Sideshow: Sawyer starts countdown

It's official for real:

Diane Sawyer

yesterday announced on

Good Morning America

this will be her last week as co-anchor of the ABC show. It's the first time the reporter, who turns 64 on Dec. 22, has publicly addressed her departure, which has made headlines for weeks. Sawyer joined

GMA

in '99 as a temporary gig but stayed on because of high ratings. She will take over as anchor on ABC's

World News

after

Charles Gibson

retires Dec. 18.

But it's not as if she's counting the days: "I've calculated [I've done] 2,881 shows," she said. "Roughly."

GMA copilot Robin Roberts said the departure will be "so difficult." Sawyer is "my Thelma," she said, referring to the iconic power grrrl buddy picture Thelma & Louise.

Sawyer said she wants this to be a week of joy.

"I hope you celebrate with us this week, laugh with us this week," she said to America. ABC, which has yet to announced Sawyer's replacement, says rumors that GMA newsreader Chris Cuomo is also leaving are untrue.

The Smoking Gun Web site reports that last week the FBI arrested two Michigan residents for a $680,000 extortion plot aimed at

Full House

actor

John Stamos

. According to an FBI affidavit posted on the site,

Allison Coss

, 23, and

Scott Sippola

, 30, threatened to release photos taken of Stamos during a 2004 party in Florida unless he coughed up the money.

The document, which identifies Stamos only as "Mr. X, an actor," states that the "pictures would cause harm to Mr. X's reputation if released to the media."

So what naughty deeds did Stamos (allegedly) do at the party? Alas, the court document does not describe the contents of the photos. The Smoking Gun reports that the FBI set up an undercover sting operation after Stamos' lawyer contacted the agency on Nov. 28.

Stamos' reps have yet to comment.

So says E! Online reporter

Marc Malkin

!

Such excitement, I can hardly breathe!

The famed front man of famed Seattle grunge act Pearl Jam became engaged to his longtime gf, model Jill McCormick, 32, Friday night in Washington, D.C.

Vedder, born Edward Louis Severson III on Dec. 23, 1964, already has two daughters - Olivia, 5, and Harper Moon, 15 months - with Jill. He performed Sunday night at the Kennedy Center Honors gala as part of the tribute to Bruce Springsteen.

Vedder's first marriage, to Beth Liebling, whom he had dated since they were teens, broke up in 2000. This will be Jill's first marriage.

Billy Joel

's 23-year-old daughter,

Alexa Ray Joel

, was feeling much better after a brief stint in a New York hospital Saturday, the singer's rep said. "She is with her family and looking forward to getting back on track," the rep said in a statement.

ARJ, who was rushed to the hospital after reportedly overdosing on homeopathic allergy pills, has canceled her Thursday performance at the New York Stock Exchange's 86th annual tree lighting ceremony Thursday, reports the New York Daily News. (No word on her show the same day at J&R Music World.)

Alexa reportedly took the pills in a failed suicide attempt spurred by her recent breakup with rocker Jimmy Riot.

Tiger Woods, whose sexual history has been the subject of much recent news and gossip, can still save his marriage. So says renowned Jungian therapist, marriage counselor - and call girl - Ashley Dupré.

AD, whose professional, um, activities led to Eliot Spitzer's resignation as governor of New York, tells TV show Extra that Tiger's wife, Elin Nordegren, needs to take action.

"If she really loves him, and they have those bonds, go to therapy, see if you can work it out," says Dupré. "I believe in love and making it work out. . . . They can do it."

Can there be more sage matrimonial advice?

Dupré goes on to say she's not down with women who publicly flaunt their (alleged) amorous adventures with the golf star.

"I don't agree with coming forward," she says. "I mean, [Tiger] has a family, he has a wife, he has kids. . . . That's really wrong." Dupré says she never sought publicity when the Spitzer mess hit the headlines.

The

John Updike

Society, which formed shortly after the author's death on Jan. 27, today plans to announce that it will hold the inaugural John Updike Conference Oct. 1-3, 2010, at Alvernia University in Updike's hometown of Reading. The event, which will feature scholars and critics from 11 countries, will be devoted to Updike's masterpiece,

Rabbit, Run

. Info:

» READ MORE: http://blogs.iwu.edu/johnupdikesociety/

.

Taylor Swift

seems intent on ditching those halcyon days we all pine for: her teen years.

"I'm only a teenager for another week!" the warbler, who turns 20 on Sunday, writes on her MySpace blog. "I'm starting to practice saying 'twenty' when people ask me how old I am. Weird. Cool? I guess it's inevitable, so . . . Awesome!" Not to burst your bubble, Taylor, but teenagehood is a relative term. Just look at that great American Hugh Hefner. He's 83 but still acts like a pubescent geek who's just learned about the birds 'n' the bees.

Young

Daniel Radcliffe

is taking his clothes off again. The

Harry Potter

star, who stripped down to his birthday suit to flirt with a horse in a Broadway revival of

Equus

, will go nude in the next

Potter

flick. So says director

David Yates

, who tells London's The Telegraph that Dan will do a "very sexy" love scene that may (or may not?) also feature costar

Emma Watson

. Says Yates, "There are a couple of scenes . . . in which he will undress, but we're still thinking about how we present it."

Los Angeles alt-rock band

Weezer

, which was scheduled to rock the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden on Thursday, won't.

The band has canceled the rest of its December tour dates due to injuries lead singer Rivers Cuomo sustained Sunday in a bus crash in New York. Cuomo and band assistant Sarah Kim suffered minor injuries when their tour bus skidded on ice and hit a guide rail. A statement on the band's Web site says the group will try to reschedule the dates.

As he did on film,

Al Pacino

, 69, will again take on the controversial role of Shylock in

William Shakespeare

's

The Merchant of Venice

as part of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park series.

Daniel Sullivan

will direct the play, which will run June 9 to Aug. 1. The series also includes

The Winter's Tale

. Info:

» READ MORE: www.publictheater.org

.