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What? Live O.J.? Again?

"COURT TV'S CATHERINE CRIER WILL INTERVIEW O.J. SIMPSON," blared the press release. "On Wednesday, July 26, O.J. Simpson goes in front of the cameras at the network that provided gavel-to-gavel coverage of his landmark murder trial for an in-studio interview with Catherine Crier ..."

And Court TV is not alone. To promote his new paid-subscription-only venture, AskOJ.com — now there's a dream come true — the Juice is agreeing to appear on TV, including live TV, as part of an all-out publicity blitz. (He was scheduled also to appear on "The View," but Barbara Walters cancelled his appearance, then bragged about it on Monday's broadcast. Canadians can catch O.J., so to speak, on CTV's "Canada AM" at 6:30 am Thursday.)

Now if you're thinking, "Wow, they must've paid O.J. a lot of money for this," think again: The site, run a company called Entertainment Network, claims that O.J. won't be paid a cent for sharing his views with the customers, who've agreed to pony up $7.95 apiece.

And anyway, it's no big deal for the Juice. Lest we forget, Michael Moore got him to do a live, no-holds-barred interview nearly three years ago. The only difference is that few actually saw the exchange, since Moore was taping a pilot for a late-night talk show that Fox later declined to pick up. What made that interview memorable was the shock that reverberated through the studio in the minutes after O.J. stepped out. Seems that Moore had not even informed Fox executives he was bringing Simpson onto his show. Read all about it in my story from 1997:

SIMPSON GUEST STINT CREATES STUDIO CHAOS

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Amazing. They found this guy, W. Earl Brown, who looks just like the larger-than-life rock star Meat Loaf. He's the star of "Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back" (9 p.m., VH1), a TV movie that VH1 says was made with "the full cooperation of Meat Loaf." Well, if you're gonna go that far, why not just have Meat Loaf play Meat Loaf?

That, however, is about my only complaint with this interesting and sympathetic portrait. The story begins in Dallas, where young Meat must endure taunts about his weight — not only by schoolmates but also his own father. By acting and singing, he transforms himself into a 300-pound entertainment giant, starring in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and making the seminal theatrical-rock classic "Bat Out of Hell". Later Meat wears out his voice, sending his career into a tailspin.

Thus begins the familiar riches-to-rags-to-riches-again cycle that regular viewers of VH1 will recognize from practically every edition of "Behind the Music." And speaking of which, a "Behind the Music" devoted to the career of Meat Loaf follows the movie at 11 p.m.

On this date...

in 1989, PBS follows five members of the Yale football team as they return to New Haven for their 25th college reunion in the documentary "Halftime." -- Tom Heald

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