Paul Weitz, Voted Off the Show?

Director-writer Paul Weitz was expecting to do an interview on "Fox News Live" yesterday to promote his movie "American Dreamz" until he learned last week the cable news giant had pulled the plug.

Because . . . the movie pokes fun at a Texan president with plummeting approval ratings who refuses to read newspapers? Actually, no! According to sources in Universal Pictures' marketing machine, Fox News canceled at the nudging of its corporate parents because the movie pokes fun at the Fox Broadcasting juggernaut "American Idol."

Fox News spokesman Paul Schur denied the account, saying producers never made "a firm booking" for Weitz. "We opted to do hard news," he said. But Universal marketing sources -- who declined to be identified for fear of harming a good relationship with Fox -- said Weitz had been given a specific time slot. They said a news producer conveyed corporate concerns to Universal's reps Thursday afternoon before canceling.

The comedy opening later this month stars Dennis Quaid as a president who becomes a guest host on a wildly popular TV talent competition to boost his sagging ratings; Hugh Grant plays the Simon Cowell -esque host, whose show is infiltrated by a bumbling terrorist masquerading as a show-tune-singing hopeful. Weitz -- director of "American Pie" and "About a Boy" -- insists the satire is kind.

"I have a lot of affection for 'American Idol,' " he said. "A lot of the impetus is my feeling of waking up and reading in the newspaper about terrorism and wondering whether the administration was making the right decisions, and then coming home at night and worrying about whether Constantine is going to get kicked off of 'American Idol.' . . . It goes to the core of our self-identification as a nation of dreamers."

My Rock, My Anchor

A media merger! NBC's Campbell Brown , co-anchor of "Weekend Today," tied the knot Sunday with Fox News analyst and GOP adviser Dan Senor . The second-time bride wore a white Vera Wang gown at the ceremony in Beaver Creek, Colo., followed by a reception in the perversely named Bachelor Gulch. Our advice to the bride: Enjoy the honeymoon and ignore all that job drama in TV land.

The Celebrity Cup Runneth Over

Is it Celebrity Spring Break? Suddenly, our political beaches are packed with boldface do-gooders. Says a publicist in the pile-up, "I tell you, it's been really hard to get a hotel room -- the Ritz, the Four Seasons are all booked," not to mention news coverage.

Yesterday: Caroline Kennedy at Tiffany's for the 50th anniversary of her father's book "Profiles in Courage"; actor Edward Norton kicking off National Public Health Week; Laurence Fishburne at a screening of "Akeelah and the Bee" for the Center for American Progress; Dave Chappelle wowing an assembly at his alma mater, Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Today: Hunk-o-rama with Richard Gere at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS gala; musician Peter Gabriel lobbying for his human rights organization; cellist Yo-Yo Ma on visa reforms; and ( ohmygod ) George Clooney at ASCAP's 80th birthday party for Tony Bennett (six months early).

And more! Actress Gabrielle Union briefing Congress on sexual assault victims; author Nicholas Sparks at the 2006 Fatherhood Awards; actor David Hyde Pierce at the Alzheimer's Association; "Doonesbury's" Garry Trudeau at Georgetown tomorrow; and actor Mike Farrell in the play "Guantanamo," which protests prisoner treatment, Thursday; and Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the National Hospice Gala Friday.

Why all this now? Because (a) Congress goes on Easter recess next week and (b) nobody coordinates these things.

Why the Lady Terps Will Beat Duke Tonight

According to Marguerite Whilden, founder and co-director of the Terrapin Institute, a Shady Side, Md.-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting the region's population of diamondback terrapins :

The females of the species "are very determined. They just keep coming back year after year [to lay eggs]. They are doggedly determined and focused on the mission. We just released a bunch that we had recovered -- they were raring to go. The bigger they get, the heartier and more productive they get. . . Based on the tolerance and persistence of this animal, I think the women have been persistent and this is their time."