Sideshow | Spears' kid sister is with kid

Another Spears baby is reportedly on the way - and it's not

Britney

's.

Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old star of Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 and younger sister of Britney, told OK! magazine that she is pregnant and that the father is her boyfriend, Casey Aldridge.

"It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected," said Spears, who is 12 weeks along.

After going to a doctor, she said, "I took two weeks to myself where I didn't tell anybody."

She broke the news to her long-suffering mother, Lynne, just before Thanksgiving, OK! reported.

"She was very upset," Spears said, "because it wasn't what she expected at all. A week after, she had time to cope with it and became very supportive."

Lynne Spears, already grandmother to Britney's two young sons, told OK!: "I didn't believe it, because Jamie Lynn's always been so conscientious. She's never late for her curfew. I was in shock. I mean, this is my 16-year-old baby."

Jamie Lynn, who declined to talk about her sister, plans to raise the baby in her home state of Louisiana - "so it can have a normal family life."

Nickelodeon released a statement saying in part: "We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family. . . . Our primary concern right now is for Jamie Lynn's well-being." - Associated Press

An ecstatic archive

Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, has decided to place her literary archives at Emory University in Atlanta.

"I can imagine in years to come that my papers and memorabilia, my journals and letters, will find themselves always in the company of people who care about many of the things I do: culture, community, spirituality," Walker said in a statement. She said Emory is "a place where my archive can rest with joy in the company it keeps."

Charlie Rose

looked into

Brad Pitt

's soul on Monday night, on his PBS show. But the

Larry King

of the know-it-all cocktail-party set was flummoxed when Pitt told him how many kids he and

Angelina Jolie

plan to have, according to USAToday.com.

"I think we'll [give] out somewhere between seven and nine," said Pitt.

A perturbed Rose said - in that breathless "I'm about to lunge over this desk and grab you by your lapels" way of his - "are you serious?"

Pitt's, like, "Yeah, somewhere in there." Wow.

Jimmy Kimmel

says he'll be back on the air Jan. 2, the same day that

Jay Leno

and

Conan O'Brien

's shows will return. All three late-night shows went dark in support of the writers' strike.

After wasting an unseemly amount of time and energy fighting each other in a lawsuit,

Peter Jackson

and New Line Cinema yesterday announced they have agreed to make two films based on

J.R.R. Tolkien

's

The Hobbit

as a prequel to the super-successful

The Lord of the Rings

trilogy.

But Jackson, who directed all three LOTR films, will be on board only as the exec producer. (A director has yet to be announced.)

Jackson sued New Line, claiming that the company shortchanged him for making the LOTR films, which had a collective box office take of $3 billion worldwide. (That's not counting home video & DVD sales.)

"I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our differences behind us," Jackson said, "so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line."

A shock to the cultural system yesterday with the publication of photos showing

Michael Jackson

out in public with his face - from chin to nose - entirely covered by what appears to be half a dozen Band-Aid-type bandages.

According to the New York Daily News, the appearance was late Sunday night at a Barnes & Noble in Vegas, where the 49-year-old former King of Pop was shopping with his three kids, Prince, 10; Paris, 9; and Blanket, 5.

The rest of MJ's face was carefully covered by dark glasses, a babushka and a bucket hat.

TMZ.com ventures a guess: that MJ was returning home from the plastic surgeon. (Or he was auditioning for the Boris Karloff role in a community theater version of The Mummy.)

Graham Nash

has revealed that his Crosby, Stills and Nash cohort, singer-songwriter

Stephen Stills,

has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In an interview with

Larry King

on Monday, Nash said that the cancer was caught early and Stills would have surgery Jan. 3, his 63d birthday.

Paris Hilton

's mum,

Kathy Hilton

, tells

Entertainment Tonight

for a segment set to air tonight that the picaresque tale of her ex-convict daughter, who did time on DUI-related charges, will inspire other youngsters to be responsible, self-aware, self-possessed, well-read, well-nourished youngsters.

"Hopefully," Kathy said, "it will set an example for other young people that you don't get behind the wheel of a car with a drink."

Kathy Hilton is aware of how terribly her girl suffered during her dark night of the soul in jail. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

TV newsman

Mark Steines

, a coanchor on

Entertainment Tonight

, has been chosen to host the 2008 Miss America pageant.

The contest, which was stolen away from its Atlantic City home in '06, will be held Jan. 27 at Planet Hollywood Resort in Vegas, and air from 8 to 10 p.m. on cabler TLC. "Given the fact that Mark is married to one of our most beloved Miss Americas, Leanza Cornett, he already offers a great appreciation for the show," said Miss America Organization president Art McMaster.