NBC’s Scrubs will become available for downloading from Apple’s iTunes Music Store the day after it airs, with the network sharing the revenue ($1.99 per download) with Disney’s Touchstone Television, which produces the show.

It marks the first time that a current television show has been offered for legal downloading that has not been produced by the network that broadcasts it. In an interview with today’s (Thursday) Los Angeles Times, NBC Universal Television Group CEO Jeff Zucker said, "Hopefully, this will open the door to make available more shows that we don’t own. … We all produce shows for other networks, we all cross-pollenate each other, so hopefully this will become the model going forward."

Sir Ian McKellen has criticised Jake Gyllenhaal for being apprehensive about kissing his Brokeback Mountain co-star Heath Ledger on screen.

The openly gay The Lord of the Rings actor - who recently spoke out against Hollywood’s old-fashioned views on sexuality - lambasted Gyllenhaal, 25, for failing to consider how his comments would be interpreted from a homosexual perspective.

 He says, "I got very upset when one of the actors said it was the most terrifying job he’d ever had because it involved him kissing another man. "Imagine how rude that is. Suppose I’d said the most appalling thing I ever to do was kiss Helen Mirren!"

Hollywood star Julia Roberts’ first run of performances on the New York stage have sold out, theatre bosses say.
There are just a few seats left for the Broadway revival of Three Days of Rain starring the Oscar-winning actress, due to open on 19 April.

Tickets for prime seats are being offered on internet auction site eBay with a minimum bid of $600 (£345).

The production is scheduled to close on 18 June, while it is unclear whether Roberts will extend her run.

“Before we talk about an extension, we have to get through more performances,” said the show’s producer David Stone.

Critics’ reviews of the actress’s performance will not be published until the play’s official opening next month.

Preview audiences have reportedly enjoyed watching Roberts, with applause drowning out some of her lines.

Who will play Janis Joplin in a new biopic? Director Penelope Spheeris has reportedly already met with Pink and Lindsay but has yet to speak with Scarlett or Spears, reports Contact Music.

The film, tentatively titled ‘The Gospel According to Janis,’ will apparently attempt to chronicle the life of the outrageous 1960s blues singer.

Spheeris says, “(Pink) would be my first choice, but she may have scheduling conflicts.” Pink’s rep confirms, “She would do just about anything to be part of that project!”

Regarding Spears, Spheeris says, “Her agent asked if I could meet with her. Music ability is important, but most of all, the actress must have the spirit of Janis.

“Each of the actresses who has expressed interest in the role (would) bring her own special talents to the part.”

The movie would reportedly start shooting in September and with that schedule, would end up going head-to-head with another movie on Joplin, Pieces Of My Heart, starring Renee Zellweger.

There’s no second take on stage, but that may not matter when you’re Julia Roberts.

When a plastic tomato went astray during her Broadway debut, the Oscar-winning movie actress broke character and laughed. It wasn’t an issue to the fans who waited outside for autographs after seeing her Tuesday in “Three Days of Rain.”

“I thought it was fabulous, Julia Roberts incredible … Oh my God, she was incredible,” gushed David Gordon from Orange County, California. “So, yeah, it was good, overall. The writing was awesome, everything was great, it was just a well put together production.”

Roberts’ appearance in Richard Greenberg’s play is the hottest ticket in New York, with the 12-week run almost entirely sold out and tickets listed on eBay for as much as $999 for a front-row pair of seats on opening weekend.

The New York Daily News reported that her opening lines on Tuesday were drowned out by enthusiastic applause from the preview audience. But the real test of her nerve came in the middle of Act 2 when the prop tomato got out of hand.

“The plastic veggie landed on the floor, bounced and echoed like a table tennis ball — a blooper that left Roberts briefly in stitches,” the paper said. “She briefly broke character and couldn’t help flashing her trademark toothy grin.”

Official critics’ reviews will not be in until after the April 19 opening night. But her fans at the first night preview were not disappointed.

“It was really cool,” said Ise Ogwude, from Florida.

“It was really funny because we were like the fourth, fifth row and just seeing her in all these movies and then seeing her on stage, you know, five seats away from me, and Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, they all did amazing, amazing jobs.”

The play is a drama about a brother and sister who meet up with a childhood friend for the reading of a will. Roberts plays Nan in the first act and then her mother in the second, which takes place a generation earlier.

Co-stars Rudd and Cooper will also be familiar to audiences from the screen — Rudd’s credits include “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Friends” and “Clueless,” while Cooper is currently in “Failure to Launch” with Matthew McConaughey.

“Three Days of Rain” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize following its off-Broadway success in 1997.

Roberts, who won an Oscar for “Erin Brockovich,” is one of a string of Hollywood stars coming to the New York stage this season, including Alec Baldwin, David Schwimmer and Amanda Peet. Unlike some of them, Roberts has little experience to fall back on — this is her first professional stage role.

Broadway critics can be harsh on big names — even established stage actor Denzel Washington got a drubbing in “Julius Caesar” last year, though the show was box office smash.

An online Los Angeles Times article said Roberts was taking the biggest gamble of her career.

“(It) could validate her rank as America’s highest-paid actress and perhaps even earn her a Tony Award. Or it could drown her career in acid rain released by the toughest critics anywhere: those theater snobs.”

Bubbly “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul has signed on for three more years as the counterpoint to brutally honest Simon Cowell on TV’s hottest show, the Fox network said on Wednesday.

Abdul, a Grammy-winning singer and dancer and the show’s lone female judge, has become a fan favorite for her effusive, sometimes fawning praise of show’s aspiring stars in the face of bad boy Cowell’s punishing critiques.

“Paula’s warm and nurturing nature is vital to the balance of the show,” Fox spokesman Mike Darnell said of Abdul, who is expected to join Cowell and judge Randy Jackson for the duration of her new contract.

“We are thrilled to have her alongside — or actually in between — Randy and Simon,” Darnell said in a written statement.

The announcement comes less than a year after an internal investigation by Fox found no evidence to support claims by a former “Idol” contestant Corey Clark that he had a sexual affair with Abdul, 43, and that she coached him privately.

“It is truly an honor to be a part of the American Idol phenomenon,” Abdul said in a written statement. “As an artist myself it is a pleasure to have a connection with each of the contestants and be able to fully support their dreams and aspirations.

“Of course, I also look forward to putting Simon in his place for years to come.”

“Idol,” airing two or three nights a week this year, has grown into a ratings juggernaut for Fox and dominated U.S. television in prime time, overshadowing the hottest series of rival networks and even big-event broadcasts like the Grammy Awards and Winter Olympics.

The bottom 3 on Wednesday night’s results show was truly shocking. Not that anyone was exceptional the night before, but Bucky, who should have been gone weeks ago, was not even in the bottom 3. Yet somehow, female favorite Katharine McPhee, who’s rendition of Christina’s “The Voice Within” was not great but still good and better than Bucky on his best day–somehow was not just in the bottom 3, but the bottom 2.

How Ace managed to get more votes than Katharine with his nearly horrid rendition of Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” I’m not quite sure (though I have an inkling it was the scar). But all is well in the world now, as when Lisa Tucker and Katharine McPhee stood side by side and Ryan read off who was going home, God had some mercy on the human race and the name he read was Lisa Tucker’s. Which was highly exciting and a big relief at first.

Then I remembered she’d have to sing “Because of You” again.

And of course it was just as horrid as it was the night before. So there lies a little relief in the fact that I won’t have to hear Lisa Tucker’s lazy Doris Day vibrato anymore, but I have to unfortunately watch Bucky toss the microphone from hand to hand and sport a cowboy hat for another week, murdering yet another great American song.

Here’s to hoping the contestants pick better songs next week and that Ace doesn’t try to slip in any more strip shows.

Remember that story I posted a little while ago about Ryan Seacrest possibly dating Teri Hatcher? Well now there’s proof.

So it’s 21st Century week on American Idol, and the show’s an hour shorter. It’ll be harder for me to be as witty as in previous weeks because I have less time to write in between performances, but hopefully my review will be entertaining nonetheless.

Lisa Tucker. Why in hell are you ruining Kelly Clarkson’s beautiful song “Because of You”. This is the reason Kelly did not want her songs sung on this show. It was a laughable rendition, and this performance was as Simon said, painful. She didn’t emotionally connect with a very emotional song, the arrangement didn’t do Lisa or the song justice, and as much as Lisa (as well as Paula apparently) thinks she can sing her ass off, the truth is, she can’t. She seems to think that her voice is a “Whitney” or “Mariah” when really it’s just a “Mya” or “Jasmine Trias”. You’re not a power-belter so stop acting like one.

You don’t want this mp3. Trust me. But I guess I’ll give it to you anyway. Download it here. (Left click on this one)

Grade: D

Kellie Pickler is obviously a little sick this week–you can tell by her interview clip (which by the way seemed a little scripted). She’s singing Sara Evans’ “Suds In The Bucket”. The song and the performance both are equally boring, and the singing was not great either (minus a nice little run at the end). But I think Simon said it all. There are so many songs to pick, yet you pick a song talking about suds in a freaking bucket? C’mon Kellie. This was an opportunity to show your personality, to show your range, and to show what kind of record you’d make, and you failed. You definitely won’t be exiting this week, but you will be soon if you keep giving performances like that.

Download mp3 here.

Grade: C

Ace Young. Okay, they must’ve prepared things for all of the idols to say about their songs, Ace’s seemed scripted too. “Drops of Jupiter”? What the hell? Good song, but not for you. We all know Ace doesn’t have the best vocal chops, but he always has seemed to pick very good songs for his vocal style (Father Figure, Butterflies). I don’t understand why he would try to do something completely out of his abilities and sing a Train song. Bad choice. Everyone’s making horrible choices tonight. Maybe the 21st Century theme wasn’t such a great idea. The showing of the scar was really cheesy and unnecessary, and the little hand out to the camera at the end of every performance is losing its charm (why was his arm shaking like crazy?).

Download mp3 here.

Grade: C-

Taylor Hicks looks so hip tonight. He actually looks a little sexy. He’s singing Ray LaMontagne’s “Trouble”. I love Ray LaMontagne. Kelly Clarkson sang his “Shelter” on the Katrina telethon. Very good performance. I actually agree with Paula for once in that it’s really nice to see Taylor just stand behind the mic and sng the song. He showed his vocal range (more than he’s ever shown) and really did the song some justice. As far Simon’s criticism that he looks very Clay Aiken…what the hell? Why would Clay Aiken be wearing tight faded denim and a leather jacket? I love Ryan’s comment “If this is very Clay Aiken, then that (points to Simon) is very Kelly Clarkson.”

Download mp3 here.

Grade: B+

Mandisa. Taking a neo-gospel-pop turn this week, she’s singing Mary Mary’s “Wanna Praise You (Shackles)”. Really bad choice. After last week’s stunning Idol opener “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” Mandisa’s definitely taken a few steps down with this performance. First of all, I need to be able to tune into family-friendly television and not see a 300 pound woman’s panty lines. Second, she really oversang the song, and it just wasn’t a song that anyone is going to care about. But..question. Did anyone see the weird thing with the numbers during Mandisa’s perforamance? When the normally blue number bar popped up at the bottom of the screen it was video of the band instead where the blue should be. Then when it got back to blue, it said Taylor Hicks instead of Mandisa. I hope we don’t have to do a revote like last year.

Download mp3 here.

Grade: C+

Chris Daughtry. He chose a song that I’ve actually never heard before called “What If” by Creed. This is the first time I really have negative feedback on Chris. There are so many good alterna-rock songs (like “Hemmhorage”, still his best performance to date) that he could have picked. But he picks this song by Creed that I guarantee half of America won’t understand. And I actually agree with Simon that this week marks him going a bit too far. There comes a point when you have to wake up and realize that you are on American Idol, and though it is great to see an edge and uniqueness in a performer, your performance needs to be accessible to the mainstream public in order for you to be successful. I have no doubt that Chris will sail through to next week, but I’m just very disappointed in his song choice this week, as with everyone else’s so far. It’s okay, you’re still sexy.

Download mp3 here.

Grade: B-

Katharine McPhee is singing Christina Aguilera’s “The Voice Within”. Very ambitious choice–Christina sang the hell out of that song. Oh, Katharine, honey. The arrangement is a disaster. It didn’t allow the song to begin, build, climax, or end. It’s always a bad idea to sing a Christina Aguilera song, because the reality is, not many singers can sing like Christina. Maybe Kelly Clarkson, but she’s one in a million. I love Katharine McPhee, but she’s no Christina Aguilera. And though I disagree with the judges–I think she did make changes to her performace that made it different from Christina’s–it wasn’t very good. However, in the context of tonight’s performance, it was sadly one of the best.

Download mp3 here.

Grade: B-

Bucky Covington. At least he actually looks like himself this week. Not that that means much. He’s singing Tim McGraw’s “Real Good Man”. As much as it kills me to say it, I think this is actually his personal best performance so far. It wasn’t great by any means, but it didn’t make me want to stab out my ear drums with a rusty nail like he usually does. I don’t know…is that a compliment? I’m very upset now, because I think that performance might somehow save him from going home tomorrow night, which means he might not even be in the bottom 3.

Download mp3 here.

Grade: C-

Paris Bennett looks great tonight. I’m liking the hair extensions. Oh shit. She’s singing Beyonce’s “Work It Out” from the Austin Powers: Goldmember soundtrack. Wow. And Paris did just that. She totally worked it out. I think it was a great choice for her, it was young, it was hip, it was fun, and girl I didn’t know you had those kinda dance moves!

Download mp3 here.

Grade: A

Elliott Yamin chose Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want To Be”, which at first, seemed like a really stupid choice. Elliott’s known for his silky smooth soulful vocals, and a high-energy rock song doesn’t seem like the best choice. But when I think of Gavin DeGraw’s voice, he’s actually pretty soulful himself, and Elliott’s arrangement of the song, despite the judges’ comments, was great and worked for him. Okay…I’m really embarassed to say this, but am I the only one that thinks he gets hotter every week?

Download mp3 here.

Grade: A

This had to have been…one of the worst episodes of American Idol ever. Everyone will try to say it was the theme, but truly, it was the contestants’ song selection. So many of them were so damn stupid.

Best Overall Performance: Paris Bennett

Best Vocal: Taylor Hicks

Most Original: Elliott Yamin

Going Home: Lisa Tucker