Swayze says he's doing just fine in cancer fight
Patrick Swayze is angry about tabloid reports that say he doesn't have long to live.
The actor, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, issued a statement yesterday affirming that so far he is winning his fight against the disease and responding well to treatment.
Swayze said of the publications: "They're reporting that I'm on my last legs and saying goodbye to my tearful family! ... It's upsetting that the shoddy and reckless reporting from these publications cast a negative shadow on the positive and good fight I'm fighting."
Swayze, who stars in the coming A&E; series The Beast, says such coverage is tantamount to "emotional cruelty" and that it angers him at a time "when hope is so precious."
Gregory to 'Press'?
An NBC News executive says the network is close to naming chief White House correspondent David Gregory as Tim Russert's replacement on the top-ranked Sunday political talk show Meet the Press.
Gregory is negotiating terms of a deal that would give him the job, said the NBC News executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal wasn't final.
Gregory has been considered one of the leading candidates for the job since Russert died in June. Tom Brokaw has filled in since then, and is interviewing President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday's show.
Rice performs for queen
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a piano recital for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Monday night. Rice, a classically trained pianist, performed music by Johannes Brahms and was accompanied by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's wife, Louise, on violin.
Polanski wants dismissal
Film director Roman Polanski, a fugitive in Europe for the past 30 years, has filed a request in Los Angeles to have a child-sex charge against him dismissed.
Lawyers for the Academy Award-winning director filed the request yesterday, saying the release of a documentary film about Polanski this year revealed "misconduct and improper communications" between the judge and prosecutors in his case. Polanski has been living in self-imposed exile from the United States since fleeing in 1978 after being charged with having sex with a teenage girl.
Tops on TV
For the week of Nov. 24-30, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships were Dancing With the Stars, ABC, 21.1 million; Dancing With the Stars Results, ABC, 20.65 million; 60 Minutes, CBS, 18.64 million; NCIS, CBS, 18.12 million; The Mentalist, CBS, 15.93 million; Sunday Night Football: Chicago at Minnesota, NBC, 15.92 million; Desperate Housewives, ABC, 15.81 million; Two and a Half Men, CBS, 14.95 million; CSI: Miami, CBS, 14.33 million; Criminal Minds, CBS, 14.11 million.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS
Singer Andy Williams, 81.
Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne, 60.
Actress Daryl Hannah, 48.
Actress Julianne Moore, 48.
Actor Brendan Fraser, 40.
Actor Brian Bonsall, 27.