In the news

Anchor Brown leaving WFLA

WFLA-Ch. 8 weekend news anchor Byron Brown will leave the station Monday to take another anchor job, WFLA news director Forrest Carr said Thursday. Brown, who joined the station in June 2000, is one of three African-American on-air personalities at the NBC affiliate. A replacement has not been named.

"I can't reveal where he's going," Carr said. "But it's a medium-sized market in the Southeast and he'll be a lead anchor. His contract didn't run out; it was just something (WFLA president and general manager) Eric Land agreed to let him do. We're all really happy for Byron."

WFLA's remaining African-American on-air personalities are reporter Rod Carter and weekend meteorologist Jennifer Hill.

Ruth Eckerd Hall gets high ranking from Billboard

In the latest issue of Billboard magazine, Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater was ranked No. 2 in the number of sold out shows in the United States for 2001-02, behind Denver's Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre, for venues with capacities of 5,000 or less.

Ruth Eckerd Hall also ranked No. 6 in total attendance (240,941) and No. 8 in total gross revenue ($9,505,345).

President and CEO Robert Freedman said, "We had a fantastic, record-revenue year with 57 shows selling out."

The Billboard ranking comes on the heels of Ruth Eckerd Hall's nomination for Pollstar's Theater of the Year Award. The award recipient, chosen by over 100 artists, promoters and industry professionals, will be announced in Los Angeles on Feb. 9.

Judge Judy cashes in

Judge Judy Sheindlin reaped a payout of $25-million a year for four years when she signed a new contract for her syndicated daily court show, Judge Judy, according to the New York Post's Page 6. That figure would put her in the top pay ranks for TV performers.

The big payday is presumably a reward for the show's strong ratings; it led the field among the many court shows on the air.

Wedding bells

Six Feet Under sexaholic Brenda may not be the best candidate for marriage (as fiance Nate found out last season), but the actor who plays her, Rachel Griffiths, found a practical way to tie the knot, combining her wedding with a New Year's Eve party.

After a nine-month engagement, the Aussie actor married artist Andrew Taylor on Dec. 31 in the chapel of Star of the Sea, her old school in Gardenvale, Australia, her publicist said in a statement.

It's the first marriage for the 34-year-old Griffiths, who has been friends with Taylor for 17 years. They will honeymoon for a week in Australia before she has to return to Hollywood to start filming the next season of HBO's hit funeral-home drama.

Meanwhile, after 61/2 years of living in unwedded bliss with director Bart Freundlich and bearing him two children (Caleb, 5, and Liv, 9 months), The Hours and Far from Heaven star Julianne Moore finally has a ring on her finger.

No official date has been set for the nuptials.

And Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne renewed their wedding vows during a New Year's Eve party at the Beverly Hills Hotel that included hundreds of guests.

The couple got married on July 4, 1982, but delayed their 20th anniversary celebration because of Sharon's battle with colon cancer. They announced their plans in November.

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