newsmakers

newsmakers

James Spader to join cast of ‘The Office’

NEW YORK

NBC has signed James Spader as a full-time cast member of “The Office.” The network announced Wednesday that Spader will reprise his guest role as manipulative salesman Robert California when the comedy returns this fall.

California will have been hired over the summer as the new manager of the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin paper company. But within hours, he wangled a promotion to CEO of Sabre, the parent corporation of Dunder Mifflin.

This leaves the branch manager’s position vacant again. An actor to replace departed series star Steve Carell is yet to be announced by NBC.

Spader appeared as one of several guest stars on “The Office” this spring. He’s previously starred in the drama series “Boston Legal” and “The Practice.”

CNN cancels Spitzer’s prime-time program

NEW YORK

The Eliot Spitzer experiment is over at CNN. The network reshuffled its prime-time schedule Wednesday, canceling the former New York governor’s 8 p.m. show, “In the Arena.”

Spitzer lasted less than a year at the network. He began on CNN’s prime-time lineup last October paired with conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, who exited in February. The show never made a ratings dent in a tough cable-news time slot dominated by Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly.

CNN is moving Anderson Cooper’s news program, which now airs at 10 p.m., into the 8 p.m. time slot. Former CNBC personality Erin Burnett will host a show that is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Springfield pleads innocent to DUI

MALIBU, Calif.

Prosecutors say an attorney for Rick Springfield has entered a not-guilty plea on the rocker’s behalf in a drunken-driving case.

Los Angeles County district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons says Philip Cohen entered the plea during a hearing Tuesday in Malibu.

The “Jessie’s Girl” singer did not attend the arraignment in the misdemeanor case.

Springfield was arrested May 1 by a deputy sheriff who stopped him for reportedly speeding in his 1963 Corvette on Pacific Coast Highway.

The sheriff’s department said Springfield’s blood alcohol content was 0.10 percent.

That’s over the 0.08 percent limit at which a person is presumed to be too drunk to drive.

Vindicator wire services