November 24, 2011

Hospitalized with pneumonia, George Michael has to cancel a number of shows in Europe this week. His publicist Connie Filippello confirmed that the singer was "diagnosed with pneumonia and he is currently receiving treatment."

Filippello did not elaborate on when or where George had contracted the illness but said that he is "on the mend". According to some reports, the 48-year-old is treated at Vienna's AKH hospital. He canceled his planned concert in the Austrian capital just two hours before it was due to start.

More guys have been tapped to join Kelly Ripa on "Live! with Kelly" as ABC has not chosen a replacement for Regis Philbin. Derek Hough, Josh Groban, Jonah Hill and Jerry O'Connell are all set to co-host the morning talk show.

"Dancing with the Stars" pro dancer Hough will sit next to Ripa on December 5, followed by "21 Jump Street" star Hill the day later. For the two of them, the upcoming appearance would mark their debut as co-host on the show.

Jess and the guys are goofing around at a party in next week's "New Girl". Donning formal suits, Schmidt, Nick and Coach show silly moves along with Jess who seemingly embraces the music while other guests look bewildered.

Back at their apartment, Nick and Schmidt engage in class warfare when the toilet breaks and they each have their own idea of how to get it fixed. Schmidt, however, loses his cool and accuses Nick of using his conditioner. Wanting it back, he tells Nick, "I'm squezzing it out of your hair."

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley might be considered as one of the sexiest women in the world nowadays, but she wasn't always this beautiful. Speaking about her teenage years in an interview for the December Issue of Harper's Bazaar, the Victoria's Secret Angel likened herself to America Ferrera's magazine assistant character in ABC series "Ugly Betty".

"I was a bit of an Ugly Betty when I was 15," claimed the Carly Spencer of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". She also revealed that even after she started her career in the modeling world, she would turn up at castings "in trainers, with braids, a ton of makeup, plucked eyebrows. ... I had braces."

Justin Bieber had a minor mishap when performing on "Today" show on Wednesday morning, November 23. Wearing blue denims and a festive-themed jacket, the "Fa La La" singer flubbed his lyrics when delivering his rendition of holiday classic "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town".

Accompanied by a live band and four male backing dancers, Bieber sang the first part smoothly, but opened the second part with the wrong lyrics. Instead of singing "he sees you when you're sleeping" like it's supposed to be, he repeated "making list" line and later trailed off when singing the correct lyrics.

"The Lord of the Rings" trilogy might follow the footstep of "Titanic" and "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace", which are set to be re-released in 3D. Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo Baggins in the epic series, revealed that there have been some discussions about re-dimensionalizing the movies.

"I think it would be cool to see. There's talk of releasing a dimensionalized trilogy eventually," Wood told Den of Geek. "I'm okay with doing post-process 3D, as long as someone takes the time."

In the spirit of holiday and Thanksgiving, Kid Rock releases an inspiring music video about caring for the others. He, along with his collaborators Pistol Annies' Angaleena Presley and T.I., is singing in front of a wall filled with random thoughts by people in the neighborhood.

"Rock and I have a great relationship and it is fun to work with him. It is an honor to collaborate with my label-mate and partner," T.I. said. Their collab, which album version features Martina McBride, is included in Rock's latest studio album "Born Free" which peaked at No. 5 on Billboard Hot 200.

Miley Cyrus has celebrated her 19th birthday with a party at the Beacher's Madhouse inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday, November 22. Details of the bash thrown by best friend Kelly Osbourne are still sketchy, but the one thing that has been confirmed is the fact that it features a unicorn.

Reporting about the party, E! News claimed to have spotted a horse with a horn attached to its head at some point on Tuesday night. Later on, Miley herself teased her fans about the unicorn on her tweet. She wrote, "Let's just say there was a unicorn in the lobby!", after gushing, "Can't thank @MissKellyO for the best partyyyy ever! =]]]] i loveeeee you!"

"The Walking Dead" is definitely not a reliable medical reference. In its November 20 episode, the show features Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) taking morning-after pills to try induce abortion before throwing them up. The scene sparked a criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), not because of Lori's move, but because of the incorrect use of prescription medication.

Morning-after pill is actually designed to prevent a pregnancy from occurring when taken in the days following unprotected sex, and not for use several weeks into a pregnancy like Lori's condition. Responding to the outcry, producer Glen Mazzara stated that "the producers and writers of 'The Walking Dead' are fully aware that the morning-after pill would not induce an abortion or miscarriage."

A new clip for "We Bought a Zoo" has been made available for viewing pleasure. Making its way out via Fandango, the short snippet gives a look at a scene where Matt Damon takes his pal and little daughter to find a new house. On his way, he sees an old house and finally decides to buy it. He's surprised when hearing a loud roar from outside the house before realizing that the house is actually a zoo.

Based on the true life of Benjamin Mee, the drama tells the story of a journalist who decides to move his family into an abandoned zoo, Rosemoor Wildlife Park, after his wife dies from brain cancer. He lives his days dealing with escaped tigers, raising endangered animals, working with an eclectic skeleton crew and readying the zoo for a reopening.

Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa are back to high school in a music video which supports their latest duet "Young, Wild and Free". In this clip, the two rappers show their fans how to have some fun by smoking weeds, going to parties and meeting hot girls.

"So what we get drunk/ So what we smoke weed/ We're just having fun/ We don't care who sees/ So what we go out/ That's how its supposed to be/ Living young and wild and free," the joint track opens with the carefree chorus sung by Bruno Mars before Snoop and Wiz lay down their verses.

After revealing the man behind the rubber suit, "American Horror Story" will unfold another dark story next week. Constance learns that a child of human and spirit is the essence of evil which may bring the end of the world, and she is angry at her son Tate for what he's done.

Ben asks Moira about what happened to Vivien and visits his wife in the mental hospital, but gets smitten by a beautiful woman. Vivien's doctor tells him something that is not usually shared with a husband, and a famous murder victim, Elizabeth Short aka the Black Dahlia (Mena Suvari), pays his family a visit.

Katy Perry could be playing Marilyn Monroe on the Broadway stage. Harvey Weinstein, a co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, opened up that he wants to make a musical take on "My Week with Marilyn" and revealed that he's been considering Perry to star as the iconic blond beauty.

Speaking to E! News about his plan, Weinstein said, "If the movie works, I would try to make it a musical and I would go to Katy first." He went on explaining, "I think she can play Marilyn on the Broadway stage... I think she would be amazing."

Occupy Wall Street might not receive donation from Jay-Z when he designed and tried to sale T-shirts inspired by the movement, but they will soon get financial support from a benefit album recorded by some celebrities. Those who will help raise fund to support the protests include Third Eye Blind and Devo.

Called "Occupy This Album", the CD will be made available for purchase winter this year. It will additionally feature Jackson Browne, Crosby & Nash, Lucinda Williams and many more. Jason Samel, who puts together the disc, is aiming to raise between $1 million and $2 million. "It's really going to be an amazing help for years to come," he said.

Kim Kardashian puts aside her marital woes for one charitable day. The "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star, who is in the process of divorcing Kris Humphries, was photographed on Wednesday, November 23 as she served Thanksgiving meals to the homeless at the Los Angeles Mission.

The 31-year-old came to the event with lesser make-up and hair set in a simple fishtail braid. Wearing a simple white T-shirt and a pair of black pants, she covered her red Mission apron with a black and red lumberjack-style jacket. She was joined by other celebrity volunteers that included Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Blair Underwood.

"Glee" tackles another song from Katy Perry's catalog in the next episode. After Darren Criss' Blaine did the cover of "Teenage Dream" and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", this time the ladies of McKinley High perform their own version of "I Kissed a Girl".

Naya Rivera's Santana and Lea Michele's Rachel lead the pack to walk through the aisle in the school before performing in front of the boys in the choir room. Mr. Schuester, Artie and Mike Chang cannot help moving their bodies to the tune, but exchange student Rory does not enjoy it that much as he seems to be confused.

Nickelback have finally broken their silence regarding the online petition which contained protests over their upcoming performance at the NFL's Thanksgiving Day game. Instead of issuing an official statement, the Chad Kroeger-fronted band took to Funny Or Die to respond to the backlash.

In the video, the band's members are seen sitting down with a label advisor, played by comedian Paul Scheer, at EKG Records headquarters. They talk about the haters and what should they do to shut them up. "We gotta figure out right now why Detroit hate Nickelback," so Scheer tells Kroeger and his friends.

Britney Spears doesn't need a personal shopper for this year's holiday shopping season thanks to her millions of fans. With Black Friday fast approaching, the "Till the World Ends" singer turned to her Twitter followers for some advice on what she should buy for her mother, Lynne.

"Since I'm on tour, I'm gonna do my Holiday shopping online this year," wrote the 29-year-old pop star on Wednesday, November 23, "but I need ur help picking out gifts. Let's start w/ mom! Any ideas?" Almost immediately after she posted the tweet, her fans tossed in some of their suggestions.

The first look at the new season of "American Idol" has landed online. Making its way out via E! Online, the sneak peek gives a preview to the audition stage which is filled with excitement and tears as the judges find new talents.

Steven Tyler gets teary after one contestant's performance, and makes people amused when he dances with one girl and kisses her on the lips. One excited man lifts host Ryan Seacrest, while another girl breaks down in tears while sharing her story.

It is known that Lily Collins plays the playful version of Snow White in "Mirror Mirror", but she recently confessed that she also auditioned for a darker version of the fairytale princess in rival movie "Snow White and the Huntsman". Speaking to Access Hollywood, she revealed, "I did read the other Snow White script."

"I auditioned for it, but I've been so excited for Kristen," she said, referring to Kristen Stewart who nabs the lead role in the Rupert Sanders-directed film. "I think that story is so different than ours and the girls are so different. She's perfect for the version, and I'm really excited to be doing this one and I think they have totally different audiences."

George Clooney has been named a witness in the sex trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The leading man of "The Descendants" was one of the more than 200 names accepted by a Milan court for the case on Wednesday, November 23. He is on the defense list along with ex-girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The "Up in the Air" star has been linked to the case since March when he was listed as a potential witness. Piersilvio Cipolotti, one of Berlusconi's attorneys, explained at the time that the actor "was cited in court documents as a guest of Berlusconi at one of the dinners the premier organized and we want to ask him to confirm this."

Passing away over 40 years ago, Jimi Hendrix seemingly would never lose his charm and would continue to inspire the next generations in the years to come. The legendary guitarist, who died after suffering a drug overdose in 1970, is honored with the title of Greatest Guitarist of All Time on the newest issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

One of the industry experts who votes for him is Grammy-winning musician Tom Morello. The former member of Audioslave sings praise for his idol, "Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage."

"All My Children" and "One Life to Live" will not live online after all. Prospect Park has announced that it has put its plans to revive the ABC soap operas in indefinite halt after months of effort to launch the online version of the two shows met unresolved issues.

"It is with great disappointment that we are suspending our aspirations to revive 'One Life to Live' and 'All My Children' via online distribution," Prospect Park's Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinez said in a joint statement. "It is now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get OLTL on the air in a reasonable time period following its January 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible."

A new image from "John Carter" has revealed a first look at the fearsome White Ape. Entertainment Weekly has obtained the new still, which sees Taylor Kitsch's titular character pulling off a chain with the angry-looking beast standing behind him while showing off its big teeth.

White Ape is one of the ferocious inhabitants of Mars a.k.a Barsoom in the novel-adapted movie. Offering details about the creatures, director Andrew Stanton told the magazine, "They're sort of an oversized gorilla in the books, and they're kind of ubiquitous. They're littered everywhere through at least the first several novels."

Jennifer Lopez indeed never returned to the Bronx to film Fiat's "My World" commercial. In response to report that the "On the Floor" hitmaker used a body double for the drive-through part in the ad, her spokesman, Mark Young, told The New York Post, "Her portion was filmed in Los Angeles. I don't see a problem. There are many cases where films are done the same way."

Fiat has also released a statement in regard of the issue. "Both commercials featuring Jennifer Lopez were indeed filmed in the Bronx as well as outside locations," spokeswoman Diana Gutierrez said. "As you may know, in today's world, people are increasingly mobile and their work takes them to a variety of locations. As a result, we took the opportunity to film wherever Ms. Lopez was working at the time to accommodate her schedule."

Justin Bieber releases a black-and-white music video for his newest single "Fa La La". The 17-year-old singer shares screen with his idol and collaborator Boyz II Men in this newly-released clip. Together, they sing along in an empty loft during one silent night.

Commenting on their collaboration, Bieber once tweeted, "I used 2 listen to their music and practice the runs. that is how i learned how to sing. now im in the studio with them making music 2gether." On behalf of his bandmates, Shawn Stockman replied back then, "It was a pleasure! Remember what we talked about in the studio Lil bro! Let's do it again sooner than later!!"

NBC had expressed its regret to Michele Bachmann over the controversial intro on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon", so said an NBC executive. To The New York Times' Media Decoder, the unnamed executive claimed that the Peacock sent a letter to the Republican Presidential candidate though it could not be categorized as a formal apology. The executive explained that the network was trying to put the issue to rest as privately as possible.

Another executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because NBC had not authorized any public comments, said Jimmy Fallon had reached out to Bachmann on early Tuesday, November 22 and they had "a great conversation." The host of the late-night show, however, had no plans to address the matter on his talk show Wednesday night.

"Star Trek 2" gets an official new release date. Paramount Pictures has announced that J.J. Abram's much anticipated sci-fi film is set to open wide in the U.S. on May 17, 2013, just after Sony Pictures pushed back the release date for Roland Emmerich's "Singularity (2013)" from that day to November 1, 2013.

Previously, "Star Trek 2" was slated for a June 29, 2012 release. However, Paramount has decided to give the date to "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and push back the release of the untitled Star Trek sequel in order to give writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof enough time to polish the script.

Drake was quick to thank his devotees upon learning that he claimed the top spot on Billboard Hot 200. "I can't even find the words to express my appreciation...'thank you and I owe you' is all that comes to mind...truly," the Canadian rapper tweeted to his followers.

Drizzy topped the U.S. album chart with his sophomore set "Take Care". He sold a grand total of 631,000 copies, falling short of the initial estimation of 675,000 to 700,000. Still, it's his best sales week since his first No. 1 album "Thank Me Later" entered the chart with 447,000.

Jennifer Hudson was supposed to be with her mother, brother and nephew on the day they were murdered in 2008, but she made a decision that spared her life. During an interview in the December/January issue of Ebony, the 30-year-old opened up that instead of going home, she opted to visit fiance David Otunga in Florida.

"That's one of the things that saved my life, because I could have been home with my mom then," the season three contestant of "American Idol" said. She went on to share, "[Otunga] wanted me to come out to Florida with him instead of going to Chicago. I flew out to see him; that's why I'm still here."

Mariah Yeater, the 20-year-old who said that she had sex with Justin Bieber, is making the pop singer's life more complicated. She reportedly won't take down her claim that her four-month-old baby is Bieber's, demanding the singer to take another DNA test.

Bieber agreed to take paternity test last Friday, November 18 because he wanted everything to be out in the open. Although the test was reportedly taken under "very controlled circumstances", Yeater's attorney Jeffrey Leving told E! News that they want to be present when the do-over test is conducted, so that they can confirm that the sample is truly that of the 17-year-old.

Jack Wagner had no idea he has a 23-year-old daughter until she approached him right before his concert in Boca Raton, Florida two weeks ago. The 52-year-old soap opera star was delighted upon coming face to face with the girl who was given up for adoption after her birth.

Carrie grew up in New York City with her foster parents and hired a private investigator to find out about her biological parents. Jack and her mother had a fling back in the '80s. TMZ, who is the first to report, mentioned nothing more about the mother.

The filming of Paramount's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" has claimed a victim. A hired crew member, Mike Huber, died on New Orleans set while working on a high-powered lift on Tuesday, November 22.

According to TMZ, Huber was working on tearing down the set, when something went terribly wrong. The high-powered scissor lift tipped over and injured Huber. The filming in New Orleans had begun in August and it is unclear whether production still went on after the accident.

Taylor Swift finally got on stage together with Selena Gomez on Tuesday, November 22 at the wrap-up show of her "Speak Now" tour. The best friends, who were seated next to each other at recent American Music Awards, sang a duet of Gomez's "Who Says" at Swift's sold-out show at NYC's Madison Square Garden.

"One of my best friends is such an amazing singer and after four years of being best friends we have never stepped on stage together and I think that's such a shame... So it just so happens that Selena is here tonight," Swift said to introduce her duet partner. Gomez later came back on stage wearing Taylor Swift tour T-shirt.

Sugarland inevitably land in one of the lawsuits filed by the victims of Indiana State Fair stage accident. A gust of wind blew off the erected musical stage on August 13, killing seven people and injuring almost four dozen people. Sara Bareilles just descended the stage and the country duo were about to take over.

Attorneys representing 44 survivors and four dead victims have filed the complaint alleging breach of reasonable care to the victims in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis. They came all the way from Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio seeking unspecified damage from Sugarland, producers, stage riggers and others associated to the fair.