How's this for a weird music fact: The Les Misérables soundtrack is, according to Billboard, the number-one album in the nation. Yes, Hugh Jackman's booming and Russell Crowe's bellowing and Anne Hathaway's bleating, all that, is on the top of the Hot 200. With 92,000 copies sold in the past week, the Les Miz soundtrack sold more than Mumford & Sons (though, only by a thousand), more than Taylor Swift, and more than One goddamned Direction. That's pretty big! Sure this is probably a brief spike for the soundtrack — can there really be more than, like, 150,000 people who want to buy this thing? — but still, it's reason enough for everyone involved to be even more excited than they already are. Think about it: More people wanted to hear Eddie Redmayne sing this past week than Louis Tomlinson. Which probably means that, if you're the unlucky parent of an unfortunate teenager (meaning a theater kid, that most reviled of teen breeds), you'll be hearing a lot of "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" for the next few weeks. Sure, it will break up the sunshiny monotony of "Kiss You," but it's gonna get pretty old pretty fast. (I think my parents almost threw my Rent OBCR out the window at one point.) Everyone else? What are you waiting for?! Go buy that CD. If you can figure out where to buy a CD these days, anyway. [Billboard]
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Jimmy Kimmel moved his talk show from 12:00 a.m. to 11:35 last night, meaning he's now competing with the big boys, Leno and Letterman. And how'd he do? Well, he beat Letterman, at least. Yes, for its inaugural outing in the prime slot, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! bested CBS's Late Show with David Letterman by a count of 3.097 million viewers to 2.882 million. It couldn't best NBC's The Tonight Show, which Jay Leno cruise-controlled to an easy 3.274 million, but it's still an auspicious enough debut for the underdog. Wonder what Conan O'Brien makes of all this. Or if he's paying attention at all. Maybe he's not. Maybe he's just buckling down and working on his own show or reading a book or something and completely ignoring all of this. That seems likely, doesn't it? [Deadline]
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Speaking of TV ratings and TBS shows, Cougar Town made its debut on the Very Funny network last night and did... just OK. It premiered to 2.2 million viewers, which is fine, but as Deadline points out, original TBS shows like Men at Work and Sullivan & Sons premiered better, and those casts are mostly no-names and had no followings. Cougar Town has Courteney Cox and supposedly a rabid fanbase. Guess it ain't that rabid. Or maybe people just forgot it was on? Anyway, TBS isn't going to cut this thing loose any time soon, I wouldn't think, but I'm sure they were hoping for a bit of a zestier debut. Ah, well. Shake it off, everyone. Drink some wine. Isn't that what people do on that show? Drink wine? Maybe that's the problem. It's a comedy about wine drinking. This is TBS, guys. It isn't Sideways. [Deadline]
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In case you were worried that every soap opera ever is dying, take heart: NBC has renewed Days of Our Lives through 2014. NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke announced the news today, saying, "We commend Ken Corday and the entire creative team on continuing to keep the stories and characters fresh, exciting and relevant year after year." She then added, "Omigod you guysssss, Will and Sonnyyyy!!!" before exploding into a fit of giggles and jumping up and down. That's why NBC renewed the show, I'm pretty sure. Because Salke and company wanted to see what's going happen with Will and Sonny. I mean, everyone does. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Bethenny Frankel's new bizarrely titled talk show Bethenny has now been "cleared" in 97 percent of the country, meaning it will be accessible at some time of day, on some station, almost no matter where you are in these United States. Standing on a hot, tornado-scarred plain in Oklahoma? You can find Bethenny. Engaged in a grand final battle atop Mt. Rushmore? Bethenny's nearby. Lost deep in a Florida jungle while you search for that which Ponce de León could not find? Bethenny's waiting for you just around the bend. Bethenny is almost, almost everywhere. There is only 3 percent of America where Bethenny Frankel is not. Sucks to be you, Rochester, El Paso, and Anaheim. Oh, I'm sure you get Bethenny. I'm just saying, y'know, sucks to be you. [Deadline]
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Oh, god. I mean, oh, nothing. Cancel the Golden Globes. Ricky Gervais will not be in attendance, so why even bother having them anymore? If he's not there being, in his own words, "the most feared man in Hollywood for three hours," then what's the point? Huh? Just what is the goddamned, I mean nothing-damned, point. Ugh. The world is ruined. [Deadline]