Sights set on Burbank

Waco, Tex. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, best known for his televised press briefings from the West Wing, is taking his act to the “Tonight Show.”

Monday, while President Bush is in Los Angeles, Fleischer will slip away to tape an appearance on Jay Leno’s late-night NBC comedy talk show.

“Surviving the White House press corps requires a sense of humor, so I’m hoping to get some tips from Jay,” Fleischer told U.S. News & World Report.

Fleischer, 41, became engaged last week to Rebecca Davis, 26, an employee of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

No tournament, no nudes

New York The agent for tennis player Anna Kournikova has denied that the Russian beauty withdrew from upcoming tournaments in Germany or that she posed nude for Penthouse magazine.

“She never was entered, so she never withdrew,” agent David Schwab said of the tournaments in Hamburg and Berlin.

Kournikova, 20, is on a five-match losing streak and still looking for her first tournament championship.

As for a 10-page layout in the June edition of Penthouse magazine, complete with topless pictures, Schwab denied the shots were of his client.

Pregnancy means less ‘Sex’

New York Expect more of Sarah Jessica Parker in upcoming months, but less “Sex and the City.”

The star’s pregnancy means there will be only eight episodes next season instead of the usual 13.

Production on the Emmy-winning HBO comedy series was suspended earlier this month when Parker announced she was pregnant. Friday, the cable network said it planned to produce eight episodes for its coming season.

The fifth season is scheduled to begin airing in July.

Parker, 37, is expecting a baby in the fall with husband Matthew Broderick. It will be their first child.

Opera, the Prairie Home way

St. Paul, Minn. Garrison Keillor will open his new opera, “Mr. and Mrs. Olson,” on May 24-26 at the Ordway Center.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will be featured as well as local soprano Maria Jette, who regularly appears on Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show on Minnesota Public Radio.

The opera tells the story of a married St. Paul couple searching for romance. Norman Olson is a tax man, and his wife, Karen, teaches English.

“It’s May. He is thinking about the lawn. She is thinking about divorce,” according to Keillor.

Minnesota Public Radio will broadcast the May 25 performance live.