Gossip Cop, our celebrity-lovin’ sister site, gave us a peek at its 2010 numbers, to which we immediately reacted by murmuring “no one likes a show off” over our hot cup of coffee. It’s entertainment and gossip! How hard could that be? Then we actually took a look at how the numbers compared to those of several major tabloids and entertainment news shows. And we were impressed. And more than a little pensive. What did this mean for the nature of celebrity gossip and the way readers – both of print and online publications – and TV viewers consume their celebrity news?

Remember Tony Hayward, the cartoonishly detached BP CEO that provided the only temporary relief (in the form of relentless mockery) from the unending agony of the BP oil disaster? He’s back, unfortunately, and he’s eating seafood. Even more scandalous, there was a pretty girl within thirty feet of him while he did it! TMZ has the Pulitzer-worthy investigation.

Turns out Game Change, the bestselling 2008 election gossip tome that introduced “Negro dialect” and “O’Biden” into our political vocabulary, was only the first volume in a presidential election series. Authors John Heilemann and Mark Halperin signed a book deal today with Penguin Press, abandoning Game Change publisher HarperCollins for more than $5 million dollars to do it all over again in 2012. But if the campaigns know Heilemann and Halperin are watching, isn’t it guaranteed they’ll be less embarrassing, and thus less interesting?

I met Dominick Dunne when I was a cub reporter for Court TV on the OJ Simpson case. He was, at that time, just beginning to enjoy his notoriety as a celebrity journalist. Day after day we took our assigned seats in the courtroom and then met in the hall during breaks as we stalked the attorneys.

As a 28-year-old reporter for a small cable channel, I turned to him as a mentor. But he wasn’t looking to be the purveyor of sage advice. He wanted information from me too. What started as a symbiotic professional relationship became a cherished friendship.

What’s more surprising about the news that longtime Page Six gossip columnist, and now best-selling author, Paula Froelich is leaving her job? That someone has opted out of a steady journalism gig, or that books are actually selling? The real question now, however, is who will replace her?