Powerful women still considered novel

Novel enough for magazines to rank them. Forbes' just-released list of the world's 100 most powerful women includes five that are based in L.A. - and, not surprisingly, they're all in show business. But none of them act (well, not in front of the camera anyway). Here's the rundown:

#15 Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks (ranked just behind Oprah). Forbes calls her "gentle" and "self-effacing," which must be a first in Hollywood. Sweeney is in charge of lots of stuff - ABC Entertainment, ABC Kids, ABC Daytime and ABC News, Touchstone Television, Disney Channel Worldwide, Toon Disney, SOAPnet, ABC Family, Jetix, Walt Disney Television Animation, Buena Vista Worldwide Television and Walt Disney Television International. But for all that, she still must rely on continued good ratings for "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." So far, so good.

#59 Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Pictures Group. Pascal is responsible for overseeing all of the studio's motion picture development and production, and she probably reclaimed some lost equity as a result of the $1 billion or so "The Da Vinci Code" brought in worldwide.

#75 Nancy Tellem, president, CBS Paramount Television Entertainment Group. It's a long title but Tellem essentially oversees programming for CBS and CW, the new network that combines the unsuccessul WB and UPN. She helped develop "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "The Amazing Race" and yes, "Survivor" (couldn't find any public comment on the current race tumult).

#90 Gail Berman, president, Paramount Pictures. The former Fox executive knows a lot about television - she helped launch "American Idol" and "24" - but she hasn't gotten good press since coming to Paramount (those always knowledgeable unnamed sources consider her timid in making decisions). And she's practically disappeared from view since the Cruise crunch. As usual, a lot will depend on how well her movies do.

#94 Stacey Snider, co-chairman and CEO, DreamWorks. Snider was a big cheese at Universal, but early this year she decided to jump ship for DreamWorks, where the living is easier. As Forbes notes, there's been talk that hiring Snider was a revenge act by DreamWorks' co-owner Steven Spielberg after Universal decided not to buy the production house (Paramount cut the check instead). Along with the less hectic schedule, however, comes a lower ranking on the power poll.

Here's the full Forbes list.