Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

Guilty Pleasures:

No winner in Saturday night's drawing for the Powerball Lottery. That means tonight's drawing is valued at $190 million ($99 million cash value). Powerball is played in 41 states, Washington DC and the U-S Virgin Islands. Chances of winning the grand prize (all five numbers plus the powerball) are 1 in 195.2 million.

Idle gossip & unconfirmed rumors:

BRITNEY SPEARS is just twenty-eight-years-old, but already making post-mortem plans. AbsoluteNow.com reports the wacky super star has been researching cryogenics and wants to preserve her tight, tanned, toned body in liquid Nitrogen when she meets her maker. Rumor has it she learned a lot about the process during a trip to Disneyland --the late WALT DISNEY was a big believer in coming back to life-- and dad JAMIE has given her the go-ahead to invest in the idea but her maximum spending limit is a mere $350,000! (Lee)

Working for OPRAH isn't as easy as you might think. Star magazine reports that the talk show hostess rules her employees with an iron fist, cancelling bonuses as punishment and even firing people for touching her!

Trailer park update:

A man in Sissonville, WV, remains in jail after allegedly setting fire to his house because his wife didn't have dinner ready.
   Amazingly, alcohol was involved.
   Police tell the Charleston Gazette that 60-year-old GUY JONES came home after a night of drinking and got mad because the missus failed in her wifely duties. A fight ensued and Mrs Jones ran out of the house only to turn around and see flames a-comin' out the basement. Moments later, her husband appeared, exiting from the basement door.
   Bail was set at $50-thousand.
   Editor's note: Which is probably more than the value of the house. If ya know anything about Sissonville, folks in West Virginia call it home to West Virginia's white trash. (Maiman)

Broadcast, cable and video news:

Overnight Nielsen ratings for Monday night featured a weak showing for the series finale of "24" --the KIEFER SUTHERLAND program finished in eight place for the evening, beaten by the entire CBS lineup along with the debut of ABC's "The Bachelorette." Tied for first place for the evening in adults from 18-to-34 years old: CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men." No wonder CBS upped their offer to keep CHARLIE SHEEN on the show.

Grace notes:

Are you sick of running into JUSTIN BIEBER everywhere you look on the Internet? Software developers have come up with an add-on for the Firefox Web browser that blocks all text and photos that reference the 16-year old Canadian pop star. And it has a great name too: Shaved Bieber. (Marino)

Taking everything much too seriously:

Looking for a house to buy? "The Amityville Horror" house is for sale.
   For $1.5 million, the 5-bedroom, 3.5 bath house on Long Island's South Shore (and just a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean) can be yours, but there's that downside: Previous owners have claimed the house is haunted.
   The Amityville house was where RONALD DeFEO, Jr murdered his six family members in 1974. After the murders and DeFeo's subsequent conviction, new owners GEORGE and KATHY LUTZ claimed the house was haunted, spawning a book "The Amityville Horror" which led to the movie in 1979 and a remake in 2005.
   JAMES and BARBARA CROMARTY bought the house in 1977 and changed the address because of gawkers, but insist "nothing weird" ever happened there. (Maiman)