Moore's press train began last week on Good Morning America, when he took some time to rail against the show's use of "permalancers," a group that's basically permanent, but don't get the benefits and, therefore, count as the underdog. It was all very amusing and true, and provided Moore with a great excuse when CBS "canceled" his appearance on tomorrow's Early Show. From a tweet Moore posted Sunday morning:

Backlash Begins: CBS has cancelled [sic] me on its Mon. morning show. After I criticized ABC/Disney on GMA, they didn't want me to do same to CBS.

While that could be true, CBS bookers tell media scallywag Rachel Sklar that they never booked him. Moore's people, though, tell a different story: they were negotiating a firm date with CBS, but then CBS got all diva about getting the sit-down after GMA already landed Moore:

I can accurately say that the bookers who book the show have definitely been in discussion with us to have him on the show. When we attempted to confirm the booking they said they didn't want to follow GMA.

Hmmm. So, Moore, we're assuming, knew CBS had said they didn't want to follow GMA, but tweeted that the network was scared of his inflammatory nature. Why are we not surprised?

Anyway, Moore's assertion, however valid, only brings the spotlight back to him, which is good when you're promoting a movie. And the movie's doing well, by the way: it opened with about $306,000 on four screens. That's the higher per-theater average for the year. Love him or hate him, Moore's a hit machine.

Did CBS Cancel Michael Moore? [Mediaite]

The taping in front of adoring fans was part of the long-lost singer's big comeback and there were reports that Houston and her voice weren't at their greatest yesterday. "She was really damaged," said one fan. That damage, said Whitney, was from gabbing with Oprah for too long.

Whatever the true cause, our tipsters says that following the concert GMA producers and network executives at ABC furiously debated what to air. Ultimately, GMA entertainment producer Karen Rhee convinced the ABC brass in L.A. — and over the objections of the ABC News executives in New York (yes, GMA is technically a news program — to bring in a post-production team to "sweeten" Houston's voice. Says our tipster:

Standards and practices people are doing cartwheels.The company line will be "She sounded great to the crowd, so we wanted to correct technical errors that occurred in the process of recording her performance." Rather than the reality which is, "She didn't sound good, and a news broadcast is altering the performance of a guest." This is not standard, nor has this ever happened before with a music performance on GMA.

While, yes, this could be true, our childlike devotion to Ms. Houston refuses to believe this. Whitney can do no wrong. Well, except for her crackhead years and that absolutely terrible Cinderella TV movie with Brandy. Other than that, she's perfect!

Since Jackson's death, it's been rumored that Dr. Klein — sort of a cross between Larry Flynt and Harvey Pekar — was the sperm donor for his two oldest children. It was a strange way to phrase a denial of those rumors. Klein also told Sawyer that he'd been aware of some of the drugs that Michael was taking, but not to the extent that was later discovered. Klein, who treated Jackson for Lupus and Vitiligo, also remarked on how unhappy he was with plastic surgeons who continued to work on Jackson's face and didn't know when to stop

And the dodges. So dodgy! Check out this masterful response, after Diane Sawyer brings up the fact that Piven's play-quitting "mercury poisoning" didn't prevent him from hitting the clubs at night: "Let's be really clear: David Mamet is one of the greatest American playwrights." OK then? Strangely, things get even worse from there, as Piven condescends to Sawyer's questions with baleful eyebrows, slowed-down "I'll explain this for the stupids" talking, and such frequent, pointed use of Sawyer's own name that we started taking bets on when he'd call her "glib." Still, kudos to GMA for deciding that when Sawyer read a pull quote about mercury poisoning, one of the interns should mock up a graphic featuring a golden, rotating fish. Delicious (but dangerous!). [GMA]

Since Nixon, mother of two, started her four-year relationship with education activist Christine Marinoni, Nixon's children had to adjust from the standard Mommy and Daddy household to the more modern two-mom arrangement. And as Nixon explains, she most often answers to "Mommy" and the shorter-haired Christine is known as "Mom." But confusion still abounds: "Sometimes my son says 'Mom!' and it's obvious he means both of us." In any case, relationships lasting this long are a rarity in Hollywood, and we're glad Nixon's found a way to make the gossip-attracting union last. While the timing of her announcement is slightly suspect (Nixon was diagnosed in 2006, and SATC: The Movie comes out next month), we're going to give her the benefit of the doubt and applaud her for telling her story at a time when she's guaranteed to get the most press. Manipulative? Who cares. The bigger an audience she has, the better.

• GOOD MORNING AMERICA [ABC]

With Richie squarely on the defensive, Sawyer attempted to stage a televised eating disorder intervention, presenting the troubled celebrity with a series of shocking images from her famously underweight past (though it was a cheap shot to Photoshop in a medical-school skeleton next to Lindsay Lohan. The tabloid sensibility really is destroying our morning chat shows) in the hope of inducing a tearful admission of anorexia. The move backfired, however, as a glowing Richie, elevated to something in the neighborhood of a healthy weight by her pregnancy, probably couldn't even recognize the wraith in Sawyer's pictures, and a Great TV Moment was lost. But to her credit, a defeated Sawyer refrained from grabbing her by the neck and shouting, "Listen, you skinny bitch, you're going to tell America that you nearly starved yourself to death because of Hollywood's obsession with thinness, or you're not going to live long enough to make it to jail."

• Good Morning America [ABC.com]
• Previously: Nicole Richie Confused By Glendale, Didn't Realize How Hard The Vicodin Hit Her [Defamer]

Today's Good Morning America interview with Mel Gibson represented the troubled actor's long-awaited first step towards assuring the public that the money they might eventually spend on tickets to his upcoming Apocalypto won't be secretly funneled into a synagogue-burning fund through the frank discussion of his tequila-chugging demons with a respected member of the morning show community. We'll send you on to a clip from the first installment of Diane Sawyer's two-parter without too much preamble, but encourage you to note two moments that come towards the end of this footage: Sawyer's look of bafflement at Gibson's joke about alcohol having the ability to make him want to murder a toaster with his bare hands (apologies to the kitchen appliance community are forthcoming), and his admission that even grievous drunkeness can't diminish an actor's desire to look pretty in his mugshot.

• Gibson: 'Public Humiliation on a Global Scale' Made Him Address Alcoholism [ABC News]
• Previously: The Mel Gibson Redemption Tour: Part I: Monsters And Drunkards [Defamer]