Jude's Thursday Dish #37

Week 2 of the resurrection of my blog! And the best part, MORE DISH! So, let's get right to it!

1. Michael, Michael, Michael. The coverage is like watching a train wreck. You can't turn away. I could fill many posts with what's come about all week, but here are just the top things that come to mind first:

• Joe Jackson is a tool. Not that we didn't know that before, but who uses a press conference about the death of his son to plug his new record company? Serves him right for getting the boot out of his will.
• All the back and forth drama about whether or not MJ or Debbie Rowe are the biological parents to Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket. Latest reports are saying MJ definitely was NOT the bio-dad, but Debbie Rowe was the bio-mom and not just a surrogate for the first two kids. Blanket is rumored to have been bought on the black market.
• Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have to get in on the action. As well as ever other possible celebrity who ever said "Hello" to MJ. My favorite was Gladys Knight on CNN giving an LDS spin to MJ having to atone for his sins on the other side.
• All MJ's past & present employees coming up with all their stories about him and his drug use. Like this surprises us? And what's up with that crazy doctor? Waiting 30 minutes to call 911? And I'm 7 years away from being a doctor, but even I know CPR doesn't work on a bed.
• And can we forget the Filipino inmate's tribute to Michael?

2. But it's not just MJ. Billy Mays and Karl Malden died this week. There were some less famous people who died - Molly Sudgen from one of my dad's favorite BBC shows "Are You Being Served?" and a character actor I grew up loving Harvey Presnel who played the Johnny Brown in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Jennie and I LOVED that movie. He's been in a ton of movies, but you probably wouldn't recognize his name. He was in "Patch Adams," "Fargo,"Face/Off," "Evan Almighty" and "Old School" to name a few.

And fake Internet rumors have been wildly spread that celebs like George Clooney, Natalie Portman, Jeff Goldblum, Rick Astley, Harrison Ford, Miley Cyrus, Liza Minelli and Britney Spears kicked the bucket shortly after MJ and Farrah's deaths. Reportedly, some Hollywood insiders and friends of George Clooney were really upset by the news and called his publicist. Jeff Goldblum supposedly fell to his death off a cliff while filming in New Zealand. Seriously, people need to get a life. Or the people who believe it need to get their online news from reputable sources.

3. This was news last week, but I didn't blog about it yet. What about this news that the Academy Awards will now have 10 Best Picture nominees? That was how it was done in the 30's and 40's. Some people are criticizing the change, but I say bring it on! The Oscars have becoming too elitist. There are a lot of Oscar worthy movies out there that don't get the attention they should. If "Beauty and the Beast" was nominated for an Oscar, wouldn't one of the fabulous Pixar movies deserve a nod? But in the past, there were just too many of the hoity-toity films to ever recognize that excellent comedies, animation and action films. If they had done this last year, undoubtedly "The Dark Knight" would have been nominated. Yes, that movie scarred me but it was extremely well made. So, I'm excited. It may make the nominees fun to root for again. The Academy is definitely try to spice it up. They also invited several hot and young Hollywood actors to join in and now they can vote. This includes: Michael Cera, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Jane Lynch (who I LOVE), Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and others. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

4. TV Scoop for Fall (since I couldn't care less about any of the summer offerings). Have you seen those awesome ABC promos? Take a few minutes and check them out. They're great! (BTW, the Charlie appearance is intriguing. Some say it's because he may be back on "Lost" and others say he's going to be in the new series "Fast Forward." ABC is teasing us either way.)

5. There's been some big casting news on some of the shows. Drea de Matteo from "The Sopranos" is basically replacing the Edie-type character on "Desperate Housewives." Hilary Duff (ugh) is going to "Gossip Girl" but fortunately only for a multi-episode arc. And this is old news, but T.R. Knight is leaving "Grey's Anatomy." And really, they are going to bring "Scrubs" back after ending the series? It's supposedly going to be like "AfterMASH" and they are having the docs still on the show be teachers. STOP. NOW. PLEASE!

That's it for this week!