Since FishbowlLA will go to its grave wondering how spectacular the 2011 Oscars might have been if Eddie Murphy had remained at the host-helm, we couldn’t help but zero in on the last paragraph of a report by senior Hollywood Reporter TV writer Lacey Rose:

Michaels confessed that he had made that mistake [making fun of one of "his own"] years earlier with former cast member Eddie Murphy, who at that time had had a string of box office disappointments. Though SNL had stayed away from some of Murphy’s more personal stumbles, he and his writers had David Spade take a ["Hollywood Minute"] jab at his professional fumble. “I figured it was kind of a clean hit. I didn’t really think about it; but Eddie did,” he said to big laughs…

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“The recording of Michael Jackson‘s voice that they played during the trial, during opening statements was one of the more stunning moments that I’ve handled as a court reporter,” McCartney remembers. “No one knew the tape existed.”

“So much of what happened in that Jackson case involved two people, and one of them was dead,” he continues. “So to hear from the deceased party, in the courtroom, was very haunting. [Prosecuting attorney] David Walgren was also extremely impressive. There was a closing argument that he gave, where he emphasized the refrain “poor Conrad Murray” to call out the excuses that Murray had made for his actions and Murray’s defense that he was persecuted and it wasn’t his fault. Very effective.”

Then there is Lindsay Lohan. McCartney has covered her ad nauseum for AP and when asked for his take on what ails her (pre-Tuesday night’s instantly infamous David Letterman interview), he points to something a judge once said.

“It’s gotten to the point where I absolutely refuse to predict what’s going to happen in a Lindsay Lohan court hearing,” he confesses. “One of the more surprising things one of her judges said, about a year and a half ago, was that after looking at all the psychological reports, she didn’t think that Lohan was an addict. She thought that her problems were psychological. I think that statement caught a lot of people by surprise.”

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Marti Rulli, author of the 2009 book Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendor, was instrumental in bringing about this new LASD investigation. This weekend on her blog, she recalls what it was like to be thrust into the resulting national media frenzy and – more importantly – shares images of two pages from the Wood autopsy report.

Rulli argues that the extensive bruises found on Wood’s body are the main reason why the LASD recently amended the cause of death on the actress’ death certificate to “drowning and other undetermined factors:”

After much research and studying Natalie’s autopsy report, I explained in Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendour (with the help of Dr. Lyndon Taylor), Natalie’s bruises appeared to be of classic domestic violence nature. The bruises on the backs of her legs appear to be combat bruising. The small circular bruises at her ankles appear to be fingerprints. The scratch at her neck and the numerous other bruising indicates a possible altercation. There were over two dozen bruises on Natalie’s body when she was pulled from the ocean: bruises not logically accounted for in 1981.

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“Now everyone is a critic,” she said with a smile, on the subject of the tabloid press and online bloggers. “I don’t read blogs. It’s just God-knows-who in Buttf— wherever writing hate sh–. You can’t take it seriously. I’m sure you’ve all been hated on at some point by Buttf— people.”

Taking Aguilera’s analogy to its logical extreme, FishbowlLA checked out the blogs on the Internet’s two leading platforms that are literally parked at Buttf—. This will probably be only small consolation to Ms. Aguilera, but there is nothing posted at the Blogspot namesake, while WordPress Buttf— is in a foreign language.

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The one-time Growing Pains dad said he was in close contact with Kirk Cameron all the way through the controversy that erupted in the wake of the latter’s remarks about gay marriage and homosexuality. And that he privately warned his former co-star not to take any jokes he might make too seriously. Overall, Thicke confided to Cameron, he respects the actor’s right to his own opinions.

Thicke also addressed the social media and Internet backlash that followed Cameron’s appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight:

“I was astonished at all the hate-mongering, venom-spewing vitriol that I saw. Going both ways, in both directions. It wasn’t only the incredibly hypocritical Christian wing who was calling me names, really vicious mean ugly kind of commentary, for my support of the gay and lesbian community. On the other hand, the gay and lesbian community attacking Kirk and all evangelicals and people of faith, that wasn’t right.”

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Over the weekend, UK’s The Daily Mail floated the idea that he was breaking up with girlfriend Eva Mendes (since denied via US Weekly). Meanwhile, across the English channel, French artist Pascal Witasek mocked up a poster of what the Disney biopic Walt might look like if the actor was cast in the lead role.

But the wildest Gosling “news” trail of the past few days was sparked Monday in Auckland, New Zealand. After a clothing store tweeted that the actor had paid a visit, citizens went wild, locally trending the hashtag #NZGoslingHunt on Twitter and generating MSM media coverage with their efforts.

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Per an LA Times article this morning by Meg James and Greg Braxton, Johnson’s channel is the first of several planned by Comcast TV as part of the company’s recent agreement with the FCC and Department of Justice to diversify. Aspire will offer a 24-hour mix of inspirational, family-friendly movies, comedy, music and more. From the article:

“This is so exciting for me, I’m pinching myself,” Johnson said in a phone interview. “This is big for myself, for the African-American community and the African-American creative community. I wanted a vehicle to show positive images and to have stories written, produced and directed by African-Americans for our community. Aspire — that’s how I’ve been leading my life.”

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Still, for Tonight Show connoisseurs, the upcoming May 14 “American Masters” series documentary on PBS promises a few new tidbits, most notably Joan Rivers revisiting her disastrous decision to not keep Carson properly in the loop about her discussions with FOX. Ray Richmond, the former Hollywood Reporter staffer now helping with Deadline.com’s TCA coverage, has the details from this morning’s Winter Session panel:

“Joan really speaks about that for the first time with us,” Jones said. “She admits that she probably shouldn’t have let Johnny find out about it second-hand. … Johnny never spoke with Joan again. She called him to discuss it with him and he hung up on her. The whole thing with Joan broke Johnny’s heart, it really did.”

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So how does Martinez look back on the incident today?

“I was really upset. I pride myself on everything going perfect,” said Martinez. She now has the star installers text a picture of the lettering before they cement it into the star, she said.

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Most notably via a December 5 FoxNews.com report by Meaghan Murphy. Among those the reporter spoke to was 49-year-old former Little House on the Prairie star Alison Arngrim (pictured), who detailed her own personal experiences with sexual abuse in the 2010 book Confessions of a Prairie Bitch. On the heels of Feldman’s August allegations, she shares some equally shocking recollections:

“This has been going on for a very long time,” concurs Arngrim. “It was the gossip back in the ‘80s. People said, ‘Oh yeah, the Coreys [Feldman, Haim], everyone’s had them.’ People talked about it like it was not a big deal…”

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The tabloid spoke to 52-year-old interior designer Robin Butillo, who back in 1981 was roommates with someone she describes as a “close friend” of actor Christopher Walken. Hours after news broke of Wood’s drowning death, she says her roommate fielded a telephone call from the actor:

“In the phone call, it was clear that Chris was devastated by the tragedy. He was upset and confessed that a ‘sex secret’ had occurred, leading up to Natalie’s death.” Butillo added: “While it’s clear Chris had no involvement in Natalie’s actual death, he clearly felt the need to unload his sorrow on his friend.”

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