FX announced today that it has ordered a sixth season of Rescue Me, the Denis Leary drama that focuses on the personal and professional lives of New York City firefighters. The drama will begin its fifth season on April 7 and run over a 23-week period on the cable network, with the season finale scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Michael Moore has let it be known that his next film will revolve around the money business. In an open letter on his website, the caustic documentarian asks for "a few brave people who work on Wall Street or in the financial industry to come forward and share with me what they know…. I believe there are a number of you who know ‘the real deal’ about theabuses that have been happening. You have information that the Americanpeople need to hear."
Moore goes on to promise, "All correspondence with me will be kept confidential." While working on his previous theatrical feature, Sicko, the director encountered push back from members of the health care industry when word got out that he was making a movie about their field. In a 2007 interview with EW, Moore recalled that situation: All these internal memos and training sessions in the companies for howto handle Michael Moore: ”Get him talking about any Detroit sportsteam or compliment him on how much weight he’s lost recently.”"
Singer Miley Cyrus is being sued for civil rights violations in a $4 billion class-action lawsuit from an Asian Pacific Islander American woman in Los Angeles. According to papers filed Feb. 11 in L.A., Lucie J. Kim of L.A. County claims that the singer "acted in conscious disregard for the rights of her Asian Pacific Islander fans" when she used her fingers to pull her eyes into a slanted shape in a photo that was leaked to celeb website TMZ on Feb. 5. Cyrus has reportedly issued a public apology on her official fansite: "I’m sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context! In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face."
Sirius XM Radio is still looking for a way out of its financial troubles that doesn’t involve filing for bankruptcy or relinquishing control to Charles Ergen, CEO of EchoStar and Dish Network. Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin is reportedly in talks with John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Corporation, the largest shareholder in DirecTV.
The Bachelor will air a one-hour special on March 3, the day after the three-hour finale, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The episode, tentatively titled "After the Final Rose: Part 2," will feature additional interviews with bachelor Jason Mesnick, the woman he chose, and the woman he didn’t pick. The 13th cycle of The Bachelor has seen its audience grow almost every episode. To date, the show is averaging 10.1 million viewers and a 3.7 rating among adults 18-49, a 28 percent increase in that demographic compared with the same point last year, and its largest audience in nearly five years.
Josh Brolin and John Malkovich have been tapped for Warner Bros.’ live-action adaptation of DC Comics’ Jonah Hex, Variety reports. Malkovich will play Turnbull, a wealthy Southern plantation who blames Hex (Brolin), a former confederate soldier-turned-hardened bounty hunter, for his son’s death. Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who) is directing the script by Crank writers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Production starts in April.
Joanna Pacitti, the American Idol season 8 hopeful who was shown advancing to the top 36 on Wednesday night’s telecast (click here for the full recap), has been booted from the competition and replaced by 26-year-old Felicia Barton. "It has been determined that Joanna Pacitti is ineligible to continue in the competition," stated a Fox press release sent early Thursday morning announcing the show’s full roster of semifinalists.
For the last several weeks, Pacitti has been the subject of Internet chatter regarding her former deal with A&M Records, which yielded the single "Let It Slide" (embedded below), and more recently, for her rumored close relationship with a pair of 19 Entertainment executives. Specifically, Star magazine reported that Pacitti lived for a time in the same apartment building as 19′s Michelle Young and Roger Widynowski, even referring to the former exec as her "best friend"; 19, of course, is the production company behind Idol.
Barton, meanwhile, was shown getting eliminated by the judges during Wednesday night’s final Hollywood Week telecast, although a brief clip of her singing "Put Your Records On" during the Louisville, KY, audition round had created a decent mount of buzz among Idol watchers. (Read our recap of that episode, including a mention of Barton, by clicking here; and check out a YouTube clip of Barton covering Alicia Keys’ "No One" embedded beneath Pacitti’s video.)
Check back later tonight and tomorrow morning at EW.com for further updates.
More on ‘American Idol,’ ‘AI’ graduates:
Slezak’s ‘American Idol’ TV Watch: A Dramatic Weeding
‘American Idol’: What do you think of the top 36?
Who is the reigning ‘Idol’ Fashion Victim: Paula, Kara, or Randy?
‘Idol’: The 10 Best — and 5 Worst — Song Choices Ever
‘American Idol’ recap: Hollywood Week, episode 3
‘American Idol’ recap: Hollywood Week, episode 2
‘American Idol’ recap: Hollywood Week, episode 1
‘American Idol’: 10 Greatest ‘Hollywood Week’ Moments
EW’s ‘American Idol’ HQ
‘American Idol’: Get the scoop on what 14 of your favorite former contestants are doing now
Fantasia covers ‘Lady Marmalade’! Roof height at venue permanently altered.
Nicollette Sheridan is leaving Desperate Housewives after five seasons playing Edie Britt, TV Guide is reporting. There is no word yet on when her departure from the hit ABC series will occur. In a statement to TV Guide, Sheridan’s representative said, "[Nicollette] had a great time on the show and is looking forward to her next project."
The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan has signed on to direct the science fiction flick Inception for Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter. Based on Nolan’s own original screenplay, the film will be "a contemporary sci-fi actioner setwithin the architecture of the mind." Nolan is hoping to have it in theaters by summer 2010, which means that an anxiously awaited followup to The Dark Knight may have to wait a bit. Previously, Nolan directed The Prestige in the three-year interim between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Tom Cruise is eyeing a starring role opposite Denzel Washington in the upcoming Robert Ludlum adaptation The Matarese Circle, says The Hollywood Reporter. Cruise, the trade publication reports, "is in finalnegotiations to take on the role of the Russian spy VasiliTaleniekov, mortal enemy of American intelligence operative BrandonScofield, to be played by Washington." David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises) will direct the project for MGM, whose United Artists division is partly owned by Cruise. The screenplay adaptation is being written by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (3:10 to Yuma, Wanted), as well as Cronenberg, and the movie could be released in 2010.
