Daddy Dreary

Nothing succeeds like success. Which multi-billionaire Sumner Redstone, like Mr. Murdoch, won't let happen. An orderly succession, that is.

Redstone, who earlier this year settled a suit with son Brett involving charges he favored daughter Shari in "sharing" the spoils of his National Amusements (which controls Viacom, which owns CBS, MTV, Paramount, etc.) seems to be exiling said daughter — until recently considered the heir — who happens to own 20 percent of NA. (To be fair, there have also been a few men successively and temporarily installed as next-in-lines to the 84-year-old Redstone.)

An unamed "fellow Hollywood mogul" described Redstone to Brian Burrough for the Dec. 2006 Vanity Fair, as a man, "[who] has no sense of other people. It's all about him, and it always has been. He has a tremendous ego. But he has no grace. No charm. Really, he's not loyal to anyone but himself. Well, there was the 53-year marriage to wife No. 1, Phyllis, although it did include a non-traditional social aspect between the two allowing him to date nearly openly outside their Newton, Mass., hometown.)

But loyal to his kids? We'll just have to see how the will shakes out. However, with a 45-year-old second wife there is still the Murdoch-like possibility of new children stirring up some family business.

** Even some dad's forget, you can't take it with you and even if you could, what matters is what you leave here. **