People

THE END COMES EARLY

Though CBS presumably named The Early Show for the hour it airs, the title could just as easily describe the exit of its anchors. The show was launched in 1999, but original host Bryant Gumbel signed off in May. Now his co-anchor, JANE CLAYSON, is also departing. To make the exodus near complete, weatherman Mark McEwen announced that he will follow Clayson off the set. Julie Chen, the current newsreader, plans to stay on. The show has had little success catching up to the morning programs on NBC and ABC despite the millions of dollars CBS has sunk into it. Clayson will now report for The CBS Evening News and 48 Hours. The network will probably name Harry Smith and Hannah Storm to co-anchor a revamped morning format, but producers say they don't plan to find a new weatherman. Maybe they'll change their mind when the future of the program doesn't look so cloudy.

Maybe They Ran Out of Nachos

The bond between father and son seems rivaled only by that between a first-base coach and his team. In a move rarely expected outside Yankee Stadium, two men in the stands at Chicago's Comiskey Park charged the field during the top of the ninth inning and attacked Tom Gamboa, first-base coach of the visiting Kansas City Royals, and began beating him. The Royals immediately cleared the bench and piled on the two men, identified as WILLIAM LIGUE JR., 34, and his 15-year-old son. Security guards entered the fray and dragged the shirtless duo off the field, after which a folded pocket knife was found on the ground. As for motivation, besides utter stupidity, the elder Ligue suggested that he had exchanged words with Gamboa and that the coach had made an obscene gesture, a charge vehemently denied by Gamboa, who suffered cuts and bruises. He did discover the devotion he has earned from his players. "Security did a good job cleaning it up," Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney said. "If it wasn't for them, we'd probably still be beating on those guys." Instead the Royals beat the White Sox 2-1.

TOGETHER AGAIN--IN A LAWSUIT

Some divorced couples stay civil for the sake of the children. TOM CRUISE and NICOLE KIDMAN are doing so for the sake of a lawsuit. The two claim that while they were still married (as they were in this photo), a perfume ad for cosmetics-store chain Sephora USA featured their picture, making it look as though they endorsed the product. Claiming that they served as "involuntary models without pay," they are suing for $15 million and say they hope the award will be tripled. They are also seeking unspecified punitive damages in light of what their lawyer called "the vast wealth and income of Sephora and its owner, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton." Better it increases the vast wealth and income of Tom and Nicole.

EXCUSE OF THE WEEK

Some would prefer that author J.K. Rowling have no social life, no TV, no clothes with buttons--in short, nothing that would further delay the fifth book in the HARRY POTTER series. The book is long past its July publication date, and fans have been vibrating with dark suspicions about what is holding her up. Last week Rowling said a lawsuit accusing her of plagiarism had interrupted her focus. Now that a judge has dismissed the suit, she claims she can get back to Harry. She also revealed that she is pregnant, giving fans something new to worry about: morning sickness.