Morning Briefing:
Good help hard for Anna Nicole to find: Anna Nicole Smith's behavior of late has driven her lawyer -- her actual lawyer, not her baby daddy/pseudo husband/lawyer Howard K. Stern -- to up and quit. Michael Scott said he was so bothered by Smith's decision to exchange vows with Stern before even making funeral arrangements for her recently deceased son, Daniel -- whose body is still being held at a mortuary in the Bahamas -- that he decided he could no longer represent her. "It was not really an amicable parting," Scott told reporters. (Associated Press)
Mel and Diane, Round 1: ABC is really dragging out its Mel Gibson interview; the first part aired Thursday morning on "Good Morning America," and featured a visibly uncomfortable Gibson answering Diane Sawyer's questions about what he remembers of the now-infamous night in July -- what he drank, how much, what he drank the next morning as he told his seven kids what had happened the night before. He denied that drinking brought out any inner anti-Semitism, saying that drunk people "say all sorts of horrible things about anything," but that there must have been something within him that made him say the things he did. Round 2 airs Friday, and Sawyer teased it by saying Gibson "admits they were bigoted statements, he admits they were in him, and tomorrow we debate where they came from." (TMZ)
Jackson in drag: Just a day after working out a deal with his ex-wife over alimony -- Debbie Rowe, mother of Prince, 9, and Paris, 8, has reportedly exchanged all visitation rights for payments of around $750,000 a year -- Michael Jackson was snapped in St-Tropez wearing women's clothes. British tabloid the Daily Mail details Jackson's outfit: "three inch pointed heels, skinny fit women's jeans and fluorescent orange handbag." The New York Daily News, which also ran the photos, received a denial from a Jackson rep: "Mr. Jackson has not visited Saint-Tropez in recent years, nor has he donned a woman's hat and pumps for disguise." It wouldn't be the first time Jackson has used cross-dressing as a disguise -- in January, he was seen wearing traditional female garb in Bahrain. (Daily Mail, Us Online, New York Daily News, BBC)
Also:
A judge in California has rejected a motion by Kim Basinger's lawyer to dismiss the 12 contempt charges against her stemming from her custody dispute with her ex, Alec Baldwin -- a trial is scheduled for Feb. 16, 2007. (Associated Press via Yahoo News) ... Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson are adding to the speculation about their relationship by appearing together in public -- the most recent sighting was a shared brunch in Los Angeles. (People) ... Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in literature. (BBC News) ... Evanescence's "The Open Door" is the No. 1 album in America, selling 447,000 copies in its debut week. (USA Today) ... A car ferrying Angelina Jolie around Pune, India, was trying to escape paparazzi on Wednesday when it pulled out and swiped a man on a motorbike. (E Online)
Money Quote:
Jenny McCarthy on what she wears in bed: "After childbirth, boobs hang down. I will not have sex without my bra. I can't stand it when they just slither past my arms and lay flat like pancakes." (SAWF News)
Turn On:
It's the Cardinals vs. the Mets in the "National League Championship Series Game No. 1" (Fox, 8 p.m. EDT), starlet hubby/wannabe rapper Kevin Federline makes a cameo on "CSI" (CBS, 9 p.m. EDT), and "Live From Lincoln Center" (PBS, check local listings) features Audra McDonald performing songs from her recent album, "Build a Bridge," with friends Patti LuPone and Nellie McKay.
On the Talk Shows:
Larry King (CNN, 9 p.m. EDT): The Foley scandal and the GOP
David Letterman (CBS, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Katie Couric, Alan Jackson
Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m. EDT): Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Chris Young
Conan O'Brien (NBC, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Helen Mirren, Jim Gaffigan, Basement Jaxx
Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. EDT): Jennifer Beals, Michael Sheen, Chingy
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, 12:05 a.m. EDT): Robin Williams, Rod Stewart
Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 11 p.m. EDT): David Mark
Stephen Colbert (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. EDT): Gov. Brian Schweitzer
-- Scott Lamb
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