“Survey says…” It’s time for more entertainment news. First off recipes to “Family Feud” game show host Richard Dawson who died just at age 79 one week after the airing of a docudrama about the most famous family feud in history. I’m talking about the Kevin Costner version of “Hatfield and McCoy’s” which aired on History Channel last week. I watched all six hours and it was pretty good. Also a fond rest in peace to Kathryn Joosten who passed away this week at age 72. Probably most famous for being Karen McCloskey on Desperate Housewives but for me she will always be Mrs. Landingham who was the secretary to Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett on The West Wing. Interestingly enough her character in both of these iconic shows left the series by dying.

HBO series Game of Thrones wrapped up its second season last night and delivered on its tradition of iconic closing images at the end of the season. Already counting down the days to season 3. The only thing that mitigates loss is that the next season of True Blood premieres next week. Other upcoming premieres include The Glades and Longmire (A&E) June 3, Pretty Little Liars (ABC family), Rizzoli and Isles (TNT), Franklin and Bash (TNT) June 5, Royal Pains (USA), Necessary Roughness (USA) June 6, Saving Hope (NBC), The Choice (Fox) June 7, Dallas (TNT) June 13, Burn Notice (USA), Suits (USA) June 14, Falling Skies (TNT) June 17, The Newsroom (HBO) June 24, Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen (FX) June 28 other premieres are in the fourth link below.

In the links below read about…

Descriptions of the first three episodes of the new season of True Blood premiering June 10

Postmortem interview with producers House about the series finale

Ask Ausiello spoilers for May 22nd

Premiere dates for summer series. Note this is a little weight because it starts with May premieres that have already started. Click the link at the bottom of the page for June

Postmortem interview with producers of Revenge about season finale and season 2

Postmortem interview with producers of Awake about series finale and what would’ve been in season 2 if it had been renewed

Postmortem interview with American Idol creator Nigel Lythgoe about this season and his views on other reality competition shows

Interview with producers of Game of Thrones about the filming of the Battle of Blackwater Bay. Note that the article runs 3 pages. Links at the bottom of the first page.

Not in the links below…

Ridley Scott confirms there will be a Blade Runner 2 and that the lead character will be female.

Showtime as renewed Nurse Jackie for season 5

AMC will run a marathon of the first two seasons of The Walking Dead starting July 8. Will include interviews and a special black-and-white version of the pilot

British comedian and former Doctor Who companion Catherine Tate will now be a series regular on the US version of The Office

Andy Samberg is leaving Saturday Night Live.

Starz has announced that season 3 of Spartacus will be its last. We are gravely disappointed.

Four characters will not be returning for season 2 of Smash… Debra Messing is losing her husband and her boyfriend. Katherine McPhee is losing her cheating fiancé. And sneaky assistant Ellis who got fired in the finale will not return

NBC has canceled a cappella singing competition The Sing Off and we are disappointed. Ordered a new singing competition called “The Winner Is…”

Tim Daly is leaving Private Practice. Also ABC has ordered only 13 episodes next season. Kate Walsh will leave after next season.

Starting in 2013 the Emmy awards are eliminating supporting actor/actress in a miniseries/made-for-TV movie. Will expand actor/actress in a miniseries/movie category to six nominees

Paramount Studios has decided to retitle the new Tom Cruise film “Jack Reacher” rather than “One-Shot” which was the title of the Lee Child novel upon which it is based

Interesting fact of the day… ESPN costs 26 percent of your cable bill but only gets five percent of the ratings.

Aaron Sorkin (author of West Wing, The Social Network) has signed on to write the movie about Steve Jobs based on the Walter Isaacson book

Titanic 3-D will be available on Blu-ray in September

Lionsgate rumored to be turning movies and TV shows such as The Expendables

Fox has announced the team that converted Titanic to 3-D is working on Independence Day set for release July 3, 2013

Vanessa Redgrave will play a lesbian Supreme Court justice in the upcoming USA network series Political Animals. I didn’t realize it was going to be sci-fi 🙂 Must be set in an alternate universe where that can happen. Shame we don’t live there.

May 25 marked the 35th anniversary of the original Star Wars. God I’m getting old!

MTV is going to make a TV version of the horror film series Scream

Green Bay Packer Donald Driver became the third football player to win Dancing with the Stars

True Blood: Major Spoilers on the Season 5 Premiere and Beyond!

‘House’ series finale: Boss David Shore on how ‘natural’ ending came to be, the cameo that didn’t happen, and those Easter Eggs

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Glee, Bones, Vampire Diaries, Dexter, Happy Endings and More!

Hot for Summer: 100 Premiere Dates and More!

Revenge Boss Answers Finale’s Burning Qs (Someone Did Die!) and Spills Season 2 Secrets

Awake Creator Nixes One Theory, Hints Dream-y Finale Was In Fact Britten’s Worst Nightmare

American Idol: Nigel Lythgoe Talks ‘White Guys With Guitars,’ Ratings Declines, Twitter Peeves

‘Game of Thrones’: How producers pulled off ‘Blackwater’

It was 20 years ago today… (No not Sergeant Pepper) that Johnny Carson retired from the Tonight Show. There will never be another like him.

We were so far behind on entertainment news that I couldn’t get it all put together in one afternoon. Here’s a continuation of even more news

In the links below check out…

Article and YouTube video interviewing the cast of The Walking Dead as they begin shooting season 3

Interview with actor who plays Jamie Lanister about the big upcoming battle in Game

Producers of Grimm talk about finale and what’s coming next season

Absolutely must see for fans of Game of Thrones fans: alternate versions of their opening sequence as done in Legos and as done by the Simpsons

Postmortem interview with producers of House after series finale last night. Also check out “May sweeps scorecard” embedded in the article

Not in the links below but also of interest…

A &E network has canceled Dog the Bounty Hunter

Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Robert De Niro are set to star in an upcoming comedy film called Last Vegas

Sin City: A Dame to Kill for will release to theaters October 4, 2013 starring Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba

Ridley Scott will direct a sequel to Blade Runner

A&E has canceled Breakout Kings

TNT or Lifetime networks are considering picking up CBS’s recently canceled Unforgettable

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy have signed up to star in a buddy cop movie

James Cameron reports he is not only making Avatar 2 and 3 but perhaps even 4. “I’m in the avatar business…period” although he may make some documentaries

HBO has renewed half-hour comedies Girls and Veep each for a second season of 10 episodes

TNT has ordered a new season of Southland

Breaking Bad returns to AMC July 15

‘The Walking Dead’ clip: Andrew Lincoln promises a ‘darker, harder, faster, deeper’ season 3

Jaime Lannister is as excited as you to see the Battle of the Blackwater

‘Grimm’ season finale: Bosses talk big reveal and what’s coming up in season 2!

‘Thrones’ credits tweaked by ‘Simpsons,’ Lego

House Boss David Shore Answers Burning Finale Qs, Addresses Cuddy, Foreman, Kutner Mysteries

I’m so far behind on entertainment news we’re only going to get halfway through it in this installment. We’ll have another installment in a day or two.

We start off this week’s entertainment news within RIP for Robin Gibbs of the Bee Gees passed away this week after a long illness. Thanks to his legacy of great music he will remain “Stayin’ Alive” in our hearts.

Went with friends this week to see Marvel Avengers in IMAX 3-D. Totally awesome if you’re a fan of the genre and not a bad action movie even if you aren’t a big comic hero fan. We saw 3-D trailers for the new Spiderman and the new sci-fi movie Prometheus which depending on who you talk to either is or is not a prequel to the Aliens series. Regardless of what is it looks very cool.

Heads up for an upcoming series on HBO called “The Newsroom” which will be written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. The previews look really good. Speaking of West Wing, the new HBO comedy “Veep” is better than I thought it would be. While the humor is extremely dry and it helps to be a fan of Julia Louis Dreyfus, the political plots are actually pretty interesting. Over the first four episodes she is trying to push through a new clean jobs bill. The senator who agrees to help her sponsor the bill insist that no one from the oil industry be on the commission. The oil industry insists that someone be on the commission. She pick someone that neither side liked and got them to agree to it because it made everybody mad. Pretty cool politics. In the end the vice presidents clean jobs bill went down the tubes because the president himself wanted to focus on something different. She ended up having to cast a tie-breaking vote against her own proposal to stay loyal to the president. Pretty heady politics for a half-hour comedy show.

Because I was under the weather for a while and got tied up in other projects. Our entertainment news is way behind schedule. There are going to be articles that give you “sneak peeks” at season finales that have already been shown. But if you’re like me, your DVR is 98 percent full and you’ve not yet seen some of those season finales. So I’m going to include those kinds of articles anyway. There will also be articles that are postmortem commentary on season finales. If you’ve not seen them yet you may want to skip those.

In the links below to read about…

Fox renews Fringe for its fifth and final season of 13 episodes.

At the bottom of the Fringe article see the link to TVLine’s 2012 renewal scorecard

Preview of the season finale of “Once upon a Time”

Descriptions of new CW network shows including Beauty and the Beast and Arrow

Descriptions of 8 new ABC series picks up for the fall.

Postmortem interview with producers of Fringe about season finale.

Postmortem interview with producers of Once upon a Time about season finale.

Descriptions of 7 new CBS series including Elementary… A Sherlock Holmes reboot

Overview of complete NBC fall schedule

Overview of complete Fox fall schedule

Overview of complete ABC fall schedule

Overview of complete CBS fall schedule

Overview of complete CW network fall schedule

Complete grid of all network fall shows

Postmortem interview with producers of Bones about season finale and next season

Postmortem interview with producers of Scandal about season finale and next season

“Preview” of season finale of Grimm with its star

“Preview” of season finale of Nikita with producers

Postmortem of season finale of Nikita

Not in the links below but also of interest

NBC has picked up a sitcom pilot Save Me starring Anne Heche about a woman who starts channeling God after an accident. 13 episode order

NBC is also picked up a JJ Abrams/Eric Kripke action show Revolution. It’s a post apocalyptic world where all energy suddenly disappeared

NBC has picked up a White House comedy called 1600 Penn

NBC had picked up a about a “House like” veterinarian who likes animals but hates people.

NBC has renewed Law and Order:SVU and a new drama show called “Chicago Fire” about the Chicago fire Department

Demi Lovato & Britney Spears have signed on as judges for X factor

NBC has picked up a Jimmy Fallon produced sitcom called Guys with Kids

Fox has renewed Kiefer Sutherland’s Touch but sadly canceled Alcatraz and The Finder

Elaine Pompano, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Justin Chambers, James Pickens Jr. and Chandra Wilson have signed two-year deals to continue on Gray’s anatomy

Despite Alcatraz cancellation Parminder Nagra will not be out of work. She will play a love interest for Gus on the upcoming season of Psych

ABC has canceled Cougar Town but it has been picked up by TBS

NBC has renewed Parenthood!

NBC has renewed 30 rock, community, and Parks and Recreation for possibly shortened seasons. 30 rock will be final season

NBC has renewed Whitney and Up All Night

ABC has renewed Once upon a Time, Revenge, Gray’s Anatomy, Castle, Dancing with the Stars,, Suburbatory, The Middle, and Modern Family

ABC has renewed Happy Endings

NBC has canceled Are You There Chelsea, Awake, Best Friends Forever, and Bent

We are sad to report that CW network has canceled Ringer. Although we found the finale quite satisfying.

CW has also canceled Secret Circle. CW has renewed Nikita and Heart of Dixie

NBC has canceled Harry’s Law and we are greatly disappointed.

CW has renewed Gossip Girl for a final season of just 11 episodes

NBC picks up a new series called Do No Harm that is sort of a Jekyll and Hyde type story. Also a soap opera called Infamous that sort of a ripoff of Revenge

ABC has renewed Scandal for a second season. I thought it was pretty good.

ABC cancels GCB, Pan Am, The River, none of which I will miss however I will miss Missing which was canceled. I thought it was pretty good.

ABC renews Private Practice, Body of Proof, Don’t Trust Apartment 23, Last Man Standing and picks up a Reba McIntyre sitcom Malibu County

CBS has renewed 2 1/2 men. It has canceled A Gifted Man

CBS has renewed CSI:NY however cancels CSI: Miami, Unforgettable, Rob, and NYC 22.

CBS has renewed Rules of Engagement

SyFy Channel announced Eureka will end July 16, meanwhile Warehouse 13 and Alphas will return July 23. Lost girl moves to Fridays at 10 PM beginning July 20. Sadly Sanctuary will not be returning.

Fox Renews Fringe For ‘Exciting and Climactic’ Fifth and Final Season

TVLine’s 2012 Renewal Scorecard has been updated with the news!

Once Upon a Time Bosses Tease a ‘Severely Intense’ Finale (Featuring a Lost-Style ‘Reset’?)

Fall TV Scoop: The CW Picks Carrie Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, Arrow and 2 Others

Fall TV: ABC Picks Up Connie Britton’s Nashville, Sarah Chalke’s Parents Plus 6 Others

Post Mortem: Fringe Boss Talks ‘Quiet’ Finale, the Final Season’s ‘Huge Payoff’ and [Spoiler]’s ‘Fate’

Once Upon a Time’s Josh Dallas: ‘Crazy-Bananas’ Finale ‘Is Like a Train That Won’t Stop!’

Fall TV Scoop: CBS Picks Up Seven Series, Including Sherlock Reboot, Urie Sitcom

NBC Fall Schedule Revealed: Community Moving, Smash Delayed — Watch New Show Clips!

Fox Fall Schedule Revealed: Glee Shifts to Thursday, Touch Moves to Friday and More!

ABC Schedule Revealed: Revenge Moving to Sunday, Happy Endings and Apt. 23 to Tuesday

CBS Schedule Revealed: Two and a Half Men on the Move, Mentalist Sees New Home on Sunday

The CW’s Schedule Revealed: Supernatural and Arrow Team Up on Wednesday, Dixie to Tuesday

Fall TV Grid: What’s on When? And Versus What?

Bones Boss Answers Burning Finale Questions, Confirms Season 8 Time Jump and More!

Shonda Rhimes Weighs In on Scandal Season 1, the Finale’s Killer Reveal and Fitz’s Future

Grimm Star David Giuntoli Says Finale ‘Holds All the Answers,’ Teases Season 2

Nikita Boss Teases a Major ‘Paradigm Shift’ and the Death of a ‘Fan Favorite’ In the Season Finale

Exclusive Post Mortem: Nikita Boss Reveals Why [Spoiler] Had to Die — and What’s Next!

Last night on American Idol Josh Ledet sang John Lennon’s classic ballad “Imagine” and Judge Randy Jackson asked him why he chose that song. Josh responded with something about inspiring lyrics. I too was surprised that someone who is very open about their faith and their church background would choose this particular song.

While the lyrics you talk about peace, love, tolerance, charity or anti-materialism all of which could be considered Christian values, the song is actually at its core anti-religious. You don’t have to go very far into the song to see this. After all the opening line is “Imagine there’s no heaven…” I did notice that Josh skip the verse with the line” imagine… no religion too” but he did sing the opening line which proposes that there is no heaven or hell.

It’s always seemed to me that the basic premise of the song was that most of the things that are wrong with this world are attributed both to religion and if we got rid of religion we could have all of that peace and love and brotherhood.

This song makes a good point. How many wars have been fought between Christians and Jews, Christians and Muslims, Jews and Muslims. This despite the fact that all three of those major religions espouse the remaining concepts of this song which are peace, love, brotherhood etc. History shows us even further that even within these major religions Protestants and Catholics have been a war with each other within Christianity for centuries. Sunni and Shiite Muslims are currently killing each other by the hundreds and thousands. At least the Reformed Jews and Orthodox Jews while they might disagree with each other vehemently don’t seem to be at war with one another at least not to the extent that the other intramural religious disagreements have turned to violence.

It’s not so much that religion itself is at fault for the ills of the world. It is religious hypocrisy that is at fault. Like I said before the core beliefs of these religions promote peace and brotherhood. However John Lennon’s lyrics do not denounce hypocrisy… They denounce religion in broad strokes.

There is also an undertone in the song denouncing nationalism and patriotism. Lines like” nothing to kill or die for” hint at nationalism and patriotism as being as guilty as religion in what’s wrong with the world. Again to a certain extent guilty as charged. We are a nation founded on freedom and we take great pride in that and are justified in making military sacrifices to defend freedom. But sometimes it’s our vision of freedom being imposed on others.

So anyway I’m always surprised when someone who is outwardly religious and/or patriotic endorses a song like “Imagine”. It is a very beautifully written song with a haunting melody and indeed inspiring lyrics with which I agree about 85% and I’m presuming it’s that similar 85% worth of inspiring lyrics that inspired Josh to choose that song. He did a wonderful job performing it.

But did he really pay attention to everything he was singing? Does he really believe that the world would be better off without religion and without pride in one’s country? My guess is he didn’t. I’ll give Josh an “A+” for performance and “D-” for song choice. If he wanted an inspirational song by a former Beatle that would’ve sent the same mood and shown off his vocal talents to the same degree he should’ve sang “Let It Be”.

Of course the big entertainment news is the passing of TV legend Dick Clark. Of course the conspiracy theorists are already saying that it doesn’t matter if our New Year’s Eve icon passed away because according to the Mayan calendar there will not be a New Year’s Eve because the world is going to end December 22, 2012. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Jonathan Frid, the actor who played the original Barnabas Collins on vampire soap opera Dark Shadows died at age 87. We are hoping it wasn’t because he saw the ridiculous trailer for the new Johnny Depp/Tim Burton adaptation of Dark Shadows. Although it was hotly anticipated by fans of the original show, it turns out this new version is more of a comedy spoof of the original than a real remake. We are highly disappointed and not amused at all. However the good news is Amazon.com is now selling a 131 disc DVD collection of every episode of the classic TV show in a box set for a retail price of $599 but you can pre-order it now for a mere $419.99! Comes complete with its own coffin shaped box.

I went to see Titanic 3-D last week. After a very disappointing 3-D conversion for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace I was a little bit skeptical about Titanic but it was absolutely amazing. The very best 2-D to 3-D conversion I’ve ever seen. When Rose is hanging off the back of the ship and Jack is saving her from her suicide attempt the depth of 3-D really adds to the drama of the scene. In the scene when Jack joins the upper crust of high society for dinner I really felt like I was sitting around the table with all of those people. And dancing below decks with the people in steerage and the claustrophobic feeling of the lower decks really comes alive. Even during the fastest and most complicated action sequences that 3-D held up perfectly. And in one of the final scenes as Rose clings to a piece of wood and says her goodbyes to Jack, a small lock of hair quivers back and forth rapidly as she shivers. The computer that does the conversion to 3-D has to track that little string of hair perfectly to maintain the 3-D effect and it does so flawlessly. After watching Star Wars I noticed that some of the scenes that should look good in 3-D were not shot in such a way that a 3-D conversion would make them look good. But after watching Titanic it looks like James Cameron was really thinking in 3-D way before the technology was available to shoot good 3-D or convert it. His entire style of filmmaking even in this older 2-D effort really shows his awareness of the third dimension in framing and choosing his shots. This week at CinemaCon, a Vegas convention that brings together movie producers and theater owners, directors Martin Scorsese and Ang Lee told theater owners that 3-D is the future of their business. Scorsese went on to say all of his films will be in 3-D from now on. He will not shoot 2-D anymore. Also from CinemaCon IMAX debuted a prototype of a new laser projector that produces brighter, sharper images on larger screens and the brightness extends all the way to the corners of the images. There are still some technical details to work out and concerns about the safety if somehow the laser shines directly into someone’s eyes. But they are using different kinds of lasers that are used in traditional laser light shows or rock concerts where those concerns originally came up and eventually became regulated. One more bit of new Cinema technology… Peter Jackson demonstrated some footage from his upcoming 3-D feature The Hobbit and it was projected at 48 frames per second as opposed to the traditional 24 frames per second. This provides a much smoother and more lifelike image especially on large screens. When I upgraded my TV from regular HDTV at 30 frames per second to a newer model it 120 or 240 frames per second I saw a visible difference in picture quality. If 48 frames per second ever becomes the standard we can work for amazing reality in movie imagery. Sadly 48 frames laser IMAX is still a few years away.

And now for a bunch of other entertainment news leading you into the May sweeps period. Lots of season finales and season ending cliffhangers to talk about.

In the links below read about…

Interview with producers of Ringer promises cliffhanger and three deaths!

Ask Ausiello spoilers for April 18

Preview of season 2 of Showtime’s serious Homeland to premiere in September

Interview with Supernatural’s Jim Beaver about the ghostly return of his character

Preview of remaining episodes of various Fox series

Ask Ausiello spoilers for April 24

Review of final storylines for this season of Grey’s Anatomy

Trailer for new Disney XD series “Tron: Uprising”

Very cool publicity photo of Anthony Hopkins portraying Alfred Hitchcock in an upcoming movie

Peter Jackson previews Hobbit footage at 48 frames per second rather than traditional 24. Makes movies look more realistic.

Prototype of new IMAX laser projector debuted. Promises bigger brighter screens.

Not in the links below but also of interest

Cyndi Lauper will guest star again on Bones as psychic Avalon Harmonia

Bree Turner who plays spy shop proprietress Rosalie has been promoted to series regular starting next season

Royal Pains returns June 6, Burn Notice June 14, White-Collar July 10

Supergirl to appear on White-Collar Smallville alumna Laura Vandervoort will guest star in an upcoming episode

American Horror Story season 2 will take place in an insane asylum. Voice judge Adam Levine will guest star on some episodes

The title of the final episode of House is “Everybody Dies” makes you stop and think

NBC has ordered a new series starring former friend Matthew Perry

Jennifer Morrison, Amber Tamblyn and Olivia Wilde will return for the series finale of House

Ryan Seacrest has signed up for another season of American Idol rumors say it’s two-year deal

ABC family network has renewed Lying Game for season 2

Alec Baldwin says he is returning to 30 Rock and according to him next season will be the shows last

This week’s winner of the “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse Award” goes to NBC for ordering a new Howie Mandel game show called “White Elephant”

Runner-up for the above award goes to a casting Lindsay Lohan to play Elizabeth Taylor in upcoming biopic

The Bachelor has been sued because it no longer casts African-American actors/participants

Fox news has signed Bill O’Reilly and Shawn Hannity to extended contracts

Martha Stewart will have a cooking show on PBS in the fall

Stephen King’s “Eyes of the Dragon” is in development as a movie or miniseries for SyFy Channel

Bill Maher has signed a two-year extension with HBO

True Blood author Charlene Harris has sold a mystery series to SyFy Channel

Former “Roman” Ray Stevenson who played Titus Pullo on HBO will have a prominent role in the next season of Dexter

SyFy Channel announced a new reality series “Hot Set” that is a spinoff from its makeup reality competition show “Face Off”. This one is for Hollywood production designers who have to create movie sets.

New HBO series Veep starring Julia Louis Dreyfus is getting decent ratings. I’ve seen one episode in if you like very dry political humor recommended. Think of it as West Wing written by Jerry Seinfeld. Although this show isn’t written by Seinfeld but you get my point.

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is doing a documentary on discovery channel about American outlaws

A new documentary titled “The Beatles: The Lost Concert” will debut May 17. Includes a complete Washington DC performance from February 11, 1964.

Ringer Finale Preview: Bosses Promise ‘Mother of All Cliffhangers’ and at Least 3 Deaths!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Gossip Girl, Weeds, NCIS, Fringe, 90210, Grey’s Anatomy and More!

Early Intel on Homeland Season 2: Will Carrie Go Rogue? Plus: The New Threat to Brody

Supernatural‘s Jim Beaver on Bobby’s Ghost Powers and Taking the Fight to Dick Roman

Spectacular May Sweeps/Finale Spoilers on Glee, House, Bones, Fringe, New Girl and More!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s, Vampire Diaries, Good Wife, Glee, Dexter, The Office and More!

Grey’s Anatomy Preview: A Surprise Hook-Up, Plus a Finale in Which ‘Anybody Could Go’

‘Tron: Uprising’ intense new trailer

‘Hitchcock’ Revealed By Fox Searchlight

‘The Hobbit’ Debuts At Revolutionary 48 Frames During Warner Bros. Exhib Presentation: CinemaCon

IMAX Laser Projection Prototype Clears Way For Much Larger Screens: CinemaCon

After a brief timeout for a minor illness I’m back on the job scouring the Internet for the latest entertainment news. Actually our first news item is courtesy of my six-year-old nephew Cole… “Captain America 2” will premiere April 4, 2014. He’s already counting the days. And we have to note the biggest entertainment news is the passing of 60 minutes correspondent Mike Wallace. They don’t make them like that anymore.

In links below read about

A postmortem of this season of Spartacus with a surprise revelation that one other character died that you didn’t necessarily know if they died or not.

An April calendar of season finales and summer premieres. Sorry we are already halfway through April but better late than never.

A postmortem of the season finale of Showtime’s series Shameless

Ask Ausiello spoilers for April 3 (check out creepy item on Game of Thrones)

Bravo network orders 11 new reality series

ABC announces summer schedule

Ask Ausiello spoilers for April 10

A slideshow featuring spoilers from 52 season finales. Also note linked to renewal scorecard.

Not in the links below but also of interest

Game of Thrones season 2 premiere to record numbers. HBO announces green light for season 3!

Jimmy Smits is joining season 5 of Sons of Anarchy for a multi-episode arc

Where in the world is Matt Lauer? Staying on the Today Show after signing a long term deal worth $25 million a year

St. Elsewhere alum William Daniels will put on the scrubs again to guest star on Gray’s Anatomy as the doctor who administers finals to the residents

Neil Patrick Harris will host the 2012 Tony awards

David Letterman and Craig Ferguson have renewed their contracts with CBS through 2014. Letterman will become the longest-running late-night talk show in history surpassing Carson

Firefly Reunion April 16 on Castle when Adam Baldwin costars.

The two-hour season finale of Awake will be May 17

HBO announced the new Adam Sorkin produced drama “Newsroom” June 24. True Blood premieres June 10

Reports are that Kristen Wiig, Andy Sandberg and Jason Sudeikis are leaving SNL. Never did like Wiig or any of her characters. Will miss the other two.

Fox has renewed Bones, Glee, New Girl, and Raising Hope for another season.

Lauren Cohen’s Maggie on The Walking Dead has been officially promoted to series regular.

Fox puts Breaking In on hiatus through the sweeps. May return in the summer

John Noble reveals that Fringe has shot two different endings for the season finale depending on whether or not they get renewed for season 5

Eli Manning will host SNL May 5 musical guest Rhiannon

The merger between SAG and AFTRA has finally been approved

My favorite liberal pundit Keith Olbermann got fired again this time from current TV

This weeks winner of the “Chris Young’s Sure Sign of the Apocalypse” award: Ryan Seacrest will host part of NBC’s Olympic coverage

The 10th Doctor returns to BBC America. David Tennant will start the BBC America miniseries “Spies of Warsaw”

Starz announced Kelsey Grammer drama “Boss” will return August 17

Fox has renewed Hells Kitchen for two more seasons

Frank Miller’s “Sin City” will get a sequel again directed by Robert Rodriguez

Seth McFarlane announced his plans to reboot The Flintstones are on hold because he’s too busy

Will Farrell announced there will be a new Anchorman sequel

Hunger Games director Gary Ross has decided he will not direct the sequel. No replacement named yet.

Robert Kirkman creator of The Walking Dead is working on a new series for AMC titled “Thief of Thieves”

ABC has decided to not cancel General Hospital for the time being

Spartacus: Vengeance Post Mortem: The Story Behind The Finale’s Unprecedented [Spoiler]

Save the Dates: April Premieres and Finales!

Shameless Stars Reflect on Emotional Season Finale, Ponder Fiona and Jimmy’s Future

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Glee, Thrones, True Blood and More

Bravo Orders 11 New Series, Including Top Chef and Beverly Hills Housewives Spin-Offs

ABC Sets Return Dates For Rookie Blue, Bachelor Pad, Wipeout and More!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on HIMYM, Private Practice, Bones, Walking Dead, Parks and Rec and More!

Your Season Finale Guide: Get Exclusive Spoilers on 52 Big Finishes!

For some personal observations… If you’re not watching the new ABC series “missing” starring Ashley Judd you’re missing something really cool. Advise you to check it out. If you’re a fan of AMCs Mad Men it premieres after a 17 month hiatus this Sunday. Also watch out for HBO premiere of season 2 Game of Thrones April 1. Went to see John Carter this week. I couldn’t tell who was paying homage to whom. Had lots of Star Wars and Avatar references and similarities but then you have to realize that Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the story decades before either of those franchises. Perhaps director Andrew Stanton was just trying to point that out to us.

Here is some slightly out-of-date entertainment news. In the links below read about…

CBS announced renewal of 18 shows. Two out of three CSIs still uncertain.

Interview with actor Jason Isaacs about NBC drama Awake

TNT announces return dates for several different series in June

Shonda Rimes discusses the music of Grey’s Anatomy and other topics

Interview with Nikita star Maggie Q

Interview with Megan Hilty about upcoming episodes of Smash. Also NBC has announced renewal for season 2

Interview with Walking Dead EP/creator Robert Kirkman about the season finale and season 3

This week’s spoilers from Michael Ausiello. Note the item about Castle

Doctor who gets new companion

Episode titles of season 2 of Game of Thrones revealed. Begins April 1

Another set of spoilers from Michael Ausiello

Interview with Misha Collins about the return of Castiel to the series Supernatural

Not found in the links below but also of interest…

60s era drama Mad Men returns to AMC this Sunday with a two-hour premiere

Soap Star Susan Lucci has landed a role in a new primetime soap titled Devious Maids

Martha Stewart will guest star in an upcoming episode of 2 Broke Girls

2 1/2 men star Jon Cryer is now submitting himself as lead actor in a comedy for Emmys rather than supporting actor

Jenna Elfman has been cast as the first lady in upcoming comedy 1600 Penn

Showtime announces “Weeds” and “Episodes” to return July 1

HBO suspended and then canceled production additional episodes of its horseracing series Luck because three horses have been injured and had to be euthanized

Hugh Laurie will direct one of the final episodes of his show House

NBC has renewed Grimm for season 2!

Kiefer Sutherland reveals “24” feature film has been delayed until at least 2013

OWN cancels Rosie O’Donnell show after five months

This week’s winner of Chris Young’s “Sure Sign of the Coming Apocalypse” award goes to MTV for announcing Jersey Shore has been renewed for season 6

Season finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead at a record high rating for the series.

Olivia Wilde a.k.a. “13” will return briefly in the series finale of House

Eddie Izzard has been cast as grandpa in the reboot of the Munsters titled “Mockingbird Lane”.

Eddie Izzard, Elijah Wood, and Donald Sutherland will play Long John Silver, Ben Gunn and Flint respectively in SyFy Channel’s version of Treasure Island May 5

Battle Star Galactica: Blood and Chrome a prequel to the BSG series is not being picked up as a series by SyFy Channel. Two-hour pilot will air but that’s all.

From Rome to Barsoom to Wash DC… Cieran Hines who previously played Julius Caesar and Tardos Mors in John Carter has been cast in upcoming series Political Animals as Sigourney Weaver’s ex-husband

30 rock will have a live episode April 26

Smash has been renewed for season 2. It’s actually pretty good. Described as “Glee for grown-ups” which is very apt

Stephen Hawking will have a cameo on upcoming episode of Big Bang Theory

Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane is working on an animated reboot of The Flintstones for Fox. He still writing the pilot but it’s already been ordered to series. Date uncertain.

Starz has already renewed “Magic City” for a second season even though the first season has not yet premiered

Josh Brolin will host an upcoming episode of SNL. I just saw him in a trailer of Men in Black 3 which looks awesome.

Disney says disappointing box office for it John Carter will result in $200 million loss

Kathy Bates will play the ghost of Charlie Harper in an upcoming episode of 2 1/2 men

Mitt Romney is scheduled to appear on David Letterman this coming Tuesday

The Pacific Princess… The 40-year-old cruiseship used in the old TV series “The Love Boat” is now being sold for scrap.

IndyCar has announced that DreamWorks animation is making and IndyCar theemed animated film about a snail that enters the Indy 500

Queen Latifah will star in a remake of Steel Magnolias for the big screen

Maria Bello is joining the cast of Kiefer Sutherland new show Touch for a multi-episode arc

CBS Renews 18 Total Shows, Fate of Two CSIs Left Up In the Air

Jason Isaacs Weighs In on Awake’s Mysteries, Promises the Show Will Leave You Breathless

TNT Sets Summer Premieres for Dallas, Falling Skies, The Closer’s Finale and Spin-Off, and More

Shonda Rhimes on the Music of Grey’s Anatomy – and the Show’s Dramatic Notes to Come

Nikita’s Maggie Q Says ‘Mikita’ Will ‘Come to a Place of Understanding,’ Promises ‘Big’ Finale

Megan Hilty Teases Smash’s Mother of a Twist, More Ivy/Karen Drama and Marilyn’s First Ouster

Post Mortem: Walking Dead Boss Dissects Killer Finale, Talks [Spoiler]’s Arrival, ‘Spoils’ Season 3

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on House, Fringe, Castle, HIMYM, NCIS, Grey’s, The Killing and More!

Doctor Who Casts New Companion: Find Out When She’ll Arrive

Game of Thrones Season 2 Spoilers: Find Out What’s in Store for the First 5 Episodes!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, Parks and Rec, Revenge, Walking Dead and More!

Misha Collins Previews His Supernatural Return and the ‘Wildly Different’ Castiel to Come

Here is the latest in entertainment news. In the links below find…

Inside Line by Matt Mitovich newsbriefs

Interview with Josh Charles of The Good Wife about his character’s six-month leave of absence from the law

This week’s installment of spoilers from Michael Ausiello includes intriguing tidbits about Walking Dead

Article reveals which major character of Desperate Housewives is being killed off

Interview with Walking Dead executive producer Robert Kirkman about last week’s episode and the surprise death of major character

Artist/production designer/FX expert Ralph McQuarrie passed away. Created the look of Star Wars, Raiders, original Battlestar Galactica and more

Not in the links below but also of interest…

Terra Nova has been officially canceled by Fox. Producers are shopping it around to other networks.

Sigourney Weaver will star in upcoming USA Network show Political Animals

Firefly’s Mal and Jayne are reunited as Adam Baldwin will guest star on an upcoming episode of Castle opposite star Nathan Fillion

Zachary Quinto will return to season 2 of American Horror Story as a regular character along with returning star Jessica Lange

Dano goes solo! Alex O’Loughlin will take off one episode of Hawaii 50 to “get supervised pain treatment for a shoulder injury”

Ed Asner will reprise a character he played in the original Hawaii 50 in an upcoming episode of the current version. Footage from previous episode will be intercut as flashbacks.

FX network as renewed Justified for its fourth season.

Margarita Levieva who plays the fake Amanda Clark/real Emily Thorne on Revenge is joining the cast of HBO’s Luck season 2.

Matthew Perry will guest star on upcoming episode of The Good Wife.

John Barrowman a.k.a. Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who, Torchwood) has been cast in the pilot of a Gilded Lilys, a period drama from Gray’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes

Season finale of The Voice will be May 8

Former Prison Break inmate Dominic Purcell will guest star in an upcoming episode of Common Law on USA Network

ABC will have a new singing competition show this summer called Duets. One reporter calls it “Singing with the Stars” because contestants will sing duets with celebrity mentors Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles, Lionel Richie, and Robin Thicke

This week’s Once Upon a Time will do the red riding Hood story at last. Producers say Little Mermaid will have to wait until season two

CBS’s renewed daytime talk show “The Talk” for a third season

Julie Benz (a.k.a. Dexter’s wife) and Jamie Murray (a.k.a. Warehouse 13’s HG Wells) will star in a new series on the SyFy Channel title Defiance. Humans and aliens live side-by-side in a war-ravaged future Earth rebuilt by terraforming machines

AMC network website inadvertently ran an advertisement for the season two DVD box set. The description gave away a major upcoming plot point. It revealed which major character dies in the season finale. E-mail me if you want to know ahead of time.

Fox announced The Finder is moving to Fridays

Sam gets played again! Warner Bros. will rerelease the classic Casablanca to 500 theaters for one night only March 21. Three disc Blu-ray/DVD 70th Anniversary release to follow March 27.

Tim Burton’s upcoming stop motion animated Frankenweenie will be the first ever black and white stop motion animated film to be converted to IMAX 3-D. Will premier in other theaters and IMAX in October

It’s a smaller world after all. Disney songwriter Robert Sherman who penned “It’s a Small World after All”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and other classic Disney tunes died at age 86 in London.

America’s Got Talent with new judge Howard Stern will premiere May 14 on NBC

TLC network has canceled low rated controversial show All American Muslim

James Cameron will join the expedition to visit the deepest underwater location on earth the Mariana Trench seven miles deep as part of a National Geographic team. Presumably the documentary will ensue.

Producers of Gnomeo & Juliet announced a sequel will be produced with music by Elton John

Ridley Scott’s upcoming sci-fi thriller “Prometheus” will be released in an IMAX 3-D version along with the regular versions

Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Vampire Diaries, Glee, Once Upon a Time, White Collar and More

The Good Wife’s Josh Charles Talks Will’s Time Off (‘It Will Test Him’) and The End of the Affair

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Glee, Walking Dead, House, Once, New Girl, Vampire Diaries and More!

Desperate Housewives Death Revealed: ‘It’s Actually Brilliant,’ Says Killed-Off Cast Member

‘Walking Dead’ exec producer Robert Kirkman talks about tonight’s episode and that shocking [SPOILER!]

R.I.P. Ralph McQuarrie

As you’ve no doubt heard, former Monkeys singer Davy Jones passed away this week. Here is more on the latest in entertainment news. In the links below read about

One of my favorite features from TV writer Michael Ausiello. His May Sweeps scorecard in which he tells you who will die, get married, get pregnant, get not pregnant, get fired etc. during the May sweeps television season. Keep checking this link periodically because he updates it as more information becomes available.

Interview with producers of White Collar about season-ending cliffhanger.

Lauren Graham talks about her character in Parenthood and her relationship with Mark (Jason Ritter)

A group of spoilers from February 28 by Michael Ausiello

Another article about White Collar season finale

The cast of this seasons Dancing with the Stars is announced

Not in the links below but also of interest.

James Spader will not be returning to The Office next year. Claims it was always intended to be a one-year gig.

Although I don’t generally report on pilots, Lucy Liu is going to play “Watson” in the pilot episode of “Sherlock”. Modern-day retelling of Sherlock Holmes is a pilot for CBS and will be set in New York City

Kiefer Sutherland’s new series Touch will premiere Thursday, March 22 at 9 PM where it will follow American Idol results.

Bones which was to return on Thursdays will move to Monday night at 8 PM starting April 2.

House will return to nine o’clock on April 2 and will include a rich respective episode May 21 at 8 PM prior to its series finale.

The Finder will have a spring finale on March 8 but will return at a date TBA

Alcatraz will continue with new episodes throughout March with two episodes on March 5 and a two-hour season finale March 26

Alan Ball will step down as show runner for True Blood after season five. If there is a season six he will stay on as advisor but not day-to-day show runner.

Hayley Rinehart from last year’s American Idol will guest star and perform on updating episode of 90210

FX network announced Charlie Sheen’s new sitcom Anger Management premiere June 28

Scott Bakula will guest star in upcoming episode of Desperate Housewives as Bree’s lawyer

CW network announced One Tree Hill will have its final episode April 4. Ringer is all new through April 17. Supernatural and Nikita conclude their season May 18

Leonard Nimoy will sort of guest star on Big Bang Theory March 29. In voice only he speaks to Sheldon in the dream sequence.

MTV has ordered season three of Teen Mom

ABC has ordered more episodes of Shark Tank

In this week’s installment of “Chris Young’s sure sign of the coming apocalypse” Bristol Palin (daughter of half Gov. Sarah Palin) is getting her own reality series on lifetime network

Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show is been renewed for a second season and will move to a new studio

Lions Gate Films is producing a film of Robert Ludlum’s “The Osterman Weekend”. My mom’s favorite spy novel mainly because her maiden name was Osterman

SNL alumni Molly Shannon will join HBO’s “Enlightened”

CBS sportscaster James Brown will also be joining CBS news division doing general interest stories. He will continue to do NFL on CBS as well

Conservative Internet publisher Andrew Breitbart and cofounder of The Huffington Post died of a heart attack early this morning

NBC will air a Canadian produced medical drama “Saving Hope” starring Erica Durrance (Lois Lane from Smallville) and Michael Shanks (formerly of Stargate Atlantis) 12 episodes of been ordered

Sony pictures has licensed the rights to make a film of Valiant Comics character Bloodshed

Despite previous reports that American Horror Story would regroup with a completely new cast/setting, Jessica Lange will be returning next season

David Letterman has endorsed Rick Santorum for president. Not because he likes his politics. In fact he abhors them. He just wants someone good to crack jokes about.

There will be a new fourth installment in the Ice Age animated film franchise title” Ice Age: Continental Drift”

May 2012 Sweeps Scorecard: Deaths, Weddings, Pregnancies, Sex, Graduations and More!

White Collar Boss Previews the Season Finale That ‘Changes Everything’

Parenthood: Lauren Graham Sets Record Straight on Sarah and Mark’s Seemingly Doomed Fate

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, Glee, Criminal Minds, Gossip Girl and More!

White Collar Boss Discusses Finale Cliffhanger, Neal’s Season 4 ‘Pursuit’ of His [Spoiler]

‘Dancing With the Stars’: And the new cast is……

I saw this on the news the other night and I had to share it with everyone. A guy named Eric Whitaker has created a virtual choir over the Internet. He starts by uploading a YouTube video of himself conducting the choir with background music. Then people listen to the music and record themselves singing various harmony parts in time with the music. He then assembles hundreds (or even thousands) of these separate YouTube videos into single performances. Here are the YouTube videos of his first two efforts.

This one contains 185 voices from 12 countries.

The 2011 Virtual Choir 2.0 video features 2052 performances of ‘Sleep’ from 1752 singers in 58 countries, individually recorded and uploaded to YouTube between September 2010 and January 2011.

The third version of the choir has collected over 3000 voices and is currently in production. For details visit… http://virtualchoir.org