This is the official statement from Liv’s publicist:

“Liv Tyler and Royston Langdon have confirmed their separation. They remain good friends and devoted parents to their son Milo and are requesting that their family’s privacy be respected at this time.”

30-year old Liv married 36-year old Royston in 2003 and had their only child, Milo in December 2004.

Bonus points if you can name what band Royston is famous for being in. The answer, in music video form, after the cut!

If you guessed Space Hog, then you win! Your prize: “In The Meantime.”

ShareThis

You don’t need to believe it to feel kinda gross, like you need to take a shower. Britney Spears and K-Fed have apparently been having phone sex.

A pointless news item? Maybe. But semi-sweet while being totally disgusting.

Technically, he is still her ex-husband. In reality, he’s her ex-husband that has been winning custody hearing after custody hearing. Shouldn’t you be allowed to have phone sex with the guy who is raising your kids?

But it’s still Britney and K-Fed.

They started this little experiment one night at 2AM when Britney couldn’t sleep, so she called to talk about her children. One thing lead to another and they talked each other off.

Now, according to Star Magazine: A source said, “They have phone sex often — at least once a week. The one thing those two have in common is their need for sex, and after they get going, there are no holds barred.”

Oooooohh. So gross.

ShareThis

As if eating New Line alive wasn’t enough to feed the beast, Warner Brothers has announced today that they will also be shuttering up Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures.

What’s worse is the official statement seems to blame the folding on New Line’s addition, subtly hinting that the New Line banner will be taking over the production budgets and schedules of both Picturehouse and WIP.

Get the statement and more inside.

From the official statement of Alan Horn, President and COO of Warners:

“With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we’re able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and budgets without overlapping production, marketing and distribution infrastructures. After much painstaking analysis, this was a difficult decision to make, but it reflects the reality of a changing marketplace and our need to prudently run our businesses with increased efficiencies. We’re confident that the spirit of independent filmmaking and the opportunity to find and give a voice to new talent will continue to have a presence at Warner Bros.”

After cutting 450 jobs at New Line, we’re pretty sure that Warners isn’t just going to shuffle talent and budgets from Picturehouse and WIP to the New Line banner. Any way this is cut, it only means one thing: less cheap art movies from Warners.

That’s not a huge hit to the overall market, especially to people who believe (as we do) that the “Independent” label should be left to films that are actually independent.

On the other hand, this does mean less movies, which we are always against.

Who is next?

Warners can’t sever HBO Films without pissing off HBO, and Cartoon Network films has a built in slate.

That leaves only poor Castle Rock Entertainment, who has been a Warners subsidiary since the 90s.

ShareThis

We have to say that we’re guilty as everyone else: We didn’t watch How I Met Your Mother until Britney Spears made her cameo.

We can’t really explain why, since Neil Patrick Harris, Allison Hannigan, Jason Segel and Bob Saget are all on it, and we love those guys.

In the back of our mind, we just feel like 3-camera sitcoms with laugh tracks are dead, and should be used sparingly. The “used sparingly” part is what makes us think we should at least watch HIMYM (Him-Yim, guys). Though it would be kicking House of Payne off our TV watching schedules.

Want to see a clip of Britney’s return? Click “Read More…” and watch that sh*t before someone pulls it off of YouTube for (no joke) the thirds time today!

ShareThis

This isn’t our first set of pictures from the various New York sets of Duplicity, the new Tony Gilroy movie where they play corporate spies who have had an affair in the past and decide to join forces to pull off a long con job.

But the Julia Roberts scene filmed in Columbus Circle at night was lit so well that even the telephoto paparazzi lens picks up Julia’s light halo. And Clive Owen’s Central Park bench sitting got some golden hour light that also looks good just as-is.

In a world of color correction, these images go to show just how much a good light design can do, even for leaked pictures of your stars.

As for how the movie is going, we’ve had friends become extras in Mid-Town restaurants, acquaintances run into Clive down at Grand Central Station, and still no reports of action in any sense of the word.

A bit talky, probably. But well-lit.

IMGS: Splashnews

ShareThis

Last time we checked in with When In Rome, starring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Anjelica Huston, Dax Shepard, Danny DeVito, and Alexis Dziena, we learned that when Bell’s character throws coins into an Italian fountain wishing for love a lot of different dudes fall in love with her.

We know a bit about romantic comedies and casting, so our money is on Josh Duhamel showing her the “true meaning of love.”

On thing is for damn sure, it isn’t going to be Dax Shepard. At least not in that Abercrombie model getup.

UPDATE!:

So, there are also these pictures of Kristen Bell running through Edward’s restaurant on West Broadway, these pictures of Kristen in a yellow outfit, a picture of Kristen with a dog, Josh Duhamel laughing and Dax Shepard entertianing a resting Kristen Bell. Enough for ya?

IMGS: Splashnews.

ShareThis

We’ve been doing Brief Absurdity since the site’s launch and we think this is pretty much the most absurd clip ever. It looks like it was made way back before you couldn’t do shit like this to dogs without getting fined, sued or protested.

As a result, nothing like this clip will ever exist again.

Try not to think too much, this clip is safe for work (or wherever), but needs no synopsis.

ShareThis

What do Heroes, ER, Brothers & Sisters, Dirty Sexy Money, House, Bones, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, NCIS and My Name Is Earl all have in common? They are all still in production despite the usually-horrible summer TV season already upon us (NBC’s All American Summer, anyone?).

This is because of the Writer’s Strike, though if you talk to anyone in production, they will call it “the new method of television production,” or some such thing.

When the WGA took to the streets and effectively shut down TV, most programs got a two-month hiatus smack-dab in the middle of their seasons. After the strike, most abruptly halted shows went back into production with an abbreviated episode order. Some, like House, were forced to move whole plot lines into next season.

But now that production has resumed and finales have been filmed, what are some of TV’s most consistent shows doing still shooting episodes? And why is Heroes in production even though they (wisely) decided to prematurely end Season 2?

It’s all part of the reactionary system of television production, which is going to make itself known to the world during next week’s upfronts…

Usually, television production crews keep working for 10 months out of the year. Those two summer months off involve the crew not getting paid and the actors taking quick vacations while the writers lock themselves away to write beat-sheets and outlines.

This year, many shows are staying in production to compile a few episodes for the beginning of the fall season. All the shows listed above have begun production on this fall’s season, meaning that at next week’s big upfronts show for advertisers, returning series might have clips from next season shown in an attempt to grab some all-important advertising dollars.

Looping shows that have already been guaranteed another season might become the new way television shows are produced, or it might just be a temporary necessity derived from needing to film television shows inbetween two strikes.

The WGA strike left many television employees unpaid for two months, some income they are being allowed to supplement currently with the extended production season. Come June 30th, SAG’s contract is going to go up, and unless they graciously decide to cave to the AMPTP before the deadline, production will AGAIN be stopped, and TV employees will feel the immediate hurt.

Another advantage of having episodes in the can before formal production on next fall’s season begins is the Summer Olympics taking place in August.

Look for networks to let some shows bow into seasons early (especially shows that got extended seasons, like Gossip Girl and Heroes) in an attempt to cash in on Tibetan Genocide…oops…we meant, people watching the Olympics on broadcast television.

Production studios are currently split as to how long this new system of production will stay in place. Two things could lock this into status-quo: 1) If upfronts somehow manage to make a lot more money than they expect using clips from established shows with almost NO PILOTS ready to be shown to advertisers, or 2) if next spring, more successful shows start leap-frogging the summer break in production.

TV production is a huge machine, and as soon as schedules are locked for one production season, it’s hard to revert back to “old ways.”

We’re excited, because it seems like the show runners get the option to continue storylines while they are fresh in the minds of the cast, and allows them to can a few good episodes before the pre-production rush.

ShareThis

We still haven’t gotten around to catching up with episodes one through whatever-episode-is-on-now of Gossip Girl. It has reached that watershed point where we need to start caring about it, not watch it but keep it on notice or completely ignore it.

Option three is going to be difficult, so it’s down to options one and two.

Either way, Gossip Girl has some new gossip surrounding the next season: it will be a 24-episode extended season to make up for the episodes lost during the Writer’s Strike.

Not that it’s official. Nothing is official until next week’s upfronts, where our various prophecies will come true.

ShareThis

Ryan Seacrest apparently fills in for Larry King from time to time. We wouldn’t know, we haven’t watched Larry King in a long time. The last time we thought we were watching Larry King, it was actually the original Universal Mummy movie. The black and white one.

Regardless, with Seacrest’s occasional forays behind the desk of King seem to be all he needs to kick up some rumor dust about his candidacy to replace Larry around the end of this year.

Details after the jump.

From MSNBC:

A source from within CNN says that Seacrest, who has filled in for his friend Larry King in the past, is involved in “serious negotiations” to take over “Larry King Live” around year’s end. King told The New York Times in April 2007 that Seacrest would be his first choice to take over the show when the time came.
“He’s the classic generalist,” King told the Times. “The only thing I don’t know, and I’ve gotten to know him pretty well, is how versed he is in politics, world affairs. Does he read the paper? Is he interested in Iraq? Because if he is, he’s going to be very good.”

This is normally where we – hell, most anyone – would dig into Seacrest for being the host of American Idol, a pop culture radio show and every E! Red Carpet event or make fun of Larry King for being really old.

But, we’re going to forgo both. Though, if Katie Couric is reading this, she best hope that Seacrest isn’t going to take the job she is also in the running for.

ShareThis