CELEBRITY WATCH
Listen to "Celebrity Watch" from CNN Radio's Ken Pauli Real Audio: 28k

From staff and wire reports

Today's buzz stories:

• Blue's Clues' Steve turns in green striped shirt
• Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris among top UK country artists

Blue's Clues' Steve turns in green striped shirt

NEW YORK -- He's admired by throngs of children who know him simply as "Steve" from Nickelodeon's cartoon show "Blue's Clues."

But now the strip-shirted human host, Steve Burns, is leaving the show because the 27-year-old doesn't like where the role was taking him.

"I didn't really want to become Krusty the Klown in front of the nation," Burns told Time magazine in its Jan. 8 issue, referring to the bumbling clown in "The Simpsons."

"Blue's Clues"' new host will be "brother" Joe, played by the actor Donovan Patton. Burns called him "funnier and better than me."

Burns five years ago teamed with Blue, the cartoon dog whose name matches his color, in a show that teaches toddlers deductive reasoning. He made the role famous with his upbeat personality, khakis and stripped shirt.

Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris among top UK country artists

LONDON, England -- British journalists, DJs, record producers and retailers have released their "Critics Choice" top ten country albums of 2000.

The poll, compiled by the United Kingdom office of the Country Music Association, focuses on the albums' reception in the U.K. rather than their appeal in the United States.

The U.K. "Critics Choice," in alphabetical order: