People in the news for Nov. 8, 1996

Friday, Nov. 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

In the country of ho-hum celebrity gossip, the newly sober TV star is king. It's in that hearty Oh, well spirit that we lead off today's parade honoring Slow News Day with the latest on the freshly rehabbed Kelsey Grammer. Look, Kelsey, it's an "Entertainment Tonight" camera crew! Tell them about that $100 bill you've carried with you since your September DUI accident. "I'll never spend it," the "Frasier" star tells tonight's "ET." "It has blood on it from the night I had my accident." No money-laundering jokes, please; this is serious stuff. "Just a little visual reminder that I don't want to go there again." Recalling the accident, he says, "I pretty much surrendered at that point to God." God in turn handed him over to Betty Ford, and Grammer's been looking at the bright side ever since: "This has been a real eye-opener as far as people being fond of who I really am," he says, "rather than what they can get from me." Having said all that to "Entertainment Tonight," one wonders what's left for Grammer to tell Jay Leno when he appears on the "Tonight" show tonight.

That suit is you!

Spurned by his band mates, ignored by buyers of solo albums, David Lee Roth may at least find a little satisfaction in the California courts. He's suing several insurance companies for failing to fully reimburse him for earthquake damage to his Pasadena home. He says he was paid just $350,000 for damage sustained by a walkway in a 1994 shaker. He wants more, a prudent move considering his prospects for future musical prosperity. The companies had sought a court order barring Roth from going after punitive damages, but a judge ruled this week in the singer's favor. His lawsuit seeks $5 million, claiming the whole affair damaged his singing career, although, clearly, that was a pre-existing condition.

Bob TV

Having finally dug himself out from under the Electoral College landslide, Bob Dole is ready to make his first major post-slaughter TV appearance. And where will the grand old partier appear? "Facing the Nation While You Meet The Press This Week With David Brinkley"? No; too much chance of running into Sam Donaldson there, and who wants to risk that? Instead, Dole will take his third-person pronouns onto that noted public policy program, tonight's "Late Show With David Letterman." Where's your old-guy jokes now, Mr. Smarty Pants? Could there be a more perfect ending to a slow news day?

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets