[muchlove]

Though the fourth season of The Simple Life is expected to start shooting Feb. 24, those close to the production doubt the hit reality show will ever become a reality!

"Paris [Hilton] is still consulting her lawyers to come up with a last-minute way out," a source close to the show tells Star People. "She wants no part of it. She's about to launch her first album in a few months, and that's what she wants to focus on."

Paris is also balking because the show moved from the big reach of the Fox network to the smaller niche of E! "To her, to be reduced to a cable show is humiliating," the source says.

Fox dumped Paris, 24, and her co-star, Nicole Richie, 24, after they became bitter enemies and refused to appear on-screen together.

Although E! is letting the starlets film their scenes separately by using a format in which each subs as a mom and wife to a family they've never met, Paris' attitude has sparked new tension on the set. "The basic belief around here is 'don't count on this job,'" the source says. "Most people are pretty certain that it's just not going to happen."

But on the bright side, Paris has at least managed to end one of her other famous feuds by burying the hatchet with Mary-Kate Olsen.

The two haven't spoken since Paris began dating MK's ex-boyfriend Stavros Niarchos III. But a source says that the Christmas spirit apparently moved Mary-Kate, 19, to send Paris a text message that basically said, "'Hey, I don't have a problem with you. I'm sorry if you thought I did. MK.' Paris was really touched by that. She doesn't have anything against Mary-Kate, either."

Yahoo