Newsmakers

Discovery cancels long-running ‘Dirty Jobs’

LOS ANGELES

There are countless dirty jobs, and someone’s got to do them — but now we won’t get to see Mike Rowe trying his hand at them: Discovery is pulling the plug on on its long-running reality series “Dirty Jobs.”

Rowe, the show’s host/creator/ executive producer, announced the news in a blog post Wednesday.

“A few weeks ago, I was officially informed that ‘Dirty Jobs’ had entered into a new phase,” he wrote. “One I like to call, ‘ permanent hiatus.’ Or in the more popular industry vernacular, canceled.”

Hanks, Ferrell offer voicemail recordings

NEW YORK

Imagine having William Shatner supply your outgoing voicemail message. Or maybe you’d prefer Morgan Freeman coolly telling callers to wait for the beep. Or perhaps having Betty White joke around is more your speed.

All it takes is $299 and some luck.

The advocacy group Autism Speaks is offering custom-recorded messages from those celebrities as well as Will Ferrell, Carrie Fisher, Tom Hanks, Derek Jeter, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Ed Asner.

From Dec. 3 to 9, a limited number of 20-second-long MP3 messages will be recorded by each celebrity on a first-come, first-served basis for fans to do with as they wish. All requests must be of the PG variety.

All proceeds will support autism research and advocacy efforts.

Vindicator wire services