Ellen Degeneres

Ellen DeGeneres, who broke ground in 1997 as the first lead character on prime-time TV to reveal she was gay, is winning the nation's top humor prize. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday that DeGeneres will receive the 15th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. She will be honored Oct. 22 with a lineup of star performers in a tribute show that will be recorded for broadcast at a later date. In a written statement, DeGeneres said receiving the same award as past honorees Bill Cosby, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell makes her wonder, "why didn't I get this...

Lady Gaga will have to cancel her sold-out June 3 show in Indonesia following protests by Islamic hard-liners and conservative lawmakers, who said her sexy clothes and dance moves will corrupt the youth. National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said the concert permit has been denied. DeGeneres honored Ellen DeGeneres has earned the nation's top humor prize. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced that DeGeneres will receive the 15th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

(Josh Reynolds for Boston.com) Mayor Thomas M. Menino greeted comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres before hundreds of fans at Quincy Market. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent Hundreds of fans packed Quincy Market today to catch a glimpse of comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as she stood on the steps of the historic building alongside Mayor Thomas M. Menino and local TV personalities. Menino welcomed DeGeneres to the city with an official proclamation as she visited to promote her daytime talk show's move from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on WCVB-TV...

Ellen DeGeneres, who broke ground in 1997 as the first lead character on prime-time TV to reveal she was gay, is winning the nation's top humor prize. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday that DeGeneres will receive the 15th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. She will be honored Oct. 22 with a lineup of star performers in a tribute show that will be recorded for broadcast at a later date. In a written statement, DeGeneres said receiving the same award as past honorees Bill Cosby, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell makes her wonder, "why didn't I get this...

Ellen DeGeneres says she's fine after feeling chest pains that prompted paramedics to respond to the Burbank studio where her daytime talk show is taped. The comedian says in a statement issued Monday that she doesn't know what caused the chest pain "but it's fine. " DeGeneres says she started having chest pains Sunday night and woke up feeling tightness and heaviness in her chest. She compared the feeling to having two cats on her chest. She said the pains lingered when she came to work, so she called 911 "to be safe.

Ellen DeGeneres , the new queen of Channel 5's 4 p.m. hour, closed out her tour of Boston on Wednesday with a vegan dinner at Lydia Shire 's Scampo, just like she planned. She was joined for the meal by her wife, Portia de Rossi , Mayor Tom Menino , Jordan's Furniture boss Eliot Tatelman , Rob Rubin of Bernie & Phyl's, and Channel 5 personalities Bianca de la Garza , J.C. Monahan , Susan Wornick , Ed Harding , Heather Unruh , and station manager Bill Fine . Menino, who had already proclaimed Wednesday "Ellen DeGeneres Day," gave Ellen her own...

We're told talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres will be at Faneuil Hall Marketplace today shooting promos for her show on WCVB-TV. Ellen is expected to arrive on a duck boat and be greeted by Hizzoner Tom Menino on the steps of Quincy Market… . Alan Thicke had dinner at BOKX109 Monday night and checked out of Hotel Indigo yesterday.

Variety and The Hollywood Reporter say that Cambridge's own Casey Affleck is in negotiations to star as the angel Gabriel in an adaptation of John Milton 's "Paradise Lost" opposite Bradley Cooper , who will play Lucifer. In other Affleck news, Ben 's pregnant wife, Jennifer Garner , reports on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" this week that her daughters want to name the couple's third child "Ralphie, Frankie, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, or Rosemarie. " "Daisy Duck Affleck.

Betty DeGeneres, mother of talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, will be among the speakers at next week's fund-raiser for the Boston chapter of PFLAG. Joan Parker, cochair of the event, says Ellen has been "extremely supportive" of the group, which promotes the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, along with their parents, families, and friends. More than 600 people are expected at Wednesday's event at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. We're also pleased to report that Parker, who's being treated for lung cancer, says she's feeling fine and has...

Lady Gaga will have to cancel her sold-out June 3 show in Indonesia following protests by Islamic hard-liners and conservative lawmakers, who said her sexy clothes and dance moves will corrupt the youth. National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said the concert permit has been denied. DeGeneres honored Ellen DeGeneres has earned the nation's top humor prize. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced that DeGeneres will receive the 15th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Ellen DeGeneres may be an outspoken vegan today, but a life without meat or dairy wasn't always easy for her to, er… digest. Raised in New Orleans and Texas, the talk show host says she always had a healthy appetite for sausage-laden red beans and rice, as well as for thick, juicy steaks. She first tried to quit meat 15 years ago, she said in a telephone interview, but lasted only six months. "I've always called myself an animal lover. And yet I ate them," she said. "Until four years ago I would be driving past these cows on pastures, and think 'What a lovely life that is,' and I'd...

Betty DeGeneres, mother of talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, will be among the speakers at next week's fund-raiser for the Boston chapter of PFLAG. Joan Parker, cochair of the event, says Ellen has been "extremely supportive" of the group, which promotes the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, along with their parents, families, and friends. More than 600 people are expected at Wednesday's event at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. We're also pleased to report that Parker, who's being treated for lung cancer, says she's feeling fine and has resumed...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The placement of his replica of the Harley J. Earl Trophy, given to the winner of the Daytona 500, spoke volumes about Trevor Bayne's humility as much as his youthful exuberance. They were traits that imbued his improbable victory as a 20-year-old rookie for Wood Brothers Racing in NASCAR's season-opening event last year. But Bayne did not have a special cabinet made for it. Or have it placed in a glass case. That would have been too pretentious for the unaffected Bayne, who was initially awestruck by the adulation his first Sprint Cup...

Michael Jackson's daughter says she was inspired to be an actress after seeing her father in the film "Moonwalker. " "My dad was in the movie 'Moonwalker' and I knew he could sing really well, but I didn't know he could act," Paris Jackson told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, according to a transcript of the episode to air Thursday. "I saw that and I said, 'Wow, I want to be just like him. "' The film featuring Jackson's signature dance move and other videos was released in 1988.

Thanks to a last-day surge in viewers, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres won her new afternoon time slot on WCVB-TV (Channel 5) for the fall ratings period, though the show's overall audience was much smaller than that of her predecessor, Oprah Winfrey. That's according to the final numbers of the November sweeps, which were released this week by The Nielsen Co. and are used by stations to set their advertising rates. DeGeneres' show led the 4 p.m. time period with 109,400 total viewers, edging out WHDH-TV (Channel 7)

Ellen is no Oprah. Since she replaced Oprah Winfrey in the 4 p.m. time slot, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has not delivered anywhere near the ratings of her powerhouse predecessor, nationally or in Greater Boston, where her show is carried on WCVB-TV (Channel 5). The station was down about 32 percent at 4 p.m. from last November, when Winfrey had 158,800 viewers. In preliminary November sweeps ratings, it was WHDH-TV (Channel 7)'s newscast that led that time slot, with 107,800 viewers, slightly more than the audience for DeGeneres' show.

Thanks to a last-day surge in viewers, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres won her new afternoon time slot on WCVB-TV (Channel 5) for the fall ratings period, though the show's overall audience was much smaller than that of her predecessor, Oprah Winfrey. That's according to the final numbers of the November sweeps, which were released this week by The Nielsen Co. and are used by stations to set their advertising rates. DeGeneres' show led the 4 p.m. time period with 109,400 total viewers, edging out WHDH-TV (Channel 7)

Terriers 10 p.m., FX This is the kind of underdog series that doesn’t come at you with big themes and towering performances. It’s just a charming buddy private-eye show (from Shawn Ryan of “The Shield’’) that creeps into your heart and settles there comfortably. Both Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James are excellent, scruffy leads, with Raymond-James finding a role (after his creepy turn as Rene on “True Blood’’) that makes him feel like an old friend. Give it a try. Pictured: Logue (left)