Nicki Minaj

IN A MOVE that surprised even avid celeb-stalkers, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds tied the knot in a secret ceremony over the weekend. Linked publicly for a little more than a year, the "Gossip Girl" actress and her chiseled hubby were wed at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, S.C., right outside of Charleston. Florence Welch , leader of Florence and the Machine and a good friend of Lively's, provided the soundtrack for the wedding. The newlyweds have largely been tight-lipped to reporters about their relationship.

With YouTube and broadcast/cable TV behind them, we're expecting big sales send-offs for new music "product" from Justin Bieber, Matthew Morrison and the Lonely Island, leading this week's CD/videodisc parade. BIEBERMANIA: If you can't stand the sight and sound of young girls going bonkers over Bieber , stay away from the new home video release of his documentary "Never Say Never" (Paramount Home Video, A-) . If you're at all intrigued by what it took to achieve JB's iconic level of success, this film is just the ticket and quite a fun ride.

IN HIS NEVER-ENDING quest to make "American Idol" seem relevant again, host Ryan Seacrest said Wednesday that things got intense between new hosts Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey during a tryout taping the previous day in Charlotte, N.C. Amid a dispute over a contestant, Nicki announced that she was no longer putting up with "her [bleepin'] Highness," in a reference to Mariah. The entire expletive-laden rant can be seen at TMZ.com. Another new judge, Keith Urban , was in the unenviable position of sitting between the pair, wondering why he ever chose to take the gig. On his radio show, Seacrest said that "Idol" needs some passionate debate.

Good to know some things don't change. Minutes into their season-opening press confab on Tuesday, American Idol 's Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj were at each other's throats, reviving their headline-making, if paper-thin, faux feud from last year. Asked about their fight, Minaj said, "We're professionals. Have you ever had an argument with someone you've worked with?" Carey looked displeased. "This was sort of one-sided," she said. "No, it wasn't," Minaj snapped. (Don't you wish we could send them up to their rooms?

I've avoided writing about Lady Gaga because, frankly, the woman scares me. OK, maybe scares is too strong a word, but one must admit: Her getups are unsettling. I mean, she wore a costume of blood and exposed bones at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. And remember the raw meat dress and matching shoes she donned at the VMAs in September? Eww. But as we wrap up this year in fashion, I must admit - albeit warily - that I can't ignore the blond songstress anymore. 2010 was the year of Gaga.

A lot of people got drunk on election night, some in glee, some in despair. And some only seemed drunk. Which was it, we at "SideShow" wonder, with Diane Sawyer , longtime ABC anchor? She seemed, shall we say, lit from within Tuesday night as she cohosted election coverage with George Stephanopoulos . Her speech was slurred ("President Barack Ora - Barack Obama "), she wandered, seemed on the verge of giggling, and she kept leaning forward on her arms like a stevedore calling for a double Rusty Nail and make it quick . Twitter, with customary lack of mercy, exploded.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first as we recap the year in TV. In 2012, we lost Mayberry's Sheriff Andy Taylor, J.R. Ewing, George Jefferson, two dance-party kings with the initials D.C., Barnabas Collins, the cutest Monkee, the skipper of PT-73, and Family Feud 's kissing bandit. The good news? We gained Honey Boo Boo. You do the math. TLC's tiny, tubby yahoo was a rebuke to all of you who wrote me declaring that TV could not get any lower than Jersey Shore . Ha!

OK. Guess whom "SideShow" is imitating. "Beeeeeep. Beeeeeep, beeeeeep. " The Road Runner ? Star Wars ' R2-D2 ? My Mother the Car ? No, no, and no. We're channeling the bleeps on American Idol now that Nicki Minaj , who can bench-press 350 pounds of foul language, is a judge on the show. Apparently, the feud between her and Mariah Carey (also a new judge) has been upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane. A trending video on YouTube shows Minaj on Tuesday, chucking *%#s at Carey, who may well be chucking back, though only Minaj is audible.

Jersey Shore keeps making waves. The hit MTV show's stars are getting raises - to $100,000 a show - while some Rutgers students, embarrassed by Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi 's recent gabbing gig there, have issued an invite to someone with more intellectual heft: Ocean County College dropout Bruce Springsteen . Oh, and Bruce, would you do it for free? For her "study hard but party harder" counsel, Polizzi snagged $32,000 from an organization funded by student fees - two grand more than Nobel winner Toni Morrison will get for her commencement address.

WE MAY never know if Whitney Houston died by accident or intent - drowning in a bathtub Saturday afternoon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. While there's much speculation that she was under the influence of anti-depressants and alcohol, the coroner's official report won't be out for weeks. What we do know is that Whitney Houston couldn't possibly have picked a more opportune moment to make goodbyes and deliver a brutal statement about the dark side of the music biz - how the stresses of the game can drive a person to bad habits and spiraling self-destruction.