lawsuits

Another tiresome, spotlight hugging celebrity has passed from the glow of the paparazzi flashbulb into the fray of the forgotten. Well, maybe, a man can dream.

Jon Gosselin, one of the two soul-sucking parents of the TLC reality show 'Jon & Kate Plus 8,' has settled his lawsuit with TLC for backing out of his contract for his reality show.

The news gets even better. Since Jon is still under contract for the network, he can't return to television anytime soon. Looks like Santa got my letter after all.

I've been watching Judge Judy again. I used to watch it years ago, but then I went through a long period (years) when I thought she was too mean, too full of herself, too impatient with the litigants. Sometimes it seems that she's already sick of them before she even sits down.

But I started watching it again a few months ago and I love it again. I agree with her attitude now. Most of the people who go in front of her (both plaintiffs and defendants) usually get themselves into situations they shouldn't be in and they have no sense. And you wonder why they even want to be on TV in the first place, airing their dirty laundry.

But if you do find yourself on the show, here are five tips to make it a better experience.

1. Speak up. If you mumble she'll think you're dumb and/or hiding something. And she's probably right.

Who says that justice is a forgotten concept that only exists as a hope and no longer as an important facet of a fully functional society?

Jon Gosselin is about to have his day in court. Take that, evil!

TLC is suing for the former star of Jon & Kate Plus 8 for breach of contract, accusing accused him of violating an exclusivity and moral clause in his contract. I was shocked. Reality shows have morals? Of course it makes sense that the only morals involved in reality shows would have to be enforced by a contract.

The rumors turned out to be true. In a joint press release, attorneys for CBS Radio and Howard Stern have announced that the lawsuit CBS filed against Stern has been settled.

Sirius is going to pay CBS Radio $2 million, and Stern gets back the master tapes from his 20 years of shows.

But am I missing something here? That's a clever way to word it, but what about the actual lawsuit, that Stern was sued because he promoted Sirius while still under contract with CBS Radio? It's nice he gets the master tapes, but it's almost as if they thought of that to deflect the real outcome of the settlement, which remains undisclosed by both sides.

It will be interesting to see what Stern says about this next week (unless he did it this morning, didn't catch the show). If he's even on next week because of the holiday?