BET's Sunday night "BET Awards" will now take on a different tone, as the kudofest opens with a tribute to Jackson. It took the death of Jackson, meanwhile, for MTV to do something it hasn't done in years: Run music videos all day long. The cabler, which came of age during the "Thriller" era, started pre-empting its programming Thursday night with wall-to-wall Michael Jackson music videos, concert performances and other footage, and continued to do so right up until 6 p.m. on Friday.

After that, the net premiered a new hour-long special, "A Celebration of Michael Jackson on MTV." Then at 7 p.m., it planned to run a repeat of "Randy Jackson's America's Best Dance Crew" that featured all Jackson hits. MTV2 also planned to continue running Jackson-themed programming.

ABC planned another "20/20" tribute on Friday night at 9 p.m., "Michael Jackson: The Man and His Music," anchored by Elizabeth Vargas. "20/20" also planned more Jackson coverage in its normal 10 p.m. slot. Over at NBC, the net's "Dateline NBC" put together a new special, "Michael Jackson: The King of Pop," to run Friday at 10 p.m., behind a repeat of the two-hour Fawcett doc "Farrah's Story." CBS planned no Jackson special on Friday. Fox plans to pay tribute by airing its first-ever "American Idol" repeat on Monday, June 29. That episode, which aired earlier this year, featured the competish's 13 finalists as they performed songs from Jackson's catalog. MyNetwork TV has scheduled a rebroadcast of the World Music Awards, featuring a tribute to Jackson, for Wednesday.

Other just-announced specials include CNN's "Michael Jackson: Man in the Mirror," which will run several times over the weekend, starting on Saturday at 8 p.m. TV Land plans to run the 1992 miniseries "The Jacksons: An American Dream" on Sunday at 2 p.m. And E! Entertainment TV has lined up the news special "Michael & Farrah: Lost Icons" on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., and the special "Michael Jackson" on Wednesday at 10 p.m. It will also run the singer's "True Hollywood Story" edition throughout the weekend.

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Farrah Fawcett is Dead at 62

Farrah Fawcett died today after a long battle with cancer. She was 62. Surrounded by her family, friends, and doctors, she passed away in the hospital. Her son Redmond, who is still in jail for drug possession, was not allowed to visit but was allowed to call her. She was a truly courageous woman who exceeded her pop icon status. Take a look:



Posted on June 25, 2009
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Transformers 2 Opens Huge



Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen starring Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf, opened with midnight screenings which took in a whopping $16 million bucks. Transformers 2 now holds the box office record for a Wednesday opening.

And it's the third highest midnight gross of all time after "The Dark Knight" ($18.5 million) and "Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith" ($17 million). "Dark Knight" had the advantage of opening on a Friday. "Revenge of the Sith" opened on a Thursday. "Transformers 2" opened in roughly 3,000 runs at 12:01 midnight on Wednesday.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the previous record-holder for best midnight gross for a Wednesday release, having earned $12 million in midnight viewings in July 2007.

Transformers 2 now goes into wide release, where it will rack up millions more dollars before the weekend.

Posted on June 24, 2009
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Jessica Simpson Gets New Reality TV Show

Jessica Simpson is returning to television in a new reality show.

VH1 has picked up docu-series "The Price of Beauty," from producer RDF USA. Show will follow Simpson as she travels around the world to see how ordinary women as well as celebs attempt to achieve their own notions of beauty. According to VH1 and RDF, Simpson will "study the local fashions, dietary fads and beauty regimes and even participate in some of the extreme practices she discovers."

It's a reunion of sorts between Simpson and VH1 parent MTV Networks; Simpson is still well known for starring in the MTV reality series "Newlyweds" earlier this decade. Series is targeted to run some time in 2010. "I am really looking forward to discovering how beauty is perceived in different cultures and participating in some of the crazy things people do to feel beautiful," she said. "I know we will all learn a lot on this journey."

Jessica is executive producing, along with her dad Joe Simpson, Claire O'Donohoe and Greg Goldman from RDF. Let's hope they all get along.

Posted on June 22, 2009
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Reports Say Walter Cronkite is Gravely Ill

Variety reports that reknowned veteran news anchor and journalist Walter Cronkite is reportedly gravely ill.

The 92-year-old former anchor of "The CBS Evening News," who has been ailing for some time, has reportedly taken a turn for the worse, according to TVNewser and other online sites.

CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco had no comment on Friday.

Bob Schieffer said, "All of us are praying for the best, and our thoughts are with Walter's family." The host of CBS' "Face the Nation" and a longtime Cronkite colleague, Schieffer noted that he had no current news on Cronkite's condition.

There are a lot of news outlets reporting Walter Cronkite is gravely ill. However, Newsday reports that Marlene Adler, Cronkite's assistant, says Walter Cronkite is not gravely ill.

Photo source: NASA

Posted on June 20, 2009
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Julianne Hough to Star in Footloose Remake



Julianne Hough has been signed to star in the Footloose remake with Chace Crawford.

"Dancing With the Stars" pro dancer and country singer Julianne Hough will star opposite Chace Crawford on Paramount's upcoming remake of "Footloose," contingent on working out scheduling. It's Hough's first major film role. Crawford signed on a month ago to star after Zac Efron decided in March against toplining another tuner after "High School Musical 3" and "Hairspray."

Lensing is set to begin in March with plans for a more mature version of "Footloose" than the original. Dylan Sellers is producing alongside Ortega, Craig Zadan -- a producer of the original "Footloose" -- and Neil Meron.

Well, she certainly can sing and dance. But can she act? We'll soon find out.

Posted on June 19, 2009
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Haunting in Connecticut Success Inspires Sequel

Another Haunting is in the works, reports the Hollywood Reporter. The success of The Haunting in Connecticut has lead to The Haunting in Georgia.

Producer Gold Circle is developing "The Haunting in Georgia," a follow-up to this spring's surprise hit.

The original supernatural thriller centered on a family that moves to a new state and begins to experience spooky events at their home. The new pic is expected to follow a somewhat similar path but with a new family in a new state.

The ICM-repped Ti West, who helmed the recent 1980's-set horror tale "House of the Devil," has signed on to direct "Georgia." Peter Cornwell directed the first pic.

The concern here is they could go on to haunt all fifty states. That would be a lot of sequels.

Posted on June 17, 2009
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Sean Penn Takes Career Hiatus

Sean Penn has pulled out of the Three Stooges remake and is going on a career hiatus to work out his personal problems with his wife, Robin Wright Penn.

The Oscar-winning star has pulled out of his next two scheduled film projects, including the Farrelly brothers' Three Stooges update, E! News confirmed Tuesday. Penn, who has broken up and made up with wife Robin Wright Penn twice over the past 18 months, recently wrapped the true-story CIA drama Fair Game, in which he played the husband of outed agent Valerie Plame.

But instead of starring as a prosecutor who goes after the mob in the drama Cartel and then taking on the role of Larry Fine in the Stooges comedy this fall, alongside the dream team of Benicio Del Toro and Jim Carrey as Moe and Curly Howard...Penn is taking a break. Not that he wouldn't have taken a bottle to the head later.

"We indeed informed both productions that Sean was not available now," Penn's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, tells E! News. "If for whatever reason the start dates on these productions were to be postponed, Sean would happily remain involved." He and the missus patched things up yet again last month, a few weeks after Sean requested a legal separation. Wright Penn filed for divorce in December 2007 but withdrew her petition the following April.

Penn's drinking problems have been widely reported. Perhaps he's heading to rehab? That would be a good thing for his marriage.

Posted on June 16, 2009
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Kenneth Branagh to Receive Lifeimte Achievement Award in Rome

Kenneth Branagh will be presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Rome Fiction Fest, the television industry's major event. Branagh will also be in Rome to promote his BBC detective project Wallander, in which he plays the lead. He has already won a BAFTA for producing Wallander.

Set and shot in Sweden, "Wallander," which is based on a best-selling thriller, has been a hit in the U.S. on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery!"

Besides Branagh, the July 6-11 Rome Fiction Fest, now at its third edition, has secured several other high-profile guests this year, including "Lost" co-creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who will hold a masterclass.

No one turns down a trip to Rome to receive an award. What could be more fun?

Posted on June 15, 2009
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Next James Bond Film Gets Screenwriters

The next James Bond movie is moving forward. Daniel Craig is on board to reprise his role as 007 and writers Peter Morgan, Neal Purvis (Frost/Nixon) and Robert Wade have been brought on board to pen the screenplay.

Purvis and Wade most recently worked on "Quantum of Solace" and "Casino Royale." Daniel Craig is already set to reprise his role as 007, and Wilson and Broccoli are producing. No start date has yet been set, but sources said EON and MGM are eyeing a 2011 release.

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Morgan, who wrote both the play and film "Frost/Nixon" and "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Queen," has most recently been working on "The Special Relationship" for HBO, and "Hereafter" for DreamWorks. He'll begin writing on the Bond film after completing those projects.

Purvis and Wade also wrote The Brazilian Job, the the sequel to The Italian Job. The film is not titled yet.

Posted on June 12, 2009
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Conan the Barbarian Returns

After nearly a decade in development hell, the Conan the Barbarian movie has a green light to move forward. Nu Image/Millenium Films has tapped Marcus Nispel to direct the remake of the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Deals were made and then unmade with the Wachowski brothers and Roberto Rodriguez, before Nispel was finally signed.

That opened the door for Nispel, who'll make "Conan" his third redo, after "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th." For Nispel, "Conan" is a job he has dreamed about since his childhood.

Nispel said he will blend his childhood imaginings of the character with the influence of the famous Conan illustrations by Frank Frazetta, and the influence of such viscerally violent period films as Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto." "Conan" maintains a following through such ancillary properties as a Dark Horse comicbook series, a vidgame for Xbox 360 and a Funcom/Eidos multiplayer online role-playing game.

Production will start later on this year in in Bulgaria and South Africa. So far, no one has been cast as Conan.

Posted on June 11, 2009
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