Tuesday, 8 August 2006

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Spelling feud holds Up Tori’s tribute to dad

Daughter's TV show to celebrate legendary TV mogul is blocked by her mother

A special tribute to the late TV producer Aaron Spelling to be hosted by daughter Tori will not air on ABC this fall as planned – after Spelling's widow and Tori's mother, Candy Spelling, blocked the project, a source confirms to PEOPLE.

Spelling, the legendarily prolific creator of such shows as Love Boat, Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and Beverly Hills, 90210, died June 23 after a lengthy illness. He was 83. His wife and daughter have maintained a highly strained relationship over the past few years, aspects of which have been coming to light in the days after the patriarch's death.

Tori was to have served both as host and executive producer of the ABC tribute, according to the source, who said: "All of his (Aaron's) stars had signed on and some interviews had already been taped. … But Candy wouldn't release the clips of his shows because Tori was involved in the project. She had it killed."

Candy Spelling's representative, Kevin Sasaki, confirmed to PEOPLE that she had "talked to ABC about releasing the clips for the tribute," but denies that Candy stopped the show. Instead, he says, "she didn't feel the timing was right … since the Emmys were doing a big tribute to her husband around the same time."

He added, "She had nothing to do with this except that she was asked to release the clips and she didn't think it was the right time, so she turned them down."

ABC, which was long associated with Aaron Spelling's shows, has issued "no comment" about the proposed Spelling special.

Meanwhile, the source tells PEOPLE, Candy has agreed to provide clips to rival network NBC for a tribute to Aaron on its Aug. 27 Emmycast. The source confirms that she will attend the Emmy ceremony with son Randy Spelling but that Tori has yet to be invited as part of the family.