FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, April 25, 2006

A CURRENT AFFAIR? Bianca Nardi, a producer on The Maury Povich Show, filing a $100 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Maury Povich and other members of his staff, claiming they made sexual remarks to her, forced her to watch porn movies and made her expose parts of her body. In her suit, Nardi blamed the office environment on the "intimate and sexual relationship" between Povich (who's married to Connie Chung) and Donna Ingber, another member of the production staff. We're thinking this could make for something of a Jerry Springer-infused installment of Weekends with Maury and Connie.

IMAGINE THERE'S NO SKEPTICS: Producers of a pay-TV seance claiming to have contacted John Lennon via a technique called Electronic Voice Phenomenon, which supposedly picks up voices from beyond via radio and TV broadcast signals. The show's participants claimed the late Beatle's spirit told them, "Peace...The message is peace." Meanwhile, viewers who paid $9.95 to watch the seance on In Demand Monday, claim the voice actually cackled derisively and exclaimed, "Suckers!"

SAY WHAT?! "Those two give love a bad name."
--Charlie Sheen, giving Entertainment Tonight his Bon Jovi-themed take on pictures showing his estranged wife Denise Richards kissing rocker Richie Sambora (who's currently in the midst of his own divorce from Heather Locklear).

BROADWAY BLONDE: A musical version of Reese Witherspoon's film, Legally Blonde, opening on Broadway in April 2007, it was announced Tuesday. No casting has yet been announced, but just in case Witherspoon's considering taking the stage, she might do well to remember the lesson of Julia Roberts: A Best Actress Oscar does not ensure Broadway success.

DRAWN IN: A spokesman for Chris Rock confirming that the comedian once hired celebrity private eye Anthony Pellicano to investigate model Monika Zsibrita, who claimed she was carrying his child. Pellicano has been accused of using his connections with a police detective to run an illegal background check on Zsibrita in June 1999, a charge to which he has pleaded innocent. The real crime here, at least in our books, is that a judge sealed the results of the paternity case, leaving Rock's baby-daddy status a mystery.

MODEL BEHAVIOR: Days after allegedly smacking a flight attendant on a flight bound from Amsterdam to Miami, former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model May Andersen ejected from the United States and sent back to Amsterdam, proving once and for all that you can't get by border control on looks alone.

THE TRIAL THAT NEVER BEGINS: Phil Spector's endlessly delayed murder trial pushed back once again from September to January 2007, meaning it is now due to begin almost four years after the February 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. While Spector's trademark 'fro has become somewhat more subdued in the interim, the case against him remains the same.

REALLY OFF THE WALL: Michael Jackson reportedly looking to collaborate with 50 Cent on an upcoming mix tape being spearheaded by DJ Whoo Kid, Billboard reports. The unlikely partnership reportedly came about after Jackson professed his enthusiasm for Fiddy's "Candy Shop," saying he loved songs about taking children to buy sugary treats. (At least that's our guess.) The rapper's spokesperson said 50 Cent had not yet committed to working with Jackson.

SHOW MUST GO ON: Tom Cruise switching gears and electing to attend the London and Paris premieres of Mission: Impossible III on Tuesday and Wednesday, instead of just the Rome premiere as previously planned. "I realize the fans are going to be there in London and Paris and you know, everything is cool. So, we're going to hit it. We're going to bang it," Cruise told reporters. And, lest anyone accuse Cruise of neglecting his fiancée and newborn daughter, he was quick to point out that the extended promotional tour was all "Kate's" idea.

FINDING LOST'S CALLING: The Walt Disney Co. and Hollywood's unions reaching an agreement that will put the long-delayed Lost "mobisode" spinoff, Lost Video Diaries, back on track. Production on the mini-episodes is expected to resume in late summer, about the same time ABC plans to finally air a new episode of Lost.

DO NOT DISTURB: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt formally requesting privacy from the press "so that we can enjoy this beautiful country with our children." Namibian authorities backed the couple up, forcing three French photographers and a photographer from South Africa's Sunday Times to leave the country or face arrest. The unfortunate photographers therefore missed the chance to capture the family's stirring visit to a local KFC and to a pet store, where they purchased a turtle, per the Sunday Times.

NO OFFENSE, BUT... Despite the woeful title of his post-Jessica Simpson breakup album, What's Left of Me, and the several songs on it that refer to the split, Nick Lachey swearing to MTV that he is not looking to hurt his estranged wife and that he still loves her. The former boy bander also recently told Rolling Stone that he doesn't know if "there were other men" and that he was "blindsided" by Simpson's request for a divorce. (Apparently, he doesn't read the tabloids.)

TONE DEAF: Just one more reason to pity Sean Preston Spears Federline: According to his father, Kevin Federline, the seven-month-old tot has abysmal taste in music. K-Fed tells Extra that Sean Preston loves his album, Playing with Fire, and is "all smiles whenever he hears it." Poor, poor little guy.