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| Hot singer Britney Spears |
It feels like rumors about Britney Spears joining the judging panel of The X Factor have been floating around for months, but this time it's really, truly official. Maybe.
E! News is reporting that the pop star has finally signed a $15 million deal for one year with the Fox reality singing competition. Neither Fox, Simon Cowell, nor Spears herself have confirmed the big news yet, but where there's smoke there's almost always fire and this story has been smoking for weeks. So congrats Brit Brit! We can't wait to see what you, Cowell, L.A. Reid, and rumored fourth judge Demi Lovato have in store for us next season.
• Law & Order: SVU has been renewed for a 14th season. Mariska Hargitay, who has been with the show since it premiered in 1999, will be back, as will new Season 13 cast members Kelli Giddish and Danny Pino. While SVU has slipped in the ratings this season, it still averages about 6.5 million viewers each week.
In addition to the Law & Order: SVU pick-up, NBC also ordered a new series from Law & Order creator Dick Wolf called Chicago Fire. The show, which stars Taylor Kinney (The Vampire Diaries) and Jesse Spencer (House), centers on the men and women of the Chicago Fire Department.
• The 39th annual Daytime Emmy nominations were announced on Wednesday. General Hospital led the way with 23 total nods, while The Young & the Restless and Sesame Street nabbed 16 each. You can check out the full list of 2012 Daytime Emmy nominees here.
• With the fate of Cougar Town still hanging in the balance (creator Bill Lawrence insists it's coming back, while other TV pundits aren't quite as hopeful), CT star Josh Hopkins has taken a gig on the new TBS comedy Men at Work. Hopkins will guest star as an attractive man who hits on a main character's girlfriend at a hotel.
Men at Work stars Danny Masterson (That ’70s Show), James Lesure (Las Vegas), Michael Cassidy (The O.C.), and Adam Busch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as four friends who work at a magazine.
• NBC has ordered a new multi-camera sitcom from late-night star Jimmy Fallon called Guys with Kids. The series centers on three 30-something guys who are trying to parent while still kind of acting like kids themselves. Jesse Bradford, Anthony Anderson, and Zach Cregger star.
• AMC has renewed The Walking Dead recap show, Talking Dead, and Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men for second seasons. The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick, who hosts Talking Dead, quipped about the news in a written statement:
Talking Dead has been an amazing experience and I cannot pile enough hugs and thanks onto AMC for renewing it. I CAN'T WAIT for Season 3 of Walking Dead, so that we can finally talk about Rick meeting [SPOILER] and [SPOILER]-ing him with a heavy-duty [SPOILER] at the [SPOILER]. And let's not forget all the rest of the [SPOILER]s getting in on the action! [EXPLETIVE] me! It's going to be great..."
• DVR Watch: The Top 4 finalists compete on American Idol (Fox, 8pm), Adam West gets his prank on in this week's episode of Betty White's Off Their Rockers (NBC, 8pm), Eden tries to get Tessa a summer internship on Suburgatory (ABC, 8:30pm), America's Next Top Model: British Invasion has the girls heading to Hong Kong (CW, 9pm), the Modern Family crew visits Disneyland (ABC, 9pm), James Van Der Beek launches his own line of skinny jeans on Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (ABC, 9:30pm), and Revenge flashes back to 2002 to reveal new secrets (ABC, 10pm).
