In a week where Newsweek pissed off half of Hollywood and all of gay Hollywood and their supporters, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Biel, Katherine Heigl, Lucy Lawless, Elizabeth Mitchell, Christine Woods and Stephanie Hunt lead this installment of the Hollywood Trade Roundup, a collection of hotties making headlines in The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.
In case you've been living in a cave this week and didn't know already, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man 2 blasted into movie theaters last weekend with a massive $133 million first-weekend take. Some go for the comic book story, others ahem go to see Scarlett Johansson. I'm just sayin' that there's always something for everyone in the big summer blockbusters if comic fare isn't your fave.
Did you love Betty White's super gay turn on NBC's Saturday Night Live? You're not the only one — the Facebook-driven campaign to get the golden girl to host proved to be a hit in the ratings, as the sketch comedy show collected its largest audience in 18 months. Next up, Carol Burnett?
In lesbians on primetime news, Friday Night Lights' Devin (Stephanie Hunt) is back as the new season of the critically loved but ratings-challenged NBC drama returned. Viewership, much like the show's history, was weak for its return: 3.9 million tuned in. People, this is the best drama on TV! And there's a cute — out — Texas lesbian character on the show! Tune in! … Speaking of lesbians on primetime that you're more than likely not watching, Christine Woods' Detective Janis Hawk on ABC's FlashForward continues to chug toward being a one-season series: last week's episode collected 4.8 million viewers, down 19% and a new low for the rookie drama. In fact, FlashForward just got the ax sometime between writing this and sending it to post.
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Love Amy Acker? Start your Save Happy Town campaign now: The freshman ABC series has been yanked from the network's schedule for the rest of the month — after airing only two episodes. The network says it'll return in January to burn off its remaining five episodes.
In other bubble show news, ABC's V seems to be doing everything right in order to get a second-season pickup. Last week's episode increased its viewership, attracting 5.7 million viewers to see Elizabeth Mitchell kick ass and take names, helping to land the show a second season, it was just announced. Or is it the other way around? See what she does to me? Damn.
Because we'll take any excuse we can to talk about merkins: Starz will air a six-part prequel to its original series Spartacus. Set to air in January, the series will star Lucy Lawless and John Hannah and will focus on the rise of the House of Batiatus and its champions before Spartacus.
MTV has ordered its version of the way-gay U.K. hit Skins, ordering 10 episodes of the drama. The U.S. version will use age-appropriate unknown teens in the cast and have young writers penning the episodes.
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Kirsten Dunst has joined On the Road, Walter Salles and Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel. She joins Twilight and The Runaways babe Kristen Stewart in the Salles/Coppola passion project.
Jennifer Aniston will join Jason Bateman and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day in the workplace murder comedy Horrible Bosses. The long-in-development project revolves around three best friends who are frustrated by their jobs and decide the only solution is to kill one another's bosses. Has anyone seen my stapler??
Toni Collette is going from a woman with multiple personalities — including one who really likes Joey Lauren Adams — to co-starring opposite Colin Farrell in Friday Night. She'll play a mom who falls under Farrell's vampire spell.
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Now that she's not busy with Grey's Anatomy, Katherine Heigl is filling up her calendar with big-screen roles. The former Seattle Grace doc has been cast in The Age of Adaline, an "epic" love story who is rendered ageless after an accident. The male lead has yet to be cast, but I'm already thinking we tell Newsweek to shove it and send some work to Heigl's former Grey's love interest, T.R. Knight. Who didn't love George, anyway? Amiright?
Heigl isn't the only Grey's star keeping busy: Sandra Oh will star in the police thriller Thorne: Scaredy Cat. She'll play a detective who is part of a squad investigating a series of grisly murders in London. The three-part drama is a sequel to Thorne: Sleepyhead, which stars Natascha McElhone.
Jessica Biel will star opposite Luke Evans in Vivaldi, a period romance revolving around a forbidden romance that develops between the famed composer/priest/violinist and his protégé.
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Emmanuelle Vaugier will play opposite Piper Perabo in USA Network's spy drama Covert Affairs. She'll play a journalist/blogger with the thriller set to bow July 13.
Turning to music sales, Godsmack's "The Oracle" debuts at No. 1, with Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" holding steady at No. 2. Toni Braxton's "Pulse" bows in at No. 9 and Lady Gaga's "The Fame" holds at No. 11.
Looking to the weekend at the boxoffice, there's something for everyone who doesn't want to see Iron Man 2 again: Queen Latifah stars in the same role she's played 18 times before in the romantic comedy Just Right; Amanda Seyfried continues to have a big year as her third film of 2010 bows — another romance (sans the lesbian story line this time) with Letters to Juliet. But the big bower this weekend will likely be Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett in Robin Hood.
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