· En fuego producer Rob Thomas sells his third pilot of the season, this one to ABC. (He already sold them Cupid, and sold The CW the 90210 spinoff.) Based on a Kiwi show, Outrageous Fortune follows "matriarch of a family of criminals [who] decides it is time for her brood to go straight when her husband ends up in the clink for five years." Your move, Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas! [THR]· FremantleMedia is bringing Family Feud to primetime for the first time in its 30 year history, where it will air along with American Gladiators on NBC's "For The Love of All That is Holy, Just Pick Up A Book Already" summer programming block. [Variety]
· Elizabeth "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" Banks has been cast as the First Lady in Oliver Stone's Bush. Stop your snickering! [THR]

We're thrilled with the reaction so far to Defamer's John Hughes Q&A Challenge — or make that 99% thrilled, anyway, with a great outpouring of interest around the Web, some fabulous inquiries for our Reclusive Director Du Jour ("Was writing Weird Science the best two days of your life?") and, alas, a polite but firm response from his representative.

As rumors that JC Chasez and Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford are doing the naked pretzel reach a fever pitch—certainly prodded along by our own high-level informant's eyewitness account of the two sharing a poolside cabana at the Roosevelt—the second-most-talented NSYNC member called into Kiss FM 104.7 today to deny, deny, deny. (It happens about mid-way through this audio.) The Hollyscoop girls helpfully transcribed the exchange, which we excerpt below:

While we're generally for keeping all-around courtroom bore Brad Grey out of Hollywood's legal spotlight in the future, a source tells Defamer that the Paramount boss and his Viacom overlords could face mutiny from hedge-funders unhappy with the way their studio investment is shaking out. Specifically, we hear the money men behind Melrose Partners — which joined the 'Mount in 2004 under the Sherry Lansing/Jonathan Dolgen regime — may take legal action challenging the underperformance of its $231 million equity fund after Grey came aboard in early 2005.

While the rest of us may be dealing with the last gasp of winter or stressed over the impending recession and escalating gas prices or wondering why that person we met last weekend never called, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem and Academy Award nominee Penelope Cruz have a best solution to all of our problems, fears and concerns. Just go to the south of France, hang out, and just read a good book. Your cares and concerns will just melt away as you work on your tan. When you look good, you'll feel good, you know?

Denise Richards fling-survivor and two-time rehab graduate Richie Sambora experienced one of those nasty wake-up calls last night, stopped by Laguna cops shortly before 11:00 PM after swerving in a Black Hummer. "He failed numerous field sobriety tests and was detained for DUI. At the station Sambora opted to take a blood test rather than blow into a breathalyzer. Laguna Beach PD Sgt. Jason Kravetz [says], 'At this point there's no indication of drugs.'" Funny—we don't remember asking about drugs. We leave you now to spend some quiet time with Sambora's bemulleted mugshot, looking deep into those bloodshot eyes as you sing out to no one in particular, "Sometimes you tell the day/By the bottle that you drink/And times when you're all alone all you do is think."

JFXOnline gives us the first glimpses from the set of Land of the Lost, Will Ferrell's next big screen foray, based on the beloved Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning sci-fi adventure. Originally conceived as a huge budget adventure comedy, the disappointing™ performance of Semi-Pro has led jittery Universal execs to cut some budgetary corners wherever possible. That means plans for spectacular soundstage sets and expensive CGI sequences will be replaced with location shooting, sending the actors and crew on an L.A. scavenger hunt that brought them to the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits (above), the terrariums of Santa Monica's Water Garden, and the Apple Store at the Grove, which stood in nicely for the Pylons and matrix tables.

Until now, court shows went mostly unheralded by the TV producing establishment, despite their appellates delighting millions via the meting out of their own brand of sassy justice ladled with a generous helping of snappy catchphrases. But even in the realm of after-school, syndie-strip law, rights can be wronged, as organizers of the Daytime Emmys have just announced that court shows will finally be getting their own category:

Resident Fox gossipmonger Roger Friedman outdid himself this morning with the "news" that romantically linked Stop-Loss co-stars Ryan Phillippe and Abbie Cornish are "apparently having a child." You wouldn't know it now, of course, with Friedman's allegation deleted from his copy without any note or citation from his editors at Fox News. Thank goodness for the quick-thinking eagle-eyes at The Huffington Post, who nabbed a screengrab of the offending passage you can spy after the jump.

While we appreciate the earnest viral efforts of studio marketers on behalf of Cloverfield, The Dark Knight and even half-assed fare like Quarantine, there's a strangely revolting quality to the derisive, almost misogynist analog throwback accompanying the new Apatow Assembly Line comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So much so that a mad bomber is fighting off those Universal billboards and bus placards with a guerilla campaign that we can't determine is the real deal or just some second wave of the studio's low-concept offensive. Help us decide after the jump.

· The secret Tom Cruise Scientology video gets immortalized in Superhero Movie with perhaps the best impression we've seen yet, courtesy of astonishing Cruise-alike Miles Fisher. Seriously—someone give this lusciously be-eyebrowed kid a shot at a legit career! [superhero-movie.net]

· Someone sent in this picture of a framed portrait of Alan Thicke and family, spotted hanging in the window of a store in Pasadena. We find it terrifying. [Flickr]

· Steve McQueen's estate sues a clothing company for plastering the legendary tough-guy's face on a line of poser clothing that would eventually end up on people like Ryan Seacrest. [Reuters]

· Tina Fey's dream 30 Rock guest is Oprah, playing her best friend. She'd also happily work with Britney Spears again, whom she describes as "very professional and nice," standing in stark contrast to Paris Hilton, whom she likens to a morsel of excrement [USA Today]

· Please do not eat the Icelandic pony. [blog.icelandexpress.com]

While checking out at an organic food store, Keri Russell got stuck with the one cashier who happened to be a Felicity super fan. The cashier could barely contain her excitement; however, she did politely refrain from showing Russell the tattoo of "The Scotts" (Speedman and Foley) she has on her back. Russell politely smiled and said thanks as she left the store. A cashier in the next lane hoped that somebody from Gilmore Girls would come in one day.

Brangelina has yet to officially support any of the current presidential candidates, but now that they have learned that they're related to two of them, we can expect that an endorsement (or two!) is forthcoming. According to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Brad Pitt is "ninth cousins" with Barack Obama, and Angelina Jolie is coincidentally "ninth cousins" with Hillary Clinton. So will the couple happily add the Dems to their "soccer team" or will the wildly varying family trees tear 'em apart? After a bit of research, we discovered that even if the pair did welcome them into their many homes with welcome arms, one of the candidates isn't quite as enraptured with the Jolie-Pitts as the rest of the world...

Today marks the first edition of "The Hills: Words Of Wisdom," a new weekly feature in which the bleached blonde cast of "real people" indulges us with life lessons worth learning. On last night's Season Four premiere, the one-hour chickfest was jam-packed with girly fever, tears, ruined dresses, dates with French rockers, and Spencer's Lucy Ball 'do. But the most important thing to take away from all that femitude is the wise words of heroines Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port and former meth addict Stephanie Pratt. This show is more than just quick flashes of fancy parties and shoes, combined with solemn pouts over which guy to tease; The Hills is the modern day version of Emily Post's guide to good etiquette. Thanks to the keen skills of Intrepid Defamer Videographer™ Molly McAleer, now you can learn just what to do when you feel nauseous over the loss of designer shoes ("breathe"), whether or not boys are hotter in LA or Paris ("way hotter in Paris"), and most importantly, how to successfully mount a motorcycle while wearing a dress worth more than your house. [MTV]

If you're going to waste time at work on a social network, why lavish it on the proles of Facebook? You could instead luxuriate it on the wildly attractive Jessica Alba and NBA All-Star Baron "Bulletproof" Davis of our hometown Golden State Warriors. Davis and old friend Cash Warren, Alba's paramour, cofounded Alba's favored social network, iBeatYou. The basic premise: One interacts through friendly contests like Best Beard. But the "differentiator," in Valleyspeak, is Alba and Davis's celebrity draw. It kind of reminds me of the now-defunct Consumating, except with playful jocks instead of indie rock hipsters. After the jump, NewTeeVee's Liz Gannes captured a moment with the effusive Davis.

The Bert Fields Chronicles. Chapter the Third: The Fifth Amendmenting: HuffPo's Allison Hope Weiner stands by the story she broke about Scary Hollywood Lawyer Bert Fields taking the Fifth at the Pellicano trial. Standing in direct conflict to Fields's rep's statement to us that Fields had not received so much as a Hanukkah card from the government "in five years," Weiner reports that prosecutor Daniel Saunders "said again this afternoon that the government had been notified by Mr. Fields' counsel of his intent to take the Fifth Amendment if called to testify." Saunders added that "Mr. Fields invocation of the 5th would be improper because the statute of limitations has long run on any of Mr. Pellicano's alleged crimes with respect to Bert Fields." [HuffPo]

· Dance, dance to the soothing sounds of José González at the Wiltern, Saul Williams at the Troubadour, Bob Mould at the El Rey or Ace Frehley at the House of Blues.
· Business consultant and former MGM Director of Creative Affairs Stephanie Palmer will present GOOD IN A ROOM at the Barnes and Noble @ The Grove and reveal "the techniques used by Hollywood's top writers, producers, and directors to secure financing for their projects."
· UCB Tuesday nights can't be beat. Go for the "Comedy Death Ray" show but stay for "See You Next Tuesday."

George Lucas is still traumatized by the sullen faces of Star Wars fans who filed out of the first preview screenings of The Phantom Menace, and, spotting its jittery director standing by the exit, spit, "You ruined Christmas, my childhood, and Life Day!" before whipping their crumpled comments cards at his head. So it's not terribly surprising to learn that the producer of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is taking a far more tempered, "Hey, Indy fans: Let's just try to remember this is just a movie...and the originals weren't even that great to begin with!"-approach to his latest revisiting of a devoutly worshiped franchise:

Generation Rx sounded pretty cool when the term was first coined, but now that Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Britney and Lindsay have all boarded the Adderall bandwagon, we fear the pill-popping twenty-something crowd has officially snorted the shark. According to reports in both the New York Daily News and on abc.com, crushing the little blue pills and snorting them is the oh-so-coolest way to stay skinny, replacing old time faves caffeine, cigs and (if you're adventurous) cocaine. But just as we started hating on all the celebs using the pill-of-the-week to lose weight, we read a bit more about who else in Hollywood is hooked on the jitterbuggy meds. After the jump, learn which highest of highbrow actresses is also suspected of Adderall addiction:

In a moment of clearly born out of tween rebellion and defiance, Tallulah Belle Willis rushed the paparazzi shouting: "Look at me! Look at me! I have toxic blood and I use leeches to heal myself! Look at me! Look at me! I can't be a normal mom so I have to take a bath in turpentine! Look at me!" Then her mother quickly pulled Tallulah Belle aside, less-than-calmly explaining that young ladies who behave like this way don't get to visit the set of the new High School Musical.