Yentl

This week they started revealing some of the stars who'll be presenting at Sunday night's Oscar broadcast on ABC, and at the top of the list were three former Oscar winning actresses, Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron and Kathy Bates. Also on the roster will be Queen Latifah, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta.

Nikki Finke's Deadline.com column has a major spoiler about the opening of the show. If you don't want to know, avoid the last paragraph below.

There's an interesting angle on Barbra Streisand's appearance on the show. Speculation is that Streisand will be presenting Best Director, which insiders say is a lock for Kathryn Bigelow.

If I were an executive at CBS, I would never want to do business with actor Mandy Patinkin again. Even though Mandy is a terrific actor and one of my personal favorites -- I loved him on Broadway in Evita and Sunday in the Park with George, not to mention on screen in The Princess Bride and Yentl -- his history with CBS is abominable.

He was an Emmy-winning star on Chicago Hope, then left after a couple of seasons to be closer to his family in New York. Okay, that was understandable. Then after getting Criminal Minds off to a great start, he walked out of that show, citing creative differences.

Apparently, someone has said let bygones be bygones because Mandy Patinkin will be a guest star on Three Rivers. Maybe because this is a very personal issue with Mandy, he's convinced the powers that be to let him return to the network, albeit for just a guest appearance.