The Fix

Reality TV honchos take gloves off, Jacko lawyer gets slapped with whopping fine, Paris pleas for pooch's return, and a Kerry ex kisses and tells. Plus: What's all this about the Bush twins attending a gay wedding?

Published August 18, 2004 8:00AM (EDT)

Turn On:
Olympics watch: Men's gymnastics finals, a bunch of swimming finals and the men's shot-put finals will be shown on Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC). But you might want to take a break from the Games to check out the VH1 News presentation "Soundtrack to War" (9 p.m. ET, VH1), a documentary by George Gittoes about the music soldiers listen to in combat, some of which was featured in "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Morning Briefing:
Fight, fight, fight! DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and reality TV mastermind Mark Burnett are seaking an injunction to block Fox from airing "The Next Great Champ" on Sept. 10 as planned. Katzenberg and Burnett are steamed that Fox and "Champ" producer Endemol rushed their boxing reality show, which features boxer Oscar De La Hoya, into production in hopes of airing it before they were able to screen their own unscripted boxing drama, "The Contender," featuring "Rocky" star Sylvester Stallone, on NBC. "The Contender" people have accused the "Champ" people of hitting below the belt with unfair business practices, and claim they "materially and knowingly violated numerous state boxing laws and regulations" in making their show. (Variety)

Jacko's double setbacko: Tuesday was not a good day for the lawyers defending Michael Jackson against charges of child molestation in Santa Barbara, Calif. Not only did a judge in a pretrial hearing establishing the admissibility of evidence in the case rule that police had sufficient grounds for raiding Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch last November and that items seized during the search could be considered, (although the admissibility of individual items from the raid could be contested on a case by case basis), he also fined longtime Jackson lawyer Brian Oxman $1,000 for refusing to back off in questioning a witness. After paying his fine on the spot, Oxman apologized to the judge for getting carried away by his "passion." (Reuters)

Kerry's bimbo problem? A woman who says she dated John Kerry back in his between-marriage days (which he recently told GQ were "not good days ... just not fun") wants the world to know that the presidential candidate is primo in the sack. "All I can tell you is that John is 100 percent male," Lee Whitnum blabs to the New York Daily News. To enhance the romantic mood, she reports,"John would whisper French phrases in my ear. I would say, 'Speak to me in French!' and so he'd do it." Then again, she says, "I don't know what he was saying. I don't speak French." Tant pis. (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)

Dog days of summer, Hilton style: If anyone out there happens to stumble across Paris Hilton's pet Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, please do return it to the bereft hotel heiress. Not only is the right thing to do, but there's also some cash in it for you. Hilton has stepped up her reward for the safe return of the pooch from $1,000 to $5,000. But don't get big ideas about demanding more. Not that the thought of a high-ransom dognapping hasn't crossed Hilton's mind. "Everyone knows I'm rich, so they'll want millions," a fretful Hilton tells In Touch Weekly. (Rush and Molloy)

Also: The D.C. beautician who prunes the bushy brows of Jenna and Barbara Bush says the twins are planning to attend his same-sex wedding next month, though a spokeswoman will not confirm the twins' plans ( Lloyd Grove's Lowdown) ... And Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have reportedly taught their toddler son to say "President Kerry" (Page Six).

-- Amy Reiter

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By Salon Staff

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