We’ll see if Dick ends up dropping the ball this year

AS HE HAS for decades, Dick Clark is planning to let his TV work speak for itself – and for him. Clark and co-host Ryan Seacrest are set to welcome 2006 from New York’s Times Square tonight in the 34th annual “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.”

The 76-year-old Clark, the focus of increasing speculation as his annual gig drew closer, has shunned public appearances and interviews since a stroke nearly 13 months ago,

“He just wants the show to be the coming-out party,” said publicist Paul Shefrin, adding that Clark will welcome the new year as he always has – by kissing his wife, Kari.

Recent tabloid photographs showing Clark using a walker are months old, Shefrin said.

“He’s doing fine,” Shefrin said. “He’s walking. He’s talking.”

Clark suffered a stroke on Dec. 6, 2004, and was hospitalized for more than seven weeks at a Burbank hospital, forcing him to cancel as host of last year’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” Regis Philbin filled in and Clark promised to be back this year.

Randy dawgs Ryan

So how is “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson planning to celebrate tonight?

“I’m just trying to get ready for that New Year’s Eve ball drop with Ryan Seacrest,” Jackson joked.

So he isn’t really planning to be in front of the TV watching “Idol” host Seacrest hang out with Dick Clark?

“I told him I’d only watch if he rides the ball,” Jackson says. “If he jumps on the ball and has a fit of rage and rides it down.”

Video games

Two men have been arrested for trying to sell Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez‘s stolen wedding video back to the couple for $1 million.

The men allegedly tried to ransom the video after first shopping it around unsuccessfully to media outlets.

A copy of the celebrity couple’s June 2004 wedding video was in a laptop computer that was in Anthony’s car when it was stolen last October. The car was later recovered but the laptop was gone.

Bad Christian

Christian Brando, son of late actor Marlon Brando, is being sued by his ex-wife and his stepdaughter, who alleged he abused and threatened to kill them.

Brando pleaded guilty to charges of spousal abuse in January and was sentenced to drug and alcohol rehab and three years of probation.

He previously served five years for voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of his half-sister’s boyfriend.

In addition to striking and threatening his ex-wife, the lawsuit alleges Brando would chase his stepdaughter and once threatened “to cut her up into a million pieces.”

Little girl lost

“Lost” stars Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros were arraigned on charges of drunken driving Thursday in Hawaii, nearly a month after both actresses were arrested in separate cars.

Watros, 37, plans to return to court Jan. 12 to plead guilty, her attorney said. A March 30 trial was set for Rodriguez, 27, whose lawyer declined to comment.

Rodriguez pleaded no contest in Los Angeles to three traffic violations in 2004, including drunken driving. She was cited for speeding in Hawaii three times this year.

The birthday bunch

Singer Odetta is 75. Actor Anthony Hopkins is 68. Actor Tim Considine (“My Three Sons”) is 65. Actress Sarah Miles is 64. Actor Ben Kingsley is 62. Actor Tim Matheson is 58. Singer Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) is 58. Singer Donna Summer is 57. Actress Bebe Neuwirth (“Cheers”) is 47. Actor Val Kilmer is 46. Singer-actor Joe McIntyre (New Kids on the Block) is 33.