A Little of the Old In and Out

In:

"Rob Lowe will play the lead role in the CBS drama series 'Dr. Vegas,' as the doctor at a hotel in, you guessed it, Vegas," reports Media Life. In the recent past Lowe has been employed as a Presidential speechwriter who leaves his job to run for Congress, a lawyer and now a doctor. We never would have guessed that the sax playing, hard boozing and partying Billy Hixx from St. Elmo's Fire would be such a yuppie professional with so many careers. He's a Man In Motion.

Out:

M & M's. Melts in your mouth not in your hands, righ? Wrong! As Jeanette Walls of TheScoop writes: "Joan Rivers got into a turf war with the BBC. The caustic funnywoman was broadcasting her fashion critique from the red carpet at the Oscars for E! and kept butting heads and fighting over guests with a reporter for the BBC, says a source.

"'Honestly, the BBC people were being sort of aggressive about grabbing [celebrities] and saying we?re in a live shot and then holding onto them forever,' says a source. 'Or they kept luring over guests who were talking to Joan by offering them M&Ms if they would stop talking to Joan and come over to talk to them. Joan and the BBC were bickering over Nicole Kidman for example. Joan was joking about it all, but it actually got pretty ugly at a few points.'"

In:

Hookers as a Vehicle to Win the Best Actress Oscar Ted Casablancas of E! Entertainment -- easily the shallowest television channel -- makes a fascinating point by way of telling us that Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz broke up. He says:

"More reliable is the notion that chicks in Hollywood will forever play chickas for hire--and get Academy Award noms and wins out the wazoo for the privilege. You know the heady list: Elizabeth Taylor, Julia Roberts, Elisabeth Shue, Mira Sorvino, et al.

"Now, didja think I wasn't gonna ask *(Jane Fonda). about Charlize's 'murdering lady of the evening' Oscar nod? (After all, Jane-hon received her own gold playing a hooker in 1971's Klute.) She diplomatically said to moi, specifically in regard to Charlize, 'The Academy sees that it's a complex role to portray a woman who wasn't born a monster.'"

Out:

Split personalities. Apparently, Beyonce Knowles needs to put on a split persona act to get on stage and shake her ample booty, according to The Star. Louise Gannon writes:

"Beyonce says it was a cousin of hers who first noticed that she became an entirely different person onstage.

"'She came up with the name Sasha and it sort of stuck. Now, when I go onstage in one of my outfits, everyone around me calls me Sasha."

"Without Sasha, Beyonce notes, 'you'd get a very different girl. There's no way I'd wear a short little dress [and] dance like that in front of all those people. Beyonce Knowles is really just a very quiet, shy little thing.'"

Great.