Thursday 10 June 1999
By eBroadcast Staff and agencies.

Debbie Gibson comes back (again), James Van Der Beek earns an obscene amount of money, and Susan Sarandon hits the small screen

'Let's see. I want a Ferrari and a Porsche and a mansion and a pony.'

Remember Debbie Gibson? She's Deborah now. And she doesn't wear those terrible hats she wore when she was a teen star and sang to screeching little girls in malls. Instead, she may end up working in a brewery, living with a friend in a basement apartment, and going out... bowling. Laverne? Shirley? According to the New York Post, Norman Lear, the daddy of many a sitcom (including All in the Family) wants to cast Debbi... Deborah in a new Laverne & Shirley-type show. If the deal happens, the show could air next year. And guess who wrote the theme song?

Speaking of teen stars, ever wonder how much some of them make? Well, the BBC reports that James Van Der Beek, better known as Dawson, used to make $7,500 per episode, during the first season of the show. Now, he rakes in $75,000 -- per episode. Spare change?

In other news, Susan Sarandon is taking a break from the big screen to hang out with the TV gang for a while. She's going to act and executive produce a telepic for NBC called Prayers for Bobby. The show, which is based on the book by Leroy Aarons, is about a mother who feels responsible for her gay teen son's suicide. No word yet on which role Susan will take, but her co-producers hope she'll choose the starring role. "Of course our hope is that she'd want to do it," says David Permut. "It's a very timely piece, in light of recent news events involving children not being listened to."