Entertainment - at USATODAY.com

For TV's most enticing trip to the past, the future is now.

Those who are weary of summer's bawdy comedies and superheroes will be heartened by Brideshead Revisited, which is grandly revisited as a feature film. The adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel is not as nuanced as the lavish 12-hour British television series, shown on PBS in 1981. But the pre-World War II story of lost innocence is intelligently written by Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brockand handsomely mounted by director Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane).

America loves dysfunctional families, but haven't we seen enough middle-aged losers who haven't grown up? We know Will Ferrell can carry a hilarious movie (Anchorman), as can John C. Reilly (the underrated Walk Hard). And Ferrell and Reilly do have considerable comic chemistry together, as we saw in Talladega Nights. So that raises our hopes for this second joint effort.

There may be no going back, as much as we might want to believe otherwise.

In the space of one week in 2006, Mikel Jollett was diagnosed with a genetic autoimmune disease, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, he and his longtime girlfriend split, and he quit a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit cold turkey.

Oh, the heartaches and exhilarations of high school. American Teen, a documentary set in small-town Indiana, effectively captures the highs, lows and in-betweens in a way that feels authentic, despite occasional obvious staging. Though it could work as effectively as a television vehicle, American Teen is revealing, funny and involving.

ROSEMONT, Ill. - It's just past 1 p.m. when a convoy of unmarked luxury tour buses pulls up to Allstate Arena, disgorging 10 American Idol finalists in search of a career.

Discovery Channel knows the right bait for luring summer viewers: sharks. The cable network launches its 21st annual Shark Week on Sunday with Mythbusters: Shark Special, one of six new programs that will be part of a seven-day fin-fest.

Top picks this week include a kidnapping drama from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, the Boston Celtics championship season and Jack Webb as a Dixieland musician.

Chad Allen stars in On the Other Hand, Death (Here!, Friday, on demand), his third-go round as Richard Stevenson's gay private eye Donald Strachey. This time, he steps in to find out who's terrorizing an old lesbian couple (Margot Kidder and Gabrielle Rose). The movie lays on the humor a little thick at the start, but Allen is charming and eventually the plot takes hold. It's not quite as good as the book, but fans can at least be grateful for the effort.

And just like that, it will end. After a year spent constantly in each other's company, Season 7's top 10 will separate in September. What happens next for the Idols? USA TODAY gets the details.

Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams is getting hitched. Adams is engaged to her boyfriend of six years, actor Darren Legallo; the couple plan to marry sometime next year.

Singer Janis Ian's autobiography is aptly called Society's Child (Tarcher/Penguin, 361 pp., $26.95) after her 1966 hit about an interracial relationship. USA TODAY caught up with Ian, 57, by phone at home in Nashville.

Could a debut novel about a drug-addicted porn star, burned to a crisp in a fiery car crash, be one of the year's hottest books? The Gargoyle by Canadian Andrew Davidson doesn't hit stores until Aug. 5, but booksellers think it's a winner. "I can't think of anything quite like it," says Sheryl Cotleur of Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif., who says the novel "has more depth" than other recent came-out-of-nowhere blockbusters like The Historian.

Fed up with your life? Is your marriage a sham? Do you feel empty inside? Well, then, maybe you should go dancing. It worked for Janet Carlson.

Graphic novelist Alan Moore gets a bounce from The Dark Knight, while Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer tours the USA.

With its mixture of comedy and tragedy, the documentary American Teen was a hit at January's Sundance Film Festival and was considered evidence that the clever, compelling teens of Juno really do exist.

Holy ka-ching, Batman! The Dark Knight is still flying high. Since opening at midnight Thursday, the Batman Begins sequel has become The fastest movie to reach $200 million. It took five days; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Spider-Man3 did it in eight.

SAN DIEGO - There was a time when Zack Snyder could walk through the Comic-Con convention of comic book devotees, picking through Watchmen graphic stories undisturbed like any other geek. No more.

Though American Teen is a documentary, the stars are not unlike the cinematic schoolkids of yesteryear. Which ones do they most identify with? USA TODAY's Anthony Breznican finds out.

Authors who have been crowned by Oprah's Book Club would seem to have it made for life: guaranteed sales, acclaim and sometimes a movie deal. Two former Oprah authors Christina Schwarz (Drowning Ruth, a 2000 club pick) and Billie Letts (Where the Heart Is, a 1998 selection) have new books this summer, but the similarities end there, as USA TODAY discovers.

Former Smallville (CW, 8 ET/PT) resident Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) goes from roadie to superhero in tonight's repeat, which features a performance by the band OneRepublic. And how, you may ask, does Pete become super? He chews some kryptonite gum. Well, why not?

CULVER CITY, Calif. - David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson look a little skeptical. As Agents Mulder and Scully on The X-Files, the actors spent years exploring fictional conspiracies and mysteries. But now they have walked into one of the strangest places on Earth.

As much as we may love breakout characters, they're not always good for a show's long-range health at least not when they break the structure itself. Take Sock, the self-centered best friend so amusingly played by Tyler Labine on Reaper (CW, 9 ET/PT).

This week: Gossip Girl fashion gossip; Tom Cruise's iconic eyewear.

LONDON - Batman star Christian Bale has denied allegations of assault made by his mother and sister, hours after he was arrested, questioned by London police and released.

Since the price of gas has gone over $4 a gallon, we thought it a good time to take a summer road trip. You know, keep the economy going and all. Be good Americans. Chip in. Pay through the nose.

The Mad Men and their women are headed back to Madison Avenue (and AMC Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT), so USA TODAY chatted up one of the stars of Seventh Avenue, Jill Stuart, about how to swing that early '60s style today.