DIVERSITY (FINALLY) RECOGNIZED: Denzel Washington (Training Day) nominated for Best Actor alongside Will Smith (Ali), marking the first time two black actors have been nominated in the category.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...: NBC signing a deal late Monday with Warner Bros. Television to bring back Friends for a ninth (and probably final) season. The six stars will get $1 million per episode--up from the $750,000 they currently received--for a 24-show season.

FRIENDS ADD: NBC also denying a tabloid story that Jennifer Aniston's character, Rachel, will die in childbirth on the Friends season finale.

TWICE-DALY: NBC signing a deal with E! to air same-day repeats of Last Call with Carson Daly. The show, which airs on NBC Monday through Thursday at 1:35 a.m., will show up the next night on E! at 6 p.m. starting March 4.

WILL & BABY: Will & Grace star Eric McCormack and wife Janet Holden confirming that they're expecting their first child in July. An NBC spokeswoman says the couple is "thrilled."

SPACING OUT: Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey saying he's taking a break from acting "for a while" to focus his attention on his film company, Trigger Street Productions. "I've been acting nonstop for four or five years and taking a break is a healthy thing," he said Monday during the Berlin Film Festival.

GOLD MEDAL: NBC's coverage of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics averaging 35.1 million viewers through Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's 23 percent more people than the were watching the first three nights of the Nagano games four years ago.

TAKE STUFF: Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst lashing out at "bulls--t rumors" that he planned to rip off original songs created by contestants in his band's recent guitarist search contest. "In no way whatsoever would Limp Bizkit ever steal or take anything from anyone on this planet!" he wrote on his band's Website.

FOR SALE: Sony planning to sell its Culver Studios, the famed, 17-acre lot where films such as Gone with the Wind and Citizen Kane were shot. Sony first bought the lot for $80 million in 1991.

WHO'S NEXT: Legendary rockers The Who announcing its summer U.S. tour dates, starting June 28 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The road trip will wrap up August 31 at the Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York.

LIQUORED OUT? Opposition that's building against NBC's decision to accept hard-liquor advertising could result in Congressional hearings and even a bill proposing that the ads be banned, The New York Times reports.

MOVING AHEAD: After refusing to pay a $225,000 settlement, former NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman will stand trial on accusations he drugged and raped a woman. Playboy model Tina New filed a $10 million lawsuit against Rodman last year, but Rodman says he's never met the woman.

MIDSEASON BOWS: ABC setting a March 27 premiere date for two new midseason comedies--George Lopez, starring the comedian, and an untitled Peter Tolan comedy starring Ivan Sergei and John Cleese.

DESERT OASIS: Oasis, the Foo Fighters, Bj?rk, Chemical Brothers, Mos Def and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club among the acts announced for the third installment of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, April 27-28.

DEF AID: Hip-hop moguls Russell Simmons and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs announcing plans for UrbanAid 2, a concert fundraiser to help boost awareness about HIV and AIDS prevention. The April 9 concert, hosted by Jamie Foxx, will feature performances by Jay-Z and R. Kelly, among others.

PRIME TIME: Former pro football and baseball great Deion Sanders enlisted to host the Miss USA pageant, airing March 1 on CBS from Gary, Indiana.

INDUCTED: Sting, Michael Jackson, Randy Newman and Barry Manilow among the nominees for the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame. The induction dinner will be held June 13 in New York.

TIMELESS: Don McLean's anthem "American Pie," along with Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" and Bob Dylan's album Highway 61, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. More than 50 other classics recordings were also enshrined.