This morning Page Six ran an item that alum-turned-author Paula Froelich recently posed nude for an oil painting. Well, we got our hands on a photo of one of the canvases.

The paperback edition of Paula Froelich's bestselling novel Mercury in Retrograde came out this week. She's celebrating by hanging out in the comments section of this post and suffering the indignity of answering your questions. Ask her anything!

• Say it ain't so, Sue: WNBC may be planning to drop the 5 o'clock newscast, Live at Five, in favor of a "lifestyle show" of some sort. [NYO]
• Richard Branson does not want to buy Playboy. Sorry, Hugh. [Reuters]
• NBC ratings hit a new low last week. [AP/HuffPo]
• Naturally, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker painted a much rosier picture when he appeared on stage at the D7 conference yesterday. [ATD]
• Were you aware that some magazines Photoshop their pics? It's true! [NYT]
• If MGM doesn't come up with some cash quick, it could go bankrupt. [THR]
• Page Six's Paula Froelich took time from promoting her new novel, Mercury in Retrograde, to kick Michael Wolff's ass across the room. [BlackBook]

Page Six gossipeuse Paula Froelich has written a novel! One of those thinly-disguised novels about real New York people. But just who is she parodying in the book? She's teased some blind items:

Page Sixer Paula Froelich has a book coming out called Mercury in Retrograde ("chick lit"). The current cover, pictured, is rather serene. But the original cover, pictured below, was more DYNAMIC:

Liz Smith reports: