The urban comedy Barbershop has ended MGM's losing streak earlier than expected. The $20.6-million take for the film surprised analysts who expected that MGM would have to wait until the November 22 release of the James Bond movie Die Another Day before it would see the top-spot at the box office. As it turned out, the take for Barbershop was the fourth biggest for September in history. "This was very much a surprise," Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Daily News."You can't predict it. Something like this just comes along and surprises everybody." Commented MGM COO Chris McGurk: "We thought it was going to be successful but, no, we didn't think it would do over $20 million."

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Barbershop, MGM, $20,627,433, (New); 2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, IFC Films, $10,772,146, 22 Wks. ($110,443,668); 3. One Hour Photo, Fox Searchlight, $8,006,660, 4 Wks. ($14,567,429); 4. Swimfan, 20th Century Fox, $6,051,863, 2 Wks. ($19,682,646); 5. Stealing Harvard, Sony, $6,041,521, (New); 6. Signs, Disney, $5,405,275, 7 Wks. ($213,032,514); 7. City by the Sea, Warner Bros., $4,862,445, 2 Wks. ($16,654,735); 8. XXX, Sony, $3,308,202, 6 Wks. ($135,393,339); 9. Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, Miramax, $2,742,641, 6 Wks. ($77,397,043); 10. Austin Powers in Goldmember, New Line, $1,854,216, 8 Wks. ($209,634,700).

AOL founder Steve Case is likely to stave off any immediate effort to oust him as chairman of AOL Time Warner, published reports said today (Tuesday), although pressure on him to resign before the company's annual meeting next spring is mounting. Today's New York Times reported that several company directors, including Vice Chairman Ted Turner and Liberty Media's John Malone, are likely to seek Case's removal at a board meeting in New York on Thursday, but under terms of Case's deal with the company, it would take a vote of three-quarters of the board to unseat him. Today's Los Angeles Times also named Capital Research Group, a large institutional shareholder, as among those seeking Case's ouster. The New York Post quoted unnamed sources as saying that Case will be gone within two weeks, while several financial websites predicted that Case would resign by the end of the week -- all of which prompted a company spokesperson to issue a statement saying, "There is no basis to the rumors. He's staying at the company."

In what could be yet another hard blow to AOL Time Warner, WorldCom has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York to allow it to end a deal that would require it to buy $185 million in advertising on AOL and Time Inc. publications through 2004. In their filing, WorldCom attorneys stated: "The agreement requires the debtors to purchase more advertising than they need and requires the advertising purchased to be allocated between the AOL TW properties in a manner that is not favorable."

The son of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane has suggested that his stepmother may have played a role in his father's murder in 1978. In an interview with the Toronto Star in connection with the screening of the movie Auto Focus in which Greg Kinnear stars as Crane, Bob Crane Jr. said: "Let's put it this way, the only person who gained anything from my dad's death was Patty." He pointed out that Patricia Crane and his half brother Scott are selling pornographic movies taken by his father on a website, . "She is claiming to be the loving widow of my dad," he told the Star. "But does a loving widow create an X-rated website to sell videos and stills of her dead husband? She created this website ... because she is the executor of the estate and she was his legal wife at the time (of his death). Curious timing, I think."

A new survey of moviegoers by Zagat, the restaurant guide people, lists their top complaints. As reported in today's (Tuesday) USA Today, they are: 1. People talking; 2. High ticket costs; 3. Cellphones; 4. Bad seats; 6. Crowds, 7. Dirty theaters; 8. Ticket lines; 9. Unending trailers; 10. Ads.

Hoping that audiences will wish to sample its new shows while the other networks are still programming reruns, ABC is previewing three of them tonight (Tuesday), accompanied by mild to enthusiastic reviews by critics. Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik, while allowing that the Ben Affleck-produced Push, Nevada -- is "fairly entertaining" lays into the "interactive" aspect of the show (as do most other critics). "Watch the series, solve the mystery, and you could win a million dollars, according to ABC. That's the interactive part. La-di-dah," Zurawik writes, adding: "I remember a time when ABC didn't have to pay people to watch its shows." But Caryn James in the New York Times says that the show displays "a lot of nerve, imagination and clever writing." While several reviewers complain that the show is a knock-off of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, New York Daily News TV columnist David Bianculli remarks that doesn't bother him one whit: "A decade after that refreshingly original series left the air, warmed-over Twin Peaks smells and tastes pretty good.

Bonnie Hunt's Life with Bonnie also is receiving a very mixed reception. Adam Buckman writes in the New York Post: "What's to like about Life with Bonnie? Not much if the premiere episode is any indication, except that in some scenes, Bonnie Hunt manages to rise above the lackluster material which was provided for her by her (she's the show's executive producer, co-writer, director and star, which sounds about three hats too many)." But Jill Vejnoska in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gives it an A- grade, commenting: "Life with Bonnie feels like the fastest half-hour on television. Seriously. Look away any longer than it takes the microwave oven to beep, and you'll wonder what comic quip or setup you've missed."

Getting the poorest reviews is the show that ABC has hyped the most, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. However, the likability of star John Ritter appears to outweigh the formulaic nature of the show itself, most of the critics agree. Says Linda Stasi in the New York Post: "Even though the premise ... skirts the boundaries of revolting -- dad has to keep his daughters from dressing like hookers and acting like sluts -- John Ritter is such a great actor and the cast is so very, very good that they almost overcome the smarmy premise." And Robert Bianco in USA Today remarks that, as with his old Three's Company, Ritter is "still working with scripts that aren't up to the comic effort he pours into them."

The season debut of The Sopranos was watched by more people than those who tuned into any of the major TV networks, a research exec at an unnamed television network has told Broadcasting & Cable magazine. The unnamed exec, who has checked on viewership in the top 50 markets, predicted that the show will garner an 11.9 rating. That would compare with the 7.4 that Law & Order: Criminal Intent drew in the same time period last Sunday, according to Nielsen overnight ratings for the broadcast networks released this morning (Tuesday). Final figures, including those for The Sopranos, are due to be released later today.

Two leading Los Angeles-based talent agencies will no longer represent actors appearing in TV commercials, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Tuesday). Both DDK Talent Representatives and Abrams-Rubaloff & Lawrence who together represent some 1,400 performers, blamed the Screen Actors Guild, whose six-month commercial strike in 2000, they say, resulted in producers looking elsewhere for non-union talent. David DeLorenzo, president of DDK, told the Times that many of the producers have continued their relationship with talent that they hired from other cities and countries during the strike. "The damage done by this strike [to actors] is irreparable," DeLorenzo added. Richard Lawrence pointed out that agents were never consulted by SAG prior to the strike or during it, although they were similarly affected by it. "I'm not going to rest my future on a contract in which I have no input," Lawrence told the Times. A spokesman for the union blamed the decrease in hiring on the overall economy.

Once regarded by conservatives as the TV standard-bearer of their cause, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly is now coming under attack from many of the same people on the political right who fomented his initial popularity, the Associated Press reported Monday. Their ire has been raised by O'Reilly's refusal to tow the party line on such issues as gun control, the death penalty, and especially on gay couples' rights to adopt children in foster care. "We've always said, 'Don't let your ideology hold you captive, '" O'Reilly told AP. The wire service commented: "Whether calculated or not, the dispute with conservative groups may be as shrewd as the actions of a politician who adroitly positions himself in the center just before an election." O'Reilly's dominating ratings have been unaffected by recent competition from Connie Chung on CNN and Phil Donahue on MSNBC.

Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas, who stands accused of using the company as his personal piggy bank when he served as its CEO, is now demanding that the bankrupt cable firm pay for his legal defense. In an interview with today's (Tuesday) New York Post, former SEC prosecutor Robert Heim commented: "It's another example of the Rigas family trying to gain personal benefits at the expense of the corporation." A spokesman for Adelphia said that it will oppose Rigas's motion when the matter is heard in bankruptcy court on Oct. 8.