Hudson on the Hudson: Jennifer in B'way debut

JENNIFER HUDSON will make her Broadway debut in the fall when the musical "The Color

Purple" returns.

The Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe winner will play Shug Avery, a sultry blues singer, in the production, directed and designed by John Doyle, who received a director's Tony in 2006 for his own Broadway debut, "Sweeney Todd."

It's Hudson's first musical-theater role since her award-winning turn in the 2006 film "Dreamgirls."

Doyle opened his production of "The Color Purple" in 2013 in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Music and lyrics are by Grammy winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.

Under the direction of Gary Griffin, the adaptation of the Alice Walker novel played 910 regular performances on Broadway from 2005 to early 2008, with Elisabeth Withers-Mendes as the original Shug.

Women and minority directors are losing out on crucial entry-level jobs, according to a Directors Guild of America study released Friday.

Of the 479 first-time directors hired to work on TV series from 2009 to 2014, men represented 82 percent and women 18 percent, the study said.

The vast majority of the first-time directors - 87 percent - were white.

"There's a big opportunity here for those in charge of hiring to make a difference, but they're not," DGA president Paris Barclay said in a statement. If women and minority directors fail to get a foothold on the career ladder, he said, "it'll be status quo from here to eternity."

(For the record, "From Here to Eternity" was directed by a white man.)

Betty Thomas, the guild's first vice president and co-chairwoman of its diversity task force, said that studios and executive producers are making choices that demonstrate "they don't actively support diversity hiring."

Barclay, who is African-American, and Thomas are themselves successful directors. Barclay's credits include TV's "NYPD Blue," "Sons of Anarchy" and "Glee."

Thomas, a former actress, has directed films including "Doctor Dolittle" and "28 Days."

"First-time TV directors are new to the game and come from all areas of the industry, including film school. So why is a woman or minority any less qualified than anybody else?" Thomas said in a statement.

From the Television Critics Association's winter meetings in Pasadena, Calif.:

The CW yesterday renewed all eight scripted series from its fall 2014 schedule for the 2015-16 season.

That includes: "Arrow," "Jane the Virgin," "Reign," "Supernatural" - which will be in Season 11 - "The 100," "The Flash," "The Originals" and "The Vampire Diaries."

CW president Mark Pedowitz told reporters that the network had "broadened" its 18- to 34-year-old audience, drawing male viewers back to a network whose audience has long skewed female.

"For us, the shows were creatively quite strong. We believe in them," Pedowitz said, when asked about less-than-stellar ratings for some of the renewed shows. He noted that Thursday nights, when ABC's Shonda Rhimes-produced dramas - which he, too, watches - drew fans of "The Vampire Diaries" and "Reign," were tough.

"We're still seeing the viewership . . . on a delayed or digital [online] basis," he said.

To read more, go to EllenGray.TV.

* "Taken 3" nabbed the top spot at the weekend box office in North America with $40.4 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.

"Taken 3" also earned $41 million in 36 international territories this weekend.

In second place was "Selma," with $11.2 million. The film chronicles the historic 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., and stars David Oyelowo as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Into the Woods" crossed the $100 million mark adding $9.7 million for its third-place finish.

* TV Guide reports that Jeff Goldblum ("Jurassic Park," "The Fly") and his wife, Emilie Livingston, are gonna have a baby.

"She told me the day before we got married that she's pregnant. It's a boy," Goldblum told David Letterman on "The Late Show."

Goldblum, 62, and Livingston, 31, wed in November.

* Is Chris Brown trouble, does he associate with trouble or does trouble just follow him around?

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Brown was the guest of a packed nightclub in San Jose, Calif., early yesterday when five people were shot and wounded during his performance.

In August, when Brown co-hosted a party at a nightclub in L.A., Suge Knight and two others were shot.

If Brown ever invites Tattle to a party, we're telling him we have plans.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report