Journalists wondering all morning how the cash-strapped city of Los Angeles was going to pay for all those cops outside the Staples Center and other city services surrounding today's memorial got their answer when Matt Szabo, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's senior press secretary, began panhandling at the site.

"Los Angeles is a world-class city that's used to putting on world class events" but is "not immune to the recession" Szabo told CNN's Heidi Collins. "We're asking Michael Jackson fans to help be a part of this event - to contribute online and literally support this great memorial."

"Is that the first place you went - to fans?" Collins asked, sounding, understandably, confounded. "Have you spoken with the Jackson family or [concert promoter and memorial producer] AEG?"

Szabo began to dance: "It is our understanding AEG is putting on this entire event. What we're concerned about is paying for all of the other services," he said. "We're asking all those people who want to do something, to contribute in some way...to help provide for the safety of this event." He seemed to be suggesting that if something goes wrong today, safety-wise, it could "tarnish" Jackson's memory. Yikes.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton also confirmed Jackson's casket will be taken to the Staples Center for the singer's memorial service, the AP reported..

Michael Jackson's casket will be front and center during today's memorial service, morning infotainment shows reported early this morning.

The presence of the actual remains of the King of Pop, who died suddenly and suspiciously last week at age 50, means "crowd control could become an even bigger issue," said "Today's" Meredith Vieira.

Jackson family spokesperson Ken Sunshine, interviewed by Viera, refused to confirm or deny any reports about the casket. But he did want Meredith to know that the Jackson family "has shown extraordinary dignity in a very emotional time" and that "Michael Jackson is the biggest figure emitting love ever."

"Has anybody been to a wedding or family event when a Michael Jackson or Jackson Five song came on it wasn't the highlight of the event?" he asked rhetorically.

All the morning news/entertainment shows were anchoring their broadcasts from Los Angeles this morning, even though it was still dark there and the middle of the night.

At least 16 domestic TV networks plan to cover the Jackson memorial live. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Fox News Channel, CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, TV One, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, TV Guide Channel, E!, Univision and Telemundo blew out their schedules in hopes that live coverage of the biggest celebrity ever would bring boffo ratings.

We'll be bringing you updates of the proceedings all day long, right here.

From Nielsen, here's a greatest-hits list of Michael Jackson TV appearances:

Can't get enough Michael Jackson on TV? You're in luck:

TODAY

* noon: VH1 Classic Jackson music video tribute runs through midnight Sunday.
* 7 p.m.: MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew" featuring Michael Jackson music.
* 8 p.m.: TV One's "Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration" two-hour all-star concert salute.
* 9 p.m.: CNN's "Larry King Live" Michael Jackson tribute.
* 9 p.m.: ABC's special "20/20," "Michael Jackson: The Man and His Music," starting with his 1968 Motown audition tape.
*10:30 p.m.: VH1's "Michael Jackson: King of Videos" video tribute.

SATURDAY
* 10:30 a.m.: E!'s "E! News Special: Michael & Farrah: Lost Icons" two-star mashup.
* 12 p.m.: TV One's "The Jacksons: An American Dream" five-hour miniseries tracing the singer's life. (Also airs tomorrow on TV Land at 2 p.m.)
* 7:30 p.m.: BET's "Forever the King: A Tribute to Michael Jackson" features recollections from celebrities and fans.
* 8 p.m.: CNN's "Michael Jackson -- Man in the Mirror" traces the singer's life from when he was a child prodigy in Gary, Ind.
* 10 p.m.: "Bio Remembers: Michael Jackson"

SUNDAY, June 28
6 p.m.: MTV2's three-hour Jackson music video marathon.
7 p.m.: TV One's "The Life & Times of Michael Jackson" one-hour documentary .
8 p.m.: "The BET Awards" features a Michael Jackson tribute.

MONDAY, June 29
* 8 p.m.: Fox's two-hour Michael Jackson-themed "American Idol" episode.

WEDNESDAY, July 1
* 8 p.m.: MyNetworkTV re-airs "2006 World Music Awards" which feted the 25th anniversary of "Thriller" Album and awarded Jackson for selling more than 100 million albums.
* 10 p.m.: E!'s "E's Michael Jackson" one-hour documentary features home video and interview footage with family and friends.

*ABC and NBC are going virtually all-obit in primetime tonight.

Both networks are airing dueling Farrah Fawcett specials at 10 p.m. Fawcett died this morning at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica after a long battle with cancer. ABC's "Farrah Fawcett: Her Life, Her Loves, Her Legacy" had originally been scheduled for Friday but got moved up a day after news reports said she was not expected to survive today. Several hours later, NBC announced it would air a news-division produced "Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel" in the same timeslot.

But Farrah's not-unexpected death got totally eclipsed this afternoon by the shocking death of Michael Jackson, 50, at his Holmby Hills home in West Los Angeles. Not long thereafter, both networks announced dueling Michael Jackson tributes for the 9 p.m. hour.

CBS, which had decided to pass on a Farrah Fawcett special tonight and was sticking with its timeslot-winning "The Mentalist" at 10, decided late today to instead give viewers the options of watching a Michael Jackson special at 10 -- opposite the two Farrah specials.

Still with me?

And then there's the Fox broadcast network. It has no news division to produce an obit special. Therefore, Fox decided that on Monday it will rerun one of the episodes of this past season's "American Idol" in which 13 Idolettes each took turns singing a different Michael Jackson tune. This year "Idol" had a Michael Jackson-tune week.

ABC News and NBC News have been fighting over Farrah Fawcett's carcass today.

It all started at 10:18 a.m. ET today when ABC News announced that sources close to Farrah had told Barbara Walters "these could be her final hours."

Of course we now know Farrah died at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica around 9:30 a.m. But anyway, based on Babs's tip, ABC decided its "20/20" special about "the life, love and legacy of actress and iconic beauty...who appears to be in her final days," might appear a tad stale by its Friday airdate. So ABC announced that special would instead air tonight at 10.

Then, at around 3:30 p.m., NBC sent out an email alerting the press NBC News would air a Fawcett special -- also at 10 p.m. tonight. This will put NBC News's "Farrah Fawcett: The Life and Death of an Angel" in head-to-head combat with "20/20's" "Farrah Fawcett: Her Life, Her Loves, Her Legacy."

NBC also announced that on Friday night it will re-air its two-hour watch-Farrah-die video, "Farrah's Story." NBC already ran the "documentary" on Friday, May 15. In case you missed it, it was shot with Farrah's very own video camera over the past two and a half years and is narrated by Farrah as she explains her battle with cancer.

Because we like to do things right, we contacted CBS to find out what Farrah special it had planned for 10 p.m. tonight. CBS reported it is sticking with "The Mentalist."

Not coincidentally, "The Mentalist" has been winning the hour handily since moving there earlier this year.

Late night hosts prayed for fresh material. And god gave them Gov. Sanford:

Craig Ferguson on "Late Late Show":

Conan O'Brien on "Tonight Show":

Dave Letterman on "Late Show":

Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report":

Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show":

The motion picture academy hopes it has figured out a way to attract more viewers to its Academy Awards broadcast on ABC - up the number of Best-Flick nominees from 5 to 10.

That way, fans of 10 films, instead of fans of five films, will tune in to see if their fave flick wins The Big One.

Take that, Golden Globes!

It's not really a new concept - back in the really old days ('30s and 40s) the Best Picture derby was jammed with nominees, including nine years with 10 noms and even a couple years with a dozen contenders. FYI, the academy ended the practice after the 1943 Academy Awards - the year "Casablanca" was named best picture. Casablanca" (which, in case you just came out from under a flat rock, is a great WWII flick that starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and so on) competed in a field of nominees that included "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Heaven Can Wait", "The Human Comedy", "In Which We Serve", "Madame Curie", "The More the Merrier", "The Ox-Bow Incident", "The Song of Bernadette", and "Watch on the Rhine"

But, of course, the greatest year ever for best pix nominees is generally considered to be 1939, when the contenders were: "Stagecoach," "Wuthering Heights," "Dark Victory," "Love Affair," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "Ninotchka," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Of Mice and Men," "The Wizard of Oz" and winning "Gone with the Wind." No idea what I'm talking about? Lucky you -- most of these movies can be seen on Turner Classic Movies. Sadly for all of us, the Academy Awards did not start being broadcast on TV until 1953.

"After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," academy prez Sid Ganis announced in a canned statement spread around by Oscar broadcaster ABC. Unfortunately, the news release did not explain why the trophy show abandoned the practice back in the 40s.But it's safe to say the movie studios are happy with the plan because, presumably, 10 movies nominated for best picture meanw more ticket sales than 5 movies nominated for best picture. Not that ticket sales are hurting these days: despite the recession, movie ticket sales this year are up by more than 17 percent according to tracking firm Media by Numbers. And that's not just about ticket prices being higher - number of tickets sold was also up by about the same percent which is one of the biggest sales spikes in recent movie history.

Also happy: trade papers which are struggling and dying, and now hope to enjoy 10 Best Picture Nominee For Your Consideration ad-buying campaigns instead of just five.
But happiest of all has to be ABC, which could see a much needed ratings hike for the Oscarcast.

The 2009 Academy Awards broadcast clocked about 36 million viewers which is the trophy show's third smallest audience in recent history. That's only slightly better than '08's trophy show, when a mere 32 million tuned in to see "No Country for Old Men" named best picture.

On the flip side, there are some - okay, me - who think the Academy will be hard pressed to come up with 10 nomination-worthy flicks for the '10 trophy show. The next batch of nominees will be announced on Feb. 2, 2010 and the Oscar clambake will be held Sunday, March 7 of '10.What, among the crop of flicks that have been release so far this year, is worthy of a nomination? "The Proposal"? Hangover"? "Year One"? "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"? "Up"? Anybody? I'm asking - seriously.

Alaska's Governess Sarah Palin took her David Letterman Is A Pervert Media Tour to NBC and CNN on Friday.

On NBC's morning infotainment show, "Today," she told Matt Lauer how she'd found out Letterman had made a "comment" Monday on his CBS late-night show "about the statutory rape of my 14-year-old daughter, Willow."

Palin kicked off her David Letterman Is A Pervert Tour on Tuesday, the morning after Letterman, on his CBS late-night show, made some cracks about Palin's visit to his hometown of New York City .

Letterman noted that an "awkward moment" for Palin had occurred when she and her family were attending a Yankees baseball game and "her daughter was knocked-up by [third baseman] Alex Rodriguez" during the seventh-inning stretch.

Palin and her husband, Todd, responded the next day with coordinating comments, in which they called Letterman's raunchy joke "sexually perverted" and a reminder that "some Hollywood/New York entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands -- that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others."

Friday morning, Lauer noted that, on Thursday night, Letterman had taken time in his show to say he regretted the joke and to explain the gag had not been a reference to Palin's 14-year-old daughter, Willow, but rather to her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol.

(During his explanation, Letterman noted Bristol is an unwed mother.)

"Okay, Matt, I would say that you and anybody else are extremely naïve to believe that very convenient excuse of David Letterman's," Palin snapped back at Lauer. "It took a couple of days for him to think of that excuse that, Oh no! -- he wasn't talking about my daughter who was there with me he was talking about some other daughter!" Palin said, apparently forgetting, momentarily, daughter Bristol's name.

Then she packed her bag and took her David Letterman's a Pervert Tour to CNN, where she tried it out on Wolf Blitzer, on "The Situation Room."

"[Letterman] said he made a mistake," Blitzer began. "He said, 'Yeah, it was probably in bad taste.' Are you willing to forgive and forget?"

"I will always forgive whomever is asking for forgiveness," Palin said, before tearing into Letterman again:

"David Letterman's crude, sexist, perverted joke about a 14-year-old girl being 'knocked up' by Alex Rodriguez -- I think he's like 30-something years old -- I think that's pretty perverted." Palin said, warming up.

"But it goes beyond that. Not just that joke, but this insinuation that it's okay, it's acceptable, to talk like that, and then it's acceptable for The Media to not provide the American public, the listeners, the readers, the full context of the joke. Letterman says, 'Hey, I wasn't talking about her 14-year-old.' ... My 14-year-old was there with me at the game -- she was the only one there with me. It wasn't my older daughter, who's in college, taking care of her young family. It was my 14-year-old.

"So, for the American public to not be given a full context of what that joke was all about, I think that's quite unfortunate and also, it is that sad commentary on what Americans are fed in terms of full news," Palin concluded.

Blitzer, like Lauer before him, tried to get Palin to acknowledge that Letterman had gone on national TV to say the joke was a reference to the 18-year-old daughter whom Palin did not name, and who, like Palin says, has a "young family."

"Yeah, a weak, convenient excuse," Palin shot back.

At least she didn't call him naïve.

"And, you know what?" Palin asked Blitzer rhetorically. "Regardless of which daughter, it was inappropriate. I think it contributed to some low self-esteem of many of the young girls in the country. ... I'm so glad to see women standing up and saying enough is enough -- to talk about a 14-year-old being statutory-raped is what this is. Because a 14-year-old would not consent to being knocked-up, quote-unquote, by a gentleman, A-Rod. I think it's degrading. I think it contributes to so many problems."

"Yeah, all right. Let's move on, talk a little bit about politics -- a subject close to your heart," Blizter segued, awkwardly.

By midafternoon Friday, The Reporters Who Cover Television keeping an eye on the David Letterman is A Pervert Tour had been whipped up into such a froth, they started hissing and spitting out headlines like cats in a bag:

Palin Can't Outsmart Letterman!
It's a Culture War!
Letterman and Palin: Both Jerks!
The Outrage-a-Thon Continues!
Palin: Letterman Pretty Perverted!

But, at the end of the day, from the melee, emerged The Voice of Reason: Bristol Palin's baby daddy, Levin Johnston, who was interviewed by "Extra's" Mario Lopez.

Yes, this is the first sweet sign of the apocalypse.

"I think he might have [crossed the line] a little bit, but I don't think he meant to hurt anybody," Johnston said in answer to Lopez's question "Did David Letterman's joke cross the line?"

"He's a comedian -- that's what he does," Johnston said.

Amen.

And amidst the caterwauling, Levi Johnston has somehow emerged as the voice of reason. And Mario Lopez the best interviewer - sure sign of the coming Apocalypse.

Lopez asked Johnston if he thought David Letterman's joke crossed the line. "I think he might have alittle bit, Bristol's baby daddy said. "I don't think he meant to hurt anybody. He's a comedian - that's what he does. People are going to make jokes."

Amen.

Here's Palin with Matt:

Here's Palin with Wolf.

MTV finally got around to confirming what we've known for ages: the 23rd season of "The Real World" will explore the finer points of binge drinking and friends-with-benefits in our fair city of Washington, D.C.

(Marissa Newhall -- The Washington Post)

"In a time when our country has witnessed the impact and spirit of our nation's young people, it is a pleasure to welcome MTV and 'The Real World' cast to the District of Columbia as they utilize the immense opportunities that the District's backdrop will undoubtedly provide," Major Adrian Fenty said in MTV's announcement.

Or, as MTV programming chief Tony DiSanto put it: "The charged atmosphere of Washington D.C., the center of our country's social and political change, will provide an electric setting for this next season of 'The Real World.' We are thrilled to be filming our classic franchise in the heart of where history is being made. It adds a whole new [Zzzzzz -- Oh, sorry, where was he? Oh yes] dimension to the great characters and drama our viewers expect and love from 'The Real World.'"

"Young people have never been more engaged in what's happening in this country and Washington, D.C. is the perfect place for 'The Real World' cast to express their opinions and pursue their passions," "Real World" exec producer Jonathan Murray chimed in for good measure.

This does not sound like "The Real World" we have come to know and love. The 22nd edition sounds more like it. That one, "The Real World: Cancun" debuts June 24. In Cancun, MTV promises, eight new roomies will come together under one roof "to heat things up, as they work hard and play even harder. From sexy hook-ups to blood-boiling fights, the Mexican Caribbean will never be the same as the drama unfolds."