MTV ADD: Red-hot Ricky Martin and Wild Wild Will Smith each scored six nominations each.
CRUISING: Backstreet Boys again No. 1 on the pop album charts, holding off Limp Bizkit.
YO, ADRIAN! Sly Stallone in talks to write, direct and star in, yes, Rocky VI, the Hollywood Reporter says.
CHINK IN THE ARMOR: In California, oft-busted rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard jailed after failing to make bail at a court hearing on charges of unlawfully donning a bulletproof vest.
IT'S OVER: Ring vixen Sable settling her $110 million lawsuit against her ex-bosses at the World Wrestling Federation, USA Today says.
NOT DEAD! "He's fine."--Jack Nicholson's rep, in the New York Daily News, responding to rumor the actor had been felled by a heart attack in London.
F.Y.I.: Pamela Anderson Lee's natural cup size is D; with breast implants, she weighed in at an F, she tells the U.K. edition of Cosmopolitan.
X-ED OUT: A federal judge says an Internet company didn't hawk phony David Duchovny signatures, nor exploit his name in ads--rejecting the actor's lawsuit.
LAWSUIT ADD: Ex-TV Superman Dean Cain also had a similar suit bounced. Both actors plan to appeal.
POSH APPEAL: Posh Spice asking wedding guests to return 75 silver goblets swiped at her July 4 Irish castle ceremony. They were rentals.
DARTH MAUL LIVES: Phantom Menace villain Ray Park to play the baddie Toad in the upcoming X-Men movie. For more casting news, see Dotted Line.
RATINGS RACE: CBS won the prime-time week ended Sunday; venerable newsmag 60 Minutes the No. 1 show.
MOURNING AFTER: ABC News' Diane Sawyer says "personal considerations," not grief, kept her off the air following the JFK Jr. plane crash.
CHECKING IN: Risky Business alum Rebecca De Mornay to appear in at least five episodes of NBC's top-rated ER next season.
CAREY ON: The cast of ABC's The Drew Carey Show planning to improv an episode for live broadcast in November.
HEAD COUNT: Minority characters now added to at least five new ABC shows, network execs say. The NAACP has called out the Big Four, including ABC, for their mighty white fall lineups.
MORE TROUBLE: Latino activists calling for a "brownout"--a viewer boycott of the not-exactly diverse network lineups. The tuneout is encouraged the week of September 12.
ART HUNG: Broadway's Tony-winning play Art to close August 8 after a profitable 600-performance run.
GRANDE DAME: Lauren Bacall to return to Broadway with Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings. It'll bow December 3, following a stint in Boston.
HOPSCOTCH: Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson resigning her British ministry post to run for mayor of London.
TAKE THAT, MONICA: Singer/actress Brandy named UNICEF's first-ever International Spokesperson for Youth.
PASSENGER OVERBOARD! Dick Clark to star (via video) in a cruise-ship version of his New Year's Rockin' Eve show for the Holland America line, the Wall Street Journal says.
A LOCK: Actor Paul Newman donating $25,000 to help save an old lock factory in his native Norwalk, Connecticut.
EYE MAN: CBS-TV honcho Leslie Moonves inking a new, longterm pact with the Eyeball, ending speculation he was headed to honcho-deficient Warner Bros.
BIZ NEWS: The parent companies of all the broadcast networks now investing in ad-skipping TiVo technology.