Tuning In

Cowell’s celebrities

Simon Cowell may have been booed on stage during Sunday’s live Emmy telecast, but his bad-boy persona is responsible for the continuing success of “American Idol” and, more recently, “America’s Got Talent.” His latest venture, “Celebrity Duets,” premieres tonight at 8 on Fox.

Wayne Brady hosts the series, which features eight celebrities not known for singing — including actress Lucy Lawless (“Xena:Warrior Princess”) and comic actor Cheech Marin — competing to prove their vocal chops. For help, they’ll be paired with singing superstars, such as Smokey Robinson and Patti LaBelle.

Little Richard, Marie Osmond and music producer David Foster will judge — though their role as decision-makers will be a lot more difficult than that of the “Idol” judges.

“My experience with celebrities is that they’ll be a lot more lippy,” Mr. Cowell said during a recent conference call.

The impresario said finding eight celebrities willing to take a chance on stage wasn’t difficult. “There are so many celebrities who wanted to come on this show who couldn’t sing a note,” Mr. Cowell reported. But he didn’t want anybody merely for comedic value.

The competing stars may already be celebrities, but Mr. Cowell believes they’re no less ambitious than “American Idol” contestants.

“I would like to think that at the end of the show, somebody will launch a successful recording career, because I think that’s what they all want,” he said. “They won’t all admit that, but that’s my hunch.”

Mr. Cowell also offered advice to “American Idol” wannabes. “Be original. We hear so many third-rate, fourth-rate Mariah Carey impersonations.”

Leary’s dark comedy

When “Celebrity Duets” ends at 10 tonight, you might want to switch over to FX for the cable network’s third season finale of its critically acclaimed series “Rescue Me.”

Show star and co-creator Denis Leary, an Emmy nominee for his turn as New York firefighter Tommy Gavin, amused TV writers during an interview with show co-creator Peter Tolan.

“Shakespeare didn’t tell us stories about guys who were out gardening back in his day,” Mr. Leary said when asked about the black comedy of the show.

“Rescue Me” features some of TV’s most dysfunctional characters. It generated controversy earlier this year with a controversial sex scene. Some viewers thought Tommy forced himself on his estranged wife Janet (played by Andrea Roth). “We were surprised by the amount of reaction to Tommy’s thing with Janet,” Mr. Tolan said.

While Mr. Leary received an Emmy nod, some critics were surprised that the show itself didn’t. Mr. Tolan wasn’t. “It’s too funny to be a drama, too dramatic to be a comedy,” he said.

Part of the drama comes from how the show deals with the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In tonight’s episode, Tommy and his crew visit the firefighters’ memorial at ground zero. “We made a fake memorial,” said Mr. Tolan, adding that they purposefully made it look different from the real one, so New York firefighters and their families could see the real one hadn’t been used. “That’s sacred space,” Mr. Tolan explained.

The show is steadily gaining fans, and FX has ordered a fourth season of 13 episodes to air next summer. When asked whether they liked working with the cable network, both Mr. Leary and Mr. Tolan joked about having mixed feelings.

“[FX President] John Landgraf storms in and comes up with notes that make me and Peter look at each other and ask why the hell didn’t we come up with that?” Mr. Leary laughed.

“It’s a great place to be,” Mr. Tolan said. “But secretly, we’re kind of irritated.”

Compiled by Kelly Jane Torrance from staff reports.