Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Spotted | Billy Joel heading into a cigar club with "an unidentified pretty brunette" ... Madonna visiting a doctor's office uptown and later leaving the Standard Hotel with Jesus Luz in tow ... Samuel L. Jackson crossing the street in Midtown ... Adrien Brody chilling in the West Village ... Kelly Ripa picking up daughter Lola from school ... Taylor Momsen shooting scenes for Gossip Girl ... Carlos Leon kissing his girlfriend outside Café Gitane on Mott Street ... Frank Sinatra Jr. hanging out in Midtown ... Jerry Seinfeld and wife Jessica walking on Central Park West this morning ... Catherine Zeta-Jones walking to a rehearsal for her new Broadway show, A Little Night Music ... and Katie Holmes playing with Suri at a playground on Long Island.

• More on the financial difficulty facing Harvey and Bob Weinstein: The studio has blown through $1.2 billion to date and now needs to come up with another $50 million. Or magically produce a string of hits at the box office. [WSJ, LAT]
• Despite rumors to the contrary, Condé Nast may shut down several of its magazines as part of its latest—and steepest—round of budget cuts. [WWD]
• Ebony magazine is struggling and now hunting for a buyer. [Newsweek]
• NBC is "under assault from all sides," opines Jon Friedman. [Marketwatch]
• A series of cast changes are planned for the various Law & Orders. [THR]
• Is the new TV season really buzzy, or it just the Twitter effect? [NYT]
• Warner Music will be putting its music videos back on YouTube. [AdAge]
• Holly Madison of E!'s Girls Next Door is getting her own reality show. And socialite Tinsley Mortimer's CW show is moving ahead. [NYDN, THR]
• Jerry Seinfeld's new reality show is casting neurotic couples in Brooklyn. [DI]
• Jenna Bush's new Today show gig is pretty cushy, apparently. [Page2Live]

• A&E has agreed to acquire Lifetime, which means it's not entirely out of the realm of synergistic possibility that Duane Chapman of Dog the Bounty Hunter will make a cameo on Project Runway sometime next season. Yay. [THR, NYT]
• The Daily News has dropped its restaurant critic, Danyelle Freeman, and doesn't appear to be making any plans to replace her. [P6, NYT]
• Another luxury magazine is coming! The Financial Times plans to bring its quarterly glossy, FT Wealth, to American shores this October. [Crain's]
• It's been nearly two years since Oprah announced plans to launch a cable channel, and the venture's been riddled with problems ever since. [LAT]
• Italian officials are now investigating Google for its "lack of transparency." Yes, the same Italy that's governed by a man named Silvio Berlusconi. [NYT]
• Larry David will be bringing the cast of Seinfeld together for a multi-episode appearance on the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Which makes sense considering it's not like Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, or Michael Richards have anything better to do, now do they? [EW, LAT] More

• The next top editor to fall victim to budget cuts at Condé Nast, at least according to Keith Kelly: Architectural Digest editor Paige Rense. [NYP]
• The first guest on Jay Leno's new show on Sept. 14: Jerry Seinfeld. [THR]
• Jay, Conan, Jon, Jimmy, Jimmy, or Craig? Now more than ever, celeb (and their publicists) are being forced to choose between late-night hosts. [THR]
• At least a dozen advertisers have abandoned Glenn Beck's show now that he's established himself as the most vile human being on television. [NYT]
• A big group of media companies—including CBS, NBC, Disney, News Corp., and Viacom—have teamed up to give the Nielsen ratings a run for its money. [NYT]More

• In news that will delight Jews the world over, it seems Britney Spears is thinking about converting to Judaism. She's been seen wearing a Star of David necklace and has found a rabbi to, like, teach her about stuff, so she's well on her way, clearly. [Sun]
• Lindsay Lohan hasn't been getting too many acting roles what with all her personal problems as of late. But she may have found a way around that: She's starting her own film/TV production company. [THR]
• Jerry Seinfeld's rep says he not facing money troubles. But he is doing commercials for "a bank in the boonies of Australia," which can't be a good sign. [P6]
• Mariska Hargitay is back on the set of Law & Order: SVU after a mishap earlier this week sent her to the hospital for 13 stitches. [NYDN]
• Publicist Ali Wise was arrested earlier this week for hacking into Nina Freudenberger's voicemail. But she may not be the only victim out there. [P6]More

Spotted | Keri Russell taking son River to the park ... Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld watching a Mets game at Citi Field with their kids ... Liv Tyler getting in an SUV outside her apartment ... Nicole Kidman shooting scenes for her new movie in Queens ... Anne Hathaway walking downtown with boyfriend Adam Shulman ... Kate Hudson walking under an umbrella in the Village ... Heidi Klum playing with her kids at a playground on Bleecker Street ... Robert Pattinson locking up a bike on the set of his new movie ... and Alex Rodriguez leaving his apartment building with a family friend.

Central Park by Phone | A bunch of celebrities are now offering guided cell phone tours to Central Park. Anne Hathaway will introduce you to the Delacorte Theater, Matthew Broderick will show you around Sheep Meadow, Isabella Rossellini will escort you through the gay hookup zone of the Ramble, and Jerry Seinfeld will describe the stunning view of Central Park he has from his apartment at the Beresford. (Okay, fine, we made the last one up.) It's a free service. You call 646-862-0997 and then punch in a code that corresponds to each celebrity tour. We haven't tried it, so we can't weigh in on what it's like to hear John Stossel share his thoughts on the Balto statue, but if you feel like calling and letting us know what it's like, you're more than welcome to. [Central Park Audio Guide]

Spotted | Uma Thurman on a school field trip with son Levon and his classmates ... Brooke Shields getting out of a cab with her mom and daughter ... Justin Timberlake going to lunch at Bubby's ... Hugh Jackman jogging to a playground with daughter Ava ... Regis Philbin walking into ABC studios ... Jerry Seinfeld filming a commercial on Long Island ... David Schwimmer and girlfriend Zoe Buckman holding hands in the West Village ... Kelly Bensimon getting in a taxi outside a screening ... Geoffrey Rush walking around in Midtown ... Jennifer Aniston getting out of an SUV ... director Phillip Noyce leaving lunch with his wife and baby ... and Kieifer Sutherland walking in the West Village.

Jerry Seinfeld's Epic Struggle Will Ease the Pain | It's hard to cheer someone up who recently lost his or her job on account of the economic downturn. Perhaps a few stories of rich, famous people who lost their jobs once upon time will help? Okay, perhaps not, but it is nice to see that Jerry Seinfeld's dismissal as a mail boy on the set of Benson in 1981 is being used to lift the spirits of a nation. [WSJ]

Happy Birthday | Uma Thurman is turning 39 today. Jerry Seinfeld is turning 55. Michelle Pfeiffer is 51. Daniel Day-Lewis is 52. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer turns 49 today. Defense attorney Bruce Cutler turns 61. Fox5 anchor Rosanna Scotto is 51. Provocateur Lucianne Goldberg is turning 74. ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie is 55. Conductor Zubin Mehta is 73. Carnie Wilson is turning 41. Mets sportscaster Gary Cohen is 51. NFL quarterback Jay Cutler turns 26. Tennis great Andre Agassi is 39. And the rapper Master P turns 42 today.

Spotted | Bar Refaeli eating lunch at Bar Pitti ... Lauren Conrad shopping with a friend at Topshop ... Josh Hartnett walking in Tribeca ... Seal leaving the Equinox in Soho ... Jerry Seinfeld arriving at Yankee Stadium right before Jay-Z turned up ... Geraldo Rivera walking in Midtown ... Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber jogging downtown ... Ben Affleck talking on his cell phone outside Rockefeller Center ... Agyness Deyn shooting a commercial with Gabriel Aubrey and later getting into an SUV... Ciara leaving her hotel ... and Joy and Regis Philbin walking home on the Upper West Side.

Filmmaker and Transcendental Meditation enthusiast David Lynch brought Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr together for the first time in years as part of the Change Begins Within benefit at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night. A slew of celebrity performers and guests were on hand for the occasion, including Sheryl Crow, Laura Dern, and Ben Harper (with Ringo, left), as well as Jerry Seinfeld, Yoko Ono, John McEnroe, Martin Scorsese, Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky, Matthew Broderick, Moby, Jennifer Aniston, Desiree Gruber and Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, David Arquette, Michael J. Fox, Robin Quivers, Eddie Vedder, Jason Bateman, Barbara Bach, Bettye LaVette, and Mike Love. [Wireimage, Getty, VF, NYO] More

If you bump into Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss—or you're a reporter and you happen to be interviewing her for some reason—she'd very much appreciate it if you didn't bring up the name of a certain comedian whom she was involved with more than a decade ago. At least that was the request passed along to a writer from Louisville's Courier-Journal, who had a few questions prepared for the socialite-designer when she touched down in Louisville last week for a trunk show at the (very posh-sounding) Blink Boutique. "No problem," the reporter replies; the subject "wasn't even on my radar screen." Of course, she mentions the snub in the first paragraph and refers to her as "Seinfeld's Ex" in the subhead of the article, so we'll take that as an indication Shoshanna's request was denied.

• It was clear that Michael Wolff was a bad husband and a bad boss. But now it looks like he's a lousy son, too. Wolff is being sued by his poor 85-year-old mother-in-law for trying to evict her from her one-bedroom apartment so he could sell it and collect a profit. [P6]
• Chris Brown appeared in court yesterday and was charged with assault and making criminal threats. He faces four years in state prison if convicted. [NYP, Us]
• Marc Anthony touched the leg of a woman other than JLo, which means he was either "flirting with danger" or just being nice to a "longtime friend." [Star]
• Just another typical Friday: Amy Winehouse has been charged with assault for punching a fan last year. [Reuters] More

• Jerry Seinfeld has a new project in the works for NBC. The Marriage Ref will feature celebs "judging couples in the midst of marital disputes." [THR]
• The Times is scaling back the number of issues it publishes of T. [NYP]
• The Gray Lady does say it has enough cash to last through '09, though. [E&P]
• Denver's Rocky Mountain News is shutting down on Friday. [AP]
• Fox has renewed The Simpsons for two more seasons. [Variety]
• ABC collected $72 million for the 26 minutes of ad time it sold during the Oscars. Overall, ad spending fell by 10 percent this year, though. [TVW, NYT]
• Doubledown Media, which ceased operations recently, is bankrupt. [MM]
• You can now download CBS shows to your iPhone. Enjoy. [NYT]