Aretha Franklin

• Aretha Franklin is set to sing at Barack Obama's inauguration. — Billboard
• Director Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Bedtime Stories) has two more movie projects lined up: Bob the Musical and a new take on the epic adventure Sinbad. — ComingSoon
• HBO has picked up three comedies, including Bored to Death starring Jason Schwartzman and Hung starring Thomas Jane. — Zap2It
• Barry Sonnenfeld will direct and produce the action-comedy The How-To Guide For Saving the World. — ComingSoon
• Rainn Wilson and Jenna Fischer are both executive-producing new pilots at NBC. — Variety
• United Artists will turn Fritz Leiber's 1952 supernatural thriller novel Conjure Wife into a feature film. — Variety
• The Shield's Michael Chiklis is developing a series about a bad investment scheme — after becoming a victim of one himself. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Frank Miller may direct a Buck Rogers movie. — Zap2It

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PETA announced today that Aretha Franklin is "queen" of their annual worst-dressed list.

The online poll, which scolds those who "drape themselves" in fur, leather, and exotic skins, also named Lindsay Lohan, Eva Longoria, Kate Moss, Kylie Minogue, and Marilyn Manson as top offenders.

Here's what PETA had to say about Aretha and the runners-up — do you agree?

• Aretha Franklin: How 'bout some R-E-S-P-E-C-T for animals? Aretha, when you waddled into the Grammys in yet another vulgar fur, you looked as if you were going to perform "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles. You might be a queen, but you don't know jack about compassion.
• Marilyn Manson: Always draped in leather from head to toe, Manson has enough skeletons in his closet to fill a pet cemetery. As if wearing dead animals isn't foul enough, Manson says that he wears his cow-skin pants 24/7— only peeling the smelly things off to have sex. That alone should be enough to tarnish leather's dated sex appeal. Manson might only be the shock rocker's stage name, but his wardrobe is a real-life tale of blood and guts.

To see what PETA had to say about Eva, Lindsay, Kate, and Kylie, read more

Tina Fey will host the first post-strike episode of Saturday Night Live on Feb. 23, and Ellen Page will follow the next week, writes The New York Times.
• John Legend and Isaac Hayes have joined the cast of the comedy Soul Men, which includes Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac, writes Billboard.
• ComingSoon has news that Wes Craven's first horror project since 1994 will be 25/8, based on the 1972 George Romero film.
• Benjamin Bratt will star in a new series for A&E about an interventionist, while Timothy Hutton will portray a modern-day Robin Hood in the TNT series Leverage; details on both are at The Futon Critic.
• Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Jason Leigh will star together in the indie sex comedy titled Spread, reports Variety.
• Aretha Franklin is not pleased with Beyonce after Beyonce's Grammy intro referred to Tina Turner, not Franklin, as "the queen," the Associated Press reports.
• Zap2It writes that Joel Surnow, co-creator of 24, is leaving the show to pursue other projects.
• According to Billboard, this summer's tour will be the last for The Police.
• Fox is remaking a Japanese TV show in which people must fit into shapes like human Tetris pieces, according to Variety.

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I love me some Aretha Franklin. One of my all time favorite workout play lists that I frequent on my iPod is an Aretha compilation.

It's no secret that the Queen of Soul has struggled with her weight, but now she 's opening up to People about hitting the treadmill.

Here are highlights:

People: It's no secret you've had some struggles with your weight in recent years.
AF: Who hasn't had a weight issue? If not the body, certainly the big head! (Laughs.) But I have no such issues now.

People: How much have you lost?
AF: A lot of weight. I won't say the number, but I found the magic numbers on the treadmill. Slowly but surely. It's all happy.

People: No surgery?
AF: I would never, ever do that. I know many women who [had gastric bypass surgery]] who are having a bad time now, unfortunately. It's nothing I would ever do.

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• Ben Affleck's directorial debut, the thriller Gone, Baby, Gone, is being pulled from U.K. theaters in light of the kidnapping of British girl Madeleine McCann, Variety reports.
• Those nutty "Jericho" fans really made their mark: CBS is using peanuts to market the show's first-season DVDs, Variety reports.
• Ricky Gervais will write and star in his own comedic movie titled This Side of Truth, writes Zap2It.
• Billboard has the news that Aretha Franklin's next album — releasing Nov. 13 — will include two never-before-heard tracks.
• "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" will start its fifth season in October with a "Straight Guy Pageant," the Futon Critic reports.
• The Austin City Limits music festival kicked off today, Pitchfork reports.
• Bummer: "The IT Crowd," NBC's midseason nerd comedy, might never make it on the air, Zap2it writes.
• TV Guide reports that soap star Morgan Fairchild will play herself on "Men in Trees."

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