Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Your Body:

There's all kinds of advice on how you can lose weight. But has anyone ever suggested you pick up a gum-chewing habit?
   Research presented at The Obesity Society's Annual Scientific Meeting explains chewing gum in the morning can help you eat fewer calories. In a study, those who chewed sugarless gum in the morning ate about 68 fewer calories at lunch. Those people did not report being hungrier later nor did they make up for it by eating more at dinner.
   The gum chewers simply reported being less hungry than when they didn't chew gum. Researchers say chewing gum at a relaxed, natural pace before and after eating also increased participants' energy output by about 5-percent. (Page)

Digital Domain:

New study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project says --contrary to most people's belief-- cell phones and the internet are *not* isolating the younger generation, but instead increasing their social networking through Web sites like Facebook.
   The phone survey of just over 25-hundred adults says so-called "social isolation" has not changed since the 1980s, and only about six percent of people have nobody to discuss important matters with.
   But although people's in-person "discussion networks" have gotten smaller with the introduction of the cell phone and internet, the "discussion networks" have grown larger when you figure in the people who they talk to by cell phone, share pictures with on the internet or use instant messaging.

Grace notes:

MICHAEL JACKSON's father wants his share of his son's estate. The Los Angeles Times says JOE JACKSON filed court documents on Friday asking for an allowance to cover his expenses which reportedly total more than 15,000-dollars-a-month. Michael's 2002 will did not include anything for his father, but Joe's lawyers say the administrators of the estate should have no reason not to give Joe what he wants. (Marino)

STEVEN TYLER has quit AEROSMITH. Guitarist JOE PERRY told the Las Vegas Sun that the singer's final concert with the band was last weekend as part of the Formula One season finale in Abu Dhabi. Joe says he got off the plane and read online that Steven said he was leaving Aerosmith. He's not sure if it's temporary or permanent, but Steven is out. Joe says the band will go on, with or without Steven --who co-founded Aerosmith with Joe in 1971. (Marino)

Ratings Report:

Overnight Nielsen ratings for Friday night show RIHANNA's "20/20" interview put the show at #1 for the evening, pulling in around 8.2 million viewers. It also gave the show its best numbers in past three years.
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Overnight Nielsen ratings for TAYLOR SWIFT's dual role as host and musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" gave the show it's highest rating of the season. Taylor did a very nice hatchet job in her opening monologue and nailed JOE JONAS and KANYE WEST. She also did not mention TAYLOR LAUTNER by name, but addressed the rumors that they're dating by singing, "If you're wondering if I might be dating that werewolf from 'Twilight,' I'm not gonna talk about that," as she playfully waved and mouthed "I love you Taylor" to the camera.
   Fox's new late night talk show featuring WANDA SYKES did not do as well, but did outperform "Mad TV," which was in the same timeslot a year ago.

Shopping Around:

Activision releases the latest version of it's "Call of Duty" video game tonight with midnight releases at Best Buy, Gamestop and other video game stores and retailers. The company says it expects to sell more than 12 million copies of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" by the end of the year, and video game experts say it may well be the best video game of the year.
   There have already been several previous games in the series, which recreate the exploits of infantry soldiers in WWII:
   --Call of Duty (2003),
   --Call of Duty 2 (2005),
   --Call of Duty 3 (consoles only in 2006),
   --Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,
   In the new game, the player is a special forces soldier fighting a terrorist organization in places like the Middle East and other "hot zones."