DARN MUGGLES: Director Chris Columbus predicting the young stars of Harry Potter will probably call it quits after the third installment of the series. "If they ask my opinion, my advice would be to go back to being kids," Columbus tells Reuters. Daniel Radcliffe and his sidekicks Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will begin filming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban early next year.
AFFLICTION: Prosecutors on Wednesday filing two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of drugs against actor Nick Nolte stemming from his DUI arrest on September 11. His arraignment is set for Monday.
LOST AND FOUND? A man removing gym equipment from the barn behind Robert Blake's home found two hidden guns, the Los Times reported Wednesday. Blake's attorney said the defense knew of the weapons a year ago and offered them to police.
ALL THAT GLITTERS: Mariah Carey announcing on her Website that her new album, titled Charmbracelet, will be released on December 10 on her MonarC Music label in association with Island Def Jam records.
JOHNNIE BE BAD: A federal judge tossing a lawsuit brought against rock legend Chuck Berry by his longtime pianist, Johnnie Johnson, seeking millions of dollars in royalties for more than 30 songs Johnson claimed he cowrote with Berry.
COMEBACK KID: Fox bringing back Andy Richter Controls the Universe starting on Sunday, December 1.
ROD WOULD BE PROUD: UPN giving a full-season order to its updated version of The Twilight Zone. The show has been performing strongly on Wednesdays.
CELEBRATION: MTV marking the 1,000 episode of Total Request Live Wednesday with live performances by No Doubt and Nick Carter, as well as several special guests and flashbacks to the show's greatest moments.
TOSSED: The Michigan Court of Appeals throwing out a jury's $29.3 million award against the Jenny Jones Show, ruling the talk show had no legal duty to protect a guest who was murdered after revealing a gay crush.
DRIVEN: BMW holding its sixth annual Ultimate Drive fundraiser to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Two fleets of specially marked BMWs, including a BMW M5 autographed by Madonna, will make pit stops across the country. For every mile test-driven, BMW will donate $1 to the cause. Details online at bmwusa.com.
MEET AND GREET: NBC holding auditions on November 2 in Los Angeles for "personable and attractive single men and women" between the ages of 18 and 30 for the next edition of Meet My Folks.
MEA CULPA: Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid issuing a full-page apology Tuesday to producer Stephen Bing, the father of Elizabeth Hurley's baby, for printing his phone number and urging readers to call him. In return, Bing has dropped his $40 million lawsuit against the paper.
NEW JUDGE? New York-based radio personality and recording artist Angie Martinez close to signing on as the fourth judge on Fox's upcoming American Idol sequel, Variety reports.
SOCCER MOM: Nicole Kidman signing on for Paramount Pictures' contemporary remake of The Stepford Wives, about a group of husbands who transform their energetic wives into robots that cater to their every whim.
BACK TO HIS ROOTS: Director Terry Gilliam coming aboard to develop and possibly direct MGM's Brothers Grimm, fictional action-adventure tale about the famous folklore collectors and siblings who travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and are themselves put to the test.
EARLY CELEBRITY: 'N Sync releasing The Reel 'N Sync, a video to be released on DVD and VHS that was shot and edited by Joey Fatone and chronicles the group's first tours of Europe and Japan in 1996 and 1997, when they were still nobody. The video hits stores November 5.
SLAM DUNKED: Michael Jordan suing an ex-lover he has acknowledged paying $250,000 in hush money to keep private details of their extramarital affair, The Smoking Gun Website reported Wednesday. Jordan said the woman has been trying to extort upwards of $5 million from him.
SPLITTING: George Clooney firing his talent agent after he tried to take a finder's fee for a real estate deal he helped arrange for the actor for a posh villa in Italy. The agent, Michael Gruber, resigned from Creative Artists Agency.
RAPE HIM: Newsweek publishing excerpts from late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's diaries, including entries talking about a desire to shoot himself and his battles with heroin addiction.
THE PRODUCERS: Garth Drabinsky, the producer behind such Broadway hits as Ragtime and Showboat, charged by Canadian police on Tuesday with massive fraud they alleged cost creditors and investors about $318 million. He and three other executives face up to 10 years in jail if convicted.
SPEAKING OF JAIL: Manhattan publicist Lizzie Grubman, whose clients have included Britney Spears and Jay-Z, surrendering Wednesday in New York. She will begin serving a two-month jail sentence stemming from an accident that left 16 people injured in the Hamptons.
FANS WITH A CAUSE: Preservationists trying to renovate the high school where James Dean learned to act battling with a basketball league over the use of the gymnasium. The two sides may end up splitting the property, with the team getting the gym and the preservationists getting the main section of the high school.