Hasn't she crashed and burned yet?

JOAN SEES RED OVER RED CARPET

September 15, 2007 -- JOAN Rivers says E! will never recapture the red-carpet magic she and daughter Melissa Rivers created years ago when they invented celebrity-sniping at the various awards shows.

And Joan is upset the network has tried to replace her and Melissa with younger, less comical characters - Carson ("Queer Eye") Kressley and lovely Giuliana DePandi, who has changed her name to Giuliana Rancic after marrying former "Appentice" Bill Rancic.

"How dare they! It's just mean and wrong. Are they out of their minds? Are they out of their [bleep]ing minds?" Rivers raged to Page Six.

The caustic "Can we talk?" comedienne exploded after she and her daughter were dropped from the low-rated TV Guide Channel and Joan made overtures in a bid to score an E! comeback.

"Joan and Melissa, the second they found out Ryan Seacrest was hosting the Emmys, called E! to see if they could do the red carpet for them. But it's not going to happen," said a source.

The cabler's lack of interest had Joan - who is widely credited with helping put E! on the map in the channel's early days - flipping out. "Let's get real here. I started it. I did it."

But Joan acknowledged the red carpet glory days are over now that all the stars have stylists, and aren't dressing themselves - and aren't making fashion faux pas.

"When I began there, there were no stylists and it was fun people looked different. It's become a rat [bleep] now with everyone grabbing, everybody trying to do what I do - and they can't do it!" Rivers told us.

She continued: "It's lost its fun and I'm so not attached to it. The fun was when the celebrities dressed themselves and looked funny. Now they all look perfect and are being very careful with what they say. All the p.r. ladies decide who talks to you and its wrong. It's become so sanitized."

This year, Rivers will cover the Emmys live via her blog, joanriversblog.com. "They've set up my apartment like a war room. I have free rein. I can say, 'She looks like a slut.' I can say, 'I think he's gay,' or this one's nasty or terrific. It appeals to me."

And there are sure to be plenty of insults. During one Oscars red-carpet show, Rivers infamously grabbed Anthony Hopkins and his then wife and asked the actor, "Oh, and this lovely lady is your mother?"