Jericho

• Chris Rock will join Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan for Neil LaBute's remake of the 2007 British film Death at a Funeral. — Zap2It
• Amy Winehouse is pulling out of the lineup for this year's Coachella festival. — Billboard
• Little People, Big World is getting a spinoff about a newly married couple. — Variety
• Julia Roberts will produce the comedy Jesus Henry Christ, which follows Henry James Hermin, a boy conceived in a petri dish and raised by a loving, left-wing feminist. — ComingSoon
• Molly Parker and Nate Corddry will play Sarah Michelle Gellar's siblings in the HBO pilot The Wonderful Maladies. — Zap2it
• Ryan Phillippe and Malin Akerman will star in the indie drama The Bang Bang Club, set in apartheid-era South Africa. — ComingSoon
• The 1990 movie Ghost will get the Sleepless in Seattle treatment and be turned into a stage musical aiming for a West End opening in 2010. — Variety
• Jericho will continue its life as a comic book. — The Futon Critic

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All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, you can also pick up Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson's romcom Fool's Gold and the complete Jericho series on DVD.

Be Kind Rewind
Director Michel Gondry is known for a bizarre brand of humor (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Be Kind Rewind delivers just that. It stars Jack Black and Mos Def as friends who have to recreate old movies because Black's character accidentally erases all the videos in Def's video rental store. They tackle classics like Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy using hilarious dumpy props and less-than-special effects. Surprisingly, their remakes are a big hit with customers. I called it a must-see for fans of Gondry, and everyone else might enjoy how endearingly funny Jack Black and Mos Def are as they play off each other.

Extras on the disc include the trailer for the film and a featurette titled "Passaic Mosaic."


A movie and a TV show up next so read more

• Check out the new image from the Where the Wild Things Are movie, courtesy of MTV Movies Blog.
• Top Chef fans, be sure to head to YumSugar for a recap of the finale and a test of how well you paid attention.
• Cinematical ponders the news that Hugh Hefner apparently wants Robert Downey Jr. to portray him in Hefner's biopic.
• TV with MeeVee doesn't know that someone will die on Battlestar Galactica, but they're handicapping the odds anyway.
• Speaking of Battlestar, TiFaux found Tricia Helfer rocking out in a video for the Old '97s.
• Stereogum has the new, summery Goldfrapp video for "Caravan Girl."
• TV Squad has a clip of the alternate ending for Jericho if there had been a season three.
• More OC on Chuck! Hollywood Insider has news that Melinda Clarke will appear in the show's second season.
• Popwatch wants to know which acts at Nashville's Bonnaroo you'd like them to cover.

• Pop Candy reports that Jericho fans still aren't giving up on trying to get their show back on the air.
• According to CasaSugar, the cast of Gossip Girl and Jennifer Hudson have teamed up with Deeply Madly Living to benefit the V-Day Foundation and the Children’s Defense Fund.
• Give Me My Remote tracks down several Jenna Fischer pop culture appearances and realizes she'd really like to be Jenna when she grows up.
• Cinematical is relieved that apparently the script for the live-action He-Man movie is already getting high praise.
• Stereogum is getting all nostalgic for Mr. Big — no, not Carrie's Mr. Big, the '90s band responsible for that song "To Be With You."
• But while I had you thinking Sex and the City, Tuned In has the provocative question of whether men should be allowed to review SATC.
• Popwatch brings up another great debate about spoilers on the Internet.
• Vulture thinks Lil Wayne's "Comfortable" could be this Summer's "Umbrella."
• TV Filter is wondering who else didn't fall in love with USA's In Plain Sight.

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This time, it doesn't look like there will be any mass uprising to save Jericho. No rallying of the troops from sites like JerichoLives. No tons of peanuts.

No, Jericho — the show that was resurrected by a serious fan mobilization last Spring, returned for seven episodes, and never got a foothold in the ratings — is going more quietly this time. "We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try," Nina Tassler, the network's entertainment president, said in a statement last week, announcing that tonight's episode would be the series' last. "We listened to our viewers, gave the series an opportunity to grow, and the producers put a great story on the screen. We're proud of everyone's efforts."

Two possible endings for the series were filmed: one that left a cliffhanger for a possible third season, another that's more of a wrap-up. The one that will air tonight is the one with more closure. The Hollywood Reporter notes that it's not impossible for the show's stories to continue after the finale, but the high cost of producing it will probably keep it from finding a home on another network or cable.

So, all in all, this looks like the end for Jericho. Will it be missed? To watch a clip from tonight's finale, just read more

• Reuters reports that Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio will re-team for a thriller titled Low Dwellers.
• CBS has canceled Jericho — again, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
• Billboard writes that Queen + Paul Rodgers will go on a four-month European tour this fall in support of its new studio album, releasing in Britain in September.
• The CW and the producers of American Idol are teaming up for an hour-long medical drama called Austin Golden Hour, Zap2it reports.
• Variety reports that Catherine Zeta-Jones has joined the cast of an untitled New York-based Bart Freundlich-directed romantic comedy.
• British actor Paul Scofield, who won an Oscar for his role in A Man for All Seasons, died Wednesday at the age of 86, Zap2It writes.

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Considering all the talk of campaigns to save Friday Night Lights, it's especially fitting that Jericho, a show that benefited from exactly such a campaign, starts its second season tonight. The show was canceled after the end of its first season last May, but a large-scale outreach effort from fans (and more than 20 tons of peanuts) brought it back for seven episodes.

The first of those episodes airs tonight, focusing on a new government coming in to restore order to war-ravaged Jericho. Since a third season is far from a sure thing, these seven episodes tell a self-contained story — but the show shot two endings just in case good ratings get it renewed.

I'm awed that the show inspired so much passion, and that alone will get me to check out Jericho tonight. Will you be watching? You can watch the first five minutes online now, and to see a promo for the season, just read more

• TV with MeeVee tracks down a bizarre animated CBS online-only show called Danny Bonaduce: Life Coach.
• Popwatch asks: What TV characters do you love that everyone else seems to loathe?
• Stereogum has found Snoop Dogg's new song, "Neva Hafta Wurry."
• TV Filter has a Jericho preview clip for those of you who can't wait till next week.
• Cinematical hated the new comedy Strange Wilderness so much it's scary.
• CasaSugar has a quiz all about Carrie Bradshaw-inspired living room furniture.
• Should you really watch the Grammys? Vulture has a handly flow chart to help you decide.
• This week's "Hotties" post on FilmExperience features some smoking hot pictures of this year's nominees for the Best Actress Oscar.

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• In an effort to strike a deal, the Writers Guild of America has dropped demands to unionize reality TV writers and animation writers, USA Today reports.
• Beyonce and Tina Turner will duet at the Grammys, according to People.
• Three series renewals this week: TV Week reports that Oxygen is in for a third season of Tori and Dean and Bravo has rewened Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, while Mediaweek has news on Showtime's renewal of Brotherhood.
• Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling will star in All Good Things, a period drama and murder mystery directed by the man behind the documentary Capturing the Friedmans, Zap2it reports.
• Pitchfork has a few more details on the Zooey Deschanel/M. Ward collaboration, which will be out March 18.
• The Sci Fi Channel will show repeats of Jericho for two years, including a mini-marathon leading up to its Feb. 18 season premiere; details are at The Futon Critic.
• Variety has details on a series of short plays written by striking writers that will feature TV actors in benefit performances.

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• A 30-minute live acoustic set by John Legend — aboard a Delta flight — will be the prize of a Grammys sweepstakes, Billboard reports.
• Sci Fi Wire is reporting that Jericho has shot two endings this time, just in case it's canceled again.
• ComingSoon has news that Jennifer Hudson will join the cast of the drama Tyler Perry's the Family That Preys.
• NBC is auctioning off items from its shows to benefit the United Way, including one of Pam Beesley's cardigans from The Office; details are at The Futon Critic.
• Mark Wahlberg will star in an untitled drama about international drug dealer Jon Roberts, whose life was chronicled in the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, writes Variety.
• Jerry Seinfeld has sent Seinfeld DVDs to New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning after a TV station in Green Bay pulled the show — Manning's favorite — off the air because his team is playing the rival Packers, the New York Post reports.
• Nashville Star will air on NBC this summer, along with a second season of American Gladiators, Broadcasting & Cable reports.
• Instead of another 100 movies list, AFI will present 10 top 10 lists for different movie genres this summer, writes Zap2it.

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