Morning Briefing:
Lachey, newlywed redux: Nick Lachey has wasted no time in getting back to his typecast role as a newlywed. The soon-to-be officially ex-Mr. Jessica Simpson announced Monday that he's working on a sitcom for the WB in which he'll play a newly married baseball player. No word yet on what his spouse's character will be like, but you can probably guess. Meanwhile, Lachey has also wasted no time in getting his name back into the gossip columns for being spotted with non-Simpson women draped all over him. Page Six reports a recent sighting of Lachey at the Miami club Mynt with a woman who looked "dazed and drunk as she hung all over him." (People, Page Six)
"The Simple Life" lives: Fans of the Paris Hilton-Nicole Richie train wreck "The Simple Life" can breathe easy once again: The show has been picked up by E! after being canceled by Fox a few weeks ago. While Fox maintained that the axing came down to scheduling conflicts, the more likely explanation is Hilton and Richie's now long-running feud -- the two haven't spoken in months. Producers at E! have come up with a novel solution: The two simply won't appear together in the show, but will "take turns" for the camera. Season four, dubbed "Till Death Do Us Part," will begin airing next spring. (E! Online)
Stavros playing ping-pong? Current Paris Hilton plaything Stavros Niarchos III is apparently hoping to get back with his ex, the elegant-by-comparison Mary-Kate Olsen. The reason? "He's missing the old times with Mary-Kate," a source tells Star. "The sex with Paris is white-hot, but the novelty is wearing off and the constant drama is starting to get to him, not to mention the pressure from his family to dump her." He may be waiting until Hilton is in a less vulnerable place before delivering the bad news: She was distraught after authorities in Los Angeles recently took away her illegal pet monkey, Baby Luv. (Star, Monsters and Critics)
TomKat, Jr.? One of the perks of buying your own sonogram machine has to be figuring out the gender of your baby without all those pesky hospital staffers around to leak the outcome to the press. Too bad you can't also buy your own baby clothing store: Katie Holmes was reportedly seen buying baby-boy fashions in Beverly Hills, Calif., recently for her child with Tom Cruise -- the baby's gender and due date are still yet to be officially announced -- and sources allege that the couple has already settled on a name for the little one: William Oscar. (NineMSN)
Also:
There's no better way to bolster your gangsta-rap image than this: 50 Cent performed at a star-studded bat mitzvah at the Rainbow Room in New York last weekend, and during his short set worked in the lines, "Go, shorty, it's your bat miztvah. We gonna party like it's your bat mitzvah." (N.Y. Daily News) ... Elton John has set a date for his wedding: He and his longtime partner, David Furnish, will be getting married Dec. 21, and they're hoping to have the ceremony at the Windsor, England, register office, the same spot Prince Charles and Camilla tied the knot. (3 a.m. Girls) ... Ted Turner is concerned about the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, and he thinks President Bush could be the one to start it: "He might just think launching those weapons would be a good thing to do ... He thought Iraq was." (Associated Press via Washington Post) ... Rod Stewart is a father again (for the seventh time) after his fiancée, Penny Lancaster, gave birth to a baby boy last Sunday in London. (Telegraph) ... Diana Ross' agent now confirms that Ross and Jon Voight are a pair: "It's still at an early stage, certainly too early to say he is the new love of her life. But they have been on dates which they both enjoyed." (Sky Showbiz News) ... Will we soon be getting a Craigslist for news? Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, is talking about starting up a new media venture. (San Francisco Chronicle via Romenesko)
Money Quote:
Mamie van Doren, B-movie star of yore, on Warren Beatty: "He's the type of man who will end up dying in his own arms." (Boze Hadleigh's "Celebrity Diss & Tell" via Page Six)
Turn On:
Sela Ward guest-stars on a new episode of "House" (Fox, 9 p.m. EDT), and find out who has been chosen as the most fascinating person of the year on "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005" (ABC, 10 p.m. EDT).
-- Scott Lamb
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