Hot on the heels of last week's news that MTV had ousted top exec Brian Graden—part of a reorganization, according to the company—comes word that the network laid off another 75 employees today. [B&C]

NYC Prep debuts this evening on Bravo and although the schools that the bratty kids attend in real life—Dwight, Nightingale-Bamford, Birch Wathen Lenox, the Ross School, and non-private Stuyvesant—aren't mentioned by name on the program, some administrators at private schools around town are now talking about banning kids from reality TV shows, reports a young Times reporter who knows of what he writes, A.G. Sulzberger.

Did Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes just plunk down $15.5 million to purchase the townhouse at 42 West 12th Street? That's what the Village Voice's Runnin' Scared blog is suggesting, although there's isn't any firm proof yet: The seller isn't talking, and both Holmes's publicist and Cruise's lawyer have issued denials (not that their refutations mean much). If you live nearby, don't let the lack of confirmation interfere with your fantasies of occasional Suri sightings and surly paparazzi camped out in the hood at all hours of the day and night. You can look at the pics and a floorplan and keep your fingers firmly crossed. [Village Voice]

• The bleak outlook for network news is getting bleaker: Both the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News suffered all-time ratings lows last week. [HuffPo]
• CBS chief Les Moonves's compensation was slashed by 76 percent last year. He still earned $13.6 million, though, so don't feel too bad for him. [Crain's]
• Depressing: Monday's breakup episode of TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8 was the most-watched episode of the show ever with 10.6 million viewers. [THR]
• MySpace is closing four of its international offices and cutting two-thirds of its staff abroad advertising falls and Facebook and Twitter take over. [NYT]
• A woman in Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against Elisabeth Hasselbeck for allegedly ripping off her self-published book on celiac disease. [BH]
• Bravo honcho Andy Cohen is going to be hosting a live show once a week called Watch What Happens. You can watch what happens on July 16. [LAT]

Back before Bernie Madoff came along and hogged the spotlight, there was Samuel Israel, the hedge fund founder who ripped off investors to the tune of $450 million, got caught, tried to fake his own death, failed, turned himself in, and was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison for his crimes. His legal ordeal isn't over yet. Last Friday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against him after he asked the court to reduce his sentence. Next month, additional time will be added to his sentence for that bail-jumping stunt that had him on the lam for three weeks last year. But Israel's tendency to vanish into thin air may be alive and well.

James Wilkie Broderick has a couple of new playmates as of today. The surrogate mother carrying twins for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick gave birth to two healthy baby girls today in Ohio. Now they'll just need to extend a bribe to the local authorities and they'll be home free. [People]

Earlier this month Joan Rivers put her Upper East Side duplex penthouse on the market for $25 million. Now she's looking to sell her Connecticut home, too. She's currently asking for $6.5 million for the New Milford property. Judging by recent photos of her, that might be just enough to begin to put a dent in her plastic surgery bills. [Real Estalker]

Living on Park Avenue has its perks, and existing in a paparazzi free-zone is supposed to be one of them. Alas, life is full of disappointments, and so certain Park Avenue residents have spent the past three years contending with photographers, limos, traffic, and noise thanks to a catering company that has taken to throwing fabulous parties in the hood, including Oscar de la Renta's Resort show this month. That event was the latest salvo in an ongoing battle between residents and The Rose Group, the caterers who lease the Christian Science church on the corner of 63rd Street and have turned the locale into a successful party space that hosts multiple society events a week.

Ira Sorkin, Bernie Madoff's lawyer, has asked a federal judge to sentence the admitted fraudster to as little as 12 years in prison and no more than 20: "Sorkin said that a 12-year sentence would be appropriate because Madoff's life expectancy is now 13 years. As an alternative, he said that a 15-to-20 year term would 'effectively achieve' the goals of sentencing 'without disproportionately punishing Mr. Madoff.'" And we wouldn't want to do that, clearly. [Bloomberg]

Lou Reed eating breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien in the Village ... Whitney Port eating lunch with Olivia Palermo at Philip Marie, and later having dinner with a friend at Nobu ... Luke Wilson walking with a friend in Soho ... Anne Hathaway wearing a wig while having lunch with her boyfriend, Adam Shulman ... Tracy Morgan dressed up on the set of A Couple of Dicks in Brooklyn ... Julianna Margulies leaving a gym downtown ... Beyonce and Jay-Z walking into Avenue Bar ... Miss Universe Diana Mendoza shooting a comercial in the West Village ... Robert Pattinson walking downtown with a group of handlers ... Courtney Love leaving a bank in Midtown ... and Jane Krakowski getting in a cab in the Village.

Last month the CIA revealed it was looking for laid-off Wall Streeters to join its ranks, part of an effort to find people with backgrounds in "economics and financial services to help assess overseas economies and to track down illicit money used to finance terrorist activities." Investment Dealers' Digest has a long article on the subject and has interviews with a bunch of people who made the jump. The good news: It turns out the hours are much better compared to Wall Street. The bad? With salaries ranging from $48,682 to $95,026 a year, even first-year investment banking analysts take home more. Of course they can't claim they're defending America and saving the world from evil, so you'll have to factor that into the equation somehow. [IDD via Dealbook]

How much does Mike Bloomberg pay his dog walker? This is the pertinent piece of information missing from today's Daily News profile of Eloise Cucui, the Hunter high school senior who walks Mayor Bloomberg's two golden Labrador retrievers, Bonnie and Clyde. (The News may also oversell her position a smidge, too, calling hers "one of the city's most important jobs.")

• Retired investment banker E. Stephen Benson has sold his penthouse at 885 Park Avenue, albeit for about $5 million less than what he was hoping to sell it for last year. The two-bedroom co-op with wrap-around terrace (left), which was originally listed for $13 million before Benson sliced the price four times, sold for $7.65 million to Capstone Advisory Group exec Robert Manzo and his wife Cynthia. [Cityfile]
• Gordon Pattee, the CEO of Map Capital and a trustee of the New York City Ballet, and his wife, Dailey, have lowered the price of their penthouse triplex at 812 Park Avenue for the second time since listing it for $36.5 million in 2007. The five-bedroom apartment, which was dropped down to $29.75 million in 2008, is now priced at $22 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Curtis Bashaw, a developer in New Jersey and the man behind the Chelsea, Atlantic City's first non-casino hotel, has sold his two-bedroom loft at 695 Washington Street for $1.675 million. [Cityfile]

Airport snobs have been dealt a heavy blow today. Clear, the Steve Brill-founded company that charged travelers up to $199 a year to zip past long security lines, ceased operations last night. Per the notice posted to the company website: "Clear's parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations." [Wired]

Selma Blair turns 37 today. Frances McDormand is turning 52. Famed conductor (and Met artistic director) James Levine is 66. Real estate tycoon Jerry Speyer turns 69. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 61. Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone is also turning 61 today. Jason Mraz is 32. American Idol's Randy Jackson is turning 53. Musician KT Tunstall is 34. The singer Duffy is turning 25. Writer/director Joss Whedon turns 45. Retired soccer star Zinedine Zidane is 37. And Vint Serf, the computer scientist you have to credit for the Internet, turns 66 today.

• It looks the end of the line for Fox News anchor Kimberly Guilfoyle and husband Eric Villency, the heir to a furniture store chain founded by his grandfather and occasional TV presence. It's Guilfoyle's second high-profile break-up. Her first husband was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. [P6]
• Sean Avery and model Hilary Rhoda were spotted "getting cozy" the other night. [P6]
• Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show for more than three decades, has died at 86. [NYT, People]

• The Calvin Klein billboard in Soho that has caused a bit of controversy recently has been replaced. Of course, just swapping out the ads could be part of the company's PR strategy to keep people talking about the ad campaign, in which case, well, it worked nicely. [GoaG]
• Rumor has it Anna Wintour has offered a Vogue internship to Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton. [Grazia]
• Rumor also has it Emma Watson is designing a teen line. [Fashionista]
• Olivia Palermo plans to model now: She's signed with Wilhelmina. [P6]
• Isaac Mizrahi is opening a store on the Upper East Side in August. [WWD]

• Ron Perelman's Blue Parrot in East Hampton is now open and serving guacamole and margaritas to Rachel Zoe and Martha Stewart. You'll have to leave your Blackberry at home, though, since texting is banned. [GS]
• La Goulue has been issued a reprieve and will stay open till August. [NYO]
• A roundup of restaurants that just opened, or will be open soon. [Eater]
• Marea just opened, but chef Michael White is already talking expansion. [IC]
• The Setai Club, the "new member's only social club for the Wall Street set," is now accepting membership applications. For $5,000 a year, you'll have a spot for "midday martini-tinged dealmaking," as if that happens anymore. [UD]
• Just in time for your 4th of July barbeque: Danny Meyer gobbles down a bunch of supermarket hot-dogs and picks the winners and losers. [NYM]
• The fast food chain Sonic has arrived. Well, it's arrived in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, but that's about as close as it's going to get for now. [NYP]

Darcy Stacom, the commercial real estate broker who convinced Mort Zuckerman's Boston Properties to pay $3.5 billion to buy the GM building in 2008, has suggested that Apple cough up a few bucks and pay Zuckerman for the right to rename the tower, so it doesn't sport the name of a bankrupt automaker. Let's hope Steve Jobs sets aside his health issues and moves quickly on this opportunity to plant a glowing white apple at the top of the skyscraper. Considering Zuckerman has already turned the "Citigroup Center" into "601 Lexington Avenue," the GM building may turn into the much blander-sounding "767 Fifth Avenue" if he doesn't. [Reuters]

Goldman Sachs is denying a report by the Guardian that the bank plans to hand out the "biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history" later this year. "We won't know what our compensation benefit number is until the end of the fourth quarter, which is at the end of December," explained a spokesman, dismissing the story as "pure speculation." In other words, it may end up being a record amount. But it's too soon to say for sure. And the bank wouldn't want employees to think they could coast from now until the end of the year, now would it? [NYDN]