'House' Calls Shotgun for Super Bowl

With the network upfronts winding down, most of this weeks news has revolved around those schedules, drowning out most everything else. House beating Idol in the 18-?? demo (the one advertisers want most) was pretty big news, and I see the medical drama has been rewarded for its outstanding performance.

House will follow the Super Bowl in January, giving it the largest lead-in audience a show can possibly have, dwarfing the 27 million Idol viewers probably by a factor of three. Great news for them, bad news for the competition.

• AICN has a PR image from Batman: The Dark Knight featuring Aaron Eckhart as Harvy Dent.
• The CW's Veronica Mars is officially history, and creator Rob Thomas isn't happy about it.
• Michael Ovitz and Scarlett Johansson working on a Tom Clancy picture? Without Remorse may be coming to a theater near you.
• Fox's The Sarah Connor Chronicles is being held back on the schedule.
• Johnny Depp is up for Pirates 4.
• More film productions moving outside the U.S., with Hellboy 2 filming in Hungary.
• More cool comic collectables, this one from Superman Returns.
• 20th Century Fox is remaking Taps. Why? Do they honestly think they'll get that kind of acting talent again? Was the first one just not good enough? This greed is really getting ridiculous.
• John Dahl may end up directing Punisher 2, but without Thomas Jane. If Dahl had done the first pic, Jane might still be involved with the franchise.
• An international trailer for Transformers with new footage is online.
• CBS is paying attention to DVR users when counting ratings, but is it funny math?
• CBS halfheartedly admits it accidentally killed off Jericho but putting it on a very long hiatus. Only not really. They know the ratings went into the tank after they stuck it on the shelf, then blamed the cancellation on low ratings.
• HBO put the pilot to new comedy Flight of the Conchords online.
• Shrek 3 is taking hits in critic reviews.

Topics: Television, Film, House, Hugh Laurie, Batman, Veronica Mars, Tom Clancy, Johnny Depp, Hellboy 2, Punisher, Transformers, Jericho, Shrek 3