People

By Michele Orecklin

WHAT WOULD HER FRIENDS THINK?

In December NBC persuaded the cast of Friends to sign on for one more season. The development was of such cultural import, it cued a pensive editorial in the New York Times. In the February issue of W, an uncharacteristically unwholesome-looking Jennifer Aniston says she remains perplexed by the media interest and irate at the paparazzi: "There are days when you drive out of your driveway and there's a car ... just waiting for you, and you think, 'This is what your life has come to? You're going to follow someone to the market and to the doctor and to get their hair colored?'" She colors her hair?

A REPEAT EPISODE

In the playbook of reliable sitcom conventions, renewing marital vows is usually reserved for the sixth or seventh season (see Everybody Loves Raymond et al.). OZZY and SHARON OSBOURNE decided to renew their vows last week in what is only the family's second season on MTV. At the Beverly Hills Hotel on New Year's Eve, before friends, family, Justin Timberlake, the Village People--and everyone watching MTV--Sharon and Ozzy, who have been married for 20 years, rededicated themselves to each other. It can't be long before Ozzy packs up the whole family for a two-part European adventure.

Earnings Report: J.K. and Judy

The Queen of England is not yet cutting coupons, but a recent survey by the British Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that Her Majesty earned far less than certain commoners last year. Harry Potter author J.K. ROWLING was the top female earner in Britain in 2002, raking in $77 million, six times as much as the Queen. The newspaper ranked the women by annual salary, not accumulated wealth. JUDGE JUDY SHEINDLIN doesn't have to interview world leaders or tiptoe through blood-spattered crime scenes or try to contain Regis Philbin. Despite this, she will now earn more than most other television personalities, including Katie Couric, Kelly Ripa and anyone on CSI. She has just signed a deal for approximately $25 million a year for four years--so she can afford to buy herself a new robe.

STOPPED IN THE NAME OF SAFETY

The season is still young, but Diana Ross seems to be taking an early lead in the 2003 bad-publicity sweepstakes. Last week Ross was stopped by police at 12:30 a.m. in Tucson, Ariz., after she was spotted driving erratically. Ross, never one for small gestures, was cited for an "extreme DUI." According to the police report, a sobriety test registered her blood-alcohol level at 0.20, more than twice the state's legal limit, and she proved unable to stand on one leg. Ross, who last year checked herself into a Malibu, Calif., rehab clinic, denied that she had been drinking and said she had merely got lost on her way to rent a video.