ABC has made a special announcement! Leading news lady Kate Couric will get her own syndicated talk show on ABC.

The network announced the deal today, unveiling the plan which puts Katie in as host and producer.  We’ve learned Katie’s mentor – former “Today” show EP Jeff Zucker — will be the Executive Producer.

As we reported, Katie will make $20 million, mostly for the talk show but there’s a relatively small amount for contributing to various ABC news shows.

Sources tell TMZ, the likelihood is … Katie will get the 3 PM time slot when the show debuts in September, 2012.  That’s the coveted slot Oprah owned for a quarter century.

Matt Lauer will NOT be part of the show.

Source Image via Fame

In an interview airing today (April 22) on ABC’s ’20/20′, Elton John and his partner David Furnish confirm that Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, is indeed the godmother of the couple’s four-month-old soon, Zachary.

“Yes, yes, she is,” John says. “When you get to the real person under there, there’s a real simple person under there who loves her parents.”

Furnish says their son is “going to inherit an incredible musical legacy from his father one day, and she will be a good person to guide him through the ins and outs of the music business, ’cause she sure knows everything about the business now.”

Gaga had been rumored to be the child’s godmother, but neither John nor Furnish confirmed rumors.

When John hosted SNL earlier this month, he joked about the speculation. “For those of you concerned that we are unusual parents, do not worry. It’s not like we are the only two people involved in the child’s life. His godmother is Lady Gaga. That’s true, that’s not a joke … which is ironic because I’ve always said that Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids. And Gaga loves Mars. She says Mars has good schools and great discos.”

After all, godmothers don’t really come with pumpkin carriages… They come in eggs!

Source Images via Fame

Life & Style has exclusively learned that over the weekend of April 9, Emily Maynard made a phone call to her fiancé, Bachelor Brad Womack, to tell him it’s over.

“Emily told Brad that she can’t picture them getting married,” an insider reveals to Life & Style. “Brad’s not acting like a fiancé, and she knows that he’s not going to change. Emily knows in her heart of hearts that the relationship is finished.”

A second insider confirms that the relationship fell apart in recent days. “Emily was very close to moving with her daughter, Ricki, to Austin, Texas, just weeks ago, but that’s not true anymore,” the insider says. In fact, a friend tells Life & Style that Brad put an offer on a new home — without even consulting Emily or asking her to come to see it first. “She obviously feels that it isn’t the behavior of someone who plans to be with her.”

The reason for the split stemmed from Brad’s hurtful and erratic behavior. Emily became fearful he was cheating on her. “Brad seemed very complacent all of a sudden,” says the insider. “He did everything he could to woo and charm Emily on the show, and then it just slowed. Emily knows he likes Texas, he likes his bars and booze, so she’s just wondering if he likes someone else. It started to really worry Emily. She felt like, ‘If he’s not wanting to see her, who is he with?’”

So why hasn’t Emily simply announced a split?

Her contract with ABC prevents her from speaking out about the relationship without the network’s permission — and Life & Style has learned ABC called her on April 13 specifically to remind her of that point. Though the network can’t force them to stay together, a source says they have encouraged Emily to try to work things out with Brad, because they want Bachelor couples to make it down the aisle. “In the end, they try to control it,” Deanna Pappas — who competed on Brad’s first season and went on to star on The Bachelorette — tells Life & Style.

The friend, who has spent time with Emily recently, confirms Emily has taken off her Neil Lane engagement ring. “She doesn’t wear the ring anymore.”

Isn’t that BS! ABC prohibits her from talking about their relationship!? What a crock!

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I can hear stay-at-home-mom-hearts breaking all across the country! Means absolutely nothing to me, except I am surprised to find out that the shows were even still on in the first place! Who actually watches soap operas anymore! Here’s the scoop from THR:

Following speculation that All My Children was on the brink of cancellation last month, ABC announced Thursday that the long-running soap opera, along with One Life To Live, has been cancelled. They are being replaced by two new lifestyle programs, The Chew and The Revolution.

The daytime staples will end in September and January, respectively.

AMC premiered Jan. 5, 1970; Life premiered on July 15, 1968.

Hmm… could this troubled couple actually be making things work?

Life & Style can exclusively reveal that Emily Maynard has decided to make the move from North Carolina to Texas with her 5-year-old daughter, Ricki, to be with her fiancé Brad Womack.

“She feels like the best thing to do is to give this a real shot and put her heart into it by moving to Austin for the summer,” an insider close to Emily tells Life & Style. “She’s going to get her own condo there. She’s not moving in with him.”

Brad has made it clear that the only thing he refuses to bend on is where he and his future wife will live. “I know love is a compromise, but that’s the only thing that I was very adamant about,” he tells Life & Style. “I have some very strong roots there. I don’t want to relocate. I have a career in Austin.”

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‘Dancing With the Stars’ host Tom Bergeron has bowed out of interviewing Chris Brown when the singer performs on the show tonight. His reason? He can’t promise not to poke fun at the R&B singer’s problems.

Chris was at the center of controversy again last week when he smashed a window backstage after an appearance on Good Morning America, following a tense interview about his 2009 attack on ex-girlfriend Rihanna.

And Bergeron doesn’t want a repeat of that showdown on his show.

In an interview with Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest, Bergeron says, “Don’t put me in a position where you’re asking me to not say something, ’cause I won’t really do that.”

Brown has stated he no longer wants to discuss his past problems in interviews.

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Rachael Taylor, Minka Kelly and Annie Ilonzeh are pictured laughing and strutting about the set of Charlie’s Angels as they film the pilot episode of the new series.

The three actresses have been cast to play ‘Charlie’s Angels’ in the ABC drama.

Minka Kelly has starred on NBC’s ‘Friday Night Lights’ and was also named “Sexiest Woman Alive” of 2010 by Esquire. Kelly plays Marisa, a former U.S. Marine who is a ‘weapons expert trained in all forms of hand-to-head combat’ and will be a ‘neat freak’ in her everyday life.

Australian-born Rachael Taylor (the blonde), 26, who is known for her role as signals analyst Maggie in the first Transformers film, will play Abby.

She is the youngest Angel but is a ‘beautiful and privileged daughter of a notorious Wall Street crook who is an expert con artist herself, as well as a Krav Maga expert’.

Annie, 27, plays Kate, an ex-cop who is a martial arts master.

As fans know, Charlie is never seen on screen and is only through a speakerphone giving his orders to his Angels and was voiced by John Forsyth in the TV series and the films.

The show is being executive produced by Drew Barrymore who starred in the 2000 film and its 2003 sequel alongside Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz.

There will be a couple of differences to the original series, including a different crime every episode instead of a continuing story throughout the series.

Source, Fame Pictures