Cruz, Cruise drift apart

Los Angeles — Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz have ended their three-year relationship.

The couple, who spent long periods apart while filming, “broke up at the end of January and it’s amicable,” said Lee Anne DeVette, Cruise’s sister and publicist.

Robert Garlock, Cruz’s spokesman, told People magazine that neither star is dating anyone else and the two “remain good friends.”

Cruise, 41, and Cruz, 29, met on the set of the 2001 film “Vanilla Sky.”

Simon Cowell gets flippant

Los Angeles — Maybe it was just a finger malfunction: Was Simon Cowell subtly giving someone the finger?

On Tuesday night’s “American Idol,” Cowell seemed to be flipping the bird, reports USA Today. On camera. As 27 million people watched.

It all started with bickering between Cowell and contestant Fantasia Barrino. The judge we love to hate was critical of the singer’s dress, to which she sassily replied: “Simon, you don’t know class!”

Barrino then huffed over to host Seacrest, and as they chatted, the camera cut to Cowell, his middle finger prominently propping up his head as he gazed at the onstage antics.

Cowell issued a statement denying any wrongdoing, and he called into Seacrest’s live show. “Give me a break,” he said, adding that “if you scratch your nose with your middle finger, you’re flipping somebody off. It’s crazy.”

‘CSI’ heads for New York

New York — Melina Kanakaredes has been cast in the new CBS drama series “CSI: New York.” The series will be spun off from an episode of “CSI: Miami” in May.

Kanakaredes, who starred in NBC’s family drama “Providence,” will portray a detective for the New York City crime unit “who is a workaholic and a jack-of-all-trades.”

The new drama will premiere this fall.

Attention all wiseguys

New York — Vincent Pastore — the late Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on HBO’S “The Sopranos” — will host “The Wiseguy Show,” a weekly “three-hour celebration” of Italian-American culture, Sirius Satellite Radio announced.

The show premieres today. Pastore will interview guests from the Italian-American community, discuss world events, review movies, perform skits, give sex advice and interact with listeners.

“Each week we’re going to have a guest from the Italian-American community, whether it’s an actor, or writer or painter, an athlete,” Pastore said. “And we’re going to do a thing called ‘What’s Your Beef?’ People call in and complain to us about potholes and government and whatever they want to complain about.”

“The Wiseguy Show” also will include music from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Al Martino, Jerry Vale and other classic crooners.