Sarah Ball

62-year-old Farrah Fawcett has been hospitalized for the weekend due to complications from aggressive, alternative cancer treatments she recently received in Germany, says producer Craig Nevins, who has been issuing statements on Fawcett's behalf.  The "Charlie's Angels" star was in remission, but was re-diagnosed with anal cancer in May of 2007. [Associated Press]Underwood Win 'Takes the Cake.'  Nearly a decade has elapsed since a woman won an Entertainer of the Year award from the Academy...

Or Sheboygan.  Or Wichita.  Or hell, even Los Angeles -- in a campaign they're calling "X Marks the Spot," Fox is letting us plebes vote for which city or town will host the world premiere of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."  Sadly it looks like New York and L.A. are in the lead -- booooring!  Where's the groundswell for Texarkana?

'SATC II' Gets A Date.  The sequel to the blockbuster "Sex And The City" movie will open on May 20, 2010 -- the same date on which the first movie opened. [Variety]Despite Support of Welfare Minister, Madonna Denied.  Madonna's bid to a adopt a girl from Malawi -- her second adoption from that country -- was rejected today, with the high court saying that the singer flouted the rule that prospective parents must reside within Malawi for eighteen months.  [Associated Press]The End of An...

Which is worse in this Style.com interview of Kate Moss: the questions, or the answers?  The gold and silver medals go to these two:Style.com: Where do you get inspiration for your Topshop collection?Kate Moss: My imagination. and S.C: What's your preferred mode of transportation?KM: Private jet.  

If you want proof that the '80s are back in a big way, just check out our chat with Greg Mottola about "Adventureland," below.  But resurrecting that decade doesn't stop with the suburbia-set dramedy -- this week also marks the lofting of Josh Schwartz into the director's chair for a remake of "Bright Lights, Big City."  (Schwartz, the man behind "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl," has already featured BLBC author Jay McInerney in an episode of the latter).  And on April 7, "Rock of Ages" comes to...

Please forget what you've heard. Adventureland is not Superbad 2. It's melancholy. It's wistful. There's no McLovin. There are no menstrual cycles gone awry.

Septuagenarian Show To Go Off The Air. "Guiding Light," the soap opera that has been running -- first on the radio, then on TV -- for 72 years, will go off the air, CBS announced yesterday.  The soap launched the careers of Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones and Calista Flockhart, among others.

'FNL' Renewed For Two Additional Seasons.  It's back!  "Friday Night Lights" went from barely hanging on for a third season, to getting greenlighted for fourth and fifth seasons -- keeping it on television through 2011.  And for the first time in the show's history, the writers will be able to know exactly how many episodes they have to write/develop for.  [Associated Press]'Arabia' Composer Dies After Half-Century Career.

All good things must come to an end -- especially when our hero is as overworked and underpaid as Barack. And though it's time for "The District" to take a break, NEWSWEEK's satirical video team is hardly on hiatus -- you'll see more of the fun projects they've got cooking starting next week.

Three worrisome things happened to me this afternoon.(1.) I read the renewed reports that the guillotine is officially down on the sylphlike neck of NBC's "Lipstick Jungle," and I was actually a little bit sad.(2.) I saw on my calendar that tonight is the return of ABC Family's "Greek," and was actually a little bit really excited.  (See S3 sneak peek above).(3.) I nodded vigorously in non-verbal agreement when I got this text from my sister: "ugh.

An NC-17 rating from the MPAA, apparently.  Sharon Waxman is reporting that the film's first submission to the parent-stacked movie-vetting org earned it the most cautionary of viewer guidelines, thanks to some extremely graphic sex.  There's still the prospect that the film could trim some of its more incendiary parts and snag an R -- as a Universal spokesperson said to The Wrap: "It is far too early to say that there is any struggle to get there [to an R] as the process is only at its...

Prince's Big L.A. Tumble? Prince is back on tour for his three-CD set -- but on his first tour date, he encountered a slew of problems.  Sound problems.  Dogged by technical difficulties all night at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater, Prince apparently gave up at staging a normal concert experience and just sort of invited concertgoers up on stage for a dance party.  "1999"-style. [Reuters]Clear Minds, Full Hearts -- Will They Lose?  Today's the day -- the day that we, the fledgling band of...

As someone who grew up religiously watching women's figure skating in the sport's late-1980s/early-1990s heyday -- someone who could spell "Yamaguchi" by kindergarten -- it's both fascinating and sad for me to read this column from Mark Starr about the decline of the sport in the U.S.  As he puts it, "This year's contingent at the worlds is U.S. Figure Skating's weakest since the early '60s, when it was recovering from the plane crash that killed its team en route to the 1961 worlds." ...

This week's subject is a meditative and soulful Jeff Daniels, whose latest project is "God of Carnage" on Broadway. Daniels sat down with us to reveal why "Dumb and Dumber" was like "Citizen Kane" to more than just 15-year-old boys; why he feels sorry for Kevin Bacon; and how he's written a lot of songs for guitar and vocals (one of which he plays for us in a totally rad mini-music video, online here.

Madonna to Adopt Second African Child?  Despite the legal tangle she encountered with David Banda, Madonna is seeking to adopt a second child from Malawi, a high court in the poor African country reported yesterday.  She is expected to appear for the hearing in the country before the end of this month.  [Reuters]Gun Tattoo Raises Eyebrows for Timing.  Making the rounds yesterday online was a photo of Rihanna's new tattoo -- a handgun, of all things, on her ribcage.  The singer had an L.A.

 So here's my lingering issue with Rolling Stone's April 2 "Gossip Girl" cover -- and the reason why I am still sort of mulling it over, a few days after it hit stands: it is no secret that the show is on the decline.

ABC's Oscars Get Bumped For Vancouver on NBC.  Next year's Oscars will get pushed back into March -- March 7, 2010, to be exact.  The later date is due to the Winter Olympics, which don't end until earlier that month; voting will conclude on March 2, and the nominees will be announced Feb. 2. [Variety]Piven Must 'Prove' He Ate Too Much Sashimi.  "Entourage" star and recently departed "Speed-the-Plow" cast member Jeremy Piven will enter into mediation talks in early June with the suits behind...

  If your introduction to -- and current perception of -- Compton, Calif., is derived from late-1980s rap songs, you must stop everything you're doing right now and read/watch this compelling series.  NEWSWEEKers Jessica Bennett (the wordsmith) and Jennifer Molina (the lenser) trekked to the Los Angeles-area city to document its massive demographic and statistical change -- the number of homicides is at a 25-year low, for starters.  Click the above to see more.

The Old Guys Finally Give In.  It's the end of evading the noose for three over-the-hill stars this week: David Letterman, 61, tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend in Montana this week (they have a son, Harry); Harrison Ford, 66, proposed to longtime girlfriend Calista Flockhart this week (they have a son, Liam); and Bruce Willis, 54, remarried his girlfriend, model/actress Emma Heming, also this week. [People]New HBO Movie Would Be Morgan Debut.  Dennis Quaid will play Bill Clinton in...

Congress is totally ticked about AIG execs getting bonuses with bailout cash and Barack flees The District for the Hollywood Hills. One episode to the season finale!

"Duplicity" is not really a romantic comedy. Watch the trailer for your fill of the love stuff -- for the strung-together sexy glances between Julia Roberts and Clive Owen; for the verbal volleying about thongs -- but this is not "Closer: The Cuddly Version." This isn't even as fuzzy as "Charade." There might be some hotel hanky-panky, and the seductive clinking of champagne glasses in just about every city in the world, but that's just a (perfectly pleasant) backdrop.And thank God for that.

As bits of information emerge about Natasha Richardson's very serious condition, post-skiing accident, NEWSWEEK reporter Dina Fine Maron talks to a Columbia neurology professor about how devastating brain injuries may not appear as such at first.

Richardson Down with Head Injury.  Natasha Richardson was taken to a Montreal hospital Monday night after going down in an apparent ski accident, in which she suffered a serious head injury.  The Tony-winning star, 45, has yet to be released; husband Liam Neeson rushed immediately to Montreal when he heard the news. [People]Homer & Co.

It's all about the Benjamins, baby -- now more than ever. We join our hero this week as he realizes that promises are hard to keep, especially after signing a spending bill pizz-acked with earmarks.

Ron Silver Dies at 62. The man who won a Tony for being Ari Gold-esque in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" before there was Ari Gold (and before mercury poisoning had truncating anyone's Broadway run) lost his long battle with esophageal cancer this Sunday morning.  Silver also played the role of strategist to President Jed Bartlet on "The West Wing," a role that earned him an Emmy nomination, and was personally renowned for his post-9/11 switch to the Republican Party.  [Wall Street...

If you missed last summer's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," and have yet to be introduced to the unbridled hilarity that is Brit comedian Russell Brand, watch the above "7 Things" video post-haste.

Lucky Fives for the King of Pop. Michael Jackson is 50 years old, he's giving a 50-gig farewell concert series in London this summer -- and five hours after the tickets for those dates went on sale, they were gone.  It's been 12 years since he was last on stage. [Reuters]Fallon Isn't Falling in Late-Night Ratings.

First he goes bananas on our own Ramin Setoodeh.  Then he rattles David Letterman.  Now Joaquin Phoenix is an equal-opportunity nutcase.  Wonder how soon before big brother Ben calls Casey Affleck and tells him to put down the camera and step awaaay, slowly, from the documentary subject?

Mickey Rourke to Star in 'Iron Man 2.'  It's official!  The recent Oscar nominee is now set to play the Russian villain, a role that initially looked unlikely for him as the studio offered him just $250,000 -- he's now negotiated a pay increase for his first studio film in years.

So, while we were busy getting geekily amped (geemped?) over a new Harry Potter trailer, the teaser for J.J. Abram's forthcoming "Star Trek" movie was virally blazing across the web.