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Now that Sherry Lansing has done the trendy thing and announced her delayed resignation from Paramount, Viacom co-president Tom Freston finally has a chance to put his stamp on the underperforming studio and draw some blood in his intramural deathmatch with Les Moonves. But before Lansing's announcement, Freston was smacked down for criticizing Paramount:

At a recent investor conference, he dismissed the specialty film label Paramount Classics as an "also-ran" and singled out the $120-million movie The Stepford Wives as an example of Paramount's costly misfires.

The comments — a stunning bit of candor in an industry that usually aims to put a positive spin on everything — caught Lansing by surprise. Sources say she confronted Freston, and he apologized.

He apologized? Freston's going to have to learn how to play rough if he doesn't want Moonves turning his office into a storage closet by early next year or find his wife's lingerie drawer redolent of the distinctive scent of Moonves' cologne.