British sitcom The Office will not be eligible for this year's Primetime Emmy Awards - because it falls one short of the mandatory six episode quantification rule. The Ricky Gervais-created show - which won two Golden Globes earlier this year - entered the first episode of it's acclaimed second season for the International Emmy Awards and then Gervais opted to use two specials produced for Christmas in the UK to make a one-off American TV movie special. The move leaves the office with only five eligible episodes - thus ruling it out of the competition. BBC America's acting chief operator Jo Petherbridge says, "We were victims of timing, really, but there was no way around it. But we totally accept the situation, and it's actually been fantastic going back and forth trying to find a solution to this with the TV academy. It's disappointing. But quite frankly, we're all pretty thrilled to have won a Peabody, two Golden Globes and a massive number of Baftas lately."

American Idol judge Paula Abdul has announced plans to launch legal action against the nail salon which she claims caused her to almost lose her thumb. The singer was left wearing a sling, which she claims was the result of a manicure gone bad at Studio City, California's Chinoisiere. Abdul alleges she was left with an infection so severe that she almost lost her thumb. Doctors at Los Angeles' Cedar's Sinai Hospital reportedly had to surgically remove the entire nail. She tells American TV show Celebrity Justice, "I've had manicures forever, and I've never run into any problem like this, so it's kind of frustrating." Abdul is how set to retain a major personal injury law firm to aid her in her battle against the nail salon. Sources say a lawsuit is likely as early as this week. But a manager at the salon suggests Abdul's injury didn't happen there, telling American TV show Celebrity Justice, "We called her initially out of concern (because) we like her, not because we had anything to do with it. Her claims are inconsistent with the dates and times she was here." But Abdul says that while doing her nails, the manicurist poked her in the thumb and she screamed. When she left, Abdul says she sucked her thumb and tasted blood. She also says the salon called her friend four times that night to see how she was doing. The former pop star's representatives say they will be able to prove the timing is consistent.

Superstar Madonna is poised to shock fans on her upcoming Re-Invention tour - by being "electrocuted" live on stage. The American Life singer is planning to make a series of bold statements in the controversial concerts, and has come up with a show that will make pal Britney Spears's raunchy Onyx Hotel tour look tame. As well as being "frazzled" in an electric chair, Madonna will also screen video footage of the corpses belonging to victims of the war in Iraq, perform sexy lesbian dance routines and have scantily-clad pregnant women dancing along to track "Papa Don't Preach." A source tells British newspaper the Sun, "This show will make people's hair stand on end. Madonna has pulled out all the stops to make it her most controversial yet. The electric chair scene is breathtaking. The concerts are really going to cause a stir on the same level as her Sex book and the Erotica album. But tempers have been frayed and she has been swearing every five minutes at the team putting the show together. The atmosphere is really fraught." Madonna's tour will begin in California next Monday.

Angelina Jolie almost walked out of new movie Mr And Mrs Smith after a series of bitter bust ups with director Doug Liman. According to gossip columnist Roger Friedman, Jolie's onscreen husband Brad Pitt has had to act as mediator between the pair as they have "disagreed on just about everything he has asked her to do", according to onset sources. Jolie has reportedly come close to "meltdown" and the film's budget has spiraled out of control to over $100 million with a month of shooting left, as Liman struggles to keep a grip on production on the film, which is due for release later this year. An insider tells Friedman, "You can tell there's tension on set. Between the written word and what was shot would be three different things."

007 star Pierce Brosnan is desperate to make a James Bond film with maverick movie-maker Quentin Tarantino. The Kill Bill auteur recently revealed his ambitions to make a Bond movie, and Brosnan - rumored to be stepping down as the superspy after making his fourth 007 film - thinks he'd be fantastic. When asked what Tarantino would add to the franchise, Brosnan gushes, "Life. A great sense of excitement and danger and the perspective of a film-maker who's really made people sit up and watch his movies. He's got a cutting edge which we got with the last Bond film Die Another Day with Lee Tamahori's sense of flair. They allowed him, more than any other director, to go out there with it. So someone like Quentin would be magnificent, whether it's me as Bond or some other guy."

American director Quentin Tarantino has been made an Officer Of Arts And Letters by the French government. The Kill Bill filmmaker - who is currently acting as the head of the Cannes Film Festival jury - was presented with the honor by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu De Vabres. Tarantino, who was awarded the Palme D'Or in 1994 for Pulp Fiction, says, "I'm actually for the first time speechless." Oscar-winning One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest director Milos Forman was also made a Knight Of The Legion Of Honour. He was told by De Vabres, who dubbed him "a master of world cinema", that, "Your cinema crosses borders and is a model for generations of filmmakers."

Hollywood husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly may be planning to star together in a new big screen version of British TV period drama Brideshead Revisited. According to sources at the Cannes Film Festival, where both are currently guests, British actor Bettany is desperate for the chance to share the screen with his American wife - and sees a movie adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel as the perfect project. The pair will play Charles Ryder and Julia Flyte - roles originally taken by Jeremy Irons and Diana Quick in the 1980s mini-series. An insider says, "They've wanted to do a movie together for a while and they both feel this could be it."

Whitney Houston will show off her new and cleaned up image to the world this summer, when she goes on tour with Natalie Cole and Dionne Warwick. Cole admits that the main reason she agreed to go on the tour is because of her close relationship with Houston, who has successfully completed the 30-day chaperone period of her drug rehabilitation. She says, "It starts in Germany in July. We're going to have... a great, great time. It's going to be fun. I said 'yes' because that's my buddy. I've always thought of Whitney as my little sister. I've known her since she was 19, and... I feel really good that when they asked who she would want to be on the show with her, she said me. She's doing really great. She's a strong woman and she has a great desire to really get healthy and get well, so I'm just really happy for her."

Troubled pop star Michael Jackson has raised $10 million by putting his Californian Neverland Ranch up as security. The singer, who is currently awaiting trial on child molestation charges, has long been reported to be experiencing financial difficulties - which have increased following the controversy surrounding his court case. However, lawyer Brian Oxman, who helped assemble Jackson's legal team, claims the Thriller star's new credit deal means he is in fact financially secure. He argues, "You don't expand credit lines to people when they're in trouble."

Representatives for George W. Bush are hoping to recruit actress Lara Flynn Boyle for campaigning duties, after she publicly declared her support for the American President. The former star of The Practice, 34, has gone against the grain of a large number of her Hollywood counterparts to pledge her support for the Republican leader. She says, "I'm Irish Catholic, so a Democrat by blood. But I'm 100 per cent for Bush. I want my president to be like my agent: not afraid of people, but wants my best interest." And a Bush spokesman has welcomed the news, telling Us Weekly, "If she's amenable, obviously we would try to find something interesting and useful for her to do."