Morning Briefing:
Publishers fighting over O.J.? Despite the lingering bad feelings over O.J. Simpson's last, failed book venture, his lawyer says agents and publishers are "clamoring" to work with the former football star on the memoir he's planning to write about his life with Nicole Brown Simpson. "I get calls all the time. I've got three e-mails today from people wanting to talk to Simpson about doing a book," lawyer Yale Galanter told the New York Daily News on Tuesday. But there won't be any hypotheticals in the new book, Galanter says. "It will be entirely nonfiction, his own story." (N.Y. Daily News)
"Grey's" feud brews: Katherine Heigl was not happy with how her "Grey's Anatomy" costar Isaiah Washington handled himself with the press during the post-Golden Globes interviews on Monday night. Asked by a reporter about an alleged on-set fight last October in which Washington was said to have called costar T.R. Knight a "faggot," Washington replied: "No, I did not call T.R. a faggot. Never happened, never happened." When Heigl, who is close to Knight, caught wind of Washington's answer, she was pissed. "I'm going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period," she told "Access Hollywood," adding, "T.R. is my best friend ... I will use every ounce of energy I have to take you down if you hurt his feelings." (Associated Press via Yahoo News)
Abdul explains: Paula Abdul is still trying to explain away a few bizarre television appearances she did as part of a big "American Idol" press push last week in which she giggled, squirmed in her seat and occasionally slurred her responses to questions. (See the video clip of her interview with a Seattle TV station here.) Her P.R. rep has denied she was drunk, and Abdul says it was all due to technical difficulties -- the audio feed was scrambled on her end, or something -- but her explanation seems a bit off. "I guess Alabama was in my ear and so was Seattle at the same time, so I'm answering questions to the wrong answers of the cities," she told Jay Leno on Monday. "So they're going, 'What the heck ... what is she saying?'" (People, SGKnox.com)
Also:
Is Britney Spears pregnant a third time? Some friends seem to think so. "I've seen her during the last two pregnancies and she has the same look now," one tells In Touch magazine. "It's the sparkle in her eye. She always gets that sparkle when she's pregnant." (In Touch via the Scoop) ... Naomi Campbell pleaded guilty yesterday to assault for throwing a phone at her maid, Ana Scolavino, last March, though her plea didn't exactly embrace responsibility: "I threw a cell phone in the apartment," Campbell told a Manhattan judge. "The cell phone hit Ana. This was an accident because I did not intend to hit her." (Associated Press) ... Nicole Kidman's husband, country singer Keith Urban, has finished his stint in rehab and announced he'll be going on tour. (BBC News) ... The deadline for bids in the sale of the Los Angeles Times is today, and the paper reports that "interest seems muted" -- no good hard offers have yet been received. (L.A. Times) ... Little has changed on this week's New York Times bestsellers list: Mitch Albom's "For One More Day" still tops the fiction list, while "The Audacity of Hope," by Barack Obama, is still the No. 1 nonfiction title. (N.Y. Times) ... If you never tire of seeing Matthew McConaughey dancing, sweaty and apparently drunk, then this photo gallery of him partying last weekend while shooting a movie in Australia is for you. (TMZ)
Money Quotes:
Diana Ross, asked by Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America" if she has seen "Dreamgirls" yet: "I haven't seen it yet. I hear they use my image and likeness. Maybe I should go see it with my lawyer." (Page Six)
Dame Helen Mirren on what she might do with her Golden Globes: "I've got two, which is very nice, so they are going to make fantastic bookends. All kinds of useful things you can do with them. Hopefully not get into a fight with one's husband when they're anywhere nearby. The next thing, you'll see me in handcuffs." (BBC News)
Turn On:
There's another two-hour round of auditions, both the cringe-worthy and the promising, on Wednesday night's "American Idol" (Fox, 8 p.m. EST), plus it's the series premiere of David Allen and David Koechner's show, "The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show" (Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m. EST), as well as the debut of another teens-in-paradise reality romp, "Maui Fever" (MTV, 10:30 p.m. EST).
On the Talk Shows:
Charlie Rose (PBS, check local listings): Peter O'Toole
David Letterman (CBS, 11:30 p.m. EST): Tina Fey, Terri and Bindi Irwin
Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m. EST): Meredith Vieira, Ryan Reynolds, Robin Thicke
Conan O'Brien (NBC, 12:35 a.m. EST): Robin Wright Penn, Colin Hanks, the Holmes Brothers
Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. EST): Juliette Lewis, Common, Aaron Lewis
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, 12:05 a.m. EST): Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Shaun White, Naked Trucker & T-Bones
Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 11 p.m. EST): Jerry Rice
Stephen Colbert (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. EST): Richard Clarke
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