Idris Elba

• A Boston NBC affiliate has said it won't show Jay Leno at 10 p.m. next season, opting for local news instead. — Broadcasting and Cable
• Aaron Eckhart is in talks to star alongside Nicole Kidman in a film adaptation of the Broadway play Rabbit Hole. — Zap2it
• Slumdog Millionaire's Anil Kapoor will play a Middle Eastern leader on a peacemaking mission on the eighth season of 24. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy) may direct Little Fockers. — ComingSoon
• The NCAA says Motown legends The Temptations will sing the national anthem Monday night before the men's basketball national championship game at Ford Field in Detroit. — Billboard
• Mekhi Phifer will guest-star on some episodes of Lie to Me. — Zap2it
• Idris Elba is in negotiations to join Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the adaptation of the Vertigo/DC Comics book The Losers. — ComingSoon
• At long last, the 2010 Golden Globes will be shown live, not tape-delayed, on the West Coast. — TV Guide
• Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds has been invited to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. — Variety

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Having a new episode of The Office plus a new 30 Rock is enough to make me happy most Thursdays, but tonight's episodes have some special appeal. On 30 Rock, Jon Hamm is back as Liz's neighbor and incredibly understanding date, Drew, while on The Office, Idris Elba starts his six-episode run as a new boss at Dunder Mifflin going toe-to-toe with Michael Scott.

I'm excited to see a comedic side to Elba, who's best known as Stringer Bell on The Wire. His character, Charles Minor, sounds like he's going to be a tough rival for Michael, at least based on this radio interview with Elba from earlier this month. It sounds like he's been having a blast with all the improvising on set, and frankly, I think The Office could use a little shake-up as the season draws to a close.

Meanwhile, what have Drew and Liz Lemon been up to since last we saw them? Apparently something that involves tennis and possibly a motorcycle, as seen in the promo below. Which guest star are you most psyched to see? To watch the video, just read more

It's NBC day at TCA, and I'm most looking forward to the session with Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, and the creators of the non-spinoff spinoff of The Office. The show is still technically untitled, but some bits of the plot have dribbled out thanks to copies of the pilot script that were left in reporters' hotel rooms last night. Meanwhile, The Office mothership is getting an exciting new cast member — well, at least for fans of The Wire. Read on . . .

• First things first: The Amy Poehler series is set in Pawnee, Indiana, where Leslie Knope (Poehler),is a "mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department." The show will be filmed in the same mockumentary style as The Office, and comedian Aubrey Plaza has just been cast to play her intern, April.
• Second: Idris Elba, maybe best known as Stringer Bell from The Wire, will appear in six episodes of The Office this season as a new nemesis for Michael Scott in Dunder Mifflin corporate. You know, Stringer Bell always did have some business sense about him . . .

What do you think of the news so far? To watch a clip of Elba's previous, er, "business experience" (beware of some NSFW language), just read more

RocknRolla is extremely similar in tone and format to director Guy Ritchie's other films, and I must say I'm starting to think that his movies are only as good as the actors in them. Snatch is a good ensemble piece overall, but the most memorable parts are due to standout performances by actors like Brad Pitt and Alan Ford. Though not as good a film as Snatch, RocknRolla similarly benefits from some fine performers, in this case Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, and Toby Kebbell, among other members of the extensive cast in this convoluted story.

And by convoluted I mean I'm not sure I can even get into the plot here without writing another six paragraphs or so. Suffice to say there are a couple high-level criminal guys (played by Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong and others), a resourceful accountant (Thandie Newton), a few bumbling low-level thugs (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy), and a druggie rock star, Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) all chasing around large amounts of money and/or a beloved painting. There are a lot of men behaving badly because they had cruel fathers. There's a good amount of violence (often paired with great music) and torture mixed with dry, dark humor. It's funny and exciting — but not consistently so. For more on what I mean, read more

Thandie Newton was joined by costars Idris Elba and Gerard Butler last night for the LA premiere of RocknRolla. They've been all over to promote the film, from Canada to the UK, and it's finally opening to limited release in the US on Friday. Director Guy Ritchie missed this one, but the cast seems to have gotten pretty close after all that traveling — Thandie and Gerard even shared a few kisses on the red carpet. Gerard's romance with Jennifer Aniston may have ended up being nothing, but even happily married Thandie seemed to enjoy his charming company.

To see more photos from the event, just read more