Private funeral for Farrah tomorrow

Yeah, the maesltrom around the death of Michael Jackson has overshadowed what was, at least until about 2 pm that day, the biggest and saddest story to come out of Hollywood on Thursday, June 25th. Farrah Fawcett's passing after a valiant battle against cancer put aside for the moment the unsavoury activities of her longtime beau Ryan O'Neal, includng his intentions to marry her and seal her estate on her deathbed. ABC News and NBC News, taken by surprise by Jacko's drop, went ahead with their planned dueling Farrah soap operas, and in the end ABC's Barbara Walters' "get" of Ryan O'Neal and his compatriot Alana Stewart guaranteed that the show would stick to the official party line and play the Ryan-Farrah "Love Story" script to the fullest. No need for reality to seep into a network mewsmagazine piece. We didn't see Meredith Vieira's revenge hour, slapped up against Walters by NBC in a rage that ABC was stealing the thurnder they'd paid more than a million dolalrs for when they bought (and had their way with) Farrah's documentary.

The only other real outrage in the story comes from the stately New York Times and their addled television writer Alessandra Stanley. An idiot with a reputation for getting details wrong, Stanley, in a backhanded "appreciation" of Farrah's lifework, blew off Farrah's talent as an actress and stuck in a nasty barb while mistakenly (details!) blaming her for the hatchet job NBC did on the documentary that was originally a journal about her treatment in Germany, not a sequel to O'Neal's weepy flick:

"NBC, never shy about exploiting a celebrity tragedy, overproduced and overpromoted her film in 'Farrah’s Story,' but never made the public service point that, besides abstinence, the HPV vaccine is the most promising form of prevention against this type of cancer, which in most cases is sexually acquired."

Sexually Acquired?

For the record, Tabloid Baby can report exclusively that Farrah made it clear to several Tabloid Baby sources that there was no chance she could have contracted her cancer through anal sex.

Tabloid Baby pal Ray Richmond, recently freed from the shackles of The Hollywood Reporter, writes on his indispensable, informative and entertaining website, Man Bites Tinseltown (bookmark it!), that Farrah's funeral will take place tomorrow, Tuesday at 4 pm at the Cathedral of Our Lady of The Angels in downtown Los Angeles.

It's private, invitation only.

Friends brawl, networks in deathmatch as Farrah slips away...

Friends of Farrah Fawcett tell us her passing is near. Her doctors confirm the sad inevitability. And as the brave, beautiful blonde takes her final breaths, the battles surrounding her are amped up amid the emotion and panic among her loved ones and those who want something from her alike. The friends and colleagues who've been kept away from Farrah since her longtime/sometimes lover Ryan O'Neal moved in and took over her affairs have taken to various websites and press releases with accusations that we can't repeat unless or until we or someone who's paid to do the work can prove them.

The most unseemly deathmatch is between the true Farrahcites, the network news buzzards who preach high standards yet grovel in the dirt as they ape the tabloid form in search of the next bug "get." Word tonight is that the good folks at NBC and NBC News are in an uproar that old Barbara Walters and her crew at ABC's 20/20 hijacked the sequel to their high-rating tabloid special "Farrah's Story" for ABC's own "Love Story," set to air Friday night and getting a lot of play for Ryan O'Neal's jocular announcement that he plans to marry Farrah on her deathbed if "maybe we can just nod her head."

Tonight we hear that NBC's biggest fear is that Farrah will pass away in the next 48 hours, leading to giant ratings for ABC. So NBC plans to counter-program with three primetime hours of Farrah Fawcett on Friday night, rerunning "Farrah's Story," the maudlin, morbid tale helmed by and starring Ryan O'Neal, followed by a "special" one-hour retrospective on Farrah's life hosted by Meredith Vieira.

This is not tribute. This is not homage to a princess. One insider tells TabloidBaby what it is: "NBC is looking to crush ABC."

"Farrah's Story," you'll remember, was a two-hour recut of the cancer journal documentary Farrah had produced with producer Craig Nevius. But as her condition worsened, O'Neal took over not only her affairs but the doco, pushing Nevius aside (Nevius sued), and with the help of the heavy hands at NBC Dateline, turning Farrah's story into Ryan's real-life Love Story.

Farrah's journals, we're told, are being turned into a book by Alana Stewart, her friend who helped film much of Farrah's treatment at cancer clinics in Germany, and who later sided with O'Neal in the doco heist after demanding a fat payoff for her work. The book, we're told will be announced after Farrah's passing, "for maximum effect."

April 2nd, 2009:

Ryan O'Neal tells Barbara Walters he'll marry Farrah before she dies

Wonder if hard-hitting news veteran Barbara Walters will get to the bottom of the controversy over Ryan O'Neal's control over cancer-stricken Farrah Fawcett in her final days? Wonder no more. The promotion department at ABC is working overtime to hype the 20/20 segment that airs Friday night, and the big "get" is O'Neal's insistence that the iconic actress has agreed to marry him on her deathbed.

Says O'Neal: "We will (marry), as soon as she can say 'yes.'"

"As soon as she can say 'yes.'"

O'Neal, who has been accused by some of Farrah's friends of engineering an "estate takeover," laughed when he added: "Maybe we can just nod her head."

"Maybe we can just nod her head."

He was still having fun when he spoke about how he'd dress for the wedding: "Like a gigolo. A little thin moustache and slicked-back hair. I don't know."

"Like a gigolo."

There has been no comment from Farrah. The 62-year-old star is said to be heavily sedated, and at last word, has been re-admitted to the hospital.

This has led to questions about the veracity of O'Neal's statements and the intentions behind the wedding. But not, apparently, from Barbara Walters.

O'Neal and Farrah were tempestuous, (on-and-off) lovers for years (they have a son, Redmond, who's jailed on drug charges), but broke up officially a dozen years ago. He came back into her life during her cancer battle and recently made headlines when he seized control of the cancer documentary she had been producing and with the help of NBC News, turned it into a maudlin, morbid elder version of "Love Story" with O'Neal reprising his role.

Said one friend: "Ryan thinks the documentary will do to his career what 'Pulp Fiction did to Travolta's."

Walters, with the 20/20 investigative unit and powerful ABC News organization at her disposal, might still surprise us and delve into the charges, mystery and uproar around O'Neal's control over Farrah in her dying days. It will be interesting to see if the tabloid babies who create her segnments dig away to find the truth, or, in more standard network procedure, make deals with public relations firms, promising to stay away from certain hot topics in exchange for "exclusives' like wedding announcements.

As for the deathbed wedding, O'Neal tells Walters: "I promise you, we will. Absolutely."