Sideshow: New bio and film on J.D. Salinger

The late, great J.D. Salinger, the famously reclusive author of one of America's most famous novels, The Catcher in the Rye, will be revealed in all his private glory in a new biography and film.

So promises Simon & Schuster, which said Tuesday that it had bought the rights to The Private War of J.D. Salinger, an oral biography compiled by author David Shields and filmmaker Shane Salerno. Salerno also has directed a companion documentary, which will air next January on PBS.

Book and film feature interviews "with over 150 sources who either worked directly with author J.D. Salinger, had a personal relationship with him, or were influenced by his work," Simon & Schuster says.

Salinger died in 2010 at 91, having refused for half a century to publish any other works. Which brings us to the question which haunts Salingerites: Did he leave behind any unpublished manuscripts? Shields and Salerno are keeping quiet for now .

Action film director Michael Bay of Transformers fame will host a benefit Super Bowl party and silent auction, the Fourth Annual Big Game Big Give, Saturday in New Orleans to raise money for the Giving Back Fund. Invited celebs include actors Alyssa Milano, Jon Cryer, and Peter Weller, beauty pageant beauty Katherine Webb, and NFL VIPs Steve Gleason, Scott Fujita, and Jonathan Vilma.

Decorative The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fixture Brandi Glanville, 40, still has tender feelings for her ex-, Eddie Cibrian, whose cheatin' heart in '09 led him to bed then-married singer LeAnn Rimes, whom he went on to marry.

Brandi, who has two sons with Cibrian, hurled a few choice epithets at Rimes Monday at a West Hollywood launch party for her book, Drinking & Tweeting and Other Brandi Blunders, which is hailed as the greatest memoir since The Education of Henry Adams.

Brandi tried to make her marriage work. "I loved so hard," E!News quotes her as saying. "I loved my children and my family was perfect. I did everything I could do for him." Brandi said writing the book taught her that "heartbreak is universal."

Showtime has renewed three hits - Shameless, House of Lies, and David Duchovny's Californication - for the 2014 season. . . . BBC America has renewed its Matthew Macfadyen-starring Victorian procedural Ripper Street for a second season. . . . Justin Timberlake, who caused a ripple in the time-space continuum with his Jay-Z-guested "Suit & Tie" video, will release his next LP, 20/20, on March 19. . . . Kid Rock owns lots of Harley-Davidson bikes. So it was natural, he said on Tuesday, to sign on to shill product for the company. It doesn't make him a sellout, he insisted. . . . Illusionist Criss Angel is offering $5,000 for the safe return of his teacup Yorkshire terrier, lifted from a Las Vegas kennel while Angel, 45, was on vacation in Mexico, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

Destiny's Child has a new single and on Tuesday released a compilation CD, Love Songs, yet they will not reunite for the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday - even though Beyoncé is headlining the show. So insists B's former bandmate Michelle Williams in a chat on WRUG radio. We all know that by the sacred laws of PR  , a "no" in the mouth of a celeb always means "yes." Which means the band is getting back together! QED.

Veteran ABC News newsman Chris Cuomo, 42, has left his post as coanchor of 20/20 to join CNN's morning lineup. He's one of new CNN boss Jeff Zucker's first big hires. Cuomo will "have a major role in a new CNN morning show," it says here.

A photo was posted on Justin Bieber's site this week that seemed to show the teen groping a female fan's breasts. It was quickly removed. Debate rages: Did Justin really have his hands on her, or was it a trick of the camera? A Twitter-er named JocelynnBieber has sent out a missive claiming she was the girl in question. She neither admits nor denies the groping, but says she was thrilled.