Bill Vaughan's TASTY CLIPS

ROGER E. MOSLEY jokes that he is that rarest of things. A Los Angeles native in the business. The veteran actor/director, beloved by millions as TC on Magnum, P.I., is enjoying his summer at home. TASTY CLIPS learned that Mosley visited his Leadbelly director Gordon Parks in January before his operation. Everybody from Sidney Poitier to James Earl Jones were up for the role of Huddie Ledbetter, the king of the 12 string guitar who twice sang his way out of prison. "I ended up with it," he relates. "Sidney thought he was too old for the character at the time and passed. My understanding is that James didn't feel comfortable with mastering the whole guitar thing at that time. I showed up and it was right on time. Timing is everything." What kind of director was he? "He was very open and solicited directions. When I did Leadbelly, he said in the very beginning, 'If you're busy micro-managing the actors you haven't cast well.' He said, 'You make good casting decisions and set the actor loose. And capture it on film.'" [When I last saw him], he was very alert of spirit. Every time I came in he talked about how he always wanted to do a movie of The Brothers Karamazov with myself, Richard Roundtree and Avery Brooks. He kept saying he wanted to do it."

On the long proposed movie version of Magnum P.I.: "Tom [Selleck] waited too late to make up his mind. I've heard that there's going to be a feature film, but it's not going to involve us. When it should've been done it wasn't, and so now it will be done by someone else. We wish them luck, although I have noticed that every time they don't have the original people in, it isn't quite successful. You can stick a familiar title out there but if they don't see familiar faces it just doesn't work. Eddie Murphy's I Spy just bombed. They should've found a way to get Bill Cosby and Robert Culp in a stature role. They spend millions to get the rights, then millions to get a hot name, then people don't see who they want to see. Magnum is still in re-runs. There was a certain chemistry we had. Maybe the grandsons or sons or nephews of all of us grew up on the island. That might be a way of doing it. The characters on Magnum weren't trend setting. We didn't do anything dynamic. We were just some guys out there who basically just solved some petty crimes. We had good camraderie. Were weren't like CSI. We just had whimsical fantasies going on. So you don't have to get Olivier and the best actors in the world. All you have to do is find some guys who can make people feel happy." Who do you think could play your character T.C.? "Maybe somebody like Anthony Anderson, if he lost some weight to get in the helicopter."

You played pivotal parts in both Roots and Drum (the sequel to Mandingo), both popular films at the time, yet it seems like blacks today don't like to see films about slavery. "We never did. The only reason Roots was a success was that it was a triumph over slavery. It showed you how hard the struggle was and how we survived it. I don't know if you noticed but any movie that has to do with the demise of a black person doesn't do well. Take Martin Luther King. Any TV show or movie about Dr, King never got high ratings because we knew the end. We were sick of seeing each other die. The reason why movies like Superfly and Shaft and The Mack succeeded was because the characters survived their circumstances."

On being in the Martin Lawrence directed Thin Line Between Love and Hate: "It didn't go very well because he got injured. The shooting schedule was 10 weeks but the whole movie ended up taking 4 months. The producers had to step in and finish it. Everything got behind. We all pitched in. Martin had one injury and then an eye infection. He didn't get a chance to really show what he could do. Like Eddie Murphy directing Harlem Nights, he found out that carrying two hats when the studio is counting on you to bring in the money and it's your first film is not that easy. Just like Spike Lee can't direct and act. He talked to me about being in a movie one time and I told him if he's in it I don't think everybody's getting a fair shake. He's more concerned about his performance than the other actors."

What about black actors being pigeon-holed into parts requiring them to be in drag? "C'mon give me a break." You read where Dave Chappelle talks about objecting to his TV writers' requests. "I've been all over. You're talking to the authority on this. Come to me for answers to your questions. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot. Cary Grant wore a dress. John Wayne was about the only man you haven't seen in one. Milton Berle and all the comedians. That's the ultimate funny thing. A gross exaggeration of a woman. To show the extreme about how far you'd go to be funny. It has nothing to do with being black. We weren't the first to do it and we won't be the last." So you heard when Chappelle.... "And Chappelle is the voice of logic? Who's so high all the time that you can't tell when he isn't? Chappelle is the epitome of Marijuana is not addictive: I smoke it everyday and I don't have a habit. That's who you're going to as an authority? A man who had to go to South Africa and run away from $50 million because they wouldn't let him do what he wanted to do and he was calling everyone a nigger? My question is what the hell else did he want to do? My point is it sounds like the same thing that happened to Ricky Williams. He left the team and went half way across the country. And he admitted what he wanted to do. He wanted to get high. Chappelle had to stay straight too long to do that business end. I think the only thing Chappelle couldn't do was stay high and do the show. He probably couldn't take the pressure of staying straight so long. You know he must love himself some reefer."

NY Post columnist Cindy Adams claims that DAVE CHAPPELLE bolted from his hit series because he was worried about becoming an Uncle Tom. She writes: He began to sense what he was doing career wise was not good for the black community. His posse kept reinforcing how great he was, but one day he noticed a white guy laughing at him. Not with him. At him. Chappelle suddenly started saying things like, "I have to find out am I dancing or shuffling." On his very last TV show, he played blackface. With a red suit and white lips. That's when it absolutely clicked in what he was doing. That's when he realized he was 'shuffling.' That's when he walked away from the show. That's when he split for Africa. He almost had a breakdown. He felt he couldn't trust his lawyers, agents, managers, producers, all the people who were loving what he was doing. It dawned on him that, if they're telling me what I'm doing is great, and I know what I'm doing is bad, then I can't trust anybody anymore.

TASTY CLIPS heard the rumblings about the unreasonable publicists for the American Idols Live tour. The flacks have reportedly been demanding full approval on copy and photos. So there are no interviews from the TV faves, but a report on the show as presented to a capacity crowd at Columbia's Colonial Center. It opens with Mandisa in full glory singing I'm Every Woman, before dedicating If I Was Your Woman to Idol winner Ruben Studdard. Ace Young was next causing girls to swoon with his falsetto. Talented Lisa Turner followed showing her prowess on keys but was mostly a bore until the other teenager, Paris Bennett came out to join her on a pleasant rendition of TLC's Waterfalls. Paris electrified the crowd with her dance moves on a cover of Beyonce's Crazy In Love complete with chair dance. That choice segued seamlessly into Stevie Wonder's Superstition as performed by Bucky Covington, who has improved much since the competition and who greeted the arena as “South Cackalacky.” He and fellow North Carolina native Kellie Pickler (with her new extensions) were most humble as a year ago they were doing brake jobs and waitressing, respectively.

After intermission, rocker Chris Daughtry did his shtick later joined by Elliott Yamin on a terrific version of Nickelback’s Savin’ Me. That was the best Yamin was all night as he sounded foolish trying to emulate Luther Vandross. Diva Katharine McPhee (who missed the first tour weeks with laryngitis yet found time to do interviews, photo spreads and host The View) announced she'd only do two out of her three allotted songs due to a fractured foot. Doesn't she sing her big numbers on the floor anyway? While doing her "trademark" Over The Rainbow, one unimpressed concertgoer told me that only two people can sing that song now: Patti Labelle and Sam Harris from Idol precursor Star Search (If anyone remembers that!) Taylor Hicks proved he was the right winner entering through the crowd singing Jailhouse Rock. He simply isn't another Michael McDonald, as you'd never see that laidback blue-eyed soul man dancing up a storm during Takin’ It to the Streets. The group finale (We Are The Champions and Living in America) was corny and lackluster. The greatest strength of this tour is that it crosses all lines. It's rare to attend a concert where you see grandparents, parents and children grooving together off of their generation's hits. For upcoming dates near you, visit: www.americanidol.com.

The good folks at Lifetime gave TASTY CLIPS an advance look at their upcoming original movie event The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life is Not a Fairy Tale. Based on the book by the 2004 American Idol winner, the film stars Fantasia as herself during her teen years to the present. It starts with its most explosive allegation - that after her rocking rendition of Chain of Fools (shown in the actual clips) she was cornered by producers who gave her the "opportunity" to walk away due to internet reports of her being a high-school dropout and unwed mom. Flashbacks begin of the young Barrino family, a struggling musical group in North Carolina. A deal gone sour breaks spirits leading to depictions of Fantasia's high school troubles reading, writing and being ostracized by her fellow students after an on premises rape. Director Debbie Allen does a good job of toning what could be sensationalistic material down a bit for her TV audience. There is an undercurrent of despair shown as Fantasia leaves her family's house for her new home in the projects that seems populated by nothing but young single mothers. It feels inevitable that she will soon join the club. Good thing we all know how this inspiring tale ends. The cast features Loretta Devine, Viola Davis, Kadeem Hardison (who seems like he hasn't aged much despite the beard), and as young Fantasia: Jamia Simone Nash (former Motown prez Suzanne de Passe's new discovery). It airs in a special three-night premiere beginning Sat., Aug. 19 @ 9PM followed by encores on Aug. 20 @ 8PM and Aug. 21 @ 9PM.

CLIPPETTES: Jada Pinkett Smith has written her first screenplay and Mike Figgis is set to direct it reports Teletext. "I had a meeting with Mike in London. He said he loved the script, and I'm hopeful he'll direct it. That'd be wild, as I adored Leaving Las Vegas." Pinkett Smith added: "I love to challenge myself. This was a big one.".....Shadowboxer producer Damon Dash has three new projects on the horizon. Variety reports a bio on NY Cop shooter Larry Davis; a fact-based film about a female fight club in Brownsville, Brooklyn; and a film based on the life story of mobster Joe Stassi, a go-between of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano......Blair Underwood will play a "hunky new teacher" on CBS' Julia Louis-Dreyfus series The New Adventures of Old Christine......Resident Evil: Extinction, third installment in the series with Mike Epps and Ashanti, will see the light next year on Sept. 7, '07.....With the Richard Pryor series now in Mike Epps' hands, comic/actor Eddie Griffin will produce and star in an NBC sitcom based on the actor's own experience as a father of multiple children with different women. Eddie reportedly calls it "the 'f**ked-up Cosby Show." TASTY CLIPS happens to know one of those mommies, so watch out!.....Richard Roundtree is appearing this week on Spike TV's Blade: The Series as the vampire hunter's dad.....Keenen Ivory Wayans is reportedly dating blonde actress Brittany Daniel, who stars in his movie Little Man, after hand picking her for the role.....Rapper/Actor T.I. (ATL) has been added to the Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe starrer American Gangster......Flip The Script, the film fest favorite called an urban Big Chill, can be enjoyed in your home on DVD beginning Aug. 22. Miguel Nunez, Robin Givens, Mel Jackson, Tec Holmes and Laz Alonzo star in this beautifully shot romantic comedy that will surprise you with its honesty.....Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, will step into Jerry Rice's shoes for the next season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars, to debut on Sept. 12.

VERNA FELTON is the first person to ever leave the hit reality TV show The Apprentice without hearing those now infamous words, "You´re Fired." The Seattle based Business Communications pro decided to leave on her own terms, telling Donald Trump, "I Quit." Through this experience and her own life’s experiences, Verna wants to teach others the art of empowerment. Hence her first book: I Quit! - Commonsense Guide to Taking Back Control of Your Career. The author feels this book is for anyone who has ever been stuck in a dead-end job, relationship or any situation they are uncomfortable with. It examines many of the common mistakes that people make in believing that they do not have a choice, when indeed, they do. For far too long people have been led to believe that quitting is something for losers, or people who aren’t strong enough to achieve the victory. There is a hidden truth to quitting that we must now convey. Quitting is a powerful tool if used correctly. For more info, visit: www.vernafelton.com.

EMI Gospel recording artist KIERRA "KIKI" SHEARD's sophomore opus, This Is Me, stormed Billboard magazine charts during its first week of release. The critically-acclaimed set debuted in the #1 position on the Top Gospel Album Chart, and # 3 on the Top Christian Albums Chart. Additionally, the album debuted high on the R&B Albums Chart and reached #1 in Japan. Bolstered by the set's stand out track Why Me?, this disc is the follow-up to her 2004 chart-topping debut album I Owe You and its remixed version, which yielded the international radio hit Let Go. Her musical roots stem from her father, Dr. J Drew Sheard, (pastor of Michigan mega church Greater Emmanuel Inst. COGIC) and her mother, gospel icon Karen Clark-Sheard of the legendary Clark Sisters. At the age of 9, Kierra won the prestigious Stellar Award for Best Children’s Performance for her collaboration on her mother’s solo debut album Finally Karen. The masses were wowed by her vocal prowess during Megafest in Atlanta; and CeCe Winans’ Always Sisters, Always Friends conference in Nashville. She'll sing at Dr. Creflo Dollar’s World Changers Ministries (August 11) then take an 11-day trek through the Orient. TASTY CLIPS asked the 19 year old Wayne State pre-law student if she had to be concerned about bootlegs like secular artists. "Oh yeah, most definitely," replied Sheard. "A lot of people when they hear faith music they can't afford are going to try to bootleg it." You ever see a bootleg of yours on the street? "Actually I did. Somebody tried to sell it to me out of their home. My CD and my family's. They said, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.' I took the CDs and left."

Your album has a urban contemporary sound no doubt influenced by longtime Brandy producer Fred Jerkins' touch. Were any of these tracks meant for her? "I'm getting a lot of feedback from people who say it sounds like the gospel Blue Moon. I can honestly say I took some things from Brandy. She has a great tone and I learned a lot from her. But these tracks were made for me. All for me."

The music is so dance oriented. Do you move a lot on stage while performing it? "I dance a little. I don't shake what my momma gave me, but I kinda move around a little. When you enjoy music you can't help but throw your hands up and just move. I don't get out of hand because I'm a gospel artist and I have to keep the intention, but I'm still going to let you have a good time and minister to you and let you know the best thing that can happen to you is to have a relationship with God." But what would be wrong with you shaking it as a gospel artist or minister? "Because when you're trying to live your life as a Christian, you're trying to separate yourself from the world. I’m not going to be [doing that] if I'm doing the same thing as a Beyonce or performing the same way as Amerie. They're more the world. I'm the gospel. If I'm ministering to someone who depends on the street: a thug, drug addict or whoever, they may be addicted to things that could be holding them back from getting what God has in store for them. They would be distracted if I'm trying to shake my rump. And I'm a big girl. I've got a couple of things on me. So you'd be a little distracted. That's why there has to be a difference between a gospel artist and a R&B artist."

Aren't you damned if you do or don’t? I played your album for a deeply religious young man who told me he was distracted by the club-like beats. Have you heard that? "No, I haven't. And I'm sure I'll get a lot of that. I will not lie. I am someone who listens to different genres of music. Growing up in the church, I recognize that young people have always wanted to hear something different from the traditional sound that the older crowd is listening to. He may be a little different, but I know from talking and listening to a lot of other young people, that giving them a new sound or something that they're not use to listening to as far as gospel goes, and then giving them the gospel message, you can't tell me that it's not gospel music. Either way it goes, if it's encouraging, if it's ministering to you, you shouldn't be able to be distracted by just the track being played. It's the word that's within the song." Let's take it further. Is there a place for holy hip-hop or is that counter-productive to the message? "A lot of people are reached by the different things they like. If someone is ministered to by it or brought to Christ then that's all that matters. It's about winning souls. Coming from my perspective, there's nothing wrong with gospel hip-hop. I think that it's safe. Who am I to judge?"

One of the music industry's missing-in-action stars is in recovery and on the comeback trail. D'ANGELO, the neo-soul crooner of hits Brown Sugar and Untitled (How Does It Feel) was found by AOL Black Voices columnist Karu Daniels. It seems that the Virginia native, legally known as Michael Eugene Archer, and popularly known as Angie Stone's "baby's daddy" is fresh from a stint at the Antigua outpost of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre, where he was drying out from substance abuse. The 32-year-old has been sighted in New York recording tracks with Common and Q-Tip and taking meetings with Virgin Records urban music head Jermaine Dupri. A good sign since the label was considering dropping him. The two-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter's most recent run-ins with the law included a 2005 traffic violation and a 2002 charge for assault and resisting arrest.

Comic book fans gasped when word leaked that Crash star TERRENCE HOWARD would star as the movie version of Iron Man. That role had long been rumored for Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp. Turns out the producers weren't that bold. Howard is being eyed for the role of best bud James Rhodes, who later dons armor as War Machine. Before that the Hustle & Flow actor will join Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, Charlie Murphy, Faizon Love and ex-Girlfriend Jill Marie Jones in The Perfect Christmas, director Lance Rivera's follow-up to The Cookout.

TASTY TOPICS (with FRANKLYN AJAYE - comic/author (Comic Insights)/actor (Car Wash, HBO's Deadwood): THE REASON THERE AREN'T ANY ALL BLACK CAST DRAMAS ON NETWORK TELEVISION IS SIMPLE -- because they wouldn't get a significant tune in by white viewers. And the network wouldn't be able to charge high advertising rates -- which pay everybody's salaries in television. The networks aren't fools. They're out to make money in an increasingly difficult environment. Why put on a sure money loser? All Black cast dramas have historically rated very low, no matter who produced it. The fabulously successfully Steven Bochco failed twice with Paris and City of Angels. But in all honesty I think the idea of an all-black television drama is passe and not progressive in the least. I think the fact that more of today's network dramas are fully integrated, and that actors like Andre Braugher, Dennis Haysbert and Steve Harris can star in and lead groups of white actors in their shows is a symbol of great progress. This was unheard of five years ago.

We live in a time of niche networks and programming which helps perpetuate segregated viewing habits. Years ago they did a study on viewing patterns that showed the Seinfeld was the number 89 show in Black households--and this was when it was the number one show and a national phenomena. By the same token the Black shows on UPN and WB rated very low in white households. This shows that for whatever reason, Black don't want to watch whites and Whites won't watch Blacks. White attendance at all Black films is still very low. If Blacks want to see an all-black drama they should petition BET to put one on. The Hispanic networks are putting on all Hispanic soap operas and dramas for their constituents that only want to see Hispanics. The gays are putting on all gay shows on their network for their constituents, and women have the Lifetime and Oxygen networks for their gender specific dramas. That's the best way to serve underserved constituencies -- which is why they've emerged. Only BET is not doing that.

But for network television, a much better and more progressive network drama model is the David Kelley (The Practice, Boston Public), ER, Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy, NYPD Blue and Lost drama models where you have a diverse cast both ethnically and gender wise which gives all types of viewers portals of entry into the show. That's the best way to get a wide and diverse viewership -- which translates into higher advertising rates. In my opinion, it's also more progressive in terms of showing diverse groups of people interacting with each other -- which I always thought was the goal.