February 04, 2012

The report that L.A. Reid is returning to the next season of "The X Factor (US)" is getting stronger. The Epic Records chairman reportedly signed the contract on Friday, February 3 to secure his place as a judge on the second season of the singing talent show.

The other two judges, Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul have received the boot, so has the debut season's host, Steve Jones. Reid survived the cut reportedly because he was the one shining throughout the first season with his honest opinion and no-hesitation attitude. Some said that Reid is even nastier than producer Simon Cowell.

Things are shaping up for Jennifer Aniston and boyfriend Justin Theroux. After looking for a pad to live in together last year, they finally landed their money on a house in Bel Air, California. The mansion is 8,500 square feet, boasting a vineyard, detached guest house as well as both city and ocean view.

"The house will pull them together in a way that hasn't existed up to now. It's their house. Justin put up a portion of the money so that it is truly both of of theirs, both of their names are on the deed and title. They couldn't be going stronger," a source told OK!. "They'll create a nest together, combining both of their tastes. I can't wait to see what they come up with as a couple."

Lady GaGa is catching some football fever. The "Born This Way" hitmaker has taken some time off her busy schedule to pose for another photo shoot with fashion photographer Terry Richardson, and in one of the black and white shots, she is captured holding a pigskin in front of her bare chest.

The photo was uploaded by Richardson on his blog titled Terry Richardson's Diary Friday, February 3, just two days before New York Giants faces New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Seemingly embracing the big game spirit, the 46-year-old photographer wrote on the picture's caption, "Lady GaGa holding a football... Go Giants!"

Josh Hutcherson recently opened up about which one is his most favorite monumental scene in "The Hunger Games". While there are a lot of iconic moments that will be adapted from the Suzanne Collins book, the Peeta Mellark depicter admitted that he is most excited with the cave scene between his character and Katniss Everdeen.

"I was excited for the cave scene," Hutcherson shared to MTV News. "I always thought, at least for me, it was the most character-driven part of the story where you really saw Katniss and Peeta's relationship take a big turn and come to fruitition, if you will."

While some thought his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at AFC championship game was a mess, Steven Tyler didn't see anything wrong with his performance. The lead singer of Aerosmith came to his own defense when being asked to comment about the gig at his "Crossroads" rehearsals.

"I don't know. As I said before, I put emphasis on, 'In the land of the free' and I went up," he explained to New York Post. "Oddly enough I hit the note so I don't know what they are talking about. I emphasized 'free' which was for freedom. It was well thought out prior to. I wasn't messing with American tradition."

Ellen DeGeneres-executive produced TV project has landed a pilot order on ABC. The Alphabet picked up "The Smart One" after NBC, which acquired the comedy with a put pilot commitment in October last year, passed on it.

The half-hour multicamera comedy, which sparked a bidding war last September, stars DeGeneres' wife Portia de Rossi as "a brilliant and successful woman who begrudgingly goes to work for her less-brainy but more popular sister - a former beauty queen, weather girl and now big-city Mayor."

Drake and Miguel have released a new music video each. The Canadian rapper drops a viral clip for his song entitled "Practice", while the Californian R&B singer promotes his single called "Adorn".

Both of them keep their videos simple without any elaborate storylines. Drizzy doesn't appear in his clip until near the end of it. Instead, he taps a bootylious lady to shake her rump in front of the camera. As for Miguel, he's singing his heart out to the camera in very close-up shots.

Miley Cyrus isn't afraid of speaking out what she has in mind when it comes to same-sex marriage. In an article she wrote for Glamour.com, the 19-year-old songstress addressed the backlash she received after tweeting a photo of her marriage equality tattoo back in August 2011, and shared her belief that anyone can support it.

On the backlash itself, the "LOL" actress recalled, "A lot of people mocked me - they said, 'What happened to you? You used to be a Christian girl!' And I said, 'Well, if you were a true Christian, you would have your facts straight. Christianity is about love.' " She continued, "The debate resulted in a lot of threats and hate mail to people who agreed and disagreed with me."

Sam will be forced to confront his childhood fear in next week's "Supernatural". In the upcoming episode, Sam and his brother Dean visit Kansas to investigate a strange case related to Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie, a local pizza chain that hosts children's birthday parties.

After going through some investigation, Sam and Dean discover that children who had recently been to the restaurant drew a picture of their worst fear, which then came to life and kill their parent. While Dean tries to find the man behind the magic, Sam is left to deal with his childhood fear of clowns which manifests in a very violent and traumatic way.

Alexandra Burke has debuted a music video in support of her new single "Elephant". The former contestant of "The X Factor" gets over a recent breakup by throwing a party with her friends in an abandoned den.

"The concept of the video is really me showing my ex-boyfriend what he's missing, and now he sees this new girl transformed because she's broken up with him," she said. "What I love about music videos is the fact that I get to have some fun. It's a really nice way to just live with the song, perform it, have fun with it [and] dance my little socks off."

Al Pacino is set to make his animated film debut as he was slated to replace Javier Bardem in "Despicable Me 2". Deadline reported that the veteran actor, who is famous for playing a mobster in several iconic movies, has been cast to voice a supervillain in the Universal Pictures animation.

Details of Pacino's role are still kept secret, but his character will be the archenemy of Gru. While Bardem was originally tapped to voice evil genius El Macho, it has been rumored that Pacino could tackle a different villainous character which is adjusted to his personality.

Two Kardashian girls have just brought in two different updates about their life at almost the same time. On Friday, February 3, Kim Kardashian addressed a swirling rumor that she's dating New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. That same day, her sister Khloe Kardashian shared photos of her family learning how to line dance.

Words that Kim has been quietly seeing the New York Jets quarterback appeared to originate from Strawberryicecream.com. It claimed that the two began dating when the 31-year-old was filming the first season of "Kourtney and Kim take New York", adding that the two were planning a rendezvous for the Super Bowl weekend.

M.I.A. released her "Bad Girls" music video almost at the same time Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin' " clip, where she makes a cameo appearance, arrived for viewing pleasure. While she's prancing around while holding pom-poms in the Super Bowl themed video, M.I.A. turns gangsta in this new one.

From riding on the dessert to sitting on the back seat of a glow-in-the-dark car, M.I.A. takes on a more dangerous challenge by sitting in the window of a car which is speeding on two wheels. The "Paper Planes" hitmaker keeps her cool while singing, "Get back, get down/Pull me closer if you think you can hang/Hands up, hands tied/Don't go screaming if I blow you with a bang."

After weeks of searching, "Anger Management" has finally found Charlie Sheen's co-stars. Selma Blair and Shawnee Smith have landed female lead roles on the new sitcom, with the former tackling the role of Charlie's therapist and the latter being tapped to play his ex-wife.

Blair's character Kate is described as beautiful, if a bit neurotic. Helping Sheen's character control his anger, she is also envisioned as a love interest for him. Smith's Jennifer, meanwhile, is a sexy woman who is searching for a life path after divorcing from Charlie, who cheated on her for years.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" will not open in the U.S. theaters until summer, but already its campaign footage became viral. The video gives a look at Spidey's symbol being projected on various famous landmarks around the world, including the Arc de Triomphe, the Sydney Opera House, the Kremlin and the Colesseum.

In addition to the red Spidey symbol, there is also a projection of a specific date that gives a clue to a global screening event to unveil the superhero movie's never-before-seen footage. A line in the projection reads, "On February 6th TheUntoldStoryBegins.com."

Adam Lambert has responded to rumor suggesting that he would join Queen when they're headlining Sonisphere festival this summer. The "Better Than I Know Myself" singer set the record straight by posting clarifications on Twitter.

He posted, "Oooh them clever reporters takin my quotes outta context.... I haven't confirmed any guest appearances. I was talking about the EMA'S. :)" He then added, "That being said, I'm truly flattered by your jump to such glorious conclusions mr journalist!! :)."

J.C. Penney has responded to One Million Moms (OMM)' campaign against the hiring of Ellen DeGeneres as its spokeswoman. A spokeswoman for the retail giant said in a statement released Friday, February 3 that it "stands behind its partnership" with the openly-gay comedienne, gaining applaud from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

GLAAD spokesman Herndon Graddick said in a statement, "This week Americans spoke out in overwhelming support of LGBT people and J.C. Penney's decision not to fire Ellen simply for who she happens to love." Since it launched its Stand Up For Ellen campaign in response to OMM's demand that Penney should fire DeGeneres, the anti-defamation organization has received more than 26,000 signatures.

A look at Kim Kardashian's guest-starring appearance on "Last Man Standing" has been shared in a sneak peek video debuted via ET Online. Playing a "dramatic version" of herself, the reality TV star is seen attending a book signing in Denver where she meets Mike's daughter, Mandy, who declares herself as Kim's biggest fan.

Things, however, don't go exactly as planned after Mandy knocks over a pile of books trying to hug Kim. "She sort of needles her way into the front, is the first one there and in her excitement becomes overzealous and panicky and knocks over a bunch of books trying to give her a hug," so Molly Ephraim explains about her character's awkward encounter with the star of "Kourtney and Kim Take New York".

While other artists might be eager to perform at Grammy Awards, the guys from Bon Iver were quite the opposite. A week shy of the live telecast, it's revealed that they had turned down the offer to sing at the prestigious event. In an interview with Billboard, they explained the situation which forced them to say no.

"We wanted to play our music, but were told that we couldn't play. We had to do a collaboration with someone else," frontman Justin Vernon opened up. "We kind of said 'f**k you' a little bit, and they sort of acted like they wanted us to play, but I don't think they wanted us to play."

Only a few days after a brand new official image from "Skyfall" was unleashed, some fresh on-set photos from the upcoming James Bond film have been made available for viewing pleasure. Those newly released images show lead actor Daniel Craig holding a hand gun while filming what seems to be an action scene on the streets in London on Friday, February 3.

Clad in a two-piece suit, Craig was also spotted wearing a spy earpiece. Though the photos didn't reveal too much details of the plot, the British hunk apparently had to do a lot of running. It was speculated that he was shooting a chase scene given that his dapper suit appeared to be covered by what appears to be dust.

Pancreatic cancer has taken the life of yet another notable actor. Ben Gazzara, who won an Emmy for his work in the 2002 HBO film "Hysterical Blindness", has succumbed to the illness on Friday, February 3. His lawyer Jay Julien told The New York Times that the 81-year-old died at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, New York City.

Born on August 28, 1930, the New York native starred in numerous Broadway productions, including Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". In the small screen world, he was remembered for playing a terminally ill man trying to get the most out of the last two years of his life on NBC's 1965-68 "Run for Your Life".

"Sons of Anarchy" will return for at least two more seasons. After ordering a fifth season for the drama series back in October last year, FX has just announced that it picks up the show about a group of outlaw bikers for a sixth season.

The renewal comes just days after creator/showrunner Kurt Sutter sealed a new three-year deal to continue running "SOA" and to develop new projects for FX and 20th Century Fox TV. It is believed that a seventh and likely final season of the drama series is also part of Sutter's plan, though he is open to the possibility of the show living beyond that.

A day after "The Hunger Games" premiered its Super Bowl spot, "Battleship" has now debuted a teaser for its commercial that will air during the Sunday, February 5 event. Making its way out via Fandango, the 15-second preview is jam-packed with more sci-fi actions.

Being studded with stunning special effects, the snippet offers a better look at an intense battle in the sea between robotic aliens and a group of naval crew. R&B sensation, Rihanna, is also seen combating a monstrous robot in a close-up range.

As Demi Moore recovers from her recent meltdown, one of her daughters with Bruce Willis is throwing a low-key party to celebrate her birthday. Tallulah Willis turned 18 on Friday, February 3, and was snapped rocking sunglasses and a sparkly tiara as she welcomed friends to the bash at her father's Beverly Hills mansion.

Demi was not spotted to be around although sources told E! News that the "Margin Call" actress planned to spend the day with Tallulah. Should she missed the festivities, it would be her second time in two months being absent from her youngest daughter's special event. The 49-year-old also didn't attend Tallulah's debutante ball in Paris back in November.

After struggling in ratings for weeks since it was debuted in early January, "The Firm" has lost its coveted slot on NBC. The network has announced that new series "Awake" will take over the Thursday, 10/9c slot from the low-rated legal drama, scheduling the premiere of the Jason Isaacs-starrer on March 1.

"The Firm" will continue airing new episodes on Saturdays at 9 P.M. beginning February 11. In the meantime, repeats of fantasy crime drama "Grimm" will fill the "Firm" Thursday timeslot until "Awake" premieres.

After getting previewed on "American Idol", Madonna's "Give me All Your Luvin' " music video finally arrives in full. It shows the singer getting lots of love from a bunch of football players. Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. are more than happy to cheer on her along with some faceless cheerleaders.

"[It was] quite intense but we had a lot of fun," Clement Gallet of video directing team Megaforce told MTV News about the filming. He continued on recalling the video shoot, "It's like shooting three presidents or something like that."