Countdown's Countdowns

Countdown’s Top Five

1. The "American Idol" reject who, to the best of our knowledge, is the first of the current batch of contestants to actually sign a record contract.

• Divas behind bars

• A Utah mother , accused of refusing medical advice to have an emergency C-section for her twins. One the children was stillborn. She denies all of this.

• Speaking of bad for kids, Britney changes mind about

• The on the airwaves.

• Four historical examples of impactful ads:

Five numbers that shape this day

1. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the reported advance that the disgraced "New York Times" journalist Jason Blair was paid to write his memoirs, "Burning Down My Master`s House."
2. Two hundred thousand, the number of copies of a book printed in the first press run.
3. Four hundred and twenty-two, the number of copies that were sold last week. That's according to "Nielsen BookScan."
4. Three hundred and forty-seven, the book's current sales rank at "Amazon.com."
5. And 87, the Amazon rank of Dale Carnegie`s "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

Today’s Top Three Newsmakers

1. An officer of the Bangor Naval Submarine Base at the Hood Canal 25 miles west of Seattle trying to remove a 30-foot-tall Trident nuclear missile from the submarine the USS Georgia last November. They cut a 9-inch hole in the nose cone with a ladder, and nearly
   
2. John Small, the man behind , has declared tomorrow Save Martha Stewart Day.
3. Ever heard the one about the and the tractor?

Let's Play 'Oddball'!

1. The impeached president, Roh Moo-hyun, overnight, so his supporters stayed up there with him. Opponents then stormed Parliament. All of this was televised live, outside that building a civilian tried to drive his car up the steps and into the hall in protest. When it stalled he got out of it and set the thing on fire and shouted, "I will kill them all." He didn't.
2. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Robert McKiernan has been arrested for possession of stuff with which to fuel a methamphetamine lab. But he was not for that, but because somebody had broken into a nearby farmhouse and stolen one box Hostess Crumb Cakes and one box Hostess Ho-Hos. Who is ho-hoing now?
   

Keeping Tabs

1. Remember when Mel Gibson`s "The Passion" was nearing release, almost as popular a topic as the controversy and the supposed anti-Semitism was this great personal gamble he was taking by having invested $30 million of his own money in its production? Pretty good gamble. "The Wall Street Journal" today calculates Gibson is well on the way to earning a return of at least
2. And the Janet Jackson comeback continues, but her return will be