Controversial new US drama The Book Of Daniel, starring actor Aidan Quinn as a pill-popping Episcopal priest, has been canceled. The show was a target for conservative religious groups who were upset that the main character, Father Daniel Webster, conducted regular chats with Jesus as he popped painkillers. The show also features storylines dealing with drug dealing, alcoholism and homosexuality, which also outraged religious groups, who petitioned to get the show canceled. A television station in Indiana had to post security outside their studios after receiving death threats for airing the controversial religious drama. Friday's installment of the show came in a distant third in its time slot and NBC network executives decided to pull the show. The show had filmed eight episodes but no new episodes are scheduled to air and will be replaced by coverage of the Winter Olympics.

Hollywood hardman Russell Crowe has promised to "tar and feather" any photographer who hassles his pregnant wife Danielle Spencer. The blonde singer/actress is set to give birth to a brother or sister for their two-year-old son Charlie in July. The Oscar-winner has sent out a warning to snappers, because he believes paparazzi contributed to the premature birth of their son Charlie. He says, "Dani was three weeks early last time, she gave birth just a few days after she was chased down the street by four photographers. Nobody cares, particularly the photographers, nobody cares to focus on what that is. She was just walking down the street with her girlfriend and they rushed her - four of them all surrounded her. So she panicked and slipped and all this sort of stuff. If I'd been there that would have been a really serious situation. I tell you right now, they will be tarred and feathered if they hassle my pregnant wife again."

Producers of the hit show Friends have hit out at claims the six stars are set for a money-spinning reunion. According to reports, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox met in secret before Christmas and each agreed a $5 million deal with NBC bosses in Los Angeles, to reprise their roles in four special one-hour episodes. But a Warner Bros spokesperson insists, "There is absolutely no truth to it. There is nothing planned of any kind."

Australian actor Eric Bana was delighted when film bosses told him filming on Munich would be delayed, because it gave him more time to master the Israeli accent. The Troy star plays the leader of an Israeli Secret Service team hunting the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in the Steven Spielberg movie. After signing up to play Avner in the film, Bana had to wait two years before filming finally commenced, giving him time to study the history of the troubled region. He says, "I had to learn the Israeli accent from scratch. It was also important since I was playing an Israeli in such a sensitive environment that I got better equipped with the history of the region. So I concentrated on that too."

Producers of hit US comedy My Name Is Earl have been forced to halt work on the show, after its star Jason Lee contracted the highly contagious disease chicken pox. The actor, who last week lost out on the Best Actor In A Comedy gong to The Office's Steve Carell, is anxious not to contaminate cast and crew with his itchy skin eruptions. Television bosses hope to resume production in two week's time. NBC TV entertainment president Kevin Reilly rues, "I hugged him at the Golden Globes and I've never had the chicken pox."

Monster-in-Law star Jennifer Lopez has sparked rumors that she is pregnant, after indulging in an extravagant baby wear shopping spree with husband Marc Anthony. The couple have recently been seen stocking up on baby supplies - Anthony was spotted buying a Guys Infant Gear nappy bag for $120 at swanky celebrity shopping spot Fred Segal in Los Angeles just last week. A witness at the store tells website Msnbc.com, "He said something that made it pretty clear that it wasn't a gift - that he intended to use it."

Hollywood hardman Joe Pesci allegedly punched a fan who refused to accept he didn't want his picture to be taken. Juan Carlos Montenegro, 24, claims the Goodfellas Oscar-winner lashed out in a shopping centre car park in Boca Raton, Florida on Sunday. Montenegro has told local police he asked the 62-year-old if he could take his photograph after spotting him leaving a shop, but Pesci replied, "Not now," and walked away. But the student followed Pesci and snapped him anyway - Pesci reportedly responded by hitting Montenegro before saying, "You shouldn't have been interrupting my business." A spokesperson for Boca Raton police said the case is being investigated but an independent witness needs to come forward if charges are to be pressed.

A sex scene between Katie Holmes and Aaron Eckhart has been deleted from new movie Thank You For Smoking - leading insiders to claim her fiance Tom Cruise exerted his superstar influence to ensure its removal. In Thank You For Smoking, Holmes' and Eckhart's characters partake in a raunchy love scene which was conspicuous by its absence when the film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The sexy shots were present when the movie was shown at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada last year. Director Jason Reitman humorously told reporters at Sundance the romp was cut due to a "technical glitch," before adding, "If you want to see a sex scene with Katie Holmes, rent The Gift." Holmes, who is pregnant with Cruise's baby, appeared topless in the 2000 movie.

Hollywood star Nicole Kidman has laughed off reports she is engaged to country singer Keith Urban, insisting they are simply enjoying a "nice friendship". The Antipodean stars have been romantically linked since July, but both has refused to confirm the nature of their relationship. Since spending Thanksgiving and Christmas together in Urban's adopted hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, speculation has mounted the couple are preparing to marry. However, Kidman's publicist Wendy Day says, "Clearly they are enjoy a nice friendship together. But Nicole's personal life is her personal life and I have no further knowledge of their friendship."

Rapper Kanye West has a new feud brewing with America's Catholic League after posing as the wounded Jesus Christ on the cover of the upcoming issue of music magazine Rolling Stone. Bloodied West appears wearing a crown of thorns on his head in a provocative shot, which has upset the religious group's leaders, who are calling his latest controversial act "offensive" and "trite." Catholic League spokeswoman Kiera McCaffrey says, "It's moronic. I mean, Kanye West as Jesus? He's a pop star." But the Jesus Walks rapper insists he has a lot in common with Christ because he has to fight for recognition and suffer for success. In the accompanying article, West talks about the criticism fired at him last year when he famously suggested President George W. Bush was a racist during a Hurricane Katrina telethon, and criticized the US leader for not reacting to the disaster quicker. He explains, "If I was more complacent and I let things slide, my life would be easier, but you all wouldn't be as entertained. My misery is your pleasure." In the Rolling Stone spread, West also poses as boxing great Muhammad Ali.