Patti Blagojevich to join show husband couldn’t

Skokie, Ill. — Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wasn’t allowed to appear in a network TV reality show in Costa Rica, so his wife will appear instead.

A federal judge barred Blagojevich, who faces federal corruption charges, from being on the NBC show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here” because it would send him out of the country. But his wife Patti accepted an offer from the network and went to Los Angeles earlier this week to film a promotional shoot, said Glenn Selig, the Blagojevichs’ publicist.

“I didn’t seek this out. And if it wasn’t for our financial situation I probably wouldn’t consider it. You do what you have to do when you’re, you know, a mother of two,” Blagojevich told The Associated Press in a Thursday telephone interview. Both she and her husband are unemployed.

The couple appeared on NBC’s “Today” show Thursday to announce the move. Patti Blagojevich said she hopes her appearance on the reality series will help show that she isn’t the profanity-spewing person portrayed on federal wiretaps.

CW network banking on Kutcher, vampires

New York — The CW television network is keeping a laser focus on teenage girls and young women with an abbreviated fall lineup that features vampires, tormented models and 1990s flashbacks.

The small network hopes that niche appeal is the key to survival in a tough market. The CW will stop programming on Sunday nights and has cast aside all comedy in favor of scripted dramas with female appeal and “America’s Next Top Model.”

“Privileged,” “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game” have ended, the CW said Thursday.

With bloodsuckers all the rage, the CW will launch a Thursday night show based on the book series, “The Vampire Diaries.” Two vampire brothers — one good, sexy and brooding, the other bad, sexy and brooding — compete for the attention of one high school girl.

“As everyone knows, chicks dig the vampires,” said actor Stefan Salvatore, who plays the good one.

After the CW saw modest success with a “Beverly Hills 90210” remake this season, the network will add a new version of “Melrose Place” featuring Ashlee Simpson-Wentz. Both series will air on Tuesday nights. Laura Leighton and Thomas Calabro of the original series are back on the street.

Ashton Kutcher, who has been busy making reality shows, will be executive producer of a new drama, “The Beautiful Life.” Two young models — one male, sexy and brooding, the other female, sexy and brooding — stick together to help each other navigate a sleazy industry.

Actress Lucy Gordon found dead at age 28

Paris — British actress Lucy Gordon, who appeared in “Spider-Man 3,” was found dead in her Paris apartment after apparently committing suicide, French police said Thursday. She was 28.

An autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death, though it appeared to be a suicide, said an official with the Paris police headquarters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of police agency policy, gave no details.

Gordon, who would have turned 29 on Friday, appeared in a dozen films, including as reporter Jennifer Dugan in “Spider-Man 3.” She portrays British singer and actress Jane Birkin in an upcoming biopic about Serge Gainsbourg.

Gordon’s father said the death was a “complete shock.”

Speaking from the family’s home in Oxford, Richard Gordon told Britain’s Press Association that his daughter was “a natural actress all her life, since she was about 2.”

“She’s always loved being on stage and in front of the camera and she has kept all her naturalness and charm all the way through. She has been the most beautiful daughter. We are obviously devastated.”

Sean Penn withdraws separation filing

Los Angeles — Sean Penn has withdrawn his petition to separate from his wife of 13 years.

The Academy Award winning actor was granted a dismissal Tuesday of his request for a legal separation from actress Robin Wright Penn.

Penn filed for separation in Marin County last month, but records show he moved to dismiss that filing. The record does not indicate why.

Penn told the New York Daily News that the filing was “an arrogant mistake.”

The couple have had an on-off relationship. They filed for divorce in December 2007 but dismissed that petition several months later.

In February they attended the Academy Awards together, but the 48-year-old actor neglected to thank his wife after winning for his role in the drama “Milk.”

Palin picks memoir collaborator

New York — Sarah Palin has picked a collaborator for her memoir.

A spokeswoman for SarahPAC, the Alaska governor’s political action committee, says that Palin has selected Lynn Vincent, an author and features editor for World magazine, a conservative Christian publication. Palin’s book, currently untitled, is scheduled for release next year by HarperCollins.

Vincent, a San Diego resident, has written or co-written several books, among them “Same Kind of Different As Me,” “The Blood of Lambs” and “Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime and Corruption in the Democratic Party.”