Sideshow | Couric takes show on road

They said she was nothing but a smiley-faced cheerleader. They said she didn't have enough

gravitas to be a network anchor - a rare breed, historically male, that can read a teleprompter

and

talk at the same time.

That was then - when Katie Couric first got the job as a CBS news anchor last year. This is now: Katie was scheduled to leave yesterday for the war zone in Iraq and Syria. Katie will anchor the CBS Evening News from Baghdad next Tuesday and Wednesday and then from Damascus next Thursday and Friday.

The sunny anchor will travel around Iraq and talk with troops and civilian leaders. The press release said she will even talk to the person on the street.

"You can't help but get a very detached perspective when you're not there," Couric told the Associated Press. "I'm curious about very basic questions regarding living conditions . . . about how the soldiers really are doing."

Trouble hits it big

The late, great Leona Helmsley, who died Aug. 20 at 87, was no Queen of Mean after all. She was secretly the most beneficent, generous real estate billionaire around.

That is, if you're a a Maltese dog.

According to her will, Leona, who was worth $4 billion, has bequeathed $12 million to her white Maltese pooch Trouble - to do with as the pooch wishes. Leona's brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who has been entrusted with taking care of the Maltese, got $2 mil less.

Leona scrimped with grandchildren David and Walter Panzirer, who only get $5 mil each - with the proviso they visit the grave of their dad (and Leona's son), Jay Panzirer, at least once a year. Jay died in '82.

Leona's chauffeur gets $100,000, which is about $100,000 more than the Queen of Mean's other grandkids, Craig Panzirer and Meegan Panzirer. Helmsley said they were stiffed "for reasons which are known to them."

Owen Wilson

, who was hospitalized after a suicide attempt on Sunday, has dropped out of

Tropic Thunder

, the

Ben Stiller

-directed flick which is currently filming, says the Hollywood Reporter. Owen had a small part in the movie, which stars

Jack Black

and

Robert Downey Jr

.

More worrisome: A 20th Century Fox rep refused to discuss whether Owen will still star - opposite Jennifer Aniston - in Marley & Me, an adaptation of the book by former Inquirer columnist John Grogan. "It's an inappropriate question to ask," said the rep.

So will Owen's situation derail his career?

Probably not say insiders. "He's loved," said Bernie Brillstein, a veteran Hollywood manager.

In an

Exclusive!

report, celeb news Web site TMZ.com reports that

Nick Carter

, famed Backstreet Boys boy, has been deeply wounded by his ma, Jane, who dognapped Nick's pooch, Layla, and dumped her at an animal shelter without Nick's permission.

Fortunately, dog rescuer Ranelle Black, who first gave Nick the dog in March '06, found Layla via a locator microchip implanted in the dog.

"I called Nick and he had no idea that his mother had dumped Layla. He was very choked up," said Black. She said Nick has spent more than $7,000 to train the pit bull-mutt mix.

Jane has not issued a comment.

The official roster of contestants for the new season of

Dancing With the Stars

is out from ABC, and it differs a bit from what celeb Web site TMZ.com reported earlier this week.

TMZ explained that it "got some of the scoop when a spy leaked the cast list, but ABC execs padded the list with a few corkers."

Whatever.

Still on the dance card: aging Las Vegas legend Wayne Newton, NBA noisemaker Mark Cuban, silky boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., actress Jane Seymour, Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves, Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan and singer/actress Jennie Garth, of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame.

Joining them will be Spice Girl Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, model-actress Josie Maran, soap stud Cameron Mathison of All My Children, singer Marie Osmond and model Albert Reed.

Several of the names TMZ had reported would be on the list were not: actor Lou Ferrigno, actress Tori Spelling, singer/actress Nia Peeples, CNN reporter Richard Quest, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and singer Aaron Carter.

The new season of Dancing premieres Sept. 24.

The National Constitution Center will host an exhibit on presidential spouses,

First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image

, from Oct. 5 through Dec. 31.

The show will feature artifacts from the collection of first ladies' memorabilia at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center, and is organized by the museum and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

Among the items on display will be Martha Washington's amber necklace, Mary Todd Lincoln's monogrammed silver tea and coffee service, Eleanor Roosevelt's gown from the 1945 inaugural reception, Jacqueline Kennedy's brocade silk evening dress and matching jacket, Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" board game, Hillary Rodham Clinton's signature black pantsuit from her Senate campaign and Laura Bush's white suit worn for the 2005 Inauguration.

Amy Winehouse

's life, which is splayed all over the media, may yet take a turn for the worse, says the English pop star's dad,

Mitch Winehouse

. In interviews with People mag and the BBC, Mitch said that nothing he or anyone else can do will make Amy and her hubby,

Blake Fielder-Civil

, quit drugs. "At some, point they are going to reach rock bottom," he said. Only then will they seek help.

Blake and Winehouse, whose second album, Back to Black, just went platinum, have been in and out of various rehabs this month.

Meanwhile, Blake's dad, Giles Fielder-Civil, has called for a boycott of Amy's CDs. He said maybe that'll send Amy the right message.

Variety reports that action hero

Bruce Willis

has signed to star in

Pinkville

,

Oliver Stone

's Vietnam drama about the 1968 My Lai massacre, during which U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians.