantic plans for today.

"I have like 27 dates, can't wait ... with my eyes," she joked about checking out all the Laker players.

An all-white clad Jessica Alba shared that she'll be spending the day with her two daughters, Honor, 4, and Haven, 1.

"We're gonna be making heart-shaped cookie sandwiches. We made something called whoopies already," she revealed about her family plans. "And Honor did the sprinkles on the whoopies. We're gonna have a Valentine's with the kids tomorrow and then Friday, Cash and I are gonna have our little date night."

Video: Sneak Peek -- Valentine's Day on 'Big Bang Theory'

Fellow mom Alicia Keys was also excited to spend some "us time" with her man Swizz Beatz and their two-year-old son Egypt.

"I was thinking of doing something really sweet and special, and something at home," she said about their cozy plans. "I thought we could like, all cook together and make a beautiful meal, and spend just some us time. So good, I can't wait."

Check out the video to hear Neil Patrick Harris' very secretive Valentine's Day plans, and also Tommy Hilfiger himself on which celebrity he would most like to dress!

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American Airlines, US Airways announce merger




















After a nearly yearlong courtship, the union became official Thursday: American Airlines and US Airways have formally announced plans to merge.

An early morning announcement by the airlines confirmed reports widely circulated after boards of both companies approved the merger late Wednesday.

The move brings stability to one of Miami-Dade County’s largest private employers more than a year after the airline and its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving the fate of thousands of employees — and the largest carrier at Miami International Airport — in question.





According to the Thursday announcement, the deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both companies, creating the world’s biggest airline with implied market value of nearly $11 billion, based on the Wednesday closing price of US Airways stock. The airline will have close to 100,000 employees, 1,500 aircraft, $38.7 billion in combined revenue.

The deal must be approved by American’s bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, but no major hurdles are expected. The process is expected to take about six months, according to a letter sent to employees Thursday by American CEO Tom Horton.

Travelers won’t notice immediate changes. The new airline will be called American Airlines. It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined. The new airline will be a member of the oneWorld airlines frequent flier alliance.

And for Miami travelers, it’s unlikely that much will change at any point. American and regional carrier American Eagle handled 68 percent of traffic at the airport last year, while US Airways accounted for just 2 percent. American boasts 328 flights to 114 destinations from Miami.

“We don’t expect any substantial changes at MIA if the merger occurs because our traffic is largely driven by the strength of the Miami market and not the airlines serving it,” said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

American has said for more than a year that its long-term plan calls for increasing departures at key hubs, including Miami, by 20 percent. That pledge has already started to materialize; in recent months, the airline has added new service to Asuncion, Paraguay and Roatán, Honduras.

During its bankruptcy restructuring, about 400 American employees lost jobs, leaving American and its regional carrier, American Eagle, with 9,894 employees in Miami-Dade County and 43 in Fort Lauderdale. US Airways has few employees in the area.

“It really isn’t going to affect Miami in a very major way anytime soon,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant in Evergreen, Colo. “Only because US Airways isn’t a big player in South Florida.”

At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, American and US Airways combined would still only be the fifth-largest airline after Southwest, Spirit, JetBlue and Delta, a spokesman said. The two airlines have little overlap in routes from Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the lack of major changes, Boyd said the merger would be a good development for Miami.

“It should be positive for the employees and it should be positive for the communities that the airlines serve,” he said.

Robert Herbst, an independent airline analyst and consultant, said US Airways will add a “significant amount” of destinations in the Northeast, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.





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Grand jury refuses to indict NYPD cop who gunned down National Guardsman during traffic stop








Seth Gottfried


The traffic stop in October that left National Guardsman Noel Polanco dead.



A Queens grand jury today declined to indict a NYPD cop who gunned down an unarmed National Guardsman last year, The Post has learned.

The jury returned a no true bill in the case against ESU cop Hassan Hamdy, who shot Noel Polanco in October during a traffic stop on the Grand Central Parkway, a law-enforcement source said.

Hamdy, with the Emergency Services Unit, pulled over Polanco on Oct. 4, and claimed the 22-year-old Guardsman reached to the floor of the car despite his warnings to keep his hands on the wheel, sources previously said. The elite detective feared for his life, the sources said.





Ellis Kaplan



Hassan Hamdy




Facebook



Noel Polanco





But Polanco's companion in the car said that Polanco kept his hands on the wheel the whole time.










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Mystery shrouds failure of Internet video link between Pakistani hotel, Miami terrorism trial




















The mystery of who pulled the plug on the Internet connection linking witnesses testifying in Pakistan to a Miami terrorism trial remained unsolved Wednesday, stalling the high-profile proceeding until next Tuesday as the defense scrambles for an alternate solution.

A defense attorney for Miami imam Hafiz Khan, standing trial on charges of financially supporting the Pakistani Taliban, told a federal judge by phone that the Pakistan government’s foreign and interior ministries did not even know that the live video feed was cut off to Miami Tuesday morning.

A federal prosecutor said his office contacted an FBI legal attache in Islamabad, and the official checked in with several Pakistani government agencies and the staff at the hotel where the testimony was taken earlier this week. No one had a clue about the mysterious shutdown -- whether it was a technical glitch or the secret work of the Pakistan government.





Prosecutor John Shipley accused defense attorney Khurrum Wahid of trying to orchestrate the live testimony at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad “under the radar screen” of the Pakistan government -- an accusation strongly denied by Wahid.

U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, clearly exasperated by the high-tech failure 8,000 miles away, gave Wahid an ultimatum that must be met by Friday. Wahid could take the testimony of 10 remaining witnesses in a third country, such as a United Arab Emirate, as long as he could obtain travel visas for them and resume the depositions by next Tuesday. If not, the judge said, Wahid must abandon his alternate plan and return home over the holiday weekend to resume his defense in Miami.

“One way or the other, that’s the last accommodation I’m making,” Scola told Wahid by phone Wednesday morning.

A moment later, the judge told the 12 jurors: “We still don’t have any transmission from Pakistan. We are trying to make alternate arrangements.”

Perhaps the most befuddled in the bunch: Khan, 77, who is standing trial on charges of sending thousands of dollars to the Taliban terrorist organization, sworn enemies of the U.S. and Pakistan governments. Khan was the leader of the Flagler Mosque, 7350 NW Third St.

Despite safety concerns, the judge had allowed Khan’s defense attorney to travel to Pakistan to take live testimony from 11 witnesses so the defendant could receive a fair trial. Prosecutors opposed allowing the testimony, and refused to make the trip.

Everything seemed to be going well until about 11:20 a.m., or 9:20 p.m. Tuesday in Islamabad. The flat-screen televisions and video monitors in front of the judge, lawyers and jurors in Miami suddenly lost the signal and flashed “disconnected.”

Wahid explained to the judge by phone Tuesday that there was “absolutely no problem” until a prosecutor in Miami mentioned the name of the Serena Hotel, where the testimony was being taken, during cross-examination. He noted the hotel staff said “there were some intelligence operatives in the business center here, and they were taking pictures of us and our witnesses.”

Added Wahid: “I’ve been told by the hotel staff that it’s from outside the building and that ... the IP [Internet] address has been blacklisted by the Interior Ministry, I’m sorry, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.”





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Eliza Coupe Happy Endings Shanghai Calling Interview

Eliza Coupe is best known from bringing the funny thanks to her sublime sitcom Happy Endings and so wrong it's right webseries, Frenemies. But in her new movie, Shanghai Calling, Coupe proves her heart is as strong as her funny bone.

The fish out of water tale casts Coupe as Amanda, a relocation specialist who is tasked with helping Sam (played by Daniel Henney) acclimate to his new surroundings in Shanghai. But filming the movie on location in China led Coupe to wish she had an Amanda of her own.

In addition to opening up about this amazing moviemaking experience (as well as hooking ETonline up with an exclusive clip!), Coupe talks about the current season of Happy Endings and previews a couple fun surprises coming in the near future.


ETonline: Shanghai Calling actually filmed in China. Did that immersion help you step into the character's shoes?


Eliza Coupe: Yes, and I'm going to steal that from you because that's exactly how it felt. There's nothing like being on location and throwing yourself into the world you're representing. We were really there. My character was supposed to have been living there so she knew the language, but I had never been to China, so I felt more like Daniel's character -- which is funny because David's lived in Asia a lot, so he ended up teaching me a lot in our off-time. But I have to say, filming this movie was one of the best experiences of my life.


RELATED - 12 Best TV Shows


ETonline: You speak very impressive Chinese in the movie -- did you have a pre-existing grasp on the language?


Coupe: Not even a little bit. In fact, I was coming from a French lesson when I got a call to read the script. Which is hilarious. I'm pretty fearless when it comes to roles. I mean, if someone told me I had to play King Lear right now, I'd be excited. That's just kind of the way I do things ... but I had no idea how hard Chinese is. I'm not a mathematical person, and it's a very mathematical language -- wrapping my mind around that was hard. And the tone is very important, if you get the tone wrong, you're not even saying a real word. I was practicing at least an hour a day and was in tears all the time, but it worked out. Well ... there was one scene that was entirely in Chinese and it was cut from the movie [laughs]. But the director assured me it had nothing to do with my grasp of the Chinese language.


RELATED - TV's Hottest Elevator Hook-Ups


ETonline: The movie is all about acclimating to a new country, what was the biggest adjustment to life in China for you during production?


Coupe: It was so hot there. I lived in New York forever, so I'm very used to humidity. But it doesn't even compare to the humidity in Shanghai. I would step outside and immediately have to turn around again because I'd be drenched in sweat. I had short-shorts on the entire time. Well, they were jean cutoffs that basically looked like denim underwear -- I just pranced around in denim underwear the whole time. And my body is basically all limbs. My legs and arms are awkwardly long, so I looked like a big marionette walking around in China.


ETonline: I was a little disappointed to find out that you didn't tap Michael Fassbender to play the role of "Awesome Wang" in this movie. What happened?


Coupe: [sighs] You know, he won't talk to me. That's where that comes from. I tried, I really did -- I was outside his house and he wouldn't even read the script. But the cops have tapped into my phone, so if I talk about him too long, they're going to be here in five minutes, so...


RELATED - TV's Best Dressed Characters


ETonline: Moving on then, I've been loving this season of Happy Endings. I think I've watched The Merry Prankster about 10 times. Great job making it rain on Damon, by the way.


Coupe: Thank you! Brad and Jane are completely unhinged this season and clearly need to go to some sort of sex addiction therapy. It was so funny because they only used such a tiny part of what we did. We went crazy. Like, crazy with that scene -- I hope they put it on the DVD because we did some crazy stuff. I don't know what was going on with me that day, but I was loving Damon in that outfit.


ETonline: Looking at what you have coming up, what are you excited for fans to see?


Coupe: Let me say, it's going to get crazy. Just buckle up. There's an episode where Brad and Jane throw a game night -- we wear matching tracksuits and have our own warm-up cheer ... it's a really intense episode. And in the episode we're filming right now, Penny writes a play and it's pretty much the worst play in the world but Derrick comes back to, of course, be in the play. That's a great episode.


ETonline: Right now ABC is, basically, burning off Happy Endings episodes. What's it like to still be filming the show that ABC is, once again, treating so badly
?

Coupe: It's a running joke on set when we film something we all think is incredible that someone goes, "Oh man, that was so good -- it's too bad no one will ever see it." It's the same as every year, we just never know. The network and the studio love the show, and they have been very good to us. They have given us a chance and kept us around for three season. Do we wish there was more publicity? Yeah. But it's undeniable we're making a great show. I just wish we had more of a push, and I really hope we get a fourth season -- but that's not up to me.


Shanghai Calling
opens February 12 on VOD and February 15 in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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Alleged Baldwin 'stalker' mulling plea deal in harassment case








Steven Hirsch


Genevieve Sabourin at Manhattan Criminal Court today.



He's having a baby, and maybe losing a stalker.

A plea deal is on the table for the shapely French Canadian blonde accused of sending creepy emails and texts to Alec Baldwin after a one-night-stand dinner date in 2010.

Genevieve Sabourin breezed in and out of Manhattan Criminal Court today for a tete-a-tete between her lawyers and prosecutors, and left hopeful that the misdemeanor stalking and harassment case would be resolved before a judge when the case is reconvened tomorrow morning.




"I'm totally innocent, since day one, and I've said it loud and clear," the perky model and actress told reporters as she left court. "So there's no reason for me being here after nearly a year."

Asked if the deal involved any jail time, her lawyer, Rick Pasecreta, said, "If that's the case something's very wrong with the system."

Sabourin had been arrested in April, 2012, after sending Baldwin a series of emails and text messages in which she told him she loved him, wanted to have his baby, and needed cash. Sabourin allegedly freaked out Baldwin's soon-to-be wife, Hilaria, by turning up at Baldwin's Manhattan apartment; Sabourin was arrested at Lincoln Center, having turned up in the audience of an event in which Baldwin was appearing.

Sabourin was arrested a second time, last November, for allegedly violating an order of protection by continuing to Tweet about Hilaria, Baldwin, and "my INJUSTICE," and having notifications of the Tweets forwarded to Hilaria's Twitter name and account.

Asked if she had anything to say about Hilaria's pregnancy, Sabourin started to answer, but was hushed by her lawyer. "Don't comment about them because they might arrest you again," he warned.

"We want to resolve this," the lawyer explained. "She's wanted to resolve this from the very beginning. She doesn't think she should have been a part of this from the very beginning. And for the last two months we're doing everything we can to try to resolve this."










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