The U.S. Attorney's witness list for Anthony Pellicano's trial has been filed with the court and includes 127 names; and that's just for starters. On the roster: attorney Bertram Fields, Sly Stallone, Paramount head Brad Grey, CAA's Kevin Huvane, Universal head Ron Meyer, ex-Disney chief Michael Ovitz, Chris Rock, Gary Shandling … and Gary Shandling's ex-girlfriend Linda Doucett. [DHD]

An otherwise flattering WWD piece from Jacob Bernstein about Nikki Finke had to go down the crapper simply because "a legal question about whether one blanket 'yes you can tape [the conversation]' covered all subsequent follow-up interviews." The since-removed column (reprinted elsewhere) credited Finke with breaking all sorts of industry news – garnering the sort of attention and influence most bylines crave – and painted her as a strong and principled lass who doesn't have time for corporate bullshit. (Should we all be so lucky!)

It was Bernstein's alluding to Universal Studios prez Ron Meyer and former HBO chief Michael Fuchs being two of her most worthwhile sources (she's friends with both) that got him in the most trouble … but, um, who doesn't rely on knowledgeable insiders time and again?

After the piece ran, a slew of Finke-fueled WWD corrections followed "WWD made several corrections" before the story was ultimately removed from WWD.com. Tomorrow, says Keith Kelly, the industry trade will announce it stands by its story, but will keep it offline because of the whole "off the record" issue. (An issue that has more to do with not wanting to deal with this debacle any longer than it does with certain conversations being labeled OTR.)