I stumbled across a story on The Earth Times site last night about Nicolas Cage being set to play Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in an Egyptian TV series. Being skeptical, I scouted around a bit and found blurbs on some Nic Cage fan sites; still, we'll just call this a rumor at this point.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if the story is true. Cage has a string of diverse projects in his past, everything from producing The Life of David Gale (a death penalty opponent) to voicing a part in the animated family movie, The Ant Bully. And, of course, there's his National Treasure movies, which I love.

According to the Earth Times story, Cage will lose six kilograms to play the part of Sadat (which, if the conversion site I looked at is true, comes to about 13 lbs.) before he starts shooting the series. It also notes that he'll be paid $40 million. Wow, that's some serious cash.

'Survivor: Gabon'
(Sun., 8PM, CBS) 17th season finale
We've come quite a way since that naughty season opener where Marcus' junk fell out of his trunks.

Hard feelings over chocolate chip cookies, a marriage proposal and a girl named Sugar who's proved to be anything but sweet have marked this season, another filled with grungy, food-deprived existences and backstabbing.

Tonight, the winner is announced and the reunion after-show begins (10PM) immediately after. Will Matty go home with a fiancée and one meeeellion dollars? Could be. Meanwhile, though season 17 will be a memory after tonight, don't get too nostalgic; season 18 is already on the schedule for a Feb. 12 premiere.

'Leverage'
(Sun., 10PM, TNT) series premiere
He's not exactly a superhero, but Oscar winner Timothy Hutton is definitely a modern day Robin Hood as Nate Ford, whose merry band of men and women rob from the corrupt rich and redistribute the wealth to the more honest, hard-working folk who've been duped by the baddies.

Ford is a former insurance investigator with a drinking problem, which is how he and his cohorts -- a thief, a con woman, a computer whiz and a "retrieval specialist" -- know how to crack the code of the shady.

In tonight's opener, that means going up against a shady business exec who stole the airplane designs of his partner in an aeronautics firm.