Elisabeth Hasselbeck Buying $4M Greenwich Home

Moving to 62 Brookridge Drive, Greenwich. 

(Surprised they disclosed the address!)

The Daily Mail is reporting that Hasselbeck, a co-host on ABC’s The View, and her husband, former NFL quarterback Tim, have listed their Manhattan apartment for $3.3 million and are close to closing the deal on a sprawling house on Brookridge Drive for more than $4 million.

The Hasselbecks, reported to be looking for a quieter spot than their luxury Upper West Side apartment, have three children — Grace, Thomas and Isaiah.

The house, built in 1999 and showcased here on Trulia.com, is 7,605 square feet and has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a gazebo and a pool, among many other amenities.

Mayor Bill Finch Laughs off Family Guy's Shot at Bridgeport

BRIDGEPORT -- When it comes to Bridgeport's appeal, Mayor Bill Finch says the last person people should trust is an animated talking baby named Stewie.

Sunday night's episode of Family Guy -- a two-hour Christmas special titled Road to the North Pole -- includes a shot at Bridgeport, which the show depicts as a worldwide leader in "wild dogs and gas stations without pumps" among other claims to infamy.

But Finch said Monday he's laughing off the criticism -- and using the spotlight as an opportunity to promote the city.

"First, we have to remember it's humor," Finch said. "I don't think anything in America is beyond Family Guy trying to make fun of it. It is by the way by Stewie, who we don't particularly like if you're a fan of Family Guy. ... He comes across as a smarty-pants and a know-it-all, so consider the source."

In the episode, Brian (a talking dog) and Stewie are outside the gates of what they believe to be Santa's Workshop.

The large doors swing open and the two are left standing at the foot of towering factories and black smoke billowing out of smokestacks.

As the duo looks on at the gloomy cityscape in front of them, Stewie remarks, "This can't be Santa's Workshop. This looks like Bridgeport, Connecticut!"

Brian retorts, "Oh boy, here come the letters."

The next scene shows a supposed Bridgeport resident (with, for whatever reason, a Boston accent), who speaks out loud as he writes, with a variety of curses and other angry exclamations mixed in, "I'll have you know that Bridgeport is among the world leaders in abandoned buildings, shattered glass, boarded-up windows, wild dogs and gas stations without pumps."

The Family Guy episode now joins the growing genre of the snarky urban putdown: A city or small town is insulted by late-night TV host/cartoon show/newspaper columnist, provoking a mostly feigned spasm of outrage from civic boosters and shrugs from most of the citizenry too busy to give a hoot. Harrisburg, Pa., Bayonne, N.J., Dubuque, Iowa, Youngstown, Ohio. Flint, Mich. The list goes on and on.

Finch was a good sport and figured the episode offered an opportunity to talk about the city's positive side.

"Bridgeport is much different than that," he said. "The image of Bridgeport has changed over the many years that I've lived here. It's a wonderful place to live. We've got great sources of entertainment in the city at the arena, the ballpark and the zoo and the discovery museum."

The image of Bridgeport as a decaying city filled with black smoke and old factories is one the city is trying to shake.

The Family Guy portrayal is a sharp contrast to the recent "Surprise, It's Bridgeport," ad campaign launched by Finch. The ads feature bright colors, the waterfront, the city's restaurants and nightlife and athletic events, culminating with Finch delivering the tagline while fly-fishing in the Pequonnock River.

Finch said the Family Guy letter-writer's Boston accent made the show's portrayal less credible, especially given Fairfield County's allegiance to the Yankees.

"You know, we're solidly Yankee fans down here, I think that's pretty clear," he said. "If it had a Bronx accent I think people would have been happy with it, but the fact that it had a Boston accent was particularly irritating, especially to the Yankee fans down here. It certainly made the segment less credible, and it still got you guys down here reporting about how wonderful Bridgeport is."

Former Food Network Chef Sentenced in Murder Plot

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The former host of the Food Network's "Calorie Commando" was sentenced Monday to nine years in a California prison after pleading no contest to soliciting two homeless men to kill his wife, Los Angeles Superior Court spokeswoman Elizabeth Martinez said.

Juan-Carlos Cruz's wife was also in court during the sentencing, Martinez said.

Fertility issues were at the center of the murder-for-hire plot, according to sources close to the couple.

Authorities alleged that Cruz offered the two homeless men $500 to kill his wife, Shiara Davila-Morales of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

Police in Santa Monica, California, set up a sting and videotaped Cruz arranging the murder with the two men, Davila-Morales said. Cruz even drove one of them to his apartment and showed him how to get into the secure building, she said.

Superior Court Judge H. Chester Horn Jr. ordered Cruz to pay $1,870 in restitution, Martinez said.

Cruz was also ordered to serve half of the nine years before he is eligible to be paroled, Martinez said.

No victim impact statement was ordered, the spokeswoman said.

Cruz's plea agreement called for the nine-year sentence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in late October after the plea was announced.

One count of attempted murder was dropped as part of the plea settlement, the prosecutor said at the time.

Two sources close to the couple, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said their 20-year struggle to have a child overwhelmed them.

After spending a lot of money on unsuccessful fertility treatments, Cruz's wife, Jennifer Campbell, was "very depressed and talked about suicide," one source said.

The sources suggested that she may have wanted to end her life but that as a devout Roman Catholic, she believed suicide was a sin.

The failure to have a successful pregnancy was a "pretty overwhelming thing in their lives," the second source said.

The source closest to Campbell said she still loves her husband despite his arrest. The source would not comment on whether she was aware of the alleged planning before his arrest.

The source closest to Cruz, 48, said he was "nothing but a loving and devoted husband."

CNN was unable to talk Cruz or Campbell directly.

The criminal complaint accused Cruz of trying to hire David Carrington and David Walters -- homeless men who go by the street names Little Dave and Big Dave -- to murder Campbell. It was not immediately clear who was Little Dave and who was Big Dave.

The plan fell apart when one of the men informed Santa Monica police, Sgt. Jay Trisler said.

Little Dave told the celebrity news and gossip website TMZ that he was approached first by Cruz, who asked him to kill his wife for cash, and he told his friend Big Dave.

Big Dave said he told a Santa Monica police officer about the plot after he was arrested for loitering.

"We're very fortunate that we have a relationship and rapport with some of the homeless and that they were able to give us information," Trisler said.

Santa Monica police began their undercover investigation of Cruz on May 7, Trisler said. Cruz was arrested later that month at a dog park in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, he said.

Big Dave and Little Dave got a place to stay while the investigation was under way. Santa Monica police put them in a hotel room to keep them out of sight, Big Dave said.

"They gave us two pizzas, a 12-pack of beer and a bottle of San Jose (tequila)," he said. "I love them."

Cruz, a Los Angeles resident, was an overweight pastry chef at the Hotel Bel Air until he changed his focus to promote low-calorie recipes.

He wrote "The Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook: A 5-Week Eating Strategy for Sustainable Weight Loss," published in 2007.

The Food Network issued a short statement in October saying Cruz "has not been under contract or associated with Food Network for a number of years."

"America's Got Talent" Hopeful's Wife Found Dead

(CBS) Joe Finley isn't a known name in Hollywood, but was hoping to change that by landing a spot in the NBC reality show, "America's Got Talent."

Now, Finley, a rock singer/guitarist, is being called a "person of interest" in the death of his wife, Laura, reports CBS News Correspondent Jeff Glor.

The two, married 26 years, were celebrating the night before his try-out at the Millennium Biltmore hotel in Los Angeles.

Alexis Tereszcuk, a reporter for Radaronline.com, says, "Joe told us that he and Laura both took an ecstasy pill, and they had been drinking in a bar."

What happened after that remains a mystery.

Laura vanished overnight.

According to published reports, Joe says she left the room around 3 a.m., headed for the ice machine, and never came back.

The next morning, Joe reported her missing to the hotel -- then headed to his audition, Glor says.

While he was waiting to perform, Laura's partially-clad body was discovered in a hotel stairwell. She had fallen eight stories to her death.

"The police approached him at the audition," Tereszcuk says, "showed him a picture of her face (which was) battered and bruised -- and he immediately said, 'Oh, she's dead.' The police didn't tell him she was dead."

Later that day, police questioned him and arrested him on charges of drug possession.

They haven't classified the case as a homicide.

Finley recorded his final hours with Laura, and his parents have seen the video.

They say the couple seemed very much in love. "They were kissing on the bed, happy as can be," says Joe's mother, Marianne Parenteau. "They were so excited. She was typing info for him. She was telling him what to say at the audition. … She was quite sober, quite rational."

Joe reportedly didn't tell Laura's family about he death until Monday, Glor says, two days after she was found.

Toxicology tests, to determine whether Laura had drugs in her system may take several weeks.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

Last week I went to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live! at Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford CT. It was "awwwesooooome!"

Hopefully the videos aren't too bad that you can't hear them.


The celebrity guest was Biz Markie, doing his "Biz's Beat of the Day"..

I think by the sound of this video, someone got a little too into it and carried away at the end, lol:

Last night my sister, mom and I were almost peeing our pants laughing at the way Biz slurs his speech:

And last but not least, his video had me in tears: