Carey On

HEALTH WATCH Drew Carey was released from the hospital on Saturday night following an angioplasty to clear a blocked coronary artery. The portly 43-year-old had complained of chest pains on Thursday and was taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank, near the Warner Bros. lot where he films ''The Drew Carey Show.'' He is expected to return to work later this week....

Following President Bush's decision Thursday to allow limited federal funding of research on stem cells from a handful of non-viable embryos, Michael J. Fox made the rounds of the morning news shows on Friday, telling ''Today'' and ''Good Morning America'' that he feels Bush's decision didn't go far enough. ''We do have a little bit of a feeling though that he's put us on the launch pad and he's given us clearance for take-off but we have real questions about the quality and quantity of fuel he's given us,'' said Fox, who believes stem cell research could ultimately help Parkinson's sufferers like himself. ''A more sure-footed step could ensure results more quickly. We want to make sure that he is seizing the opportunity to get this done.'' Fox, who has testified before Congress on the issue, noted that Bush's decision to limit research to already destroyed embryos will not prevent the destruction of other surplus embryos. ''He's not effectively putting an end to anything.''...

Ben Affleck took a night off from rehab to appear at the third annual Teen Choice awards on Sunday, where he picked up two trophies, including favorite actor. ''I actually wasn't going to be here, but I felt like it was important, because this actually means a lot to me because it's voted on by you guys,'' he said. Other winners: Destiny's Child was named favorite pop group, 'N Sync won best single and best album, Britney Spears was named best female performer, and Sarah Michelle Gellar won for ''extraordinary achievement.'' The awards were voted on by readers of Seventeen magazine. The ceremony, filmed at the Universal Amphitheater in Hollywood, will air August 20 on Fox.

REEL DEALS Little-known Colin Farrell (''Tigerland'') picked up a reported $5 million to star in the thriller ''The Farm,'' about a rookie CIA agent who suspects his mentor is a double agent, so one can only guess how much Disney is paying Al Pacino to costar. James Foley, who directed Pacino in ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' and ''Two Bits,'' will begin shooting on November 1....

Wyclef Jean is starring in ''Shottas,'' a movie about Jamaican gangsters in Miami. The rapper is also doing the soundtrack of the independent feature....

Eddie Griffin will star in ''My Baby's Mama,'' which he also cowrote. The buddy comedy will costar John Leguizamo, LL Cool J, and Lil' Kim....

Action director Renny Harlin (''Driven,'' ''Deep Blue Sea'') has returned to his native Finland for inspiration for what he hopes will be his next film, a biopic of Finnish national hero Carl Gustaf Mannerheim. Mannerheim was a soldier and statesman who successfully defended the Scandinavian nation against both the Soviets and the Nazis during World War II. In an interview with Finnish magazine Talouselama, Harlin said, ''Several young-generation actors would surely consider this the opportunity of a lifetime to play the role of a multifaceted hero in a big epic movie,'' citing Jude Law as a possibility. (Of course, Law already has a wintry World War II epic, ''Enemy at the Gates,'' under his belt.) Harlin is preparing an English-language screenplay and hopes to find $30 million in financing.

LEGAL BRIEFS Edward James Olmos was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison on Friday for trespassing on U.S. Navy property on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques during an April protest against the Navy's continued bombing of the island during war games. However, Olmos had already served four days, so he was required to serve only 16 more....

Junior M.A.F.I.A. rappers Little Caesar (James Lloyd) and Banger (Antoine Spain) were arrested Friday after a shooting at a Brooklyn deli. Also arrested was their bodyguard, Suif Jackson, a cousin of the late Notorious B.I.G. At the convenience store, just after midnight Friday morning, the three had allegedly argued with Michael Goody for talking too loudly on his cell phone, then fired 15 rounds at him from their car, hitting Goody in the leg. The suspects were charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of a weapon. In the car, registered to to fellow Junior M.A.F.I.A. rapper Lil' Kim, police found two 9-millimeter handguns....

Yeah, the folks at the World Wrestling Federation sometimes act like wild animals, but would you ever confuse them for the real thing? That's what's at issue in a in a London court ruling in favor of the World Wildlife Fund, alleging that the organization could lose donations because animal lovers might get the two WWFs mixed up. In filing an appeal to smack down that victory, Vince McMahon's lawyers are arguing that it would cost the wrestlers $50 million to change their logo and their Web address (www.wwf.com). The next court date is October 1.

TUBE TALK While the other networks are premiering their new and returning shows during the week of September 17, Fox will be preoccupied with post-season baseball until the end of October. To keep from losing viewers with reruns until then, Fox has planned to show a series of high-profile theatrical hits (''Rush Hour,'' ''Independence Day,''), along with some original movies, including one called ''The Rats,'' airing during premiere week. In that film, Vincent Spano faces off against a horde of diseased rodents that threaten to take over New York City. It's not clear whether this is a disaster movie, an allegory, or just a documentary....

The season premiere of ''The District'' will have Craig T. Nelson's D.C. cops looking for a missing Chandra Levy-like intern. ''People might accuse us of exploiting a tragic situation,'' producer John Wirth tells the New York Post, ''but we're really exploring the plight of those who turn up missing, and their loved ones.''

MY WIFE AND KID Born to Tisha Campbell-Martin and actor Duane Martin: a son, Xen Martin, 8 pounds, 11 ounces, on Wednesday. It's the first child for the couple, who've been married for four years.

STRIKE OUT Remember back in April when everyone thought that simultaneous writers' and actors' strikes would shut down Hollywood, throw hundreds of thousands out of work, and cause billions of dollars in losses? None of that came to pass after writers and actors negotiated quietly behind closed doors with producers, making tentative deals for new contracts and submitting them for approval to union membership at large. The final anticlimactic act occurred this weekend as the actors' unions tallied the mailed-in ballots, 97 percent of which were in favor of the new three-year contract. Only 30 percent of the members even bothered to vote, though that's up from 22 percent in 1998. New provisions include some gains for the actors in residuals from re-airings on basic cable, Fox TV, foreign TV, and pay-per-view movies. But a labor negotiator's work is never done; with the actors' network code contract (covering all TV work except prime-time shows on the big three broadcasters) expiring Novermber 15, the next round of talks is only a couple months away.