FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, January 12, 1999

TRIPP UP: Tape enthusiast Linda Tripp topping Mr. Blackwell's annual list of the worst-dressed. Other alleged fashion disasters: Madonna and Carmen Electra.

RATINGS RACE: Powered by its "Must-See" Thursday, NBC wins the prime-time week ended Sunday; ER, the No. 1 show.

CRYSTAL CRACKS: Billy Crystal officially declining the chance to host his seventh Oscar telecast.

OSCAR ADD: Two-time host (and center square) Whoopi Goldberg will take over the emceeing chores.

VERY BIG WILLIE: Actor/rapper Will Smith topped the 26th Annual American Music Awards with three wins, including one for favorite pop/rock album.

LIST MANIA! The American Film Institute compiling the 50 so-called "Great Stars of the Century." The power rankings to be announced in June.

WRITE STUFF: A Civil Action scribe Steve Zaillian wins the Scripter Award for best screenplay adaptation.

BIG-TOP JODIE: Jodie Foster to play director (for the third time) on the circus-based love story, Flora Plum. For more casting news, see Dotted Line.

MORE GOOD NEWS FOR NBC! Hoopster god Michael Jordan reportedly to soon announce he's retiring from the already-troubled NBA, as seen on the already-troubled Peacock.

OH, MR. GRANT! ABC confirming the proposed sitcom reuniting Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper's beloved 1970s TV selves is dead.

STAYING HOME? Major scuttlebutt that there may be life in Home Improvement yet. ABC reportedly looking for a way to reup the Tim Allen sitcom for next fall.

A HIT! Controversy or no, the Eddie Murphy Fox 'toon, The PJs, drew an estimated 20.1 million viewers for Sunday's premiere.

HELP EVEL: Daredevil Evel Knievel, in a Florida hospital with anemia while he awaits a liver transplant, appealing for type O-positive blood so he can get a transfusion.

F.Y.I.: Rachel Hunter tells Britain's Daily Mail she and estranged hubby Rod Stewart are "working things through."

GOOD TIMING: Prince's prescient "1999" (released in 1982) moving up to No. 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

BAD RAP: A New York judge finds Sean "Puffy" Combs and Heavy D partly responsible for a deadly stampede at a 1991 charity event organized by Combs.

PUFFY ADD: Combs' lawyer says the ruling has virtually no practical effect on the mogul or Heavy D.

WITH-DREW? Drew Carey suing the A&W fast-food chain for allegedly reneging on a $600,000 endorsement deal because he scarfed a McDonald's burger on his ABC sitcom.

WHAT A DRAG: In Los Angeles, Dustin Hoffman taking the stand in his case against Los Angeles magazine over a doctored photo that showed the actor in a dress.

BROKEN RECORD: A second ex-manager of the Rolling Stones suing the Verve for royalties on its Stone-sampled hit, "Bitter Sweet Symphony."

V-DAY: In Britain, George Harrison wins an apology and an undisclosed settlement in a libel case against an author who claimed the ex-Beatle traded sex for a charitable donation.

HE DID: Hootie and the Blowfish bassist Dean Felber wed gal-pal Laurie Hutchinson, Saturday in South Carolina.

STAT OF THE DAY: Rosie O'Donnell tells Ladies Home Journal she weighs 208 pounds--"the fattest I've ever been."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I used to quite like bulimia." Xena warrior Lucy Lawless, in USA Weekend.