Touched by an 'Angel'

CASTING He's no Farrah Fawcett, but Matt LeBlanc has joined the cast of ''Charlie's Angels.'' He'll play an action-movie star who doesn't quite understand that his girlfriend (Lucy Liu), one of the Angels, is fighting actual bad guys. What? LeBlanc playing a dumb guy? Thank God he's avoided typecasting!... Eddie Murphy is eyeing the role of the wee one in a remake of ''The Incredible Shrinking Man''.... Eddie Griffin (''Malcolm and Eddie'') and Orlando Jones (''Liberty Heights'') will team for ''Double Take,'' a comedy about a fugitive-framed businessman who teams up with a street hustler who's really an undercover agent. And yes, the coming attraction will undoubtedly refer to Griffin as ''fast-talking.''

PLAYING LIVE Assuming Billy Corgan's throat heals, Smashing Pumpkins will play two songs on the live ''Politically Incorrect'' post-Super Bowl edition Sunday night. And, as long as Corgan's voice box doesn't burst out of his neck during the first tune, he'll also sit in with the panel.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN Bruce Springsteen has rested up, and now he's ready to pound more fans into exhaustion with his three-hour concerts. He's announced a spring tour that will start on Feb. 28 in State College, Penn., and then wend its way through Florida, Texas, and other Southern states. The tour (which will likely add more dates soon) will end in New York City on June 12 with a five-concert run at Madison Square Garden, the first time Bruce and the E-Street Band has played there since 1988's ''Tunnel of Love'' tour.

RUNNING THE SHOW Omnipresent hostess Rosie O'Donnell will master another ceremony: She's been picked to lead this year's Grammys (on Feb. 23) for the second year in a row. The announcement came as no great surprise, since last year's broadcast earned the second-highest rating in six years for the show.

AWARDS KEEP COMING The award du jour comes from the Broadcast Film Critics Assn., and its members have voted ''American Beauty'' as the best film of the year. They duplicated the Golden Globes in giving awards to the film for best director and screenplay as well. The group had previously announced its acting winners, which were Russell Crowe for ''The Insider,'' Hilary Swank for ''Boys Don't Cry,'' Michael Clarke Duncan for ''The Green Mile,'' and Angelina Jolie for ''Girl, Interrupted.''

EXEC WATCH Michael Eisner finally has a No. 2 man: He's appointed ABC group chairman Robert Iger as president and COO of Walt Disney Co., the first one since Michael Ovitz left in 1996. It's no wonder Iger was picked, since ABC's winning performance this year was virtually the only bright spot on Disney's bank statement.