TELEVISION
+ William H. Macy will lead a double life in Family Man, a ''quirky''
hour-long pilot for TNT. Macy stars as Todd Becker, an upstanding father
of three by day and the leader of a gang of burglars by night. ''The
lines between good and bad are very fuzzy,'' he says. Adds director
Steven Schachter (The Wool Cap) : ''What appears to be perfect in society
often has darker roots.'' But Macy's still keeping his hand in film. Up
next: The Deal (tentatively titled), costarring Meg Ryan (''We're hoping
to take it to Sundance''), and the Wild Hogs sequel (''I don't know much
about the plot, but I'm down'').
MOVIES
+ American Idol judge Simon Cowell is producing a movie tentatively
titled Star Struck, which will take a behind-the-scenes look at 10
contestants on an Idol-like reality series. ''If you're making a movie
about kids trying to be successful now, you wouldn't set it in a high
school like Fame,'' says Cowell, who wants to cast unknowns. ''You'd set
it within a talent competition.'' — Additonal reporting by Margeaux Watson
