It's a publicity flurry.

Rihanna's two-part interview with "Good Morning America"'s Diane Sawyer airs Thursday and Friday. There's the December cover of Glamour magazine featuring Rihanna, recognizing her as one of their "Women of the Year." Every day it seems another Rihanna video is released, and don't forget her new album "Rated R" is due in stores November 23rd. Until now, she's been silent about the night she was left bruised and battered by then-boyfriend Chris Brown.

Tomorrow, we'll hear from Rihanna. She'll perhaps shed some light on the evening. We may learn what precipitated the blowout that ended in a smackdown. But there are two sides to every story. Rihanna's side has been dramatically illustrated by the leaked evidence photo of her swollen eyelids, bruised face and busted lips.  Chris' side includes a botched Larry King appearance, a fleeting shot of him serving his community service wearing an orange jumpsuit, and his Twitter posting with a link to a music video (made by fans) of he and Rihanna in ostensibly happier times. The video is set to Lee Carr's "The Way We Used to Be" and accompanied by Brown's apology "SORRY YALL. JUST HAD TO POST IT," with a follow-up tweet "FOR THE FELLAS: showing emotion doesn't make u weak... BEING HONEST MAKES U STRONG."

If being honest makes you strong, then perhaps we're about to see a much stronger Chris Brown. Friday at 6pm ET, his side of the story will play out in an interview with MTV's Sway. According to an MTV press release, Brown will address "the questions people have been asking."  In the 30-minute interview, the one-time R&B darling "opens up about the aftermath of his assault" and his sentence that includes anger management and community labor. Why now? Is he looking for the last word after Rihanna's two-day ABC sitdown? Could it be he also has an album to sell? Not yet, but his third album is on the way: "Graffitti" is slated to hit stores December 8th.

In the end, we have two people, two well-timed interviews, two albums to sell, and two sides of the story... with no happy ending in sight.

Interesting how a restraining order will make a man show his softer side.

Chris Brown, charged with five years probation and six months of community service for the beating he gave his ex-girlfriend Rihanna nine months ago, is still apologizing – this time for using Twitter to wax nostalgic about the ghosts of his relationship past.

Late Sunday night, the 20-year-old singer tweeted a link to a video montage on YouTube featuring him and Rihanna in better days, set to a saccharine song by Lee Carr, “The Way We Used To Be.” Brown wrote with the link, “IM SORRY YALL. JUST HAD TO POST IT.”

He followed that tweet minutes later with: “FOR THE FELLAS: showing emotion doesn't make u weak... BEING HONEST MAKES U STRONG.”

The video for Brown’s latest single, “I Can Transform Ya” debuted today.

In between completing 1,400 hours of court-ordered community service for doing you-know-what to you-know-who, Chris Brown will be rehearsing his moves for a 19-city "Fan Appreciation" tour.  Taking place in small venues around the country, the trek is designed to thank followers for their ongoing support.  The journey kicks off November 14 in Houston, and wraps up in New York City a month later.

While on the road, Brown plans to visit participants in a program called Best Buddies International, and has opted to donate a portion of his proceeds to the foundation - which was founded in 1989 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and bills itself as the world's largest non-profit organization devoted solely to providing friendship, jobs and leadership opportunities to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Here are the tour dates:

• November 14 – Houston, TX
• November 15 – Dallas, TX
• November 18 – Los Angeles, CA
• November 19 – San Francisco, CA
• November 22 – Richmond, VA
• November 25 – Detroit, MI
• November 26 – Chicago, IL
• November 29 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• December 1 – Orlando, FL
• December 2 – Atlanta, GA
• December 4 – Washington, DC
• December 5 – Providence, RI
• December 6 – Boston, MA
• December 9 – Sayreville, NJ
• December 11 – Baltimore, MD
• December 12 – Wallingford, CT
• December 13 – Philadelphia, PA
• December 15 – New York, NY

Chris Brown has been spotted doing his court-ordered community service.

The singer was sentenced in August to serve five years probation and to spend more than 1,400 hours in "labor-oriented service" for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna.

CNN affiliate WTVR posted photos of Brown clearing brush at the Richmond Police horse stables in the singer's home state of Virginia.

On Wednesday, the singer was shown wearing a reflective vest and red cap working in the area around the stables. Hours before Brown posted “on my way to community service...” on his Twitter account.

The singer must also complete domestic violence counseling and the judge also put a restraining order in place, requiring Brown to stay 50 yards away from Rihanna, 10 yards if the two are at the same industry event.

The judge issued a strict warning to Brown not to violate the order, which remains in place until 2014. During an appearance on "Larry King Live," Brown expressed remorse for the incident and said he still loves Rihanna.

Madea’s alter ego, Tyler Perry, was in New York today doing press interviews for his new film, “I Can Do Bad All By Myself." During my time with Perry I asked him what advice he would give to Chris Brown.

Without hesitation he told me. “I would love to have a conversation with Chris. A real conversation on television where he sits and he talks because I think…people want to forgive him. People want Chris Brown to be better, but the only way he’s going to get there is to admit everything that he did, put it all out there judge it for himself and feel bad for it - for himself really truly have animosity about it.

And then I think people will be able to move on. But as long as there’s this: 'I don’t remember’ and there’s this being ambiguous about a lot of things or not sure or not clear hmmm (shakes head no). But if he and I talked on television one-on-one, man to man, I think that a lot of people would understand.”

Perry was so calm and certain in his answer. I asked him why he would be the right person to speak with Brown.

“Because of my father... His mother was in an abusive relationship and my mother is too. She’s still married to the - I almost said something really awful but he is my father so I respect him. I had to make a choice early on because I know what it’s like to be so angry and then to love so passionately and to love so hard to be angry that you feel out of control but that when there is a moment when you can cross that line where you have to grab everything that’s in you and have to pull yourself back. So I think we would be able to relate on that level sure. I’ve never hit a woman. I’ve never hit anyone for that matter, but I understand being that angry and that frustrated and ready to go."

Would you like to see Tyler Perry speak with Chris Brown?

As if Chris Brown didn’t have enough publicity battles on his hands, he just took on another one.  Hot off his appearance on Larry King Live where he tried to convey his remorse about the incident with Rihanna, Chris is now taking on the Queen of Media, Oprah Winfrey.

In the new issue of PEOPLE Magazine, Chris Brown has this to say about Oprah who used the attack on Rihanna as a springboard for a show on domestic abuse:

“I commend Oprah on being like, “This is a problem,” but it was a slap in my face. I did a lot of stuff for her, like going to Africa and performing for her school. She could have been more helpful, like, “Okay, I’m going to help both of these people out.”?

“Slap in my face”? Maybe not the best choice of words, Chris, don’t you think?!

In response to Chris’ statements in PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Oprah Winfrey told Showbiz Tonight:

"Oprah is very appreciative that Chris Brown performed at her school but she takes domestic abuse very seriously.  She hopes he gets the counseling he needs."

Apparently Chris never got the memo: no one messes with Oprah.

60.  52.  6.  And zero.

Those were the details of Chris Brown's sentencing Tuesday – and the smallest number may be the most important.

Under the terms of his plea deal for assaulting Rihanna back in February, the 20-year-old R&B star will be on felony probation for 60 months.  He'll have to complete a 52-week domestic violence counseling program, and perform six months of "community labor" - L.A. Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg was clear that she wanted Brown to work.  And Judge Schnegg continued the protective order preventing Brown from contacting or approaching Rihanna in any way.

The judge seemed to take special care to ensure Brown understood that last point, reading the language of the order out loud, and then addressing Brown directly.  She noted that while she didn't rule by hearsay, she wasn't "immune to the chatter" that Brown and Rihanna had been seen together since the order was first imposed.  She spelled it out: violating the protective order would be a violation of Brown's probation.  That means no contact of any kind, staying at least 10 yards away at "industry events" such as award shows, and at least 100 yards away the rest of the time.

I've only met Brown once, nearly two years ago, at the press junket for the movie "This Christmas."  My impression of him was of a talented kid: enthusiastic about music and basketball, a little more polite than your average teenager, and enjoying his celebrity status.  I don't know how much he's changed in the last two years, or how much he'll change in the next five, over the course of his probation.  But I hope he finds a way to become the role model that so many people seem to want or expect him to be - to convince both his fans and those who rightfully blasted him for his criminal behavior that he's a changed man, that he learned the worst possible way what a real man does and doesn't do.  Being a cautionary tale isn't comfortable, but it may be the best thing that could come out of all this.

One hundred and sixty three days. That’s how long it took Chris Brown to publicly apologize for beating his girlfriend Rihanna. In the dramatic video, Brown asks for forgiveness and promises to be a better role model. As someone who normally sees things as pretty cut and dry, I can’t decide where I stand on this one.

On the one hand, Brown needed to wait before he could speak out. Legally it would have been foolish- and perhaps dangerous- for him to make a move before things were settled.  If he had said anything right after his plea deal, it would have been in poor taste. I am sure that he had planned to release this video a little sooner but with all of the media coverage surrounding Michael Jackson’s death I assume he held off for a bit.

The statement itself was a brilliantly crafted work of art, designed I am sure by a team of PR experts. Brown read it beautifully- I imagine off of a teleprompter- and made every point he was aiming to make. All in all, from a PR standpoint, it was a slam-dunk.

If this was just about a guy who hit a girl and then put out a well crafted statement I would be blasting him and that would be that. But there is a bigger story here- Chris Brown is also a victim. He came from a home where there was domestic abuse and now the cycle continues. I have a hard time making him a one dimensional monster because it is more complex than that. I do believe that violence is never the answer- EVER. I don’t care who is abusing, the man or the woman; it is never ok. The problem is that once that cycle starts, it is hard to stop.

What do you guys think? Is Chris Brown a victim too?

Be sure to watch Showbiz Tonight for much more on Chris Brown’s emotional apology, tonight, at 11pm ET/PT on HLN- don’t miss it!

Chris Brown has just released a shocking video in which he apologizes to his fans.  In it he says:

“Hi, I’m Chris Brown.  Since February my attorney has advised me not to speak out even though ever since the incident I have wanted to publicly express my deepest regret and accept full responsibility.  Although I will do some interviews and answer some questions in the future, I felt that it was time that you heard directly from me that I am sorry. I have tried to live my life in a way that can make those around me proud of me and until recently I think I was doing a pretty good job.  I wish I had the chance to live those few moments again.  But unfortunately I can’t.  I cannot go into what happened and most importantly I am not going to sit here and make any excuses I take great pride in me being able to exercise self control and what I did was inexcusable. I am very sad and very ashamed of what I have done. My mother and my spiritual teachers have taught me way better than that.  I have told Rihanna countless times and I am telling you today that I am truly, truly sorry and that I wasn’t able to handle the situation both differently and better.  I recognize that I have truly been blessed.  I have been blessed with a wonderful family, wonderful friends and fans. God has been generous in giving me the ability which has bringing me fame and fortune.  I have done a lot of soul searching and over the past several months I have talked with my minister and my mother and I spent a lot of time trying to understand what happened and why.  I have let a lot of people down and I realize that and no one is more disappointed in me than I am.  As many of you know I grew up in a home where there was domestic violence and I saw firsthand what uncontrolled rage can do.  I sought and I am continuing to seek help to insure that what occurred in February can never happen again and as I sit here today I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to make sure that it never happens again and I promise that.  What I did was unacceptable, 100%.  I can only ask and pray that you forgive me, please.  I hope that others learn from my mistake.  I intend to live my life so that I am truly worthy of the term role model.  Thank you.”

For the complete video and the latest on this fast developing story, be sure to watch Showbiz Tonight at 11pm Eastern and Pacific on HLN- don’t miss it!

There are breaking developments in the Chris Brown-Rihanna case.  That explosive showdown in court that everyone had been waiting for didn’t end up happening after all.  Chris Brown copped a plea in court today allowing Rihanna to get out of having to take the stand against him. Brown pleaded guilty to count one of assaulting with the intent of doing great bodily injury.  In exchange for a guilty plea Brown will serve 180 days of community service labor and be on probation for 5 years.  The judge, Assistant District Attorney Mary Murray made it clear that Brown was to get no special treatment saying, "I want Mr. Brown treated as any other defendant who comes to this court.” 

We will have much more on this breaking story tonight on Showbiz Tonight, at 11pm ET/PT, including shocking details about why Rihanna didn’t want the judge to issue an order to protect her from Chris Brown!

Showbiz Tonight is the only entertainment news show bringing you the latest, breaking developments on this Chris Brown-Rihanna story.