New Twist in Dating Game

In her upcoming autobiography, Bo Derek writes that Jane Fonda begged Derek to date Ted Turner in spring 2000, shortly after Fonda and Turner had split.

“She told me she loved Ted and just wanted him to be happy ... and that ... he was a great lover,” Derek writes in “Riding Lessons,” which is due out in February.

Fonda, Derek writes, said her former husband feared rejection from Derek and asked Fonda to broach the subject of dating on his behalf. “Jane sounded very happy,” Derek writes. “She reiterated to me how much I would like him, how wonderful and generous Ted was, and, oh, yes: ‘He knows he has to be faithful now.’”

Derek excitedly agreed to go out with the media mogul. “I spent the next two weeks dying, wondering how I would handle the next part of this drama,” Derek writes. Ultimately, Turner never called.

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A Discordant Note

When you want to hit somebody in the head, there’s nothing like one of those big shiny trophies they give away on music awards shows. Just ask Michael Greene and Dick Clark. Greene is the chief of the Grammys; Clark is producer of the American Music Awards. They don’t like each other and have been feuding for years.

Last month, as you may know, Clark took the fight up a notch with a $10-million unfair business practices lawsuit against Greene, saying the Grammys unfairly blocks big stars from appearing on the AMA broadcast. (Among the stars who have been caught in the squeeze, said Clark, is Michael Jackson, with whom he has a long-standing friendship.)

“It’s very personal,” said Thomas O’Neil, author of a series of awards show histories including “The Grammys.” “There are fights over exclusive performances all over show biz--the talk shows do it all the time--but this is the one everyone is talking about.”

O’Neil theorizes that there’s something else bothering Clark: His AMAs “used to clobber the Grammys in ratings, and that’s not the case anymore.” In 1997, the AMAs had pulled in about 19.7 million viewers, compared with about 19.2 million for the Grammys. Last year, Greene’s show pulled in 26.6 million viewers; Clark’s broadcast sagged to 16.2 million.

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Lowering His Standards

The stand-up comic Cedric the Entertainer is trying on a different role: author. In his new book, the title of which contains a word we can’t print, Cedric muses about the effect that aging has had on his libido: “I no longer want incredible, mind-blowing, forget-all-about-your-past-lovers, Prince-doesn’t-even-do-it-like-this sex. I simply want some sex. Then I’m back to the playoffs.”

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Three Burners Going

New York restaurateur Elaine Kaufman will write a book about her eponymous restaurant and its celebrity patrons, reports the New York Daily News. Kaufman has so much to say, in fact, that one volume can’t contain her. She is planning three installments, including a book of recipes. Yummy.

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Sightings

Kurt Russell buying gifts and joking with customers at the Brookstone store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica a few days before Christmas.