December 18, 2012

After more than 40 years on TV, popular ABC daytime dramas "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" were both canceled. However, come January 2013, soap opera fans may get to see the return of the defunct shows on the web.

Prospect Park, the production company behind FX's "Wilfred" and USA's "Royal Pains", has secured a deal with SAG-AFTRA to bring the two veteran series back online. Jeff Kwatinetz, co-founder of Prospect Park, rallied amongst guilds, managers and actors in his bid to revive the two soaps.

Pop/rock diva Pink has released her newest single "Just Give Me a Reason" from her sixth studio album, "The Truth About Love". The piano-backed duet is the singer's collaborative work with Fun.'s Nate Ruess and is the third single lifted off the said LP. Pink says that the track is one of her favorites and has also confirmed that an official music video for the song will soon be released.

"The song is called 'Just Give Me a Reason' and it's with Nate Ruess and it's one of my favorite songs ever, that I've ever written," said Pink to NRJ this week. The "Try" hitmaker is obviously very excited about the new single. According to reports from Capital FM.com, Pink had some really nice compliments for Reuss, saying, "I love his voice, I love his voice so much."

Hyping up the upcoming return of "House of Lies", Showtime has released a new promo for the new season. Don Cheadle's Marty Kaan appears in between scenes from the show to tell viewers what they do, but doesn't really help new audience understand what the show is about.

A scene sees Marty feeling the pressure to get a business deal done, while another features Jeannie telling his boss it's time to panic. Clyde and Doug predict their chance of success, but Marty claims in the end "the house always wins."

After risking his life in the arena as a Tribute in "The Hunger Games", Josh Hutcherson is set to take another challenging role in "Paradise Lost (2014)". Deadline reports that the 20-year-old actor is in talks to star opposite Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro in the drama about notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Hutcherson is poised to tackle the pivotal character called Nick in the based-on-true-story movie. Nick is described as a young Irish surfer who pays visit to his brother in Colombia. He then meets the love of his life, before encountering the infamous drug mafia to be played by Del Toro.

Hip-hop bigwig LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) debuts his newest music video "Take It", a joint effort with R'n'B singer-songwriter and record producer Joe. "Take It" is one of 15 tracks in Cool J's upcoming album "Authentic Hip-Hop", set to be released by February of next year.

The video, which features flashbacks to LL Cool J's iconic videos "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "Doin' It", shows a stylist who can't stop fantasizing about the 44-year-old rapper. The slow jam seems to have been pulled out of the mid-90's with the use of popular hip-hop tracks.

Nielsen is teaming up with Twitter to create another tool that can be used as an indicator to determine TV shows' popularity. Called Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, the new audience metric will enhance the social TV analytics and metrics available today from SocialGuide by adding the first-ever measurement of the total audience for social TV activity.

"The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating is a significant step forward for the industry, particularly as programmers develop increasingly captivating live TV and new second-screen experiences, and advertisers create integrated ad campaigns that combine paid and earned media," says Nielsen president of global media products and advertiser solutions Steve Hasker.

The Kardashians continue their tradition to wish their devotees a Merry Christmas with a card. This year, the family members get into a full celebratory mode for the upcoming holiday by wearing all-white ensembles and cheering as confetti falls over them.

There are two new additions in the new family holiday card. One is 5-month-old Penelope Disick whom Kourtney Kardashian gave birth to last summer, and another is Kim's cat Mercy that died while in the care of Khloe Kardashian's assistant.

Recent collaborations with Paul McCartney during the 12-12-12 Sandy Relief concert and on "Saturday Night Live" have sparked rumors that Nirvana might be reuniting for a concert tour with a new lead vocalist to replace the band's frontman, the late Kurt Cobain. However, a spokesperson for ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl has denied that the surviving members of the grunge band have any plans of going on tour.

Grohl, bassist Krist Novoselic and second guitarist Pat Smear came together after 18 years since the death of Cobain, to join former The Beatles star Paul McCartney onstage during the star-studded Sandy Relief mega-concert in New York. After that, they performed together again on "SNL", singing "Cut Me Some Slack", the same track that they dished out during the hurricane Sandy benefit concert.

Rumors that Katie Holmes has bought her daughter Suri a super-expensive mini-mansion playhouse are inaccurate. "We have not sold this playhouse to Katie Holmes," says Stacy Evrard, owner of Sweet Retreat Kids which sells the luxury gift, to Celebuzz.

Should Katie purchase it for the 6-year-old girl, she has to spend $24,000 on the playhouse. It's reportedly a grand Victorian house with running water, electricity, heat, play lofts, kitchens, dining rooms, cathedral ceilings, and intercoms connected to the main home.

After going through the ups and downs, most "Gossip Girl" characters had their happy endings in the series finale. As it had been revealed in several previews, Chuck proposed to Blair and [SPOILER ALERT!] they got married in the December 17 episode. This way, Blair didn't have to testify against Chuck regarding his father's death.

The burning question about who Gossip Girl really is was answered and it turned out that Dan was the eponymous blogger. As Dan opened up how he became Gossip Girl, familiar faces like Jessica Szohr's Vanessa, Katie Cassidy's Juliet and Willa Holland's Agnes were featured reacting to the revelation.

Earlier on Monday, December 17, there was an online frenzy after an alleged script for "Transformers 4" leaked onto the web. Being very responsive as usual, director Michael Bay quickly took to his personal blog to brush off the report and publicly deny that the "T4" screenplay had made it way out online.

"Some Internet sites this morning reported that some document recovery guy has found a legitimate 120 page script of Transformers 4. I can absolutely 100 percent say this is completely false," so Bay claimed. "The only two people in the world that have our unfinished script are [Ehren] Kruger and myself."

Michael Douglas' son, who is currently serving 10 years in jail stemming from drug charges, has reportedly been badly injured in prison. Cameron, 34, is believed to have been attacked by another man paid $100 by a New York City mobster as some kind of payback after he testified against his drug suppliers.

Cameron reportedly suffered a broken leg and finger, and told health services staff that he got hurt while playing handball. The mastermind behind the attack allegedly was "the self-proclaimed 'King of the Italians.' They won't tolerate rats, and Cameron testified against the people who gave him the drugs."

Grammy-winning singer Bruno Mars is celebrating another joyous feat this week. His single "Locked Out of Heaven" took the No.1 spot last week on the Billboard Hot 100, which gives him a triple tie with Justin Timberlake and Nelly for the most No.1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 by a male artist. The upbeat song is now Mars' fifth Pop song No.1.

The "Just the Way You Are" hitmaker has also released several chart topping tracks from his second studio album "Unorthodox Jukebox". The new set boasts genre-breaking singles, which highlight the 27-year-old singer/songwriter's ability to shift from a very modern pop/dance tune to a classic, mellow 80's inspired ballad. Previous releases from the new set include "Moonshine", where he evoked the sounds of Prince and Michael Jackson, and "When I Was Your Man", a heart-breaking ballad alluding to the style of Elton John and Stevie Wonder.

Two days shy of "The X Factor (US)" season 2 final performance show, judges Simon Cowell, Britney Spears, Demi Lovato and L.A. Reid as well as the three finalists showed up at a press conference on Monday, December 17. Among the info shared during the event was the duet partners on Wednesday's show.

LeAnn Rimes will join forces with Britney's protege Carly Rose Sonenclar. Another country music act Little Big Town will team up with Tate Stevens of team L.A. Tate revealed he had asked Garth Brooks to be his duet partner, but he was told that the "More Than a Memory" singer was "not an option." Still, he said performing with the group's "gonna be awesome."

Adele has been named by Billboard its top artist for 2012 for the second year in a row. She also wins top album honor for her second studio set "21", repeating her top album win last year with her debut release entitled "19". The "Rolling in the Deep" singer is the first artist to win both awards for two consecutive years. She also bags Top Female Artist award honors this year for being the U.S. charts' top-selling artist.

Other big artists in this year's Billboard awards roster include Canadian rapper Drake who is named the top male artist, English-Irish group One Direction who earn the top new act award, and pop rock band Maroon 5 who are named the best group. Multi-instrumental musician Gotye collects top song accolades for his track "Somebody That I Used to Know", edging out Carly Rae Jepsen's exceptionally popular hit "Call Me Maybe" and indie rock band Fun.'s hit single "We Are Young".

After a series of speculations, it has now been confirmed that Jamie Foxx will be playing Electro in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2". Revealing what fans could expect from his character in the upcoming web-slinger film, the "Django Unchained" dishes out some spoilerish tidbits about Electro a.k.a Max Dillon's origin and what makes him a bad guy in the upcoming sequel.

"You'll see that in his whole life, no one is talking to him. People have stolen his ideas at the big company. He's a nobody," Foxx says of Electro's back story to MTV News. "At a certain point, Spider-Man bumps into him and says, 'You're my guy. You're my eyes and ears on the street.' And he says his name - no one has ever said Dillon's name."

Romeo Beckham is following the path led by his powerhouse parents David Beckham and Victoria Adams into the showbiz world. The 10-year-old boy makes his modeling debut as a new face of Burberry after being handpicked by the label's Chief Creative Officer, Christopher Bailey.

The gap-toothed youngster shows a wide grin while striking playful poses in the Spring/Summer 2013 campaign for the clothing line. Wearing stylish trench coats and holding a plaid umbrella, he poses next to renowned British models like Edie Campbell, Cara Delevigne and Charlie France.

After being left by Jason Segel, "The Muppets Sequel" is now close to find its new lead. The Hollywood Reporter breaks the news that comedian Ricky Gervais is currently in talks to take the coveted part, being set to star opposite Ty Burrell.

Details on Gervais' new lead character are still kept secret. It is also still unknown whether he will be required to sing in the upcoming film or not. Gervais was originally set to make a cameo in 2011's "The Muppets", but unfortunately, his scene didn't make it to the final cut. Should he sign on to the sequel, it will mark his first lead role since 2009's "The Invention of Lying".

Zooey Deschanel, 32, and Ben Gibbard, 36, have split in the eyes of the law. Their marriage has legally been dissolved a year after they announced their separation. The judgment does not mention financial details of the breakup, but notes that their union cannot be repaired by counseling or mediation.

Though the "New Girl" actress is no longer married to the Death Cab for Cutie frontman, it doesn't mean that she's on the market. The brunette beauty, who is nominated for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy at 2013 Golden Globe Awards for her lead role in the TV series, is currently dating screenwriter Jamie Linden.

Singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips, who won the eleventh season of "American Idol", has made history for the popular TV reality singing competition as the first "Idol" alum to send his debut single to the no. 1 spot in Billboard's Adult Pop Song charts. His single "Home", which he first performed on the "Idol" stage, has bested 2009 season winner Kris Allen's debut single "Live Like We're Dying", which reached no. 3 back in 2010.

"Home" also debuted on the Billboard charts' Alternative category at no. 39. It is the debut single off his first album "The World From the Side of the Moon", which is currently at no. 9 in this week's Billboard 200. It was Phillip's coronation song on his winning night on "Idol", and had the biggest digital sales of any "Idol" winner's coronation song.

"The Voice" was one step closer to crowning its third season winner, but before it celebrates one singer's glory, the show took a moment to mourn the deaths of 26 victims in Sandy Hook School shooting. The final performance show on Monday, December 17 opened with a solemn performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

All four coaches and twenty contestants along with hosts Carson Daly and Christina Milian took part in the touching tribute. They each held a card with the name and age of one of the people killed in the tragic incident.

In contrary to his previous announcement that he planned to quit action movie world, Jackie Chan confirmed that he would be involved in "The Expendables 3". The veteran Hong Kong star announced the good news when attending a recent press junket of his new movie "Chinese Zodiac" a.k.a "CZ12" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"Sly had invited me to be in 'Expendables 2' but I was too busy filming 'CZ12' and couldn't make a commitment to the film," the 58-year-old actor said, as quoted by Cinema Online. "But he did extend his invitation to the third movie, which I agreed on the condition that I will be appearing as more than just a minor role with a few scenes."

Christopher Chaney, 36, is going to spend ten years in prison as a consequence of his action of hacking into celebrities' emails and releasing their private photos to public. He is also ordered by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero to pay $66,179 in restitution to the victims.

Among the victims were Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera, Renee Olstead and Mila Kunis. Arrested in October 2011 under "Operation Hackerazzi", Christopher was initially charged with 28 counts related to the hacking but pled guilty only to 9 felony counts.

"The Smurfs 2" has debuted a hilarious trailer for fans' viewing pleasure. The trailer is mostly set in Paris, where the fan-favorite blue creatures are dealing with an eccentric villain who can make Smurfs-like naughty creatures. Funny things happen as those troublesome group sparks frenzy in the French city, including using a ferris wheel to stroll around the city. A glimpse at Neil Patrick Harris' lead human character is also shown doing an awkward impression of the Smurfs.

In this sequel to the hybrid live action/animated family blockbuster comedy "The Smurfs", the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. However, when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants, Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world's greatest sorcerer.

"Homeland" has just wrapped up its second installment, yet viewers are dying to know what will happen to their beloved characters next. Answering some burning questions, showrunner Alex Gansa and executive producer Howard Gordon talk to reporters about their ideas for the upcoming season 3.

Following Carrie's risky choice to help Brody run away, she won't get away with it easily. Gansa says, "I don't think Saul is going to be ignorant [of Carrie helping Brody in the finale] and I think Carrie has some explaining to do."

R'n'B diva Alicia Keys has been slammed with a copyright infringement lawsuit by songwriter Earl Shuman for her single "Girl on Fire". Shuman claims two lines from the track came from his composition "Lonely Boy" which he co-wrote in 1962 with musician Leon Carr. The song was recorded by Eddie Holman as "Hey There Lonely Girl" in 1970 and became a No. 2 hit on the Billboard charts.

It was not until Shuman read a write-up by Roger Friedman, a blogger for Showbiz411, that the songwriter became aware of the similarities between the two songs. Keys apparently lifted a couple of lines from Eddie Holman's "Hey There Lonely Girl" but Friedman claimed this was not properly credited, unlike the drumline which was credited to "The Big Beat" by Billy Squier.

Amy Winehouse might not die of alcohol poisoning despite previous autopsy results saying so. It turned out that assistant deputy coroner Suzanne Greenaway, who was in charge of the inquest, didn't have proper qualifications to conclude the cause of the singer's death.

According to British law, Suzanne was not qualified for the job because she hadn't had 5-year experience with the Law Society or 5-year experience as a qualified medical practitioner. She was appointed for the post by her husband, coroner for Inner North London Andrew Reid.

Following the footsteps of some Hollywood's upcoming releases which postponed their premieres in the wake of the Connecticut shooting tragedy, "Django Unchained" decided to cancel its Los Angeles red carpet event. The special screening was originally slated for Tuesday, December 19 with a red carpet and after-party, but it is now changed into a private screening with no media coverage.

Announcing the news on Monday, The Weinstein Company's spokesperson said, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event." The rep added, "However, we will be holding a private screening for the cast and crew and their friends and families."

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are going to have a new addition to their family. A representative for the couple announces her pregnancy as saying they "are pleased to announce that they are expecting the birth of their first child next year."

"The Playboy Club" actress later showed off her baby bump when leaving a gym in West Hollywood on Monday, December 17. She was all smiles and made no attempt to hide her rounded belly as she made her way to her car wearing a blue top, unzipped jacket and workout pants.

William Jefferson Clinton a.k.a. Bill Clinton is going to get a documentary treatment. HBO has announced that Martin Scorsese is set to direct and produce the film revolving around the 42nd President of the United States.

The doc will be made with Clinton's full cooperation and explore his perspectives on history, politics, culture and the world. Steve Bing will team up with awards-winning filmmaker Scorsese to produce it.

Another dramatic trailer from "Star Trek Into Darkness" has just been released. It opens with slow-motion shots of every member of the Enterprise crew, while Kirk and Spock are seen running through an open terrain before jumping off a cliff.

Suddenly the dramatic scenes turn into a more serious tone as a voice-over is heard saying, "You think you're safe? You are not!", along with a scene showing Benedict Cumberbatch's villain being locked in a holding cell. The rest of the trailer is jam-packed with new stunning action scenes and it's closed with someone saying, "Is there anything you would not do for your family?"