The new David M. Rosenthal thriller, The Perfect Guy, follows the story of a young, accomplished lobbyist named Leah, who has arrived at a crossroads in her love life: David, her longterm boyfriend, begins to doubt their future together. Leah is distraught—that is, until Carter comes along. Carter is, at first, the consummate gentleman: kind, good-looking, affectionate. But as these stories often go, he turns out to be the opposite of Leah’s dreams; he’s a psychopath who begins to obsessively stalk her. The Perfect Guy is a typical Hollywood thriller—except for two things: it features a majority-black cast and, perhaps even more surprisingly, it features a black woman in the lead role.

At least one person is glad Eddie Murphy refused to play Bill Cosby on SNL40 earlier this week: Bill Cosby. "I am very appreciative of Eddie and I applaud his actions," the legendary comedian and alleged serial rapist told NBC News.

Eddie Murphy's servicey appearance on SNL last week was historic in nature but ultimately bland—though not for lack of trying, says an especially chatty Norm Macdonald.

Eddie Murphy is working with Shawn Ryan to turn Beverly Hills Cop into a TV show. Maybe it won't be terrible?

The much-hyped John Carter didn't exactly live up to box office expectations, earning only $9.8 million on Friday. Although it stands to take in a more respectable $27 million through the weekend, that's still chump change compared to the $250 million the studio threw down to make it.

No, it is not 1991 all over again, but Billy Crystal is going to host the Oscars now that Brett Ratner got fired and Eddie Murphy stepped down as host. The forces of nostalgia have won out yet again.

Thanks to one silly little word by Brett Ratner and what was shaping up to be the worst Oscars ever are no more. With Ratner out as producer and Eddie Murphy stepping down as host, the Academy is starting from scratch.

In the wake of Brett Ratner resigning from producing what would have been History's Worst Oscars because he said "fag," should the Academy also be looking at what their host has said about gay people in the past too? Probably.

When schlockmeister Brett Ratner was named director of the Oscars, we groaned. When he named Eddie Murphy host, we groaned again. Now he's hired all new writers to help with him with the show. We can't stop groaning.

Kim Kardashian is getting divorced after only 72 days. That's only two and a half months. Apparently celebrities are especially susceptible to being married for very short periods of time. Here are some that were so short they make Kim's look long, and some that lasted a bit longer and make Kim's look short, sort of like when she'd stand next to her future ex, Kris Humphries.

Retro relic Eddie Murphy is going to host the Oscars, at least according to our bosom buddy Nikki Finke over at Deadline. Man, this is going to be worse than Forrest Gump winning Best Picture.

Here's a trailer for Tower Heist, the star-studded Brett Ratner (shudder) comedy about a bunch of apartment building employees who decide to rob the place's swindling, Bernie Madoff-esque richest tenant. Timely!

What is the first thing that Eddie Murphy should do when he gets on stage to do a stand-up comedy routine? If you said "give a hearty 'thank-you' to the African tribes who originated the concept of The Dozens hundreds of years ago," well, your name is probably author and educator Elizabeth Evans! It's all right here in the press release of the day—and your mother is portly!

It's a massacre's-worth of celebrity death hoaxes! Owen Wilson, Adam Sandler, Aretha Franklin and others have been felled by bogus death rumors in the past few days. Let us mourn.

On Saturday night, SNL jumped on the Back to the Future bandwagon, bringing us a look at some discarded screentests from the new DVD release. SNL posits Eddie Murphy as Marty McFly and Robin Williams as Doc Brown, among others.

• Nearly five years after putting his New Jersey home up for sale for $30 million, Eddie Murphy has slashed $15 million off the asking price of 5-acre estate in Englewood. The 25,000-square-foot Colonial-style mansion, which features a bowling alley, theater, racquetball court, indoor pool, elevator, carriage house and recording studio, can now be yours for $14.99 million. [NYDN, Sotheby's]
• Fashion designer Adam Lippes is trying to sell his penthouse at 37 West 12th Street. According to the listing (which describes the apartment's owner as "a young rising star of NYC fashion"), the two-bedroom pad was designed by Eve-Lynn Schoenstein and David Schefer and has been featured in Elle Decor. It's currently on the market for $5.75 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• More than a year after art dealer Daniel Wildenstein sold his family's mansion at 11 East 64th Street for $42.5 million, the 29-foot-wide townhouse has reportedly gone back on the market for $37 million with Carrie Chiang. [NYO]
• Michael and Amanda Salzhauer have sold their 10th floor apartment at 860 Park Avenue for $7.7 million. Michael is a principal at the real estate firm Benjamin Partners; Amanda is the daughter of Steve Roth, the billionaire chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, and his wife Daryl. [Cityfile]

Eddie Murphy, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson: All indisputable geniuses in the 80s. Hit-or-miss in the 90s. And, at least before the outpouring of adulation for Jackson today, you probably wouldn't want to trade reputations with any of them.

• ABC and NBC will face off on Thursday night with competing tributes to Farrah Fawcett, who died today. But you probably expected that, no? [NYT]
• David Letterman beat out Conan in the ratings last week, the first time the Late Show has dominated the weekly ratings since 2005. [THR]
• Rosie O'Donnell will debut a new show on Sirius XM this fall. [NYDN]
• Rumor has it Ben Silverman's tenure at NBC may be ending soon. [DHD]
• Fox News now averages the same number of viewers as CNN, MSNBC, and HLN combined. Cue an evil grin across Roger Ailes's face. [THR]
• Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson's new book contains material he ripped from Wikipedia. But he's really, really sorry about it, okay? [NYP]

The movie about drunks and their drunken ways keeps hitting the big time. As does the movie about white people in the jungle. Meanwhile, Eddie Murphy and John Travolta have both seen better days.

Alec Baldwin turns 51 today. Eddie Murphy is turning 48. Pop princess Leona Lewis is 24. Amanda Bynes is turning 23. 90210's Jennie Garth is 37. Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton, is turning 67. Former ski champion Picabo Street is 38. Legendary actress Doris Day is turning 87. Actor David Hyde Pierce is 50. And Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach is 41. Weekend birthdays after the jump.