Reality show selects who will get laid off

Reality show selects who will get laid off

NEW YORK — The Fox network is making a reality show out of the troubled economy.

An upcoming series titled, “Someone’s Gotta Go,” lets employees of a small business decide which one of their colleagues will be laid off.

Fox says it has no air date yet for the series, which is being developed by the company behind “Big Brother” and “Deal or No Deal.” Each week, a different company lays off an employee.

Fox also wouldn’t reveal the show’s host, which it says is a business consultant who will offer advice to participating companies.

Whitney Houston sues stepmom for $1.6M

FORT LEE, N.J. — Whitney Houston is countersuing her stepmother for $1.6 million.

The Grammy-winning singer claims Barbara Houston owes her the money for failing to make payments on the Fort Lee, N.J., condominium where she has lived since 1987.

Barbara Houston initiated the legal tussle last year when she claimed the 45-year-old singer improperly kept proceeds from John Houston’s $1 million insurance policy after he died in 2003.

Barbara Houston claimed the singer was supposed to subtract $723,000 from the insurance money to provide her stepmother with a clear title.

The singer says she provided her father with a mortgage loan to purchase the condo and was still owed most of the principal and all the interest when he died.

’70s gay porn star dies

NEW YORK — The 1970s gay porn idol Jack Wrangler has died at age 62.

Lewis Tice, director of publicity and marketing for TLA Releasing, a distributor of gay-themed independent films, says Wrangler died in New York City of complications of lung disease.

Wrangler starred in numerous gay adult movies and went on to become a musical theater performer. His life was chronicled in last fall’s documentary “Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon.”

Tice says Wrangler starred in more than 80 adult films beginning in the 1970s. Wrangler later married pop vocalist Margaret Whiting, who survives him.

Today’s birthdays

Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner is 83. Naturalist Jim Fowler (“Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”) is 77. Actress Michael Learned (“The Waltons”) is 70. Country singer Hal Ketchum is 56. Actor Dennis Quaid is 55. Actress-model Paulina Porizkova is 44. Actress Cynthia Nixon (“Sex and the City”) is 43. Singer Kevin Martin of Candlebox is 40. Singer Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance is 32. Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam (“The Cosby Show”) is 30. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes is 29. Singer Jazmine Sullivan is 22. Actress Kristen Stewart (“Twilight,” “Panic Room”) is 19.