Later, Dawg: Randy Jackson leaving 'American Idol'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jackson out.

Randy Jackson, the lone remaining original "American Idol" judge, won't be returning to the Fox talent competition next season.

"Idol" host Ryan Seacrest only hinted at Jackson's impending departure at the beginning of Thursday's elimination episode.

"A little later on, we'll be revealing who's leaving our show," joked Seacrest as he swiveled Jackson around in his chair toward him. "Maybe a head's up?"

Apparently, Seacrest — who's been with the show as long as Jackson — found out along with the rest of the world Thursday when the 56-year-old producer and bassist announced his departure.

Jackson said in a statement that he's leaving "Idol" to focus on his record label and other business opportunities.

"To put all of the speculation to the rest, after 12 years of judging on 'American Idol,' I have decided to leave after this season," he said. "I am very proud of how we forever changed television and the music industry."

Jackson has served as a judge on all 12 seasons of "Idol." He first appeared on the panel alongside Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul when the competition debuted in 2002, becoming famous for his easygoing "yo, dawg" rapport with contestants.

Jackson currently judges the show with pop royalty Mariah Carey, R&B diva Nicki Minaj and country star Keith Urban. His exit comes amid reports the entire panel will be replaced next season. A spokeswoman for Fox and spokesman for "Idol" producer FremantleMedia declined to comment.

Ratings for "Idol," once a TV juggernaut, have plummeted this year. The show has been the most popular entertainment program in prime time for nine years running, but it's likely "Idol" will lose that distinction this season. It's now regularly behind the NBC singing competition "The Voice" in the weekly ratings.

The current 12th season is set to conclude next week with a showdown between 23-year-old R&B vocalist Candice Glover of St. Helena Island, S.C., and 22-year-old country crooner Kree Harrison of Woodville, Texas.

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Online:

http://www.americanidol.com

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

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Kris Kross rapper's funeral held in Atlanta

ATLANTA (AP) — Chris Kelly's Kris Kross rap partner, Chris Smith, was among the well-known musicians, family and friends who gathered Thursday for Kelly's funeral in Atlanta.

Smith walked into Jackson Baptist Memorial Church alongside rapper Jermaine Dupri, who discovered the the 1990s teen duo, at an Atlanta mall.

The 34-year-old Kelly was found dead May 1 of a suspected drug overdose. His mother and uncle told authorities Kelly had a history of drug abuse and experienced similar episodes in the past, according to a police report.

Two members of the band Xscape, sisters LaTocha and Tamika Scott, arrived together for Kelly's funeral.

"He just wanted to smile. That's all he wanted," Tamika Scott said. "He was known to be a happy person."

Rapper Da Brat tried to speak to reporters when she arrived but stopped when she got choked up and went on into the church.

Kris Kross was introduced to the music world in 1992 by music producer Dupri after he discovered the pair at Greenbriar Mall in southwest Atlanta. Kelly was known as "Mac Daddy" and Smith was known as "Daddy Mac."

The duo wore their clothes backward as a gimmick, but they won over fans with their raps.

Their first, and by far most successful song, was "Jump." The hit, off their multiplatinum 1992 debut album "Totally Krossed Out," featured the two trading verses and rapping the refrain, the song's title. The duo had surprising maturity in their rap delivery, though the song was written by Dupri. It would become a No. 1 smash in the United States and globally, and one of the most popular of that year.

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JFK retrospective, Latino history on PBS schedule

LOS ANGELES (AP) — PBS' fall schedule will examine President John F. Kennedy's life and his death 50 years ago through a modern lens, part of the network's increased emphasis on relevance, its programming chief said.

A variety of programs about Kennedy will air in the weeks leading up to the milestone anniversary of his Nov. 22, 1963, slaying in Dallas, including "JFK," a four-hour "American Experience" portrait of Kennedy, what he accomplished and what was left undone, PBS announced Thursday.

The science show "Nova" will look at how the forensics investigation into his death would have been handled today and "lay bare some of the problems with forensics at the time," said Beth Hoppe, PBS' new chief programming executive.

The history-oriented "Secrets of the Dead," with a narrative account of the president's shooting, and a look at Kennedy collectibles also will be part of the coverage, along with other specials being planned, PBS said.

Also set for public TV's lineup are specials on American heritage, including a family roots series, "Genealogy Roadshow," and two documentary programs with sweeping views of Hispanic and black history, "Latino Americans" and "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross."

In 2007, Hispanic organizations criticized PBS and filmmaker Ken Burns for inadequately representing the contributions of Latinos in his 15-hour documentary on World War II.

PBS also will keep an eye on current events, Hoppe said.

"The idea of being able to act fast and be responsive and relevant is really important," said Hoppe, noting that PBS aired timely specials after the Newtown, Mass., school shooting, Superstorm Sandy and the Russian meteor strike.

"Megastorm Aftermath," a "Nova" follow-up to the 2012 Sandy special, will examine questions raised by the storm, including whether the devastating weather system was a freak occurrence or part of a pattern caused by climate change.

A Barbra Streisand concert, "Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn," Shakespearean dramas and the return of "Foyle's War" to "Masterpiece Mystery!" also are on the schedule. For comic book aficionados, the documentary "Superheroes" documentary will examine the evolution of caped and other crusaders and the industry itself.

PBS, which has enjoyed a ratings surge due in part to its "Downton Abbey" drama series, is aligning its programming in a "viewer friendly way" aimed at expanding its reach, Hoppe said.

Friday, for example, will be home to PBS' fall arts festival for a second year, with programs including a "Great Performances" miniseries, "The Hollow Crown," that combines four Shakespearean plays — "Richard II," ''Henry IV," parts one and two, and "Henry V" — into a chronological narrative.

Another Friday series, "Great Performances," will celebrate its 40th anniversary with past guests including Julie Andrews, Audra McDonald and Josh Groban, while "Nashville 2.0" will pay tribute to legendary country music stars.

PBS, which has more than 350 member stations, has said it gets 15 percent of its money from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with the rest largely contributed by viewers.

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Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org and on Twitter (at)lynnelber.

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Social media eyed 'Day of the Dead' trademark fail

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — When Lalo Alcaraz saw a tweet this week that Disney was seeking to trademark "Dia de los Muertos," the name of the traditional "Day of the Dead" celebrated by millions in Mexico and the U.S., the Los Angeles-based cartoonist immediately pressed "retweet."

The humorist then sent out a series of satirical social media posts warning that Disney was out to trademark dead Latino relatives. He also created a cartoon, which quickly went viral, of a skeletal Godzilla-sized Mickey Mouse destroying a city. The words on top of the monster read: "It's coming to trademark your cultura (culture)."

Those tweets, along with tens of thousands of others similar social media posts, sparked Disney Enterprises Inc. into announcing that the company was withdrawing a "Dia de los Muertos" trademark request it made on May 1 to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Disney had hoped to secure name rights for merchandise such as snack foods and Christmas ornaments as it partners with Pixar Animation Studios Inc. to create an animated movie inspired by the holiday.

"Disney's trademark filing was intended to protect any potential title for our film and related activities," a company statement said. "It has since been determined that the title of the film will change and therefore we are withdrawing our trademark filing."

But the anger and ridicule expressed on social media largely by Latinos are being credited with the company's retreat by Tuesday as word began to spread on Twitter and Facebook. Within hours, online petitions were created and the organizers started openly discussing plans to boycott whatever movie or products would be linked to the trademark request.

Critics charged that Disney, or any other corporation, for that matter, had no right to trademark a cultural holiday like November's Day of the Dead. Not only was the move insensitive, critics said that trademarking the popular holiday put thousands of businesses that made products linked to the day at risk.

"It's a terrible idea. I'm outraged," said Kiko Torres, owner of Masks y Mas in Albuquerque, a shop that sells Day of the Dead art and clothing year-round. "I mean, what's the purpose of that?"

Elainne Ramos, vice chair of LATISM, a nonprofit Latino social media group, said the trademark dispute momentarily replaced immigration as the hottest topic among Latinos on Twitter. "Some people saw it as an attempt to own our culture and profit from it," Ramos said. "This is going to be a marketing case study on what not to do."

The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, honors departed souls of loved ones who are welcomed back for a few intimate hours. At burial sites or intricately built altars, photos of loved ones are centered on skeleton figurines, bright decorations, candles, candy and other offerings such as the favorite foods of the departed. Pre-Columbian in origin, many of the themes and rituals now are mixtures of indigenous practices and Roman Catholicism.

In the past decade or so, this traditional Latin American holiday with indigenous roots has spread throughout the U.S. along with migration from Mexico and other countries where it is observed. Not only are U.S.-born Latinos adopting the Day of the Dead, but various underground and artistic non-Latino groups have begun to mark the Nov. 1-2 holidays through colorful celebrations, parades, exhibits and even bike rides and mixed martial arts fights.

Lois Zamora, a University of Houston English professor who has studied the Day of the Dead, said Disney's interest shows how much this once obscure holiday has grown in the U.S. But she said the trademark attempt was odd. "Disney doesn't quite get it," Zamora said. "It would be like copyrighting 'Christmas or 'Easter' or, for that matter, 'Halloween.' It doesn't make sense."

That's what probably angered most and got people to respond via social media, an increasingly popular venture for Latinos to express opinions and call for action, said Alcaraz. "On Twitter, you can tag it and (Disney) sees it," he said. "They were worried about their brand."

The Disney trademark flap was just the latest episode where loosely-organized networks of Latino activists, writers and artists used social media to stop an action or rally around a cause.

Last year, the Houston-based Librotraficante, a group of writers, used social media to get people to donate books for "underground libraries" after Tucson, Ariz., schools were ordered to end Mexican American studies programs. The group also successfully used social media to stop a proposed Texas state law they said would weaken ethnic studies programs at state colleges.

Ramos said social media is a helpful venue since it allows Latinos from diverse backgrounds and across state and national boundaries to share information and update each other in real time.

"It allows us to question everything, even ourselves," she said. "And people hear us asking these questions."

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Follow Russell Contreras at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

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Makeup artist describes Jackson's pain, artistry

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's longtime makeup artist tearfully described to jurors on Thursday the singer's struggles with back pain and insomnia after suffering injuries during his career.

Witness Karen Faye also recalled how Jackson's reliance on medications coincided with the first time he was accused of child molestation in the early 1990s.

"Michael had to go on stage every night knowing that the whole world thought he was a pedophile," Faye said, shaking her head and crying.

Despite being asked by tour promoters, Faye said she refused to give the performer injections for pain.

She said Paul Gongaware, a promoter who later became a top executive with AEG Live LLC, then brought in doctors who treated Jackson in 1993 on his "Dangerous" tour, which she told jurors had to be halted early due to the singer's prescription drug addiction.

Faye testified in a negligent hiring lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother, Katherine, who claims AEG failed to investigate a doctor who cared for the pop star and was later convicted of causing his death in June 2009.

AEG denies hiring the doctor and says Jackson concealed his addiction to propofol, a powerful anesthetic that killed the singer.

Faye said she never witnessed the singer's treatments, but he appeared to become more dependent on prescription drugs in the years following the "Dangerous" tour.

She said she worried every time she saw a doctor arrive to treat Jackson.

"I was always worried that Michael was in pain," Faye said under questioning by Brian Panish, an attorney for Jackson's mother.

She said Jackson had a low pain tolerance except while performing.

She recalled that he complained more about back pain after he fell several stories from on on-stage bridge during a Munich concert in 1999. Despite the fall, Jackson finished the show.

His high-energy performances, however, led to sleepless nights afterward, she said.

Jackson's condition worsened during the singer's 2005 trial on child molestation charges, Faye said.

Although he was acquitted, the pressure of the case and media attention took its toll, she told jurors.

"He couldn't eat," she said. "He was afraid. He was in pain. He got thinner. His physical pain, his back pain, it all kicked in."

Faye spent about 90 minutes testifying about her close relationship with Jackson, who hosted her wedding at his Neverland Ranch and enlisted her to travel around the world with him.

She breezily described Jackson's meetings with Princess Diana and other dignitaries, his Super Bowl performance, and other larger-than-life moments from the singer's life. Jurors and spectators laughed at times as a parade of photos and videos shot during Jackson's performances were played.

"I was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was just very normal," she told jurors. "I found myself working with this magical person."

She said Jackson was like a brother to her and enlisted her for another tour — even after she gave birth to her daughter.

"I said, 'I can't go all around the world with you. I'm a mother now,'" Faye recalled.

"Michael never took no for an answer. 'Yes you can, it'll be great for her,'" she recalled him saying.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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Social media eyed 'Day of the Dead' trademark fail

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — When Lalo Alcaraz saw a tweet this week that Disney was seeking to trademark "Dia de los Muertos," the name of the traditional "Day of the Dead" celebrated by millions in Mexico and the U.S., the Los Angeles-based cartoonist immediately pressed "retweet."

The humorist then sent out a series of satirical social media posts warning that Disney was out to trademark dead Latino relatives. He also created a cartoon, which quickly went viral, of a skeletal Godzilla-sized Mickey Mouse destroying a city. The words on top of the monster read: "It's coming to trademark your cultura (culture)."

Those tweets, along with tens of thousands of others similar social media posts, sparked Disney Enterprises Inc. into announcing that the company was withdrawing a "Dia de los Muertos" trademark request it made on May 1 to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Disney had hoped to secure name rights for merchandise such as snack foods and Christmas ornaments as it partners with Pixar Animation Studios Inc. to create an animated movie inspired by the holiday.

"Disney's trademark filing was intended to protect any potential title for our film and related activities," a company statement said. "It has since been determined that the title of the film will change and therefore we are withdrawing our trademark filing."

But the anger and ridicule expressed on social media largely by Latinos are being credited with the company's retreat by Tuesday as word began to spread on Twitter and Facebook. Within hours, online petitions were created and the organizers started openly discussing plans to boycott whatever movie or products would be linked to the trademark request.

Critics charged that Disney, or any other corporation, for that matter, had no right to trademark a cultural holiday like November's Day of the Dead. Not only was the move insensitive, critics said that trademarking the popular holiday put thousands of businesses that made products linked to the day at risk.

"It's a terrible idea. I'm outraged," said Kiko Torres, owner of Masks y Mas in Albuquerque, a shop that sells Day of the Dead art and clothing year-round. "I mean, what's the purpose of that?"

Elainne Ramos, vice chair of LATISM, a nonprofit Latino social media group, said the trademark dispute momentarily replaced immigration as the hottest topic among Latinos on Twitter. "Some people saw it as an attempt to own our culture and profit from it," Ramos said. "This is going to be a marketing case study on what not to do."

The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, honors departed souls of loved ones who are welcomed back for a few intimate hours. At burial sites or intricately built altars, photos of loved ones are centered on skeleton figurines, bright decorations, candles, candy and other offerings such as the favorite foods of the departed. Pre-Columbian in origin, many of the themes and rituals now are mixtures of indigenous practices and Roman Catholicism.

In the past decade or so, this traditional Latin American holiday with indigenous roots has spread throughout the U.S. along with migration from Mexico and other countries where it is observed. Not only are U.S.-born Latinos adopting the Day of the Dead, but various underground and artistic non-Latino groups have begun to mark the Nov. 1-2 holidays through colorful celebrations, parades, exhibits and even bike rides and mixed martial arts fights.

Lois Zamora, a University of Houston English professor who has studied the Day of the Dead, said Disney's interest shows how much this once obscure holiday has grown in the U.S. But she said the trademark attempt was odd. "Disney doesn't quite get it," Zamora said. "It would be like copyrighting 'Christmas or 'Easter' or, for that matter, 'Halloween.' It doesn't make sense."

That's what probably angered most and got people to respond via social media, an increasingly popular venture for Latinos to express opinions and call for action, said Alcaraz. "On Twitter, you can tag it and (Disney) sees it," he said. "They were worried about their brand."

The Disney trademark flap was just the latest episode where loosely-organized networks of Latino activists, writers and artists used social media to stop an action or rally around a cause.

Last year, the Houston-based Librotraficante, a group of writers, used social media to get people to donate books for "underground libraries" after Tucson, Ariz., schools were ordered to end Mexican American studies programs. The group also successfully used social media to stop a proposed Texas state law they said would weaken ethnic studies programs at state colleges.

Ramos said social media is a helpful venue since it allows Latinos from diverse backgrounds and across state and national boundaries to share information and update each other in real time.

"It allows us to question everything, even ourselves," she said. "And people hear us asking these questions."

___

Follow Russell Contreras at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

View the original article here

NBC orders 5 new TV series for next season

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean Hayes, Parker Posey, Minnie Driver and Gillian Anderson will have prominent roles in new television series that NBC has decided to air next season.

The network said Thursday that it had ordered five new series, in advance of its annual schedule announcement Sunday, when it will detail where the rookie and returning shows will be placed on the schedule.

NBC also said that it has renewed "Parks and Recreation," the comedy that gets much critical respect but generally poor ratings.

Four sitcoms are being canceled, the network said: "Up All Night," ''Guys with Kids," ''1600 Penn" and "Whitney."

The long-struggling network had a strong fall this season behind NFL football and "The Voice" but tumbled in midseason and recorded some of its worst ratings ever.

NBC's biggest hope for next season is its comedy starring Michael J. Fox, which was announced in the winter. He'll play a sportscaster with Parkinson's disease who is returning to work, much like Fox is an actor with Parkinson's who is returning to series television.

Hayes, the former "Will & Grace" actor, stars as a gay divorced dad in "Sean Saves the World," juggling work responsibilities with raising a 14-year-old girl. The series, one of three new comedies NBC announced Thursday, is from Hayes' production company and has the veteran sitcom hand James Burrows as an executive producer and director.

Posey plays a divorced mom in "The Family Guide," with an 11-year-old son who had always been his blind father's guide but is replaced by a guide dog named Elvis.

The third comedy ordered by NBC is an adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel "About a Boy." Actor Will Freeman is the "ultimate man-child" who bonds with the 11-year-old son of a needy, vegan single mom played by Driver.

Brand-name producer J.J. Abrams ("Lost," ''Alias") already has "Revolution" on the NBC schedule. The network said it will also add "Believe," about a young girl coming to grips with superpowers like levitation, controlling nature and predicting the future.

Anderson, who made her name on "The X-Files," is a featured actor on "Crisis," about a bus full of high school students who are the children of Washington elite and are kidnapped.

NBC's series pickups came a day after Fox announced the new series it will introduce next season. Networks used to try to keep such news a secret before announcing their schedules to advertisers. (Those meetings are all scheduled for next week.) But word often leaks out beforehand, so some of the networks are trying to take control of that process this year.

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