IF THEY MATED: Late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien signing on to host the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards September 22 on NBC, sources confirm to E! News Live. Neither NBC nor O'Brien's reps are commenting.
ON THE ROCKS: Angelina Jolie filing for divorce from Billy Bob Thornton. The news comes after the actress told Us Weekly magazine that she and her husband have been living apart for four months. "I'm angry. I'm sad. It's a very difficult and sad time," she said.
YOU GOT NAILED: AOL Time Warner chief operating officer Robert Pittman resigning Thursday from his post, which included overseeing the company's struggling online division. HBO chairman Jeff Bewkes and Time chairman Don Logan have been tapped to take over operations.
IT'S NOT TV: Chris Albrecht, HBO's president of original programming, promoted to chairman and CEO of the network Thursday, replacing Bewkes. The news came just as HBO's Six Feet Under nabbed a field-best 23 Emmy nominations.
COURTHOUSE: A judge refusing to ease Paula Poundstone's probation for her felony child abuse conviction. She was ordered to return to court September 27 for another progress hearing.
AILING: Ozzy Osbourne's wife Sharon saying her cancer has spread beyond her colon and that she will start three-month chemotherapy treatment at the end of the month, People magazine reports. Osbourne said her prognosis is "very, very good," but Ozzy was "hysterical" upon hearing the news.
REALITY BITES: Osbourne son Jack reportedly taken to a Los Angeles-area hospital after falling while climbing on a building at the Malibu Pier. A lifeguard tells Los Angeles' City News Service that the injuries appeared to be minor, but Osbourne complained of severe pain and was taken to the hospital by his film crew.
NO BRAINER: Fox close to sealing a deal for a second installment of its summer hit American Idol: The Search for a Superstar. According to Variety, the network is hoping for a January or February debut.
REMEMBER CHEVY? Fox executives also meeting Thursday to discuss plans to get back into the late-night TV race. The network hasn't tried out a late-night show since its ill-fated Chevy Chase Show in 1993.
STARTIN' SOMETHING: Michael Jackson's new lawyer, Industry heavyweight Marty Singer, saying the Gloved One is "considering a lawsuit" against Sony Music to seek damages for the "Enron-like accounting claims concerning the under-reporting of revenues to Michael Jackson," Reuters reports.
BRIGHT AND SONNY: Today show weatherman Al Roker and wife Deborah Roberts welcoming their second child, a boy named Nicholas. The pair also have a daughter who was born in 1995.
A GOOD CRY: Publicist (and friend of Tara Reid) Lizzie Grubman breaking down into tears and apologizing to her victims after a judge set a pretrial date on assault charges. Grubman is accused of backing her SUV into a crowd outside a nightclub, injuring 16.
RECOVERING: Heart singer Ann Wilson losing 50 pounds after undergoing surgery to place a "Lap-Band" belt around her stomach to reduce food intake, her doctors said. Wilson underwent the surgery in January.
WELCOME TO SPRINGFIELD: The Simpsons' own executive producer, James L. Brooks, slated to make an animated cameo during the next season of the long-running Fox 'toon, along with stars such as Tom Petty, Lenny Kravitz, Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD: The Walt Disney Company announcing it will build its third Asian theme park in the city of Shanghai. The city would follow Disney's Hong Kong theme park (due to open by 2006) and Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983.
BACKING UP: The British Academy of Film and TV Arts moving its film awards show (the BAFTAs) forward two weeks to February 8 starting in 2004. The decision follows the news that the Oscars will move up one month, to February 29, in 2004.
BOND, JAMES BOND: Electronic Arts reaching a deal with Pierce Brosnan to use his likeness in the new video game James Bond 007: NightFire. The game, which will be released on PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, is stillin development.
ON THE SMALL-SCREEN: Mary Tyler Moore signing on to star in the TNT movie Miss Lettie and Me, based on a Katherine Patterson short story about a woman who discovers she has a 9-year-old niece.
FASTER THAN THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS: Scottish authorities deporting an American woman who had been accused of harassing Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. The woman had allegedly written dozens of letters to the author and repeatedly showed up uninvited at Rowling's home.