WING-ING IT: NBC's West Wing and Friends named top drama and comedy series, respectively at the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards. Wing also won three acting trophies, while Friends star Jennifer Aniston was named Best Actress, Comedy. The night's biggest upset belonged to The Shield's Michael Chiklis, who beat a high-powered field to win Best Actor, Drama.
MORE EMMYS: The Conan O'Brien-hosted Emmycast was seen by an average of 19.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That's up from the 17.1 million that saw last year's twice-delayed Emmys, but less than the 21.8 million who tuned in in 2000.
USURPED: For the first time in its history, the Miss Universe Pageant has taken the tiara away from its reigning babe, Russian law student Oxana Fedorova, amid reports she was secretly married and pregnant--two pageant no-nos. She'll be replaced by first runner-up, Justine Pasek of Panama.
GETTING CLEAN: Oscar-nominated actor Nick Nolte voluntarily checking himself into a Connecticut rehab center following his arrest earlier this month for allegedly driving under the influence.
NO PEACE: Yoko Ono's testifying Monday that John Lennon's former personal assistant violated a confidentiality agreement by printing photos of the late Beatle in a book. Ono is suing Frederic Seaman in federal court in Manhattan, claiming the man exploited Lennon's death by stealing family photos and mementos and selling them to collectors.
MUST WALLFLOWER TV: The Wallflowers appearing in Thursday's season premiere of CBS' CSI and will have a song from their upcoming album, Red Letter Days, on the show's soundtrack. Also, frontman Jakob Dylan has penned the new theme song for another CBS show, The Guardian, which premieres Tuesday.
SNIP SNIP: Ice Cube's Barbershop topping an otherwise lackluster weekend box office, taking in $12.8 million. Among the new films, The Banger Sisters finished second, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever was fourth, The Four Feathers was fifth and the ill-timed, un-advertised kidnapping thriller Trapped opened in 10th.
HARVEST MOON: Neil Young, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp putting on their 15th annual Farm Aid charity concert this weekend. About 23,000 people attended the show outside Pittsburgh. Dave Matthews and Gillian Welch also performed. Farm Aid has earned nearly $25 million since 1985.
SMOKED OUT: Futurama and The Bernie Mac Show topping the annual Phlemmy Awards, the dishonor bestowed by the American Lung Association for TV shows that portray smokers in a positive light.
SURF'S UP! The New York Post reporting that the Fox network paid big bucks to Pamela Anderson to appear in the two-hour Baywatch Reunion movie. The picture, now shooting in Hawaii, will air during the February sweeps.
COMING UP ROSEY: The Tournament of Roses tapping three grand marshals--Bill Cosby, Art Linkletter and Fred "Mr." Rogers--to lead the 114 Rose Parade on New Year's Day. The theme is "the imagination of children."
TRAP WILLY? A Miami marine park asking the U.S. government for permission to capture Keiko, the whale of Free Willy fame who turned up in Norway this month after being set free, and put him on display. Norway's one of a few countries that hunts whales commercially.
TO THE MAT: Pro wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin facing an October 9 trial for a misdemeanor charge of beating his wife this past June. If convicted, he could be sentenced anywhere from probation up to a year in jail.
WORKING 9 TO 5: Dolly Parton named Tennessee's ambassador for film and music. The country singer-actress will promote shooting movies and producing soundtracks in the state in a major advertising campaign.
BACK IN THE RING: Screenwriter John Logan, who cowrote the original Gladiator script, on board to pen Gladiator 2, which will reportedly pick up 15 years after the end of the first installment. Since his character died in the original, Russell Crowe is not expected to return for the sequel.
JOINING FORCES: Bestselling author Michael Crichton teaming up with Sega to create an original video game. No word yet on the exact storyline of even the genre.
BE LIKE FRODO: Vivendi Universal announcing several new games based on The Lord of the Rings, including Middle-Earth Online, an online massively multiplayer game, a real-time strategy game called The War of the Ring and new PC and console games based on The Two Towers and The Return of the King.