Culturite

Michael Jackson is reportedly dating Pamela Anderson.

Pop legend Michael, 50, has met former Baywatch star Pammie, 41, for two dates in Malibu, California, sparking rumours the pair are enjoying a budding romance.

“It was all arranged by their people in total secrecy, very cloak and dagger. Michael is such a private person,” a source revealed.

“He gets nervous when he thinks people are following him around, so he chose somewhere neutral for their first date.

“They arrived separately at the Shutters Hotel on Malibu beach so no one would suspect anything and then had a few drinks at the bar.”

Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol’ boy actor in car chase movies like “Smokey and the Bandit,” has died of complications from emphysema at 71.

His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.

“He’s one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That’s the way I feel about him,” Moore-Reed said.

Reed was a gifted guitarist who later became a songwriter, singer and actor.

As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, he had a string of hits that included “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” “East Bound and Down” and “The Bird.”

In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as “Smokey and the Bandit” with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol’ boy. But he was an ornery heavy in “Gator,” directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998’s “The Waterboy,” starring Adam Sandler.

Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a $2 guitar and showed him how to play a G-chord.

He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young.

At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.

He moved to Nashville in the mid-1960s where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.

He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, “U.S. Male” and “Guitar Man” (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit “A Thing Called Love,” which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs for Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.

He won a Grammy Award for “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkins for their collaboration, “Me and Jerry.” In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for “Sneakin’ Around.”

The lights at the Peach Pit went out at the turn of the century when Beverly Hills 90210 went off the air. But the television show that was a pop culture sensation in the 1990s is back, in what’s being marketed as an edgy, updated show. The prime time teen soap premieres Tuesday.

Hype springs eternal, judging from the hoopla surrounding tonight’s debut of 90210 , the Beverly Hills, 90210 sequel from the producers of cult faves Undeclared and Freaks & Geeks – two shows that, it must be said, barely made a dent with viewers, even though they wowed TV critics.

If you’ve been keeping abreast, so to speak, of the entertainment news magazines, you know all about 90210 by now. Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth will return to the zip code that made them famous. Doherty’s Brenda is now a successful theatre actress who directs West Beverly High’s new school musical; Garth’s Kelly is now a guidance counsellor at the school. Also, Joe E. Tata will return in cameos as Nat, proprietor of the newly remodelled Peach Pit.

The emphasis is on the new kids, though: Toronto’s Shenae Grimes as Annie Wilson, the proverbial new girl in school; Tristan Wilds as Dixon, the stepbrother and perennial outsider; Anna-Lynne McCord as Naomi, the rich girl; Michael Steger as Navid, the dweeb; Jessica Stroup as Silver, the girl rebel; and Yellowknife, NWT native Dustin Milligan as the popular jock.

The hype surrounding 90210 has billed it as “the most anticipated new show of the season!” but there’s just one catch: hardly anyone has actually seen it.

Don LaFontaine, the man who popularized the now loved-catch phrase, “in a world where…” and lent his voice to thousands of movie trailers, has died. He was 68.

LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications in the treatment of an ongoing illness, said Vanessa Gilbert, his agent.

LaFontaine made more than 5,000 trailers in his 33-year career while working for the top studios and television networks.

In a rare on-screen appearance in 2006, he parodied himself on a series of national television commercials for a car insurance company where he played himself telling a customer, “In a world where both of our cars were totally under water…”