Transcripts For CNNW Piers Morgan Tonight 20121201

Tonight, show them the money. Were still stunned by whats happened. Americas power ball winners, now 293 million richer. I called my husband, i said i think im having a heart attack. Can they ever be the same . I will talk to their closest friends. Also, back on the campaign trail. We can solve these problems. With 32 days to go, will you be paying higher taxes . My political allstars weigh in on battleground america. And against all odds, after sandusky, penn states incredible comeback. My exclusive interview with the coach of the year. And a reunion with a dear old friend whose bark is as bad as her bite. Sharon osbourne. Her incredible year of highs and lows and how shes rebuilding her life after facing a Terrible Health prognosis. I couldnt see myself going through chemoagain. This is piers morgan tonight. Good evening. Who ever thinks the American Dream is dead or dying should meet mark and cindy hill, a missouri couple who live a very ordinary life. At least thats what they were doing until wednesday and a little thing called power ball came along. Sure, the odds were 1 in 175 million, but like everybody else in america, pretty much everyone else, they bought a ticket. Wouldnt you know it, they won. Sharing the jackpot with another lucky winner. Today, the hills are holding a check in their hands for a cool 293 million. Not surprisingly, they are in a state of shock. While we wait for them to absorb whats happened, i talked to two people who know them better than most. Joining me now, sandra and walt stubbs, good Close Friends of power ball winners, mark and cindy hill. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Thank you. What an amazing story. Tell me about these friends of yours who have suddenly gone from regular struggling American Family to fabulously rich. Well, mark and cindy went to high school with us, and you know, just an amazing story. Just great people. Salt of the earth. They bought the ticket and one day they were struggling like everybody else and now theyre millionaires. Whats amazing is that mark was laid off in 2010 from work, cindy then took time off work to care for the baby they adopted from china, and they were hoping to adopt another child, but finances were tight and so on. Now of course they can afford to do all this. But they seem very decent, i say ordinary, i dont mean ordinary in any kind of negative way, i just mean regular americans. Yes. They are very grounded. They have strong bonds with their family. They really enjoy their family. They will definitely take care of their family now. Lets play a little clip, this is of cindy, who bought the ticket, at the press conference earlier. I didnt have my glasses and i was thinking is that the right numbers, is that the right numbers . And i was shaking and i called my husband, i said i think im having a heart attack, god blessed us with this. And for some reason, he put it in our hands. I think to make sure that it goes to the right things. And but we were blessed before we ever won this. How do you guys find out about this, walt . Since were pretty familiar in the community, several people in the community started texting us about, oh, 9 00 that morning, and you know, of course, there are no secrets in a small town so everybody was pretty much calling around saying hey, he won, and mark put it on his facebook which i was totally amazed that he did that. So everybody pretty much knew. Its a lovely story. Dearborn in missouri is a small place. As you say, Everybody Knows each other. Cindy and mark have three grownup sons, jason, cody and jared and a 6yearold adopted daughter, jaden, from china. It really is a wonderful preholiday story, isnt it . Yes. It is. Its just a blessing. They couldnt have had a better couple to get it because they will definitely take care of the family but they are also really involved in the community. Were really happy for them. Do you know how they are going to spend the money, sandra . Have they given any indication to you . All they said today was that they were definitely going to take care of their family and their grandchildren and set up College Funds for them, and then they had some charities they are really into the adoption and so i know that they were possibly thinking about getting another child, and making sure that the adoption community, you know, gets some of their money. Walt, did you buy tickets yourselves for this powerball . We did. We did. We were watching but you know what, if we cant win, were happy that theyre the ones that won. Yes. If i bought a ticket and my best mates won, a little part of me would be like oh, god, why not me . You know what, i think that its important. Mark and cindy are great people, i think that they will do a good job taking care of this money and theyre just special people. Sorry we didnt win but glad they did. Very glad. Whats going to happen to marks job now with all this . Hes not going back to work. Cindy ill bet he isnt. Cindy isnt going to an interview. Cindy had an interview scheduled for today and she did not go to that, either. No, i would imagine work is the last thing on their minds. But its a great story. Im very thrilled for your friends. The mere fact youre also happy for them says it all. They are obviously lovely people and exactly the kind of people you hope win Something Like the powerball. So thank you for joining me. Please pass on my very sincere congratulations to them and if they want to come on this show and talk about it, i would love to see them. Well let them know. Thank you. Thanks. Now to another long shot winner. The year of enormous scandal and shame for penn state and its football team. Tonight, an extraordinary story of hope and healing. Against the odds, the Nittany Lions and its head coach, bill obrien, led to an incredible 84 season. Thats not all. He was just named big ten coach of the year. Coach bill obrien joins me now for an exclusive interview. Coach obrien, welcome to you. Hey, piers, how are you doing . Thanks for having me on tonight. Youve had this extraordinary run which really nobody was expecting. It started obviously amid extremely difficult circumstances. When you took over from the legendary joe paterno with all the shame and scandal that had befallen penn state, be honest with me, what was really going through your mind . Well, i knew that it was going to be a difficult challenge and so the first thing i tried to do was put together a great Coaching Staff and i think thats what weve done here. Then obviously, we spent a lot of time with the players and we talked to the players about moving forward and what this university was all about, which was a great chance to get a fantastic education and play good football, and so we werent here then, so we knew that this was a chance for us as a new football Coaching Staff to help these kids and help this Athletic Department and this University Move forward. To put it in perspective, lets remind people of the sanctions that were laid down after the scandal. A 60 million fine, a fouryear bowl ban, all wins vacated, scholarships cut for four years. On the back of that, 15 players left, 31 fourth and fifth year seniors stayed. How did you persuade the ones who stayed to stay . Because clearly, it wasnt going to be to their footballing advantage necessarily. Right. You know, it was in the summertime when the sanctions came out and right away, we had a team meeting that day, and we talked about a lot of Different Things but we talked about the commitment that they had made to each other and the commitment that they had made to the Football Program and to the university. And that there was still the education here and the ability to receive a world renowned degree. That wasnt changing. They were going to be able to play football in front of 100,000 fans. That wasnt changing. And they knew at the end of the day that they were going to be able to play a lot of football in a great conference on tv and so that was something that they knew in their minds was not changed. So at the end of the day, we had a lot of guys that chose to stay with us. We had a series of Team Meetings after that leading up to Training Camp and we had a fantastic senior class that helped keep it all together. You lost the first two games of the season. I would imagine your heart was right in your mouth at that point. But since then, incredible statistics. 8 for 4 overall season, 6 for 2 big ten record. You were named big ten coach of the year by the media and fellow coaches. You were the first penn state first year coach to win eight games in 126 years of the program, and many of the players received Big Ten Honors as well. A quite incredible array of honors given where you started from. Well, i think it was a difficult beginning. The guys were learning a new system on offense and defense and still a lot of the things that we were doing football wise here were different than what they had done in the past and there were growing pains early in the season. I think the guys were frustrated because we all knew that we had the makings of a good football team. I will never forget the monday after the virginia game where we came back to work, our guys really practiced hard that day and we knew then as a Coaching Staff we had a resilient bunch of guys that were eventually not going to be denied to win some games. We ended up beating navy that week and we got on a little bit of a roll which was good, and we ended up 84 like you said, and it was a good start to this new era of penn state football. How have you dealt with the obvious which is the difficulty i guess in rebuilding trust with fans, with parents in particular, of boys now playing at penn state after the appalling crimes of Jerry Sandusky . How have you dealt with that, how have you talked to your players about that and indeed, to the parents . How have you reassured everybody that theres a whole new world now at penn state and they dont have to worry about it . Well, i believe that we have great communication with our players, number one. We talk to our players all the time. We have good communication with the parents of our players. I think they feel good about the direction of the Football Program. One of the things that weve done here, piers, i believe, is weve helped move the community forward. Theres many things that we do in the community that help the State College community but probably number one is as we move forward, is going to make sure we do our part to put an end to child abuse. We work with the Pennsylvania Coalition against rape and thats something that is a partnership that will continue as long as im here. So i think our guys are a little bit wise beyond their years. They understand the reason that were in the position that were in because of the sanctions that came down. They know why those sanctions came down and its a little bit more than football to these guys. They understand that. Theyre going to do their part in the community and thats what were trying to do, in addition to going to class and playing good football. What are your thoughts personally towards joe paterno and indeed, towards Jerry Sandusky . Well, you know, ill start with coach paterno. You know, obviously you look at the body of work and the body of work that he had here as the football coach was tremendous. He graduated 90 of his players and he won a lot of Football Games here. I think that, you know, im just a football coach so im not here to judge anybodys legacy. All i will tell you is that its my job to move this Football Program forward and one of the reasons and one of the ways that we move it forward is by making sure that we graduate our players and that we play good football on saturdays. As far as Jerry Sandusky goes, you know, hes in jail and hes paying for his crimes and you know, weve moved forward as a university and were looking forward to the future. Well, you certainly have moved forward, coach obrien. Its been an astonishing transformation. I congratulate you personally on the achievements youve had and wish you continued good success. Thank you for joining me. Thank you, piers. Coming next, battleground america and the fight over your looming tax bill. Okay, now heres our holiday gift list. Aww, not the mall. Well, ill do the shopping. If you do the shipping. Shippings a hassle. Ill go to the mall. Hey. Hi. Yknow, holiday shippings easy with Priority Mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. If it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. Yeah, i know. Oh, youre good. [ laughing ] good luck [ male announcer ] Priority Mail flat rate boxes. Online pricing starts at 5. 15. Only from the postal service. To tell real people about our new 15 under 15 menu. Oh my goodness oh my gosh, this looks amazing [ male announcer ] our new maine stays 15 entrees under 15, seafood, chicken and more oo the tilapia with roasted vegetables im actually looking at the wood grilled chicken with portobello wine sauce. 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Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Buy now. Save later. If congress does nothing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1st. Im assuming that doesnt sound too good to you. Thats sort of like the lump of coal you get for christmas. Thats a scrooge christmas. President obama in a factory outside philadelphia today, pushing his financial plan. Make no mistake, its all about your tax bills and if washington can make a deal before you start paying more. With me is democratic strategist marjorie cliften and gerri jacobus. Welcome to you both. Listening to john boehner today and the president , its pretty clear theres no deal anywhere near being settled here. I dont know about you, im just getting really bored with it. Why dont they just get round a table and get it done . Let me start with you gerri. I think the president going to pennsylvania to the tinker toy plant on a Campaign Stop essentially is probably not going to go over as well as he thinks it does, particularly since we thought we were done with that. We just went through it a few weeks ago. Thought Campaign Stops were over and he inflicts this on us again. The American People expect him to sit down with the republicans in congress and work this out. Now, a year ago or so, last year, he agreed to 800 billion in tax hikes. Thats kind of where the number was. He comes back with twice that and when he gets obviously a no from republicans, you dont double it and say thats okay. He immediately goes out on the campaign trail so he does need to come back to washington, they need to sit down. Thats what the American People expect them to do. I mean, the bottom line is hes just been reelected, hes the winner. The republicans were vanquished and i suspect president obama says ill be calling the shots here. There is still a month left. Weve got to have something to talk about for the rest of the month, right . You have to kind of look at this as sort of a poker game. Everybodys going to sort of try to barter for as best a deal as they can get and know they are going to have to make concessions along the way. What he did is he went for it. He said look, im going to do 1. 6 trillion in tax hikes, only 400 billion in cuts. He conveniently did not cut Social Security, medicare and medicaid which poll as the most popular programs and things that americans actually want. And if you look at it, 60 of americans actually support the idea of raising taxes and that of course goes beyond those that just voted for him. So hes going with what are the popular issues that i know i can get americans around me and im going to put republicans in a really tight spot where theyre going to have to either say look, were going to make cuts to programs that we know that you like and frankly, they know that its going to be bad for republicans if a deal doesnt get done. So a lots still happening behind the scenes and what were hearing publicly is a lot of posturing in that poker game happening. Yeah. The problems of republicans it seems to me is theyve had this completely intransigent position driven by grover norquist, but all the polls say twothirds of americans are quite happy for the wealthier to pay more taxes in america. I think they should just get on with it and suck it up. Well, it was a relatively close election but the president did win and he has to own this. We also know that the Washington Post said this, and if you just close the loopholes and deductions on the folks instead of just raising their tax rates outright, you can come up with close to that 800 billion that they did agree on last year. You get to about 750. To come in with a 1. 6 trillion as your starting point, i cant believe its serious. I dont blame the leadership, mcconnell apparently burst senator mcconnell burst out laughing. I dont blame him because its absolutely ridiculous to come back from last year with twice the amount. Its not a serious offer and i think its in bad form for the president to go out on this Campaign Stop. He needs to sit down and work with republicans. We understand that the president won and the house is still in republican hands. Both sides need to understand that. But the president did not it wasnt a landslide. He did win. Hes also got to own this. It seems to me and i think this is going to seem more American People are going to start seeing this, too, he doesnt really want to come to a deal. He doesnt want to show leadership and gets this done. It seems he wants to stick the shiv in their back. People expect him to do his job. This is an opportunity for leadership. He should take it, quite frankly. I would say that it wasnt a landslide but it was a fair beating. To give you some idea just how bad mitt romney lost, look at this picture of him. This is apparently mitt romney at a mcdonalds on the same day that he had lunch with the president , actually having a mcflurry. That is how bad things have got. I dont think its bad. You are trying to convince me it wasnt a terrible beating. Look at the man. Its painful. It was painful but it wasnt like the reagan mondale, that kind of situation. Thats a great picture of mitt romney. I dont think hes probably got, the money the guy has, he goes to mcdonalds. Sometimes thats why rich people are rich. They dont waste their money. I know he likes mcdonalds, actually. When i interviewed him in london in the summer, it was literally an hour after he had come out with all these criticism of the olympics and how badly it was all being organized by the british and of course, the british took very badly to his comments, and mitt romney arrived at the location for our interview and all he said to me was i need a mcdonalds and i need it fast. Sometimes you just need your mcdonalds. I think he needs these things as a comfort blanket before tricky meetings. We all do. Thank you both very much indeed for joining me. Thank you. No problem. Coming up next, my emotional interview with a very good old friend who has got a little nip to her bite. Sharon osbourne on her lifechanging year. [ ross ] the streets of monaco, home of the legendary grand prix circuit. The Perfect Place to bring the allnew cadillac ats to test the 2. 0liter turbo engine. [ engine revs ] [ derek ] 272 horsepower. The lightest in its class. The cadillac ats outmatches the bmw 3 series. I cannot believe i have ended the day not scraping some red paint off on these barriers. [ male announcer ] the allnew cadillac ats. Bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. Our commitment has never been stronger. My relationship with Sharon Osbourne has always been, well, lets just say a little complicated. We spent a lot of time together onstage and off. We were both judges on americas got talent for four very, very long years. But a lot has changed since then. Joining me now exclusively is Sharon Osbourne, cohost of cbs the talk and a woman that despite everything, i love dearly. How are you . I love you more, by the way, and im fine. And it was five years we worked together. Was it really . Five years. God. It was fun, though, wasnt it . We had a blast, didnt we . You do look great, ive got to say. Despite this, you have been through this horrific experience. You had a double mastectomy. Tell me what happened. Last i saw you, you were blooming in good health. I was. Okay. What happened was, and i had this last january, but i just kept quiet about it because it was my it was elective surgery. I decided i wanted to do this because the year before, i had had a test called the genome test. Do you remember genome got in touch with ozzie and said we want to test you, because we have no idea why youre still alive, with everything youve gone through, and if you can imagine a dna but like a million times more complex than that, thats what the genome test is. They did ozzie, they did me and it came back that i carried i knew i had the cancer gene but the Breast Cancer gene and i had already had the colon cancer, and i just couldnt i couldnt deal with it. Having been through cancer once, what did you feel . You have had, as we will come to later, a very traumatic year already in many ways with jack and other things. How did you feel when you got this back and thought here we go again . I couldnt see myself going through chemo again. That was really its not the operation for it, its not any of that. Its the chemo that really gets you and i just thought i dont want to do it and if i can avoid it, then i will, and i dont want to keep going to be tested every six months, to have a mammogram. And i had implants in, anyway, so i had really big i remember. Yeah. Oh, i flashed you. Thats right. You may remember i woke up on the americas got talent private plane flying from chicago to los angeles to find your naked breasts in all their glory right in my face. Yes. Being photographed by nick cannon and howie mandel. Not the way i like to wake up. Well, i thought it was a nice way to wake you up and say put your seat belt on, piers, were landing. But anyway, nicks still got the pictures, by the way. I know he does. Anyway, i had, you know, those fun bags as ozzie calls them, put in, and one of them had leaked very badly so my breasts were oddsized. I got the cancer gene and i thought this is ridiculous. So i went in and they just took everything away. What does it to be a woman going through that, for most women it would be like the ultimate nightmare. I read this interview you gave, the first i heard about it was Hello Magazine dropped and theres this amazing interview. I was really struck by even someone as tough as you waking up the next day and youve had this operation which every woman would dread. How did you feel . Relieved. Really. Yeah, i did. I fell really relieved. I felt no more squishing in that mammogram because they hurt, especially with the fun bags. So it was like just relieved. Thats the way i felt. And i did it the way i did it because i didnt want to worry friends and family. I just didnt i didnt want a big todo about it. I will put the other side to this. 90 of women who have the double mastectomy because theyre worried about cancer recurring probably do so unnecessarily in the sense that statistically, actually its unlikely. My reaction to that survey was well, its fine if youre in the 90 , not so good if youre in the 10 . Is that what went through your mind, even if theres 1 chance, you dont want to take it . No, because i never i never believe those surveys, anyway, because theyre always wrong. Theyre always done by Insurance Companies that dont want to pay out to have it done. Its like, you know, they say oh, you only have a mammogram if youre over 40. Well, i know so many girls in their 20s and 30s that have had Breast Cancer. They say the same with colon cancer. You only have the test if youre 50. Well, you know what, i was going through treatment with a girl of 19 who died of it. So thats all rubbish. I was lucky enough to be able to make the decision and i was blessed and lucky, and you know, for me, the odds werent really on my side, with age and you know, my history. So im like i dont want to roll the dice on this one. Lets take a short break, sharon, come back and talk about jack. Jack came on the show, very moving interview, actually, which i know you watched. Lets talk about how hes doing next. Just got married. He did. [ male announcer ] take dayquil. [ ding ]. And spend time on the slopes. Take alkaseltzer plus cold cough. [ buzz ]. And spend time on the chair. For nondrowsy 6symptom cold flu relief. Take dayquil. Use nyquil d. [ ding ]. And get longer nighttime cough relief. Use alkaseltzer plus night cold flu. [ coughs ] [ buzz ] [ screams ]. And you could find yourself. Honey . On the couch. Nyquil d. 50 longer cough and stuffy nose relief. And with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love em even more. I earn 1 cash back everywhere, every time. 2 on groceries. 3 on gas. Automatically. No hoops to jump through. Thats 1 back on. [ toy robot sounds ] 2 on pumpkin pie. And apple. 3 back on 4 trips to the airport. Its as easy as. [ man ] 1. [ woman ] 2. [ woman ] 3. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. Apply online or at a bank of america near you. Yep. The longer you stay with us, the more you save. And when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. Genius. Yeah, genius. You guys must have your own loyalty program, right . Well, we have something. Show her, tom. Huh . You should see november oh, yeah . Giving you more. Now thats progressive. Call or click today. Meet the 5passenger ford cmax hybrid. When youre carrying a lot of weight, cmax has a nice little trait, you see, cmax helps you load your freight, with its footactivated lift gate. But thats not all youll see, cause cmax also beats prius v, with better mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. The osbournes have had more than their share of ups and downs. Back with me, the family matriarch, Sharon Osbourne. Jack recently went through his own health scare which i know was very upsetting to you. You called me and you were in floods of tears a few weeks before it all came out. I knew because this is your boy, you are the mother hen. Youre the lioness. This is one of your pride. Lets see what jack said to me when he came on the show. What is the family attitude to this . How have your mom and dad been . You know, i think my mom and dad took the news far worse than i did. They were instantly i think in a very kind of parental kind of way thought is it our fault, what could we have done, you know, things like that. And really, they have a tendency to do that a lot about everything. Your mom is an emotional woman. She is. For good and bad. See, there you go again. Very difficult for you, that, wasnt it . I remember you were really beside yourself because you couldnt believe and you have been through so much, the osbournes, so well documented, all the stuff youve had to go through, your cancer, ozzie nearly dying and so on. Now youre hit with jack getting this horrible disease in his 20s. Did you fear the worst when you first heard . Because you know enough about the disease to make any kind of considered opinion. I was hit badly because of jacks age and because jack, when he became clean and sober, its ten years ago now, he turned to climbing mountains, jumping out of helicopters, bungee jumping, doing ought tal most outrageous things and he lived for that. It made him feel great. It set him goals in life that he would achieve. And the thought of him not being able to live the life that he wanted to was devastating to me at 26. And then you think maybe i did something when i was pregnant because nobody knows how you get it. Nobody knows. So you know, i kept going over everything with myself and doubting myself and its an awful thing. He had a little baby and he also got married in hawaii on october 7th. Theres some lovely pictures from the wedding here. Looked an amazing event. It was lovely. I cried for two days. Thats all i did. Look at me. Im crying there. Theres little pearl. Im crying there. Thats all i did. Hes a lovely guy, jack. Look at me. I know. You never stop booing the whole time, did you . Pathetic. Ozzie looks almost genteel these days. What happened to the wild man . Smart, hair slicked back. Didnt he look lovely . Hes not trying to bite the baby, is he . Shes trying to bite him. That must have been a very special day, after all you have been through with jack, to be able to be there on his wedding day. All that he had been through that year was amazing and it was just a time, you know, you say your wedding is the most important day and to the day i die, i only have amazing feelings and thoughts of that day. Lets turn to perhaps not such good thoughts. Americas got talent. So i left to come here and do this show and thought leaving it in good hands, and it all went to hell in a hand cart. What happened . What happened . They were clearly missing me, you clearly missing me. Excuse me, piers, when you were there, we debuted at 16 1 2 million. You leave, were at 10. What went wrong . I do not know. I do not know. I think that i didnt see the point of moving to new york. I didnt see what that does. I dont think a viewer at home that watches that show goes they really dont care whether its filmed in philadelphia or los angeles or new york. What does it matter to them . They are at home watching the tv. Its moved because of how its done because he does a radio show there. I got the feeling watching her, who i absolutely love, an amazing talent, but i just got the feeling it was a bit uncomfortable not being able to be the real howard stern because of the nature of a family show like americas got talent. Did you feel that . I thought he handled himself really well because we know him as the howard stern of radio and hes a big old softy. Hes a big old softy. In commercial breaks, i would ask him all filthy dirty sexual questions and he would look at me and go why are you talking to me like this. Because this is what you do to me when im on your radio show. So i would ask him all these awful sexual questions. Hes fabulous. I dont know, i dont know whether we all did have that chemistry that was broken and so the show went. You had a big fallingout with nbc, mainly because jack was going to do some shows with them, then they pulled the plug and you felt strongly about that. Lot of speculation about it. What was the truth . They did offer jack the job. Why would he be in hand of a contract, the contract wasnt signed, but also, you know that you go and do a job and you sign the contract halfway through. I worked for this year for nbc for two months without signing a contract. That comes after. He was in hand of a contract. Two days before he was due to start, they called and said it was too much of a responsibility, jack was too much, so no. But the thing was, i can understand what they were saying. It was the way that they did it. It was just the way they did it. And then they offered him well, what do you want, money, well pay you. No, he doesnt want money. He wants his dignity, he wants his pride. He could do this. But then as it happens, the way the show turned out, it had a curse on it. The show did terrible, people didnt like it, it was so, you know karma. You know, the karma truck was parked outside nbc that week. Had nothing to do with me. You and simon cowell have had a love hate relationship over the years but there are some rumors you may go back perhaps to one of his shows, x factor. Nyou know what hes like . Hes such a tart. Hes like a big brother. You love your brother, but sometimes you dont like him very much, do you. So were like this at each other. We take jabs at each other all the time. But i tell you something, like you, whenever youre in trouble, simon is right there, as you are. So i cant say a bad thing about him. Which of the other talent shows do you watch . Do you like any of them . I watch them all. I love to see whats going on because im addicted to tv. Who is the worst judge on television at the moment . Oh, dear. Oh, thats awful. I prefer that to the best one. The best ones an american question. The british question is whos the worst. Oh, dear. Probably, i know hes going to kill me and hes the head of ozzies Record Company, and i shouldnt say this, but probably l. A. Reed. I think hes boring. You just ruined ozzies record deal. I know, but hes doing its like l. A. , get back to the bloody Record Company and sell some records and stop being a silly judge. Thats all i have to say. I mean, hes got all the credibility, everything, but stop trying to be mr. Show biz and get back to run sony. Really. We havent talked about the talk. The talk is terrific and you are terrific on it every weekday. Am i allowed back soon . I would love you to come back. Im available. When are you in new york next . Next week. Oh, good. Well then, you can come on our show. Were in new york. Excellent. I shall see you in the big apple. I love you. Would you like another picture . Do you know what, i just had my tea. Okay. Forget it. Sharon, lovely to see you. I love you, piers. Sharon osbourne. One of my favorites. Coming next, one of my favorite directors, Robert Zemeckis joins me to talk about his hollywood career and his incredible new film, flight with a brilliant cameo from yours truly. [ male announcer ] introducing the new dell xps 12. Part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. Its changing the conversation. Bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. 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Robert zemeckis is an oscar winner and a man behind some of hollywoods biggest hits. He may be in line for another award for his movie flight starring denzel washington. We will come to why youre my favorite director in a moment. First lets come to flight. Its a thrilling movie starring one of the great actors of this generation, denzel washington. The reason its so thrilling, it contains just this incredible plane crash scene, the likes of which no one has ever seen on the big screen before. Lets take a little look and discuss this afterwards. Speed brake. Speed brake. Margaret, now it goes on and on, like 20 minutes long the plane crash scene and it is thrilling cinema. Was it that, was it the concept of being able to create this incredible scene that really attracted you to the movie . Well, actually, you know, having this plane crash in the movie was a detriment to my possible decision because i had done acastaway with tom hanks. My representatives and my partners were thinking, youre going to do another plane crash. But what really attracted me to the piece was denzels character. Such a brilliantly written screenplay and great character that to not do the plane crash just because id done another one would have been not a very smart thing to do. So the challenge was to do the plane crash even better than in the last film. And the theme of the movie is very much around denzels character who is a hero pilot but it turns out he has an addiction, substance problem. Makes it a very complex, quite unpredictable movie right to the end. Youre not quite sure how this is all going to play out. You need an actor of his kind of brilliance, dont you . Absolutely. Tell me about work with denzel washington. You need an actor who obviously is a magnificent actor. Denzel is one of the best that has ever lived. And you need someone who has got charm, gravitas, a certain amount of swagger and denzel brought all that to the part. So, you know, what he did so brilliantly in the movie is he keeps the audience off balance. They arent quite sure where they are falling off in the sort of morality of his situation. Does he deserve an oscar, do you think . Oh, absolutely. You would say that. I would say that, but im saying that but its such a brilliant performance. I was i mean, every day when i was standing behind the camera watching him work, his choices were just astounding. You are 61 years old, looking very good, if you dont mind me saying, robert. You directed 16 movies that have grossed nearly 4 billion worldwide. Do you ever stop and think about that . You know, i dont think about it that often. You know, i guess its because i you know, i just i never have made a movie thinking about the money. Ive only ever made a movie thinking about, you know, can i make this a good movie. And the money has come with, you know, as frosting on the cake, so to speak. You said that a great quote. Im really tired of making these huge over100 million movies where they literally mean life and death for a studio. Everyone is hysterical. This was quite a relatively lower budget movie. This is the lowest budget movie in todays dollars that i made since i made by second film used cars. About 30 million . 31 million. And its grossed what so far . About 77 million, 78 million. How do you quantify in the modern game of movies a real success . For me, my i have done this my entire career. If the film makes 1 profit, im happy because then the film exists and nobody got hurt and thats my job. But thats the way ive always looked at it. Who is, to you, a great actor or actress, other than denzel . What does it take to be really top draw . Well, ive worked with a lot of great actors. Ive worked with tom hanks three times. Hes as great as they get. Ive worked with meryl streep, ray winstone. I mean, ive been very fortunate in my career, ive worked with tremendous, tremendous actors. I think, you know, what it takes to be a great actor is the ability to just understand whatever that wherever that magical thing that they are able to do to know what the character is feeling and then to be able to evoke that somehow through what it is that they do. Now there is another option, of course, for best actor at the oscars. I want to play you a little clip to show the viewers what i mean because its going to be neck and neck with denzel. A real american hero. Is that your reading of it . Yep, absolutely. Denzel, i hear is pretty worried about this. I tell you. The phrase Scene Stealer has been used. When we were shooting that scene hes saying, i dont know. I dont know if i like this guy in the scene with me here. Hes going to steal all my thunder. Its a terrific film. Its great to play a tiny part in it. Pleasure to have you. Youre going to be having a lot of fun at the oscars. Great to see you. Well be right back. Why not make lunch more than just lunch . 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Folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. How happy, ronny . Happier than gallagher at a farmers market. Get happy. Get geico. Chances are, youre not made of money, so dont overpay for motorcycle insurance. Geico, see how much you could save. This sunday night is cnn heroes an annual tribute. The top ten heroes of the year. It can help our honorees do more to help others. A hero from 2010 is one example. Hes teaming up with musician kid rock to get injured vets into new homes for free. Dan walrath has donated nearly 50 custom homes to returning veterans. It is work he was honored at the cnn heroes allstar tribute where he first teamed up with rock icon and michigan native kid rock. I had the pleasure of him introducing me that night. We kept in touch and did a home together. He said hed like to sponsor one. Here we are today. My philosophy is always help your neighbor first. We find people who really want to better themselves who got a great attitude. Sergeant daven dumar who lost his leg in an ied explosion continues treatment at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he married his wife dana last year. They are planning to return to michigan to take their first steps as husband and wife. We both definitely want to move back here. So it will be nice and close to family. Little do they know what wallwrath and kid rock have in store for their family. First of all, welcome home. Thank you. Thank you for your service. You have a brand new hom