INFphoto.com

Tony Romo may have been Jessica's date for sister Ashlee's wedding, but there's no doubt who really has this girl's heart.

Daddy.

"It's always been daddy," says a source close to the eldest Simpson girl. "That was the problem in her first marriage, putting Nick second. And it's been a problem for Tony."

Following the weekend nuptials, Jessica headed to Cabo San Lucas with her father, Joe Simpson, and mom, Tina. And while Tony was invited to go, he opted to skip it.

Not only that, the two haven't spoken since the wedding, according to a Tony pal.

Keep Reading

FOX

American Idol cooked.

Last night's season finale was up about 1 million viewers from last year's, averaging 31.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research estimates.

Likewise, Tuesday's showdown show was a ratings improvement over last year's, with 27.1 million checking out David Cook and David Archuleta, compared to the 25.3 million who monitored the Jordin Sparks-Blake Lewis sing-off.

On last night's finale, Cook, 25, defeated early-season favorite Archuleta, 17, a win that came as a surprise to non-users of DialIdol.com, where Cook had been shown to be the leading vote-getter for weeks, and/or non-followers of the Vegas oddsmakers, who had favored the elder of the two Davids.

In Idol history, the seventh-season finale ranks ahead of those crowning Kelly Clarkson (season one, 18.2 million), Fantasia Barrino (season three, 28 million), Carrie Underwood (season four, 30.3 million) and Sparks (season six). It ranks behind the confetti nights of Taylor Hicks (season five, 36.4 million) and Ruben Studdard (season two, 38.1 million).

The bottom line: It's Idol's third biggest finale.

In the just-concluded TV season, Wednesday's show should—the numbers aren't final yet—finish as the third most watched show not called the Super Bowl. Outdrawing it were the Oscars and Idol's own season premiere.

(Originally published May 22, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. PT.)

NBC

Let's see...We'll trade you two Cheerleaders and an HRG for that mint-condition Haitian and a Nathan Petrelli.

Such could be the topic of conversation in living rooms and other bastions of fandom across the nation now that NBC Universal and sports-card titan Topps Co. have rolled out a new line of autorgraphed Heroes trading cards featuring the superevolved (as well as the normal folks who just want what's best for them) characters and scenes from the hit NBC drama.

Ninety cards have been produced so far and are in stores now, available in packs of seven—although modified-DNA enthusiasts can also spring for the deluxe 24-card "hobby box" sets, which include swatches of costume material, sketch cards and other bonus bits that any true fan will want for his or her collection.

Keep Reading

Focus Pictures, PacificCoastNews.com

All it takes is one picture to get tongues wagging.

Mischa Barton, for instance, was spotted heading back to her London hotel in the wee hours Wednesday. By her side was her boyfriend, Taylor Locke, and a bottle of Don Julio Blanco tequila.

Now, we're not saying there's anything wrong with that, per se, but the girl did plead no contest to a DUI charge.

They're called paper bags. Please, Mischa, look in to them.

Otherwise, O.C. will eventually stand for "overexposed celebrity."

Bobby Bank/WireImage.com

Adam Sandler is about to welcome a little Waterboy—or girl—all over again.

While making the rounds touting his new You Don't Mess With the Zohan, the star announced on Wednesday's Tonight Show that he and wife Jackie are expecting their second child together.

"My wife is pregnant, we're having another baby," he said. "She's getting a little size on her. She's three and a half months. It's fun."

For him, at least. For her, well, the sickness isn't necessarily restricted to the morning.

"She's very sick. She's going through a lot...morning, afternoon, the whole deal."

When it comes to explaining the situation to their 2-year-old daughter, Sadie, Sandler is his usual sensitive self.

"Mommy's not really bad sick," he tells her. "She just has something growing in her...that's gonna take half your toys."

Ah, the miracle of life.

INFphoto.com

Once she confirmed her pregnancy, Angelina Jolie had no problem emphasizing her pregnant belly in all those billowing Earth Mother dresses she wore on the Cannes red carpet.

But the mom-to-be seems to have magically slimmed down today when snapped outside the Hotel du Cap, where she and Brad have been staying (sans brood) to be close to the film festival.

Funny what happens once people think the cameras are off them.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

The Phil Spector saga is set to take the fall.

A judge has set a retrial date of Sept. 29 for the famed music producer, who is accused of murdering B-movie actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra, Calif., home in February 2003.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who presided over Spector's first trial, set the date today, despite the defense's ongoing attempt to have him removed from the case. The California Supreme Court is expected to rule on that motion next month.

Spector's first go-round ended in September in a mistrial, with the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting the Wall of Sound creator of second-degree murder. Most of his high-priced defense team then decamped for greener cases, and Spector was granted several months to repopulate his side.

Even if Fidler is removed from the case, the new trial's start date is "far enough away that we might be able to keep it," Spector's new lead attorney, Doron Weinberg, told reporters after court Thursday.

FAME PICTURES

Madonna may not have given birth to son David, but that doesn't mean his delivery to her was pain-free. Not that the Material Mama seems to mind.

"Up until this time there wasn't an adoption law, so consequently I'm sort of the template or the role model, so to speak, for future adoptions," she told reporters of her challenging—emotionally and legally—adoption of the Malawi-born boy after screening I Am Because We Are, her documentary chronicling the ordeal, at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Hopefully after we get through this adoption, it will be easier for other people to adopt children...I'm happy to be the guinea pig."

Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have still not formally been given permanent custody of the 2-year-old pending a final, perpetually delayed hearing in Lilongwe. But as hard as the adoption process has been, she said the payoff has more than made up for the unnatural rite of passage.

"Yes, it was painful and it was a big struggle and I didn't understand it. But in the end I rationalized that when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount.

"So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains, dealing with the press on my front doorstep and accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it. In the end it made me stronger, so I can't complain."

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

R. Kelly's lawyers may be arguing that the R&B star has been wrongfully accused when it comes to his alleged taped encounter with a not-at-all legal girl, but a handful of people have already called it as the prosecution sees it.

During testimony given yesterday in Kelly's child-pornography trial, which kicked off Tuesday with a courtroom viewing of the sex tape in question, four witnesses—including two relatives—positively identified the girl who Chicago authorities maintain is on the tape (which they say was made about 10 years ago when she was only 13 or 14).

The girl, who's now 23, has denied it's her on the video.

Simha Johnson, who says she was the alleged victim's best friend growing up, told the court she saw the Kelly tape twice while they were in high school. She recognized her pal as the featured female both times.

"I know her like the back of my hand," Johnson, 24, said.

Keep Reading

BAUER-GRIFFIN.COM

The alleged other woman is finally talking.

Marie-Anne Thiébaud, 37, the longtime secretary and house manager at Shania Twain and Mutt Lange's estate in Switzerland, spoke to E! News exclusively today about her reputed role in the couple's headlines-grabbing breakup.

"I don't work for them anymore—I am retired," Thiébaud said by telephone from her home in Geneva.

"I know what you're ringing to ask me about. But when marriages break up, they break up for all sorts of complicated reasons—it's never just one reason. And those reasons should be kept private."

She continued: "If you're looking for a person that broke up a marriage, then you have the wrong person. I'm not that person."

Twain, 42, and Lange, a 59-year-old record producer, announced their split last week after 14 years of marriage. They have one son, 6-year-old Eja D'Angelo.

People magazine has reported that Thiébaud, once one of the country star's closest confidantes, and Lange have left their respective marriages for each other and are still in a relationship.

Thiébaud declined to comment any further on the reports, saying news outlets shouldn't "intrude into people's private lives."

Yasky/WireImage.com

Martin Scorsese won't be jammin' after all.

The Oscar winner has pulled out from directing an authorized Bob Marley biopic (not to be confused with the Weinstein Co.'s unauthorized Bob Marley biopic), citing scheduling conflicts.

It's unclear exactly which pending project coincided with the Marley shoot, though Scorsese has a number of films on his plate, including Shutter Island, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, a possible Theodore Roosevelt biopic and a documentary on George Harrison.

Taking his place to chronicle the life and times of the reggae legend is Silence of the Lambs helmer, fellow Oscar winner and music video vet Jonathan Demme.

"I am thrilled and humbled by this extraordinary opportunity to participate in fashioning a motion picture that can serve as a worthy vessel for the spiritual and musical brilliance of Bob Marley," Demme said.

Despite the director shakeup, the untitled film is still expected to be released as planned on Feb. 6, 2010, marking the 65th anniversary of Marley's birth.