People: Will it be Daly in, Seacrest out?
Carson Daly scoffs at the idea that he and Ryan Seacrest are in a rivalry to replace New Year’s Eve icon Dick Clark.
“Dick Clark is a huge inspiration for the huge success he’s achieved,” Daly says. “But that’s where I stop. The world is changing. I’m young; I have my own thoughts as a producer. I’m not trying to keep his tradition.”
Last year, “American Idol” host Seacrest took over much of the broadcast for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on ABC. Daly will host NBC’s “New Year’s Eve With Carson Daly.”
Clark, 77, who suffered a stroke in 2004, plans to return for at least a small role on the ABC show again this year.
“He and I have a great relationship. Whatever he wants to do, whether he wants to do more or less than last year, I’ll do it,” Seacrest says.
Now who’s the subject of gossip?
Former Us Weekly gossip columnist Timothy McDarrah, 44, has been found guilty of charges related to soliciting sex with a minor. McDarrah was arrested after being charged with trying to seduce an undercover federal agent posing on the Internet as a 13-year-old girl. He was convicted Dec. 20 after an eight-day jury trial in New York and faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
Scrooge’s pick was Costco
If you’d spent Christmas serving dinner at a soup kitchen, where would you go next? For “Survivor” host Jeff Probst and his girlfriend, former contestant Julie Berry, the answer would be … Target. Probst, who was spotted at the Portland, Maine, Target store the day after Christmas, said the experience of volunteering to serve meals at the Wayside Soup Kitchen was a chance to bring some perspective to the “frantic” holiday season.
She wants to hold his hand
The Beatles broke up in 1969, but the two surviving members are still identified as former members. And while no one has heard anything from Ringo Starr in a while, former Beatle Paul McCartney is keeping busy. He’s reportedly collaborating on a stage show about his early life. Actress Kate Robbins, a cousin of McCartney’s, says that the couple are cooperating on an adaptation of the ex-Beatle’s “Liverpool Oratorio.”
Mama’s got a brand new drag
When James Brown died on Monday, his wife, Tomi Raye Hynie, returned home to find the singer’s Been Island, S.C., home locked. Brown’s lawyer said Brown and Hynie weren’t legally married and that she was locked out for legal reasons. Hynie was already married to a Texas man in 2001 when she married Brown. She later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried. Hynie argued that she has a legal right to live in the home with the couple’s 5-year-old son.
The birthday bunch
Singer Bo Diddley is 78. Actor Fred Ward is 64. Singer Mike Nesmith of The Monkees is 64. Singer Davy Jones of the Monkees is 61. Singer Patti Smith is 60. TV host Meredith Vieira (“Today”) is 53. “Today” show anchor Matt Lauer is 49. Actress-comedian Tracey Ullman is 47. TV host Sean Hannity is 45. Singer Jay Kay of Jamiroquai is 37. Singer-actor Tyrese Gibson is 28. Actress Eliza Dushku (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) is 26.