Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Black Friday 2009 countdown:

Search Google for "Black Friday" or "Black Friday Sales" and you'll be buried in information on sales, deals and shopping tips for the so-called busiest shopping day of the year. (It's not, by the way.)
   We're a week from the cattle rush so these are tips and ideas you can hang onto or use today because Walmart plans to roll out some of its deals tomorrow.
   Blackfriday.info, which bills itself as the "official site" for all the Black Friday ads, is one of the best clearinghouses for deals. So much so that it caught the wrath of Walmart by leaking news of the retailer's Black Friday plans --or, as some cynics suggest, played right into Walmart's strategy by creating a hubbub.
   Editor's note: Of course, you know way they call it Black Friday, don't you? It's when retailers get in the black for the fiscal year, and consumers fall into the red. (Maiman)

Some of Walmart's Black Friday deals:

   --50-inch Sanyo plasma HDTVs for $598
   --Magnavox Blu-Ray disc players for $78
   --TomTom GPS systems for $59
   --$7 reversible fleece jackets and $3 children's sleepwear, according to Melissa O'Brien,a Walmart spokeswoman.

Tomorrow, Walmart will start slashing prices:

on EZ Bake Oven, Disney Princess Scooter and Nerf N-Strike Vulcan. Discounts are up to 60 percent. Customers who buy certain gaming packages such as "Band Hero" and "DJ Hero" will get a $40 Walmart gift card while supplies last.

Some other spots you might want to check out:

   Pre-Black Friday offerings from MicroCenter.com, the computer and electronic store. Click here.
   Or Costco's Black Friday plans are already online at Costco.com.
   Dealnews.com is loaded with Black Friday info, including a Buying Strategy Guide. Among their tidbits: It offers an iPhone app designed specifically to keep up with its torrent of Black Friday news. After the buying frenzy, it will also work for CyberMonday sales.
   And if you're up for it, DealsVista offers a spreadsheet that compares 5040 deals from 44 stores. You can download that at DealsVista.com.
   Also, check out PC World's article on "10 Fascinating Facts about Black Friday" at PCWorld.com. (Maiman)

N-e-w to you:

CHRIS PINE has a new lady in his life. After a quick fling with AUDRINA PATRIDGE, Us Weekly reports that the new Captain James T. Kirk has been seeing "Transformer 2" star OLIVIA MUNN.
   Meanwhile, Audrina herself was spotted at Thursday's Us Weekly Hot Hollywood party at the club Voyeur, putting the moves on MARK SALLING, from the new FOX show, "Glee." Prior to that, she'd been seen for the last two months with Australian BMX racer COREY BOHAN, and before that, her "Hills" costar, JUSTIN "Bobby" BRESCIA. And the beat goes on... (Myers)

Broadcast, cable and video news:

OPRAH WINFERY is leaving her television show.
   She'll announce today that she's ending her run when the 25th season of shows draws to a close on 2011. She'll give details on her show today.
   Winfrey started her broadcasting career in Nashville, TN., and Baltimore, MD., before relocating to Chicago in 1984 to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, "AM Chicago," which was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" a year later. (Maiman)

Casting call:

The Hollywood Reporter says UMA THURMAN will star opposite "Twilight" hunk ROB PATTINSON in the upcoming movie, "Bel Ami." Pattison plays a journalist who sleeps his way to the top of Parisian society. Uma will play his friend, and later his wife, at least in the short story, originally written by famed French writer GUY de MAUPASSANT.
   KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS will also be in the flick.

Grace notes:

SUSAN BOYLE's debut album has the most pre-orders around the world in the history of Amazon.com. "I Dreamed A Dream" is set for release next Tuesday, and though the online retailer would not release exact sales figures, but it's the largest amount of folks ordering a CD in advance since Amazon.com opened for business 14 years ago. Susan didn't win on "Britain's Got Talent," but like "American Idol" runner-up ADAM LAMBERT, sometimes it's better to lose. (Marino)