Deadline

Veteran soap actress Finola Hughes hit a pedestrian and a parked car Thursday night in Hollywood -- but when it was all said and done ... SHE was the one who feared for her safety.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Hughes -- who appeared on "All My Children" and "General Hospital" -- was driving her 2008 Mercedes when she accidentally clipped a parked car and a 23-year-old guy who was getting into it.

We're told Hughes got scared when a witnesses chased her ... so she called police from her car -- and then pulled over to exchange info with the other people involved.

We're also told alcohol was not a factor ... Hughes was not ticketed -- and the pedestrian only suffered minor injuries.

TMZ has done more recon and has gotten the real lowdown on HOW Charlie Harper died -- and it isn't pretty.

Sources at Friday night's taping tell us ... Harper married Rose -- the neighbor/stalker he flew to Paris with last season -- but things went downhill quickly when she found him in the shower with another woman.

In the episode, we're told Rose speaks at the funeral and recounts what happened to Charlie ... saying the day after the shower incident she and Charlie were waiting for a Paris subway when Charlie "slipped" and the subway literally blew him apart in a "meat explosion."

The strong inclination was that Rose pushed him and got away with it.

The season premiere of "Two and a Half Men" will leave NO DOUBT -- Charlie Sheen's character is dead and gone ... for good.

TMZ has spoken with sources on set for last night's taping of the premiere. Now, we don't want to be douche bags and give it all away -- so we'll just say that in one brilliantly written scene, the producers make sure there's absolutely no way for 'Charlie Harper' to return to the show in the future.

Although ... he definitely leaves his mark on the episode.

As for Ashton Kutcher's debut -- we're told he and Jon Cryer had good chemistry ... and he went out of his way to interact with the audience. At one point Ashton even snuck into the crowd and surprised a woman with a back rub.

At least one audience member said Ashton seemed dry and didn't quite own the character. Can't please 'em all.

Charlie Sheen hasn't just come to terms with his death on "Two and a Half Men" -- the actor tells TMZ, he'll be CELEBRATING it ... with his very own at-home screening of Charlie Harper's funeral next month.

The Warlock tells us, “I will be watching my fake funeral, attended by my fake ex-girlfriends, from my very, very real movie theater, with my very real hotties in tow."

As we previously reported, the new season of "Men" kicks of on September 19th with Charlie Harper's requiem -- and every memorable chick Harper ever banged on the show will be attending.

It's gonna be a Full House at Charlie Harper's funeral service on "Two and a Half Men" ... because one of the stars in attendance will be none other than Uncle Jesse himself ... John Stamos!

Sources connected to the production tell TMZ ... Stamos -- who was once rumored to be Charlie Sheen's replacement on the show -- will say a couple of words at the service ... raunchy words.

We're told Stamos' character will reveal he and Harper were CLOSE friends ... the kind of friends who once three-way'd a chick together.

Sources tell us Jenny McCarthy will also be at the funeral -- she famously played one of Harper's ex-girlfriends who broke up with Charlie after she got tired of having sex with him.

Melanie Lynskey will also return as "Rose" -- who was last seen going to Paris with Harper in the very last episode featuring Charlie Sheen.

ABC says the network DID have a 5-second delay in place on "Good Morning America" this morning ... but insists Nicki Minaj's nip slip just happened to fall through the cracks.

A spokesperson for the network tells TMZ, "Although we had a five-second delay in place for the Nicki Minaj concert on GMA , the live East Coast feed of the concert regrettably included certain fleeting images of the performer that were taken out of later feeds of the broadcast in other time zones."

The stage is finally set for Charlie Harper's funeral on "Two and a Half Men" ... which features a tribute to the iconic WARDROBE Charlie Sheen made famous on the show -- and TMZ has the pics!

Harper's trademark bowling shirt and shorts hang at the front of a what appears to be a chapel -- surrounded by flowers. There is no sign of a coffin or an urn.

The Parents Television Council is blasting "Good Morning America" for airing Nicki Minaj's nip slip on live TV this morning ... saying the whole thing COULD have been prevented with a 5-second delay.

TMZ spoke with Tim Winter, president of the PTC, who tells us, "For the umpteenth time in recent memory a morning news show has included inappropriate content for children and families."

He adds, "Instead of asking for forgiveness, they need to stop apologizing and implement the five second delay that so many Americans have been calling for.”

Annette Charles -- who played Cha Cha in the 1978 movie "Grease" -- died last night in her Los Angeles home ... her rep tells TMZ.

Her rep tells us, she passed away due to complications from cancer.

The family is planning to release a full statement within the next 24 hours. Annette was 63.

A family member tells us, "Annette had recently started having difficulty breathing ... and when she went to the doctor she learned that she had a cancerous tumor in one of her lungs."

We're told doctors only learned about her condition a few months ago.

Val Kilmer's ex-wife claims the actor has stiffed her on child support payments ... according to documents obtained by TMZ ... and now she's going after his property in order to get what she claims is rightfully owed.

Actress Joanne Whalley had two children with Val before their marriage ended in 1996 -- one of the children is now 19-years old and the other is 16. At the time of the split, Val agreed to shell out $27,500 per month in child support.

But according to court documents filed in New Mexico, Whalley claims Val has fallen behind in payment. Whalley doesn't specify how much Val owes ... but she has established a lien on Val's property to force the actor to pay up.

It ain't the first time Whalley claims Val left her hangin' -- court documents show Joanne got a lien on Val's stuff in 2007 after he allegedly stiffed her on child support payments back then.

Val eventually rectified that situation -- and the lien was removed in 2008.

Steve Guttenberg just released a statement to TMZ about the passing of his good friend and "Police Academy" co-star Bubba Smith.

"Bubba was my friend. His generosity was far larger than his physical stature."

He adds, "Only his gift for caring about his friends and family could compare with his achievements on the football field, film and television. He also laughed like no other."

Bubba Smith's final movie role was a spoof of the character he made famous during his run of "Police Academy" flicks ... but TMZ has learned it may never be released to the public.

Back in 2009, Smith finished shooting a movie called, "Daze: Vol. Too" -- described as a "post-modern avant-garde dramedy musical non-musical" starring Gary Busey.

TMZ spoke with Executive Producer Miller Uwanawich who tells us Smith's character dons a police outfit and participates in a musical number that spoofs the "Police Academy" series.

The film is complete -- but has yet to go public because producers haven't locked in a distributor. However, Uwanawich tells us he's had some recent meetings with potential buyers and seems fairly optimistic.

Uwanawich says producers plan to add an in memorium tribute to Bubba at the end of the flick ... and will also pay tribute to the late Andrew Koenig, who also had a role in the movie.

Former NFL great Charles "Bubba" Smith -- who later starred in the "Police Academy" movies -- was found dead today in his Los Angeles home. He was 66 years old.

Law enforcement officials tell TMZ ... LAPD received a 911 call at 12:54PM today -- and officers responded to his home in the Baldwin Hills area. The fire department also responded and we're told Smith was dead when authorities arrived.

The L.A. County Coroner is on the scene investigating. We're told, at this point, authorities think he died of natural causes.

According to the L.A. Times, Bubba's caretaker discovered the body and called police. His autopsy will be performed later this week.

Bubba -- a towering 6'7" -- spent 9 seasons as a defensive end in the NFL, playing for the Baltimore Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Houston Oilers.

He won Super Bowl V with the Colts -- but is most famous for his role as the giant and lovable Moses Hightower in 6 of the "Police Academy" movies.

Ashton Kutcher will play "an Internet billionaire with a broken heart" on the rebooted version of "Two and a Half Men" -- this according to the President of CBS Entertainment.

His name will be Walden Schmidt -- but unlike Charlie Harper, Walden will share no family connection to the other characters.

A partner in one of the biggest restaurant groups in Hollywood claims two of her fellow partners -- both reality stars -- stole the business blind ... but one of the guys is coming right back at her and alleging extortion.

Shereene Arazm claims former "Big Brother" winner Mike "Boogie" Malin (pictured left) and his business partner, VH1 reality star Lonnie Moore (pictured right) "illegally siphoned away [money]" from the Geisha House, LLC restaurant group for years in order to "support their lavish party-boy lifestyles."

In her suit, Arazm claims, "They gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars that never belonged to them, they used some of the stolen monies to pay for sex, and they traveled the world at Arazm's and the restaurant group's expense."

Arazm also alleges in the docs, Malin used company resources "to have multiple sexual encounters with various older men during which Malin would live out fetish role play fantasies."

His restaurants failed miserably just two months after opening their doors -- and now, the winner of "America's Next Great Restaurant" is blaming the entire culinary disaster ... on Chipotle.

Jamawn Woods tells TMZ, Chipotle -- an investor in the NBC reality show -- was supposed to provide a management team to run his three Soul Daddy restaurants for one year ... but they really screwed the pooch.

According to Jamawn, Chipotle hired a bum management team with NO experience cooking soul food OR running a soul food restaurant -- and his restaurants tanked as a result ... closing soon after.

J hasn't filed any legal papers yet -- but he's telling friends ... the show owes him $46,000 for a year's worth of salary ... and still hasn't paid a dime.

A rep for Chipotle tells TMZ, "The Soul Daddy restaurants were generating significant negative cash flows and, after a careful review of the business, the investor group made the decision to close the restaurants."