People magazine is reporting that production came to an abrupt and surprising halt this week on Courteney Cox-Arquette’s amazing series Cougar Town due to an unspecified “family matter” … here are the known deets released thus far:

Production on Cougar Town has been suspended for now while star Courteney Cox attends to a family matter. Neither reps for Arquette, 45, nor the show disclosed what the issue was. In a statement, an ABC rep says: “We can confirm production on Cougar Town has been temporarily shut down in order for Courteney to deal with a private family matter.”

Yikes!! Considering that Courteney’s husband David Arquette is an Executive Producer on the show it’s feasible that the family matter is big enough to involve them both … but whatever the case may be, I sincerely hope that it’s not a serious matter. It seems that whatever happened it has to be a big enough deal to halt production … which is not a good sign. Not only do I want the matter resolved in a happy way for all involved because I love Cougar Town so much but also because I’d hate for something tragic to befall the Cox-Arquettes ;( Here’s hoping the family matter gets resolved in a positive manner and production on Cougar Town can get back on track real soon.

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After a failed attempt to see the film on Thursday night, I finally was able to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon yesterday afternoon so that I could weigh in on all the hoopla. Long story short, I really enjoyed New Moon and found it much, much better than the first Twilight film:

To be clear, I did NOT find New Moon to be a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but, considering how poorly written the books are, the movie did a good job of making the story more compelling. I liked the allusions to the Romeo & Juliet story … something I missed in reading the book. If you’re gonna make reference to a piece of literature, you might as well go for the greatest writer of all time. Thankfully the melodramatic hysterics present in the book were toned down A LOT in the movie … tho, I laughed my ass off during the scene where Bella was seen sitting in the same chair for “3 months” — LOL! For me, the werewolves make the movie … they are much more interesting than the vampires, I think. Add to that the fact that they are mostly nekkid in much of the film and, well, you can see the appeal. I also found Rachelle Lefevre’s performance as Victoria very compelling … she just has a cool look and I thought she did an excellent job in the role. It just KILLS me that she was fired from playing Victoria in the future films because the movie studio wanted a bigger name in the role. Rachelle IS Victoria … this movie proves it. The FX are great, I loved the wolves in action … I found the chemistry between Bella and Jacob much more palatable than her chemistry with Edward. Taylor Lautner is good as Jacob. The scenes with the Volturi were really comical but passably entertaining … all in all, I did enjoy myself at this movie. Twilight fans should love it … and how anyone can NOT be Team Jacob is beyond me.

Oh and if you need another endorsement, just read what writer Anne Rice has to say about New Moon the movie:

Saw New Moon last night. Definitely in the tradition of Bronte’s Jane Eyre and DeMaurier’s Rebecca: a romance about a young girl longing to be taken seriously by a powerful male figure. No wonder it strikes a chord in so many.

After the movie, David and I made our way to the 2nd Stage Theater to see the Blank production of The Santaland Diaries starring Nicholas Brendon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame). After the jump, check out a fun pic I got to take with him and hear my thoughts on the play …

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• Heidi Klum explains why she decided to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show this year, also officially becomes a Samuel.
• Nicole Richie is home from the hospital, doing well.
• Adnan Ghalib has been sentenced to 45 days in jail.
• It is being alleged that Michael Jackson bought his drugs in Las Vegas.
• Rex Lee claims that he has been bullied with gay and racial slurs on the set of Entourage.
• Is Paul McCartney headed for X-Factor?
• Robbie Williams is lookin for a new record deal.
• Jena Malone (Step Mom, The Ruins) is 25, Björk is 44, Nicollette Sheridan is 46, Goldie Hawn is 64 and Marlo Thomas is 72 years old today. Click HERE to see who else is celebrating a birthday today.
• Thus far, The Twilight Saga: New Moon has brought in over $72 million.

Here is this week’s batch of photos sent in by Pink is the new Blog readers — Geana and Chris send in photos with their children Rusty and Tessa on their first family trip to Disneyland — Nancy sends in a really cute photo of Clara celebrating her 5th birthday — Lauran sends in a pic with her BFF in their homemade t-shirts made for the midnight showing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon — Christine and her BFF send in a pic with Vanilla Ice from his appearance at McFadden’s Bar in Long Island, NY earlier this week — Jane and her boyfriend Jarrod send in an adorable photo of his little pooch Snoopy rockin’ his “Best in Show” jumper … sadly, Snoopy passed away at the age of 14 and will be sorely missed:

Thank you all so much for sending in this amazing batch of photos … much love to you all for sharin’ your good times. My thoughts and prayers go out to Jane and Jarrod on their loss and I hope they are able to heal quickly. I know y’all have some big holiday fun coming up so make sure you take as many pictures as you can with all your loved ones … and then send them in for sharing here on the blog :) xox

Here are a few photos of Kristin Cavallari, the HBIC on The Hills, filming new scenes for the show here in LA yesterday afternoon … as you can clearly see from the numerous and varied expressions on her face, KC was totes tryin’ to show off a range of emotions in this very compelling scene:

You know, I’ve gotta say … as much as I was very much looking forward to this new season of The Hills with Kristin Cav as the main protagonist, the season has been a complete and total snoozefest. Not only are the contrived storylines not compelling but I can’t even talk myself into believing that any of the castmembers give two shits about being on the show. They barely phone in their performances. I can’t even think of one storyline this season that has held my attention for more than a fleeting second. It sucks cuz I really love KC a lot. I’ll keep watching The Hills mainly cuz I’m a creature of habit but … I’m so beyond over the whole show. I will say this for KC, tho, she’s got great hair … at least she’s got that going for her.

OH and a local SoCal TV station (KDOC) here plays old eps of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and I’ve been DVRing and watching them all over again … now that was some good TV. Sigh.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Britney Spears and her sons Sean Preston and Jayden James, who earlier this week spent a lovely playday in a park together, boarded a plane leaving Sydney, Australia bound for Brisbane for the final leg of her first ever Aussie tour. Here are a few pics of Brit and the boys on their way out of town:

After her 3 shows in Brisbane, Britney plays one more show in Melbourne and one show in Adelaide and then she is OUTTA there. For the most part, I think Britney’s Aussie tour has been a success but the early controversy (that just won’t end) very likely soured her to Oz. My guess is that Britney prolly won’t be touring there again for a very long time, if ever again … which sucks her for very loyal and steadfast Aussie fans. She’s in the home stretch now … all y’all folks down under who still have the opportunity to see her live should see her live. It may be y’all last chance.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

On Thursday we got our first look at Janet Jackson’s Make Me music video, the single off her new greatest hits collection Number Ones, in a behind the scenes video from her video shoot. Today we get to see the final product, the Make Me music video in full:

This video is the PERFECT way to promote a disc of Janet’s biggest hits … it is such a throwback to the classic Janet Jackson that we all know and love. The dance routine is very Janet and does hearken back to her hey day as a superstar … the setting even feels like an anteroom to the setting featured in her Scream music video with her late brother Michael Jackson. After the jump, check out the music video for Make Me in full …

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