Unfortunately for 27-year-old stage manager Arthur Moreira, employees of one of the show's featured fashion labels noticed that some of their lent pieces had turned up on the auction site, and promptly contacted the authorities.

[He] was arrested Friday in a sting operation that included officers buying stolen goods from Moreira at his apartment, according to a statement from the district attorney's office.

Among 16 items stolen from Brooklyn-based Broadway Ventures, which owns the production and storage facilities used by "Lipstick Jungle," were sequined mosaic clutches, an Oscar de la Renta snakeskin bag and Gucci coats, the office said.

Moreira's lawyers plan to argue the items had been useless props that would have been tossed out had he not salvaged them— but prosecutors point to a highly suspicious eBay posting touting one "Hardly Used: Andrew McCarthy's Career! But It Now for $4300" as hard evidence the stage manager had been pulling long-forgotten items out of Lipstick storage and selling them at grossly inflated prices.

• Stage manager accused of theft from 'Lipstick Jungle' [CNN]

Two days after the cancellation stories made the rounds, the show went up 17% in the adult demo from the week before. And the previous week's episode went up 20%.

Those are big gains ... but they're big gains from small numbers. Friday had 3.6 million viewers and 1.4 rating among adults 18-49. Unless Shields is willing to work pro bono, that's still too low for a scripted drama in primetime. The show does better when DVR use is factored, but so does any scripted program suddenly moved to a Friday night.

...Only one more "Lipstick" episode is currently scheduled to air — on the next two Fridays NBC has scheduled other programming. NBC hasn't decided whether to run the remaining four hours. The network would probably love a couple more weeks of data to see if those Friday numbers keep rising, but given the holidays and the 13th episode wrapping this week, the network's final-final "Lipstick" decision, whatever it is, might have to be a leap of faith.

Sadly, by that time, a timid Ben Silverman will have scapegoated every single employee at NBC, leaving him the only one left to break the bad news to Brooke personally. "Brookie... ding ding ding! Beijing Ben here. Sorry babe, bad news: we're replacing Lipstick with a brand-new, rejiggered Manimal. But at least it'll give you some free time to work on that upcoming Estelle Getty project! Oh, sorry — too soon?"

[Photo Credit: AP]

• Brooke Shields says 'Lipstick' not canceled [THR]

NBC Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman isn't going to get all the blame for the network's lackluster fall schedule.

With yesterday's cancellation of two NBC shows produced by sister company Universal - "Lipstick Jungle," which starred Brooke Shields, and "My Own Worst Enemy," which featured Christian Slater -culpability falls on Universal Media Studio President Katherine Pope, who oversaw both doomed series.

"They call her the black widow. Every program she touches turns to death," growled our source. "She is on very thin ice." Pope also produced flash-in-the-pan series "Bionic Woman."

Of course, none of NBC's other new shows - "Knight Rider," "Kath & Kim" and "Crusoe" - has become a hit, either. But Silverman, 37, has been able to cut costs at the network and seems to be satisfying his bosses, particularly NBC chairman Jeff Zucker.

If this "it's her fault, not Ben's fault" maneuver seems familiar, it's because people were blaming his EVP Teri Weinberg for NBC's problems a mere two months ago. How can Silverman be responsible for hiring people who are bad at their jobs, or be expected to actually watch and oversee the shows the network creates? He's busy throwin' back brewskis with Seacrest, people! Quit harshin' his buzz!

• 'BLACK WIDOW' EFFECT AT NBC [Page Six]

The cancellation comes after both shows dropped to new lows in the ratings in recent weeks, with the Christian Slater action series sinking to a 1.8 among adults 18-49 (4.3 million viewers) on Monday night and "Lipstick" falling to a 1.2 (3.3 million viewers) on Friday.

Some of the blame for Enemy is being directed at Heroes, a lead-in that's been quickly losing viewership as it gradually dawns on fans that it always sucked. One online source is reporting that both series will finish their runs, with Enemy's last episode airing December 15, the same date as the Heroes "fall finale." Lipstick, meanwhile, will run to January, when it will be replaced by new episodes of Friday Night Lights—the cult football favorite breaking itself free from the DirecTV tyranny that has hoarded new episodes until now.

• NBC cancels 'Enemy' and 'Lipstick' [THR]

According to the News, the ladies of Darren Star's Cashmere Mafia on ABC are not going to be blessing us with their rapid, frantic chats, supposedly enviable lives, and tired slurping of Cosmos for much longer:

A source...tells me the suits aren't confident the show will stick around. 'He just said about the show, 'Yisgadal v'yitkadash', the Jewish prayer for the dead,' laughs the ear-witness."

But perhaps the reason behind Cashmere's reported demise has more to do with casting? While Lipstick marked the return of sorely missed stars Brooke Shields and on-set dreamboat diarist Andrew McCarthy, Cashmere relied on the always dependable character actress Lucy Liu to hold down the court as his glossy heroine. And the man candy (handsome but dull Peter Hermann and bright young thing but dull Julian Ovenden) didn't stand a chance in comparison. But in the end, all the suits care about are ratings: with the News reporting the latest numbers as Lipstick's 6.4million viewers to Cashmere's 5.7 million, the rumored shutdown may be a simple case of disappointing numbers.

• 'CASHMERE MAFIA' MIGHT BE TAKEN FOR A RIDE [Gatecrasher]

McCarthy reminds us of a seasoned romance novelist in that he has a knack for describing mundane shooting situations (crossing the street on a cell phone!) with outright glee. After wrapping a make-out scene outside an Upper East Side townhouse at night with "the pavement glistening with the fresh sparkle of a wet-down," McCarthy says he's officially added the corner of 79th and 5th to his "list of private landmarks." While we doubt one of the busiest corners of New York is "private" enough, we'd gladly meet McCarthy there to re-shoot this scene once LJ comes to its swift (but romantic!) death.

• LIPSTICK JUNGLE: SHOOTING ON THE STREETS OF LIPSTICK JUNGLE [Slate]