American graffiti

1 "I made a deal with Seinfeld," Garry Shandling joked recently, "that when one goes, we all go." And so, US television prepares to mourn two of its best shows, Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show. The latter, which stars Shandling as a venal, paranoid talk-show host, is known for its sly mix of fact and fiction, and the final batch of episodes will be scrutinised by the industry - the real-life drama currently surrounding the show involves one of the ugliest legal battles in recent Hollywood history. Last month, Shandling filed a $100m lawsuit against his former manager Brad Grey (also executive producer of the series), claiming that Grey took advantage of their association to build his own - highly profitable - business. Grey's partner, Bernie Brillstein, issued a statement declaring that "Garry Shandling's claims are delusional" - a charge that could easily apply to the comedian's fictional counterpart. Indeed, an unnamed colleague went as far as to confide to Entertainment Weekly: "Garry became Larry Sanders. He's been abusive toward Brad and others on the set." Shandling has promised that he has "a terrific idea" lined up for the series' finale. One rumoured storyline: Larry fires his manager.

1 When the unstoppable Titanic picked up its 14 Oscar nods on Tuesday, the biggest news, as far as the New York tabloids were concerned, wasn't that James Cameron's monomaniacal spectacle had tied the all-time record for nominations held by All About Eve, but that Leonardo DiCaprio had been omitted from the list of nominations (so had Cameron's stinker of a screenplay, but even die-hard fans didn't complain about that). On what was evidently a slow news day, the Daily News front page shrieked: "OSCAR SINKS HUNK". The New York Post chimed in: "Teens across the nation were devastated by the news." Both papers sought out heartbroken fans. "Maybe they didn't give it to him because they wanted him to work harder", said one budding conspiracy theorist in the News. Another had a simpler explanation: "I think they were jealous."