Remember when Jim Cramer recommended buying stock in Wachovia a couple of weeks ago? Yea, neither do we. But just in case the dozen or so examples of how embarrassingly misguided Jim Cramer usually is don't suffice (remember his enthusiastic support for Bear Stearns just before its collapse?) and you need further proof that taking financial advice from a cable news show isn't such a hot idea, feel free to take a moment to watch Cramer's overly dramatic apology from last night's broadcast of Mad Money. Two weeks ago Cramer welcomed Wachovia CEO Robert Steel to the show, who told the manic talk show host that his bank was doing great, prompting Cramer to describe Wachovia a "winner." We all now how that "winner" turned out, although Cramer seems to have already formulated his defense. He claims that Steel, a longtime pal, took "advantage" of him. Funny, that sounds familiar!

♦ The TV Guide Channel is for sale if you happen to be looking for junky media properties to purchase this afternnon. [Variety]
♦ What's Tom Brokaw been up to? It seems he's been playing peacemaker with the McCain campaign on behalf of NBC News. [NYT]
♦ There are 336 magazines devoted to food and cooking, believe it or not. [WSJ]
♦ How People snagged its exclusive with Clay Aiken. [Jossip]
♦ Follow the money: Doubledown Media, which owns Trader, is launching a second title in Dubai. [WWD]
♦ Just three days after Ogilvy & Mather won the account for Wachovia, the bank went bust. [NYT]
♦ Some 52 million Americans watched the debate last Friday; ABC led the pack with 11.04 million viewers. [TV Week]

First we learned that Sarah Palin has her own tanning bed. Then she was accused of wearing non-prescription eyeglasses to make her seem intelligent (except they weren't magic glasses). Today brings news that her lipliner may be tattooed on! We now look forward to confirmation that her ridiculous '50s housewife's upsweep is a weave. [Wonkette, Huffington Post]

John McCain would really appreciate if you started calling the Wall Street "bailout" a "rescue" from now on. Looks like someone's been chatting with Frank Luntz! [Politico]

♦ Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick and his partner Erik Hyman have sold their two-bedroom pied à terre at 15 West 11th Street for $4.1 million. Mutchnick originally bought the sixth-floor co-op for $2.59 million in 2005. [Real Estalker]
♦ Scott Latham, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield and one of the highest-paid commercial brokers in the country, has sold the three-bedroom at 269 Broadway that he shares with his wife for $4 million. [Cityfile]
♦ Kimora Lee Simmons has reportedly picked up yet another mansion in Beverly Hills. This time she's paying $11.5 million for a 9,405-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa. [Real Estalker]
♦ The 15 Central Park West owners who listed their ninth-floor apartments jointly for $21.5 million this summer have already lowered the asking price by more than $2 million. The two can now be yours for $19.495 million. [Curbed]

It looks like Michael Bloomberg has finally made up his mind! Following months of speculation about what he'll do once his term in office expires, the Times is now reporting that Bloomberg will announce tomorrow morning that he plans to seek a third term as mayor. And Ron Lauder is apparently cool with the idea, too, so he's got that going for him as well. [NYT]

As we heard a while back, foreigners are taking advantage of the weak dollar to come to New York and LA for plastic surgery. Now doctors are getting into the act, too. With fewer wealthy local patients to nip and tuck, "reverse medical tourism" is a growing trend, reports WWD, and "a number of top-tier practices have started acting as de facto travel agencies." So if you were hoping that the crumbling economy might result in cut-price boob jobs and facelifts, well, don't get your hopes up. But you can always turn to a reality show for your bargain surgery needs. [WWD]

John McCain's chances of winning the election have hit an all-time low, at least according to InTrade's electoral vote predictor. [Clusterstock]

It looks like a celebrity chef has plans to start cooking again. Tom Colicchio announced the launch of Tom: Tuesday Dinner this morning—he says he's willing to change the name "if someone can think of a better one"—which will have him cooking for Craft's private dining room every other Tuesday night beginning October 14th. The seven-to-eight-course menu (ranging in price from $150 to $250) will be posted on the restaurant's website a week in advance. Alas, his website doesn't seem to be functional just yet, but interested diners might want to use the phone instead (212-400-6495), especially since Colicchio says he only plans to keep the project going for the next year.

Geoffrey Raymond is the artist who's been making a name for himself with his portraits of disgraced CEOs, turning up outside office buildings and encouraging employees to "contribute" to his art by adding an inscription of their own. He was outside Bear Stearns shortly after Jimmy Cayne was ousted; last week, he stood outside AIG with a Hank Greenberg painting set up on an easel. But it isn't the safest line of work: When he appeared outside Lehman Brothers with a portrait of Dick Fuld (which he eventually sold for $10,000), he says he "almost got beaten up by a 'drunk, angry' employee wearing one of the firm's corporate softball league jerseys." [NYO, previously]

Kate Winslet picking up her kids from school with her ex-husband, Jim Threapleton ... David and Victoria Beckham shopping on Fifth Avenue ... Michelle Williams' daughter Matilda walking in the rain with her nanny ... Mariska Hargitay walking on the street ... Ali Larter outside the Today show ... Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, and Suri leaving Alice's Tea Cup on East 64th Street ... Jennifer Hudson showing up to an appearance on BET's 106 & Park ... Michael Cera and Julia Louis-Dreyfus outside the Letterman show ... Jennifer Lopez making an appearance at Macy's in Herald Square for the launch of her new fragrance ... Rapper T.I. leaving the Waverly Inn ... and Britney Spears leaving Serendipity 3 with a bunch of handlers.

As if the How To Lose Friends And Alienate People movie wasn't getting enough buzz, Toby Young's famously beleaguered wife, Caroline, has been enlisted to further shore up the increasingly over-the-top Young myth: That he is the most socially inept buffoon who ever lived, and all his success and acclaim is a miraculous accident. In an article for the UK Times, Mrs. Young—who can't actually account for why she married him—presents anecdotes old and new about her husband's borderline-autistic behavior, such as when he asked her mother when she became sexually active. Well, it's not like he has any choice but to act like that now that his entire career depends on it. [Times UK]

An ad for Fox Business that appeared in today's New York Times and Wall Street Journal. [FBNY, THR]

No matter how bad the economy gets, American people will never stint on maintaining the cornerstone of our identity: Having better teeth than the Brits. The Office's Ricky Gervais, who's broken into Hollywood with his new movie Ghost Town, was asked by one interviewer about the "amazing set of horrible-looking fake dentist teeth" his character wears, except there's nothing fake about them. Our "obsession" with teeth is the biggest difference between the two nations, says Gervais, although soon the other major difference will be that one country still has banks in business. [BBC News]

Did you miss John McCain and Sarah Palin's chat with Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News last night? A clip of the fiesty encounter follows after the jump. But more Palin awkwardness may be on the way! According to Politico, there's a clip of Couric asking Palin about the Supreme Court: "After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases. There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence."

How's this for depressing: You can still watch enthusiastic recruiting videos for both Lehman Brothers (here) and Merrill Lynch (here) online. [Via VSL]

Celebrating birthdays today: Veteran publicist Bobby Zarem (left) is 72. Legendary money manager Marty Whitman is 84. Hedge fund billionaire Israel Englander is 60. Elie Wiesel is 80. Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard is 33. Actress Lacey Chabert is 26. Fran Drescher is turning 51. Jenna Elfman is 37. Phish's Trey Anastasio is 44. And former tennis star Martina Hingis is 28 today.

This hasn't been a good week for Harvey Weinstein. Last Friday NBC successfully blocked Weinstein from moving Project Runway from NBC-owned Bravo to Lifetime. Over the past few days, he's also been engaged in an increasingly public (and increasingly messy) feud with producer Scott Rudin over the fate of The Reader, a romantic drama directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. Weinstein had wanted to release the film before the end of year so it could be an Oscar contender, and Rudin claims Weinstein stopped at nothing to move up the film's release date, going as far as to harass producer Sydney Pollock on his deathbed and pressure the grieving widow of Anthony Minghella (another of the film's producers) to make it happen.

♦ Britney Spears' former boyfriend, paparazzo Adnan Ghalib, says he has a sex video featuring him and Britney which he's willing to part with for the right price. And you thought you were done buying sex tapes after the Verne Troyer masterpiece this summer. [NYDN, E!]
♦ Heath Ledger's life insurance company is calling his death "suspicious" and says it won't pay out his $10 mil. policy until it interviews everyone involved, including Mary-Kate Olsen. [NYP]
♦ Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie just had twins. But it's Tuesday, which means they're already thinking of adopting another kid. [Daily Mail]
♦ DJ AM and Travis Barker are both out of the hospital. [NYDN, People, P6]
♦ Janet Jackson checked into the hospital in Canada yesterday. [People]

Losing Money, New York Sun Is to Shut Down After 6 Years [NYT]
Ideal of the Scoop [NY Sun]