Reuters – CBS Corp’s Showtime Networks Inc said on Thursday it has signed a deal to air movies from Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios, in a long-term agreement that could help restore content Showtime lost when three top studios started their own channel.
Reuters – Reigning champ “Alice in Wonderland” is sure to score an easy victory at the weekend box office in North America despite four wide releases hitting theaters Friday.
AP – A member of the pop group Girlicious has been charged in California with drug possession with the intent to sell after Glendale police allegedly found a dozen plastic bags of cocaine in her Gucci purse.
AP – Red carpet regular Tinsley Mortimer is jumping from the social circuit to the national spotlight with her own reality television show.
Reuters – British newcomer Taio Cruz has broken a seven-year-old record by soaring to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart in the United States.
AP – A former model says she’s appalled that her nearly decade-old bikini photo became a randy prop in the film “Couple’s Retreat.”
Reuters – Football star turned actor Merlin Olsen, who was a key member of the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive line nicknamed the “Fearsome Foursome,” died at the age of 69 on Thursday after a battle with cancer.
Reuters – Don’t hold your breath for a reunion performance by ABBA at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony next Monday.
AP – A Georgia man who posted a video of himself on the Internet holding a sign that said “Elton John must die” has been arrested for making terroristic threats.
AP – A musical celebrating Ray Charles is headed for Broadway this fall.
Reuters – Archbishop Desmond Tutu has done it. So has genome pioneer Craig Venter.
AP – Brooks & Dunn have landed a star-studded lineup for their “Last Rodeo” concert special to be filmed following the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.
AP – The Internet has gotten its way: Betty White will host “Saturday Night Live.”
Reuters – The Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its first group of films for April’s event, including one documentary about the prostitution scandal that brought down former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.
Reuters – It’s enough to make a mining executive grit his teeth or his kids to give him the silent treatment.
AFP – Merlin Olsen, a gridiron Hall of Famer who became a popular actor and broadcaster in the wake of his National Football League career, has died at the age of 69.
AP – Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg swapped other people’s war stories to groundbreaking, heartbreaking effect in “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers.”
Reuters – After weeks of speculation, octogenarian actress and “Golden Girl” Betty White is taking her motherly brand of humor to sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live,” the show’s producers said on Thursday.
AP – Remember the hoo-ha over whether Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl made a believable couple in Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up”?
AP – The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week’s ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
Reuters – Former late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien on Thursday unveiled plans to poke fun at being barred from television in a live comedy show that will tour U.S. and Canadian theaters starting next month.
Reuters – British rock band Pink Floyd won its court battle with EMI on Thursday with a ruling that prevents the record company from selling single downloads on the Internet from the group’s concept albums.
Reuters – It appears the Material Girl will be getting a lot more material.
AP – Without a TV show to do every night, Conan O’Brien is taking his act on the road.