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True Blood
Aided enormously by a compelling lead performance from Anna Paquin, creator Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) has crafted a show that has a great sense of place and some appealing supporting characters. The series is based on the Southern Vampire books by Charlaine Harris and centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Paquin), a waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, La., who's blessed with the ability to read people's thoughts. It takes a considerable amount of energy for her to tune people out, so when Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) comes into her bar and she can't hear what's in his head, she's immediately drawn to him. Bill is a vampire and others of his kind have recently come into the open, thanks to the invention of synthetic blood that precludes their need to feed on humans. Give it a watch.

On DVD

Baby Mama
Successful and single businesswoman Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) has long put her career ahead of a personal life. Now 37, she's finally determined to have a kid on her own. But her plan is thrown a curve ball after she discovers she has only a million to one chance of getting pregnant. Undaunted, the driven Kate allows South Philly working girl Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler) to become her unlikely surrogate. But the executive's well organized strategy is turned upside down when her Baby Mama shows up at her doorstep with no place to live. An unstoppable force meets an immovable object as structured Kate tries to turn vibrant Angie into the perfect expectant mom. In a comic battle of wills, they will struggle their way through preparation for the baby's arrival.
 

The Buzz..

Sony has recruited Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky to take a stab at rebooting the Ghostbusters franchise. The two veteran scribes on NBC's The Office will not be rewriting the 1984 classic, but rather extending the series. The industry trades have some disagreement over the involvement of original busters Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson. While Variety says that the new script will reunite the classic team, The Hollywood Reporter only speculates that the original cast, plus director Ivan Reitman, are aware of the sequel script and may be somewhat involved, but the focus will be on a new cast of Ghostbusters.

Lindsay Lohan's has reportedly turned down a $700,000 offer to do an eight page topless Playboy spread for the magazine's 55th anniversary issue in January. LiLo had recreated Marilyn Monroe's platinum blonde nudity in all its glory on the cover of New York magazine in February. Word is that Lifson planned a similar tribute, this time to '60s sex kitten Ann-Margret and her film Kitten With a Whip, supposedly one of Lohan's faves. Lohan can be seen exercising her acting chops in the returning season of Ugly Betty, in which she reprises her role as Kimberly, the mean girl who used Betty (America Ferrera) as a dodgeball shield and who no doubt will have to answer for her adolescent ways.

CBS has given a put pilot commitment to an untitled comedy project from Mitch Hurwitz. In addition, the network has also asked for six addition scripts from the Arrested Development mastermind. Jason Biggs is in final negotiations to star in the comedy. The comedy focuses on a group of adult siblings and their parents who are over-involved in one another's lives.

Tony Dovolani has two new tiny dancers in his life. The Dancing With the Stars pro and his wife Lina welcomed a boy and a girl on Monday, Sept. 8. The couple has been wed for eight years and have another daughter, 3-year-old Luana. Dovolani, 35, is currently partnering with Emmy winner Susan Lucci for the seventh season of Dancing With the Stars, which premieres Sept. 22. His previous partners include Stacy Keibler, Sara Evans, Leeza Gibbons, Jane Seymour and Marissa Jaret Winokur.

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the rest of the Muppets will help NBC celebrate the holidays this year. The network has announced its holiday specials lineup for this year, and it's a little bigger than usual. The Muppet special, titled Letters to Santa - A Muppet Christmas is one of several new shows NBC will use to help fill out its end of year schedule, in addition to old standbys like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Oasis are still trying to figure out what possessed a man to jump onstage and attack guitarist Noel Gallagher at Sunday night's Virgin Festival in Toronto. Midway through Morning Glory, a man suddenly appeared on the stage and pushed Gallagher down from behind. He then went after singer Liam Gallagher but was wrestled away by security. Video of the incident has been posted on YouTube. The band left the stage and returned after about 10 minutes to finish its set. Afterwards, Noel was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for a possible broken rib and ligament damage.

My Chemical Romance bassist Mikey Way is following in his brother's footsteps by entering the world of comic books. Mikey has been tapped by DC Comics to write a story for an upcoming Halloween issue. Mikey's brother, singer Gerard Way, has his own comic book, The Umbrella Academy, which is published by Dark Horse Comics.

Fans who download Metallica's Death Magnetic for Guitar Hero Three on Friday will get a bonus. The download will come with two exclusive versions of Suicide and Redemption, one with an extended guitar solo from James Hetfield and the other with an extended solo by Kirk Hammett. Death Magnetic, both the album and the Guitar Hero version, will be available Friday.

Daughtry have re-release their multi-platinum debut CD deluxe edition with all sorts of extra goodies. The expanded CD/DVD version of the record features the original album, plus four bonus tracks, including acoustic versions of Home and What About Now, and Daughtry's new cover version of Foreigner's Feels Like The First Time. The DVD has videos for all the album's hit singles, as well as live performance footage and interviews with Chris Daughtry and the guys. But while this record hits stores, what about Daughtry's eagerly anticipated next CD? Guitarist Brian Craddock says the band will actually start recording it sometime this month, with an eye towards releasing it in February or March.

Brett Ratner revealed that he is trying to convince video game publisher Activision to do a video game adaptation of Guitar Hero. "I love Guitar Hero and I think it’s a part of pop culture. I would love to do a Guitar Hero movie, if Activision would ever let me. I’m trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a Guitar Hero movie." Ratner has also given some thought about the plot: "It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the Guitar Hero competition. One of these dreams come true kind of concepts."

A member of a popular internet community called 4Chan hacked Soulja Boy’s Myspace and YouTube page. The rapper received a message from the site kidnapper demanding $2,500 for the return of his accounts but Soulja boy refused and his sites were replaced with obscenities. The whole debacle came to an end when Interscope records, contacted MySpace and demanded the account to be returned to our favourite one-hit wonder rapper.

Britney's comeback album might have the help of a little added star power. Chris Brown, who's rumoured to be dating Rihanna whose current hit Disturbia he wrote, says he penned some tracks for the other pop princess. The collab came about because Brown and Spears are on the same label. The With You singer says that Brit has yet to hear the new songs, but the execs "love the records, so hopefully she'll cut it."

Already the biggest movie star in the world, is Will Smith about to be crowned pharaoh. The Last Pharaoh would be based on the life of Taharqa, an Egyptian ruler who helped his people battle Assyrian invaders. Smith will produce through his Overbrook Entertainment shingle along with James Lassiter and Ken Stovitz.

Sony is reportedly close to a deal to bring Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi back for two more Spider-Man sequels. The studio is hoping to have the franchise star and director under contract to shoot the fourth and fifth Spider-Man features starting next fall, with a May 2011 release for Spider-Man 4.

Step Up stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are engaged. Tatum, 28, met Dewan, 27, on the set of their 2006 romantic dance flick Step Up. The two have kept their dating life under the radar ever since.

Production on 24 will take a two week break while writers figure out what will happen next on the serialized FOX drama. The down time was imposed by veteran showrunner Howard Gordon as an opportunity to rewrite several scripts and reconsider the direction of the season's final six episodes. Because of the eight episodes in the can and the early production start, the two-week hiatus won't have any impact on the 24 January premiere.