Turn On:
On Tuesday night, Nick at Night searches for "The Funniest Mom in America" (Nickelodeon, 10 p.m. EDT) and "Law & Order" offers a "Special Victims Unit"/"Trial by Jury" (NBC, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. EDT) double feature on which Alfred Molina guest stars as a suspected serial rapist.
Morning Briefing:
What would the Dalai Lama do? Today's gossip pages bring the very sad story of two wheelchair-bound teenagers who claim that Richard Gere dissed them at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington on Saturday night. Brian and Kailyn Glassmacher -- 15 and 17, respectively -- say that Gere, of whom they are big fans, refused to come over and pose for a photo with them when their tablemates, fellow guests of Google.com, approached the actor, who was a guest of Newsweek, and invited him over. "Maybe later," Gere is said to have said, having been informed that the two were severely disabled by a rare form of muscular dystrophy and also deaf. "I'm hard of hearing and I have a bad hip. We all have problems." Newsweek senior editor Lally Weymouth, meanwhile, contends that Gere was "charming and accommodating and lovely to everyone" who approached him at the dinner. (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
Good girl, bad girl? Katie Holmes reportedly pledged, a couple of years back, to remain a virgin until marriage, but that didn't stop Tom Cruise from taking her to the Cirque de Soleil's sensuous show "Ka" in Las Vegas over the weekend. After the show, the couple hung around backstage with the crew and cast, who helped Cruise do a backflip. Meanwhile, Holmes sounds somewhat less than staid in an interview in the upcoming issue of Giant magazine. "My senior year we got in trouble about how high our skirts were," she recalls of her Catholic high school days. "Needless to say I had about 20 demerits at the end of the year from it still being too high." (Rush and Molloy, London Mirror via Scoop)
What's eating at Crowe: Russell Crowe is none too happy about a play called "Killing Russell Crowe" that just opened in Burbank, Calif., in which he's portrayed as someone who doesn't pay for his drinks or tip. "The reckless accusation that I do not tip drain[s] the last drops of credibility from this desperate plea for attention," Crowe told the Sydney Sunday Telegraph. "It is with generosity I offer the author [Jeremy Kehoe] this tip: 'Take yourself outside and give yourself two uppercuts. Greeting cards could be your calling.'" But Kehoe says the show is "not about Crowe the individual, but the system that Crowe represents." (The Scoop)
"Idol" speculation: Paula Abdul has issued a statement through her lawyer about the allegations being leveled against her in an upcoming "Primetime Live" exposé by former "American Idol" contender Corey Clark. Clark claims that he and Abdul had an affair and that she coached him on how to win the contest, though he was in fact kicked off for hiding a past arrest. "Mr. Clark is an admitted liar and opportunist who engages in unlawful activities," Abdul's lawyer told the press. "He is communicating lies about Paula Abdul in order to generate interest in a book deal." (Associated Press)
Also: Lindsay Lohan is contemplating traveling to visit sick and injured soldiers in military hospitals in Europe and in Iraq while promoting her new movie, "Herbie: Fully Loaded." (Rush and Molloy) ... Sportsbook.com is placing Sen. Hillary Clinton's odds of winning the presidency at an admirable 6-1, well ahead of Rudy Giuliani (10-1) and Condoleezza Rice and John Edwards (both 15-1). (Sportsbook via Scoop) ... Martha Stewart introduced her new syndicated talk show to advertisers and the press on Monday -- and gave them all a thrill by lifting the leg of her pantsuit, stopping just shy of her electronic ankle bracelet, and quipping, "There's something under here that I'm not going to show." (N.Y. Daily News, Media Daily News) ... Angelina Jolie is continuing to insist that she had nothing to do with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's marital split, says she was not Pitt's confidant at the time and "knew nothing about their marriage," and points out that she's "been tied to everybody I ever worked with." (Vanity Fair via ITV.com and Bosh) ... Goldie Hawn says she wanted to take a more spiritual than gossipy tack with her new memoir, "A Lotus Grows in the Mud," telling the Associated Press, "I wrote it for anyone who is interested in transformation or transition or understanding that the lotus does grow in the mud." (Associated Press) ... Meryl Streep has signed on to play a character believed to be inspired by Anna Wintour in the movie version of "The Devil Wears Prada." (Hollywood Reporter)
Money Quote:
Paris Hilton, critiquing her (apparently not hot enough) waxy new likeness at Madame Tussaud's in Times Square: "I'd like it to be in a pretty dress. And I'd cut the hair; it's too long." (Rush and Molloy)
-- Amy Reiter
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