Sideshow: 'Mad Men' without its main man?

There's discontent, disharmony, vexation - yes,

madness

- on the

Mad Men

ship.

Matt Weiner, beloved creator and exec producer of the sexy, revisionist '60s soap opera, has yet to renew his contract with Mad Men's home channel, AMC, says Variety.

Fans quake in horror!

But, there's good news, of a sort: AMC has green-lighted the fifth season of the superb drama - to run in 2012. Seems they're determined to crank it out with or without Weiner.

The cabler hasn't necessarily abandoned Weiner, saying that "key non-cast negotiations" continue as we speak. (Weiner plunged AMC into similar contractual chaos two years ago.)

According to the blog Deadline Hollywood, Weiner is opposing AMC and producer Lionsgate on three things they want: more product placements, two minutes less running time in favor of commercials, and cutting two performers. No names mentioned.

Weiner's AMC masterpiece stars Jon Hamm as a latter-day Ivan Ilych forced to confront his mortality and the morality of his Mephistophelian role as facilitator of the American dream, hyperconsumerism.

Hope they resolve their differences. AMC would be mad - maaaad! - to steer the Mad Men ship without Weiner at the helm.

Britney Spears

is on an aggressive publicity campaign for her new CD,

Femme Fatale.

(Dude, Brit is about as

fatale

as a toaster oven.) She's announced a new tour, and she performed three tunes Tuesday on

Good Morning America

.

MTV is doing its bit for Brit awareness: On Sunday, it'll air a behind-the-scenes look at Brit's wonderrific life.

In related news, MTV says Brit's ex, Kevin Federline, and his gf, Victoria Prince, are expecting a child. K-Fed is a fecund dude: He already has daughter Kori, 8, and Kaleb, 6, with ex-gf Shar Jackson and sons Sean, 5, and Jaden, 4, with Brit.

Billboard reports that

Enrique Iglesias

, supposed to be touring with Brit, has decided to ditch the job.

FX has renewed cooler-than-cool-can-be actor

Timothy Olyphant

's U.S.-marshals-from-Mars drama,

Justified

, for a third season.

Jennifer Aniston is about to enter uncharted waters: The Friends star is set to direct a segment in Lifetime TV's breast-cancer-themed movie anthology movie, Project Five, says the Hollywood Reporter. Segments will be directed by Alicia Keys, Demi Moore, and filmmaker Patty Jenkins.

Agatha Christie's brilliant pensioner detective Miss Marple is about to undergo a serious makeover. Deadline.com says Jennifer Garner will star as Marple in a big-screen mystery from Disney. What?

Celeb writer and would-be celeb Perez Hilton has signed to write a children's book that celebrates individuality and self-acceptance, titled The Boy With Pink Hair. (Mr. Hilton often sports a neon-pink-dyed do.)

"This story is about every kid that's ever had a dream, felt excluded, wanted to belong, and hoped that one day they could do what they loved," Hilton says in a statement.

Oprah Winfrey has gifted Rosie O'Donnell with her very own show on Oprah's OWN network. "It's a huge thrill for me, and I'm beyond the beyond," Rosie writes on her blog.

Rob Lowe

, 47, used to party with

Charlie Sheen

when the thesps were young, twentysomething studs. (Rob grew up. As for Chas, well he's still young at heart.)

Vanity Fair has excerpted passages about the boys' fun days from Lowe's forthcoming memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

"We competed to see who could play harder, then show up for work and still kick [behind]," Lowe writes.

Lowe sums Charlie up as "a wonderful mix of nerd . . . and rebel," but also describes him as "robotic," with "bloodless focus, an intensity that I've never encountered before."

"You know, people had warned us that the Broadway scene was snooty, but it really has been pretty great."

So says Broadway legend Matt Stone in a really, really long, extended Twitter chat with Gawker.

Adds Stone's accomplice, Trey Parker, "I like theater people. They hug a lot."

Stone and Parker, you may remember, outraged every possible interest group with South Park. But they've become the world's most beloved religious prophets with their Broadway smash hit, The Book of Mormon.

Asked what musical they'd love to produce, Stone said, "Fiddler [on the Roof] starring Sacha Baron Cohen."

Madagascar Live!

isn't coming to Philly after all. A show rep says DreamWorks Theatricals and Broadway Across America have canceled all previously scheduled performances of

Madagascar Live!

at the Academy of Music. The show's final performance will be at New York's Radio City Music Hall on April 24.

Producers have a very specific, clear, enlightening reason for killing the show: "Unforeseen circumstances."

Sure, she's fired her dad as her manager, but don't believe ugly rumors that

Beyoncé

hates

Mathew Knowles

. "I've only parted ways with my father on a business level," Beyoncé tells UsMagazine.com. "He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly."