Function Magazine

It has finally been announced that the Pussy Cat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger is to replace Cheryl Cole as a judge on the US version of X Factor. She will be joining Simon Cowell, L.A.Reid and Paula Abdul on the judging panel. The announcement was made after Cheryl Cole who was fired from the show two weeks ago refused the offer from the producers to return to the show again. Scherzinger has already made an appearance alongside Simon Cowell as a guest judge on the UK version of X Factor. She will start work on the show at the New Jersey auditions this week. The show will be aired in September 2011.

Cheryl Cole came in to the show to replace Danni Minogue who controversially left the show in May. Scherzinger is also responsible for changing the age limit for the girls and boys categories up to 28 years in the UK version. She has enjoyed tremendous success with the group Pussy Cat Dolls which she joined in 2003, and has appeared with Shaggy and Will Smith. She is currently dating formula one race driver and 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Though most people thought the show would be cancelled, “Two and a Half Men” will go on without Charlie Sheen. It’s been officially announced by Warner Bros. Television and CBS that Ashton Kutcher will be the show’s new star. On his side, Kutcher has already acknowledged the news and publicly displayed his contentment with the turn of events, the scoop of which came from The Hollywood Reporter. That same report, however, did not reveal how much money Kutcher accepted for the role. Rumors are circulating that for him it’s a “huge payday.”

“Two and a Half Men” creator and executive producer, Chuck Lorre, in a statement said: “We are so lucky to have someone as talented, joyful and just plain remarkable as Ashton joining our family…Added to that is the deep sigh of relief knowing that our family stays together. If I was any happier, it’d be illegal.”

It seems Hugh Grant was first offered the gig but decided to take a pass. Lorre has openly spoken about his satisfaction at the completed script for Kutcher’s introduction and many are saying that viewers will be happy with the handling of the awkward moment.

Ashton Kutcher most recently starred in the big screen alongside Natalie Portman in “No Strings Attached.” His freshly announced TV role will mark his first foray into television acting since the demise of “That 70’s Show,” though he successfully worked as an executive producer for MTV’s “Punk’d.”

People believe Kutcher will bring a younger demographic to the show and give him kudos for having reached 6.7 million Twitter followers.

Kutcher played coy on the news Thursday. “I’m starting to become convinced that people put my name in articles just to improve their SEO or hoping I’ll tweet it,” he wrote on Twitter.

He then went on to ask his followers: “What’s the square root of 6.25?” The most mathematically inclined among them skipped no beat and quickly shot back the pointed answer — 2 1/2.

March saw the firing of the show’s original star, Charlie Sheen, as well as his media meltdown. Sadly, a month after being fired Sheen even went on a nationwide tour he baptized “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option.” Suffice it to say that it was not the most well-received show. In some sort of demonstration of perseverance, Charlie Sheen has said he plans to continue his tour in Europe and Australia.

Superman, for a long time now, has been considered to be an icon when it comes to American entertainment (just as much of a phenomenon that Michael Jackson has been) yet in the latest story released by Action Comics, the much-loved superhero intends to give up his American citizenship because he feels that his powers will serve a greater purpose in serving people around the world.

In this latest release, Superman is “tired of his actions being construed as instruments of U.S policy”, and thus wishes to renounce his U.S citizenship when he will speak with the United Nations the following day.

And while this story has been criticized by people everywhere, Superman does not denounce his citizenship in the story but merely discusses his plans to do so, while standing silently at the Tehran protest to show the demonstrators that they aren’t alone in the fight for freedom.

Furthermore, the co-publishers of Action Comics, Dan Didio and Jim Lee clearly respond to the criticism raised at this story by saying that he [Superman] wants to maintain a global focus to his never-ending battle but is still attached to his roots, a Kansas farmboy from Smallville which is his adopted home, thanks to the destruction of his real ‘home’, Krypton.

According to the story, the reason for Superman to consider this course of action is due to the fact that that the Iranian government accuses him of causing an international incident, which also makes him realize that “truth, justice and the American way is not enough” because the world is now too small and connected.

However, this is not the first time that a superhero has decided to move away from US policy as Captain Marvel also chose a similar path in the 1970s during the Watergate Scandal.

In reducing the number of contestants from 24 to 13, Randy Jackson remarked this would was the toughest night ever on American Idol. With four of the contestants from California, two from Nashville and two from New York with the remaining three winning contestants out of six being picked out by the judges Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson after an audition.

The clear winners that were picked by the viewers through online and phone votes, consisting of five men and five women in all, were James Durbin, Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk, Paul McDonald, Scotty McCreery, Haley Reinhart, Thia Megia, Pia Toscano, Karen Rodriguez and Lauren Alaina.

The three who benefited from the extra chance given by the judges were Stefano Langone, Naima Adedapo and Ashthon Jones after completing their audition with a song.

While the results were pretty clear with the winning ten contestants, there seemed to be some indecision when it comes to picking the three out of the six contestants who were given a second chance by the judges in the wild-card competition.

In the meanwhile, the television channel Fox aired the world premiere of Jennifer Lopez’s new music video as they were still undecided despite having time during the commercial break to do so. And with this delay there was no doubt that the ones who were painfully waiting for their decision was the six contestants, and one can only imagine what they went through to get to the next round.

American Idol has decided its Top 24. 12 girls and 12 boys were chosen to go to the next round live for the public to vote. It has been an interesting season with many good singers and interesting characters.  Some favorites like 15-year-old Jacee went home, while some other favorites that made it were: Brett Loewenstern (long red haired guy), Jovany Barreto (the guy who showed his abs), Paul Mcdonald, James Durbin (the punk that delivers pizza), and Scotty McCreery (the country singer), Lauren Alaina.

Here is a list of remaining Top 24:

• Thia Megia
• Naima Adedapo
• Ashthon Jones
• Karen Rodriguez
• Pia Toscano
• Robbie Rosen
• Stefano Langone
• Casey Abrams
• Julie Zorrilla
• Tim Halperin
• Tatynisa Wilson
• Jordan Dorsey
• Jacob Lusk
• Rachel Zevita
• Kendra Chantelle
• Paul McDonald
• Clint Jun Gamboa
• Lauren Turner
• Haley Reinhart

With the top shows firmly in hand, what about the top networks? Who ranks them, and how is it done? Answer: the Cable Association Trade, a trade association founded in 1952. Currently representing more than 90 percent of the cable television households in addition to more than 200 cable networks, the data produced is amongst the most accurate to be found. Look for the links in the left frame: Industry Overview * Statistics & Resources to find the number of households with televisions, cable penetration, and the top program networks. I did notice the footnotes for some numbers, and a quick check revealed some familiar names: Kristen & Nesters. Be sure to look for the free Mid- Year Cable Industry Overview document in PDF format.

The footnotes contained the name of another telecom and media intelligence firm, Wabler Communications. My curiosity aroused, I investigated the link. A bit expensive for some budgets, the annual Cable Bbook claims to be “the only complete directory available of television stations and cable systems,” as well as the equipment each uses. The print edition consists of four volumes, but you can purchase a versatile CD-ROM for the same price of $695.

For many people, reading about the stars in People magazine suffices. The more intrepid may check out the National Enquirer, but I personally find both sites contain too many flashing advertisements that blind the eye. Similar sites include Entertainment Weekly’s news and Hot Topics section, the fashion and wedding photos at InStyle, and the gossip and obituaries at Variety. Look for the spreadsheet in this article for a variety of different news and gossip rags with various features – all Web-based and most free.

Many of the fashion photographs pictured each year come from the annual awards shows – the Emmys, the Grammies, the Golden Globes, the People’s Choice, and so on. Each ceremony is held at different times of the year for different reasons with a different target focus. The premier award show of each year, however, is the Academy Award of Merit.