Affleck expected at UNICEF dinner

The Biography Channel debuts a new Aerosmith documentary tomorrow night, and judging from the cast of characters included, it may actually be worth watching. For starters, the band's Svengali-like former manager Tim Collins consents to an interview for the first time since he and Aerosmith had their bitter breakup in 1996. "I've never done an interview like this, but time heals all wounds," the reclusive Collins told us yesterday. "They said Steven [Tyler] wasn't going to participate and had squelched a lot of people. I just think they're America's greatest rock band, and I wanted to set the record straight. I was only supposed to do 30 minutes, but I let them keep me on tape for four-and-a-half hours." Collins said his participation in the rock doc even prompted Aerosmith guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford to talk. Others interviewed include Aerosmith biographer Stephen Davis, Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis and David Wild, and former Boston Globe music critic Steve Morse. There are rumors that all is not well within the band, and that tickets for Aerosmith's summer tour are moving slowly. So would Collins consider a comeback? "I haven't spoken to them. I really couldn't imagine it," he said. "Life moves on." Meanwhile, speaking on WZLX yesterday, Tyler and drummer Joey Kramer said Aerosmith will be playing the album "Toys in the Attic" in its entirety on this tour. The band is rehearsing now in a space on the BU campus.

Elizabeth Edwards is in town for a few days, and husband John is with her. Former senator John Edwards was spotted yesterday in the lobby of the Four Seasons. His wife, a cancer survivor, will be at the MGH Cancer Center tomorrow signing copies of her book, "Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts Facing Life's Adversities."

If you're wondering how many folks from Boston got picked last week to appear on the next season of "So You Think You Can Dance" . . . well, we can't tell you. Michael Cilnis, who helped run the local audition for the show, told us that Fox won't disclose if any local dancers were chosen to fly to Las Vegas to be a part of the reality series. "I'm sure a number of them did move on but I don't have the exact number or their names. We can't disclose the dancers' identities prior to the auditions airing on the show," Cilnis told us in an e-mail. A few hundred young dancers turned out for the Boston audition, so we assume we'll have some local presence on the show's next season.

He wasn't sure which it would be, but Kevin Burns was pretty confident that one of the peroxide pixies on "The Girls Next Door" would spin off. He was right. Burns, a former film student and onetime teaching assistant at BU, is the brains behind "Kendra," the first show from one of Hugh Hefner's hotties. The one-hour premiere, which airs Sunday on E!, focuses on Kendra Wilkinson, one of the Playboy Mansion's three amigas. (Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt are the others, of course.) "Kendra's always been like the kid sister, brash and unfiltered, so when she decided to move out, we thought the show might be, 'Kendra in the Wild' or 'Kendra on the Loose in LA,' " said Burns. "That was the show we pitched to E!" But then she fell in love, and by the time Wilkinson finally left Hef's place, she was engaged to professional football player Hank Baskett. "I was worried the network wouldn't be interested in that show, or that Hank wouldn't agree to do it," said Burns. "But the network was excited and Hank's been great." Burns is even executive producing the couple's wedding, which takes place June 27 at - where else? - the Playboy Mansion. And how is his buddy Hef holding up at 83? "Remarkably well," said Burns. "He was deeply in love with Holly, but she wanted to get married and have a family, and that wasn't going to happen." No, it wasn't.

Before Christian Bale departed for France to promote his new movie, "Terminator Salvation," the hot-tempered actor wandered around Lowell researching his role in "The Fighter." Bale is set to play Dicky Ecklund, half-brother and onetime trainer of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward, in the movie being directed by David O. Russell. (Ward will be played by Mark Wahlberg.) While in the Mill City, Bale hooked up with Ecklund and Richard Farrell, a Lowell native who helped write the script. Over 2,200 wannabe actors showed up for a casting call last weekend, and Boston Casting's holding another open call Monday for Cambodian men who speak fluent Khmer.