Sideshow | Not a starry night at all

Queen Latifah

hosted a sedate Writers Guild-friendly People's Choice Awards Tuesday night on CBS. The show, which was set up in a newsmagazine format, had no glamour or glitz - or any live guests.

Winners this year include Johnny Depp and Reese Witherspoon as favorite male and female movie star, and Justin Timberlake as favorite male singer. The fave flick is like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, while fave girlie singer is Gwen Stefani. Stars mourned the absence of Tinseltown's writers. "I'm speechless without the writers," favorite leading man Joaquin Phoenix read from a cue card. Meanwhile, Reese uttered this truism as part of her taped acceptance speech: "We are nothing without our writers. But we are also nothing without our audience." Amen, sister.

Dr. Phil

is a heartless, self-serving leech who is using

Britney Spears

' suffering for his own gain. That's how the Spears family, dad

Jamie

, mom

Lynne

, and

Jamie Lynn Spears

, reportedly feel about the TV therapist who has told his audience he'll soon do a show around Brit, whom he visited in an L.A. hospital on Saturday.

Spears family rep Lou Taylor, who was on the Today show yesterday, blasted Dr. Phil, saying at no time had the Spears family agreed to do such a show. Taylor is angry that Dr. Phil, who visited Brit at the family's personal request, made public statements about the private affair. No word from Dr. Phil.

Britney Spears

' career must be worse off than anyone could imagine. USAToday.com reports that yesterday

Simon Cowell

offered to help Brit make a comeback, and the

American Idol

judge not once made fun of the deposed pop princess.

"If I sat down with Britney, I would No. 1 remind her of all the good things in her life," said Simon, sounding more Dr. Phil than Darth Vader. Si even offered up a sympathetic ear: "She's welcome to call me anytime."

Will the famously reclusive

Cormac McCarthy

come out of hiding to accept his University of Southern California Scripter Award, which honors the year's best adapted screenplay? The award, which is given to the original author as well as the filmmakers, this year goes to

No Country for Old Men

,

Ethan

and

Joel Coen

's adaptation of the McCarthy novel. The awards show will be held Feb. 2 at a

Jason Alexander

-hosted gala at USC. A special Scripter Literary Achievement Award also will be presented to screenwriter

Steven Zaillian

.

A woman claims

Lindsay Lohan

has caused her severe emotional trauma, massive doctor's bills, and even her job.

And no, Tracie Rice, who is suing LiLo in Los Angeles Superior Court, wasn't one of the few unfortunates who saw LiLo's last flick, I Know Who Killed Me. (I know who killed her career. Does that count?)

Rice was involved in that bizarre car chase Lindsay reportedly initiated in July in Santa Monica. She was in the car driven by Michele Peck, the mother of Lohan's assistant who had recently quit; LiLo chased the car to the Santa Monica Police Department.

Rice, who says she thought she was about to be carjacked, says in court papers that she has spent $7,000 on medical bills, including a therapist who charges $175 per visit. She also claims the incident led to the loss of her $60,000-per-year job. No comments from either party.

Are newlyweds

Katherine Heigl

and

Josh Kelley

ready to adopt their first kid? So says an anon insider to Us Weekly. There's been no confirmation from anyone.

Heigl is apparently hot for adopting because she got icked out when she witnessed her sister giving birth. "I'm done with the whole idea of having my own children," she told USA Today in May. "[It] doesn't seem like any fun."

Change in the morning coming Monday to Smooth Jazz WJJZ (97.5): Jazzman

Ramsey Lewis'

show - music and commentary from Lewis and cohost

Karen Williams

- will be piped in from Chicago from 6 to 10 a.m. This marks the end of one year of service from

Al Winters

. WJJZ also airs

Legends of Jazz With Ramsey Lewis

from 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays.

- Michael Klein

Her Majesty's Postal Service in Britain is so very cool, this week it issued a set of James Bond postage stamps. The six stamps, which bear the likeness of the cover artwork from various Bond books, including

Dr. No

,

Goldfinger

,

Diamonds Are Forever

and

From Russia With Love

, commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of 007's creator,

Ian Fleming

.