X-ED OUT: One, maybe two, X-Files characters will die in episodes to air next month. The first killer installment is up February 7.
CLOSING SHOP: ABC made it official Friday, confirming Home Improvement will end its eight-year run in May. Tim Allen says he wants to focus on movies.
FINAL EXIT: So-called "coroner to the stars" Dr. Thomas Noguchi retiring from Los Angeles County's morgue after 38 years and a batch of A-list autopsies, including Marilyn Monroe's.
ZINGER QUEEN: Linda Hamilton taking more shots at estranged hubby James Cameron in the February 6 TV Guide. Says she: "Actually, I was delivered by God when he left."
UPDATE: Liz Taylor ex Larry Fortensky, 45, comatose and on life support. He was critically injured in a fall Thursday. No word yet on his chances for survival.
SICK BAY: Michael Jackson's son Prince treated at a Los Angeles hospital Thursday for flu-like symptoms.
IT'S AN EPIDEMIC! Middle-aged rocker Mick Jagger also way-laid by the flu, postponing Friday's scheduled Rolling Stone gig in San Jose, California.
DEFECTORS: Martin Scorsese, Marisa Tomei and Mimi Rogers opting for Mike Ovitz over Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood's war of the agents and managers.
TWOSOME: Robert De Niro and Edward Burns in talks to star in the thriller, 15 Minutes. For more casting news, see Dotted Line.
ON HOLD: ABC'll blow the hoped-for February air date for its Monica Lewinsky interview. The Sexgate star's tied up until the presidential impeachment trial wraps.
LET US IN! CNN formally asking the Senate to nix behind-closed-doors impeachment debates.
HOT WATER: Movie producer Robert Michael Geisler (The Thin Red Line) indicted on a felony theft charge for allegedly reneging on payment to a travel agency.
GOOD...DAY! Radio guy Paul Harvey apologizing for a commentary that referred to Islam as a "fraudulent religion."
NEW GIG: County singer Pam Tillis going Broadway, joining the cast of Smokey Joe's Café for a March 16-April 4 run.
HE GOT GAME: Rapper/wannabe hoopster Master P joining the 16-man, preseason roster of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets.
BAT-BITING POWERS INCLUDED: Heavy-metal head Ozzy Osbourne to be immortalized in action figures.
EERIE FACTOID: It was 22 years ago Friday comic Freddie Prinze, age 22, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His son Freddie Prinze Jr., age 22, stars in She's All That, opening Friday.