newsmakers

newsmakers

NBC’s Brian Williams will have surgery

NEW YORK

NBC News anchor Brian Williams will be off the air for a few weeks soon for surgery to replace a knee that was damaged in a high school football game decades ago.

Yet in what may be a sign of increased competitiveness in an evening news ratings race that Williams has dominated for several years, NBC News would not say Friday when Williams would go under the knife. Spokeswoman Erika Masonhall would say only that Williams will anchor “Nightly News” on Monday.

Williams discussed the knee replacement surgery Thursday in a “Nightly News” segment about the procedure by Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

“If you don’t see me around here for a while, this is the reason why,” he said.

Lester Holt will anchor the nightly news while Williams is away.

Williams, 54, said he’s had three previous surgeries on his right knee but the pain was becoming more of an issue.

Thornton to star in ‘Fargo’ series

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton will star in the TV version of the film “Fargo.”

FX network boss John Landgraf said Friday that Thornton has signed on to a limited series based on the 1996 crime comedy-drama. It’s scheduled for a 10-episode run on FX next spring.

Thornton will play a rootless con artist in the series. No characters will be carried over from the film, which brought a best-actress Oscar to Frances McDormand.

Even so, Landgraf says the series will be “remarkably true to the film.” Its creators, Joel and Ethan Coen, are associated with the series.

No other cast members have been announced.

Megan Fox, Green expecting 2nd child

LOS ANGELES

Less than a year after giving birth to her first child, Megan Fox is pregnant again.

A spokeswoman for the actress said Friday that Fox and her husband, Brian Austin Green, are expecting their second child together. Publicist Dominique Appel offered no other details.

Fox and Green welcomed a son, Noah, in September. Green also has a son named Kassius from a previous relationship with actress Vanessa Marcil.

Fox and Green were married in 2010. They began dating in 2004.

Fox was last seen on screen in Judd Apatow’s 2012 comedy, “This Is 40.” She is filming “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

Vindicator wire services