Joan Rivers goes online for Oscar red carpet

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - Joan Rivers, longtime doyenne of Oscar red carpet fashion, will not appear on television this year, so the many fans who want to hear the comedian dish out the fashion gossip will have to go online.

Together with her daughter Melissa, veteran comedian Rivers will offer opinions on the best- and worst-dressed stars at the 80th Annual Academy Awards on StyleList.com (http://stylelist.com), which will also include photos from Oscar fashions over the years and style predictions.

Last year, TV Guide Channel replaced the Rivers mother/daughter team as red carpet fashion commentators with Lisa Rinna and Joey Fatone and pledged to provide a "kinder, gentler red carpet."

As a commentator for "E" Television from 1996 to 2004 and subsequently TV Guide, Joan Rivers was infamous for her various barbs that were cloaked in comedy. She would fling one-liners about stars' recent plastic surgery, while oohing and aahing over the elaborate creations they wore.

Rivers once referred to a gown worn by singer Bjork designed to resemble a swan as "the chicken costume" and said that supermodel Tyra Banks' back -- in a cut-out dress on a particularly hot awards show day -- "resembled the Nile River."

The comedian is currently appearing in a one-woman show in Los Angeles called "Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress."

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)