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Who to Root for in Tonight’s Eurovision Song Contest Finals

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It might have slipped under our collective radars on this side of the Atlantic, but tonight is the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest finals! Twenty-six nations are sending their musically gifted — or just plain odd — champions to Baku, Azerbaijan, to compete before a projected audience of 125 million for the title of Europe's Bravest Performer(s). (Since when is Azerbaijan considered part of Europe, you ask? Who knows.) So, if you do decide to tune into the livestream — already started, given the time difference — here's just a few of the top acts you should watch out for.

Engelbert Humperdinck (United Kingdom)
The 76-year-old pop crooner is one of the first serious-to-goodness names to grace the Eurovision stage and will be performing, "Love Will Set You Free," a song specially written for the contest. Oh, and he'll be sporting a necklace gifted to him by Elvis Presley.

Russian baking grandmothers! »

TV Review: HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn Is Silly and Smart

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"There's nothing to writing, Gellhorn," Ernest Hemingway tells journalist Martha Gellhorn, his lover and muse, in HBO's Hemingway &
Gellhorn. "All you've got to do is sit down at your typewriter and bleed." The line would be easy to dismiss as Hollywood b.s. if it weren't an actual Hemingway quote, rephrased slightly by screenwriters Jerry Stahl and Barbara Turner, and spat out like a plug of chewing tobacco by the film's costar Clive Owen. Within minutes of Hemingway's pronouncement, which is meant to push Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) past a bout of writer's block while she's covering the Spanish Civil War for Collier's Magazine, bombs fall on the city. Their hotel shudders under the impact. Hemingway gropes Gellhorn while shielding her body from shards of glass, and the two scribes end up naked on a bed, rutting hungrily while explosives flash in a window just beyond Gellhorn's upraised heels.

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Christopher Abbott From Girls on Ignoring Controversy and Charlie’s Drippy Sex Scenes

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On Girls, Christopher Abbott plays Charlie, Marnie's irritatingly nice, rather Sad Sack-y boyfriend. He's so hapless that he recently got dumped by Marnie, mid-coitus, after four years together. Talk about timing! (It's hard to blame her; the stuff coming out of his mouth during their final romp almost made us gag.) The two had been growing apart for a while, and tensions had been mounting between them, especially since Charlie learned about Marnie's true feelings for him while he and his smarmy buddy Ray were snooping through Hannah's diary. We sat down with Abbott to discuss what he thinks of Charlie, the cringe-worthy stuff he's forced to say during sex, and the fact that he's barely aware of any controversy surrounding the show (really).

"I don’t know much about that." »

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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 10: Actress Joanna Garcia attends the Monique Lhuillier Spring 2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Theater at Lincoln Center on September 10, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)

Joanna Garcia Joins Justin Kirk’s NBC Comedy

Joanna Garcia has joined the cast of Animal Practice, NBC's upcoming vet-set single-camera comedy that stars Justin Kirk and a monkey. You know, that one. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Garcia will replace Amy Huberman, one of NBC's many abrasive blonds of pilot season. Garcia's had a string of one-season shows — Welcome to the Captain, Privileged, Better With You — and her most recent pilot, Oh Fuck, It's You, didn't get picked up. Somewhere, Paula Marshall is passing a torch.

Here is new 'The X Factor USA' judge Britney Spears arriving for the first round of auditions in Austin, Texas, alongside fellow panelists Simon Cowell and LA Reid. The new panel of four swept into the Erwin Center for the first of two show tapings as crowds of fans cheered in excitement. <P> Pictured: Britney Spears <P> <B>Ref: SPL397826 240512 </B><BR/> Picture by: Splash News<BR/> </P><P> <B>Splash News and Pictures</B><BR/> Los Angeles: 310-821-2666<BR/> New York: 212-619-2666<BR/> London: 870-934-2666<BR/> photodesk@splashnews.com<BR/> </P>

Britney’s First Day at X-Factor Did Not Go Perfectly

As in, she walked off set in the middle of auditions, reports TMZ. Britney was reportedly offended by a bad performance of "Hold It Against Me," though show sources claim she "just needed a break." Also, Paula pulled the same stunt last year — so maybe it was scripted? Or maybe we are in for a more, um, animated Britney than expected.

Bill Paxton on Hatfields and McCoys, Allergies, and Naming His Beard ‘The Growler’

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After five seasons on HBO's Big Love, Bill Paxton was reluctant to play another religious family patriarch. But it's hard to turn down the chance to grow a beard and work with Kevin Costner, so he took the role of Randall McCoy in the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. The six-hour series (premiering May 28) shows how the God-fearing leader of the McCoy clan helped spark a bloody border war between his family and the family of his former Civil War buddy "Devil Anse" Hatfield (Costner). Paxton talked to Vulture about the famous feud, his allergies, and his beard, "The Growler."

"It wasn't the most attractive beard." »

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Take Vulture’s Community Season Three Final Exam

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COMMUNITY -- "Curriculum Unavailable" Episode 319 -- Pictured: (l-r) Danny Pudi as Abed, Gillian Jacobs as Britta -- (Photo by: Lewis Jacobs/NBC)

Now that the Greendale Seven have overcome a maniacal, keytar-jamming security chief, an unrelenting fume chamber of air-conditioner-less fury, and a video game programmed by the ivory-haired patriarch of a moist-towelette empire, it’s time for a final exam. Yes, we know there's been lots of behind-the-scenes drama on the show this year, but just because your teacher quit (what up, Professor Kane!) doesn't mean you don't have to complete the course. How well have you been paying attention this season, fans? To the Quizatorium!

  • Posted 5/24/12 at 2:15 PM
  • Ham

30 Rock Created Queen of Jordan to Save Money

The 30 Rock episode that introduced us to the concept of drinking one's throwing wine and a single called "My Single Is Dropping" wasn't just an amazing pastiche of every Real Housewives show: Queen of Jordan actually came about as a cost-cutting measure, 30 Rock executive producer Robert Carlock tells the AV Club. "That shooting that style, that fake doc style, is a lot cheaper," Carlock says. "The main reason we [did a second Queen of Jordan episode this season] — one of the reasons — was because it was cheap and we were in the hole." Saving money, now with more hayyyaaam.

The Homeland Creators Have an Explanation for Everything

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HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 15: (L-R) Showtime Networks Entertainment president David Nevins with Homeland Executive Producers Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon at the Israel Film Festival opening night gala at Paramount Theater on the Paramount Studios lot on March 15, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/WireImage)

On Monday, Showtime's Homeland was the recipient of a Peabody, the prestigious award that recognizes intelligent broadcasting. We caught up with showrunners Howard Gordon and Alex Ganza at the event, and they proved just how intelligent they are. Crafty, even. We brought up some small season-one details that we had been obsessing about, Carrie-style (minus the wall o'crazy), and they parried them all. An example? VULTURE: As an expert CIA agent, couldn't Carrie have forged her own prescriptions rather than stealing her dad's pills? THEM: Oh, we discussed that but decided instead to give her a sister doc, and a dad with the same illness who could just go get a new prescription when she stole his meds and not arouse suspicion. Okay, and ... wait a minute, that was never spelled out! "We have answers to a lot of the questions you might have," said Gansa with a smile after explaining away our concerns, "that just never made it to the script." Tricky! And just the kind of thing Brody would say in an interrogation.

And turns out they're work neighbors with the 'New Girl' writers. »

Exclusive: Martha Marcy May Marlene Director Preps Exorcist for TV

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present its inaugural Governors Awards Film Series, featuring screenings of "The Exorcist," "The Color Purple," and "The Great White Hope," from Wednesday, November 9, to Friday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Pictured: Max Von Sydow and Linda Blair in THE EXORCIST, 1973.

What an excellent day for an exorcism! Nearly 40 years after The Exorcist became the first horror movie ever to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, Hollywood has again become possessed with William Peter Blatty’s best seller.

Sean Durkin, the writer-director of last year’s excellent but criminally underseen Elizabeth Olsen thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, is adapting the fiendish classic into a ten-episode television series, this time backed by Morgan Creek and produced by Roy Lee, the executive producer of films like The Departed and The Ring.

Producer Don Murphy is also developing his own exorcism-related TV series. »

  • Posted 5/24/12 at 9:48 AM
  • Memos

Sony Wrote Some Talking Points for the Community Cast

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COMMUNITY -- "Basic Lupine Urology" Episode 317 -- Pictured: (l-r) Joel McHale as Jeff, Allison Brie as Annie -- Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC

Sony sent the cast of Community some "Community Message Points" in a memo over the weekend, encouraging everyone to talk about "looking forward" to next season. The Hollywood Reporter obtained the memo, and it's not that bad, as far as these grotesque talking-point kind of things go. The memo included suggestions for how to answer questions about Dan Harmon's exit. For example:

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American Idol Recap: Take Us Home, Season Eleven

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LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 23: Finalists Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez walk onstage during Fox's "American Idol 2012" results show at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on May 23, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)

So here’s the thing about Phillip Phillips’s potential winner single “Home.” Last night, it reminded me of two different songs (aside from the Edward Sharpe song that is also called “Home,” and every track from the Mumford & Sons album): a song whose verses go “Ho! Hey!” and another song with a chorus that goes “I belong to you, you belong to me, you’re my sweetheart.” Well, it turns out those two songs are the same song, it’s called “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers, and the intro package to tonight’s finale is set to it. Even the music supervisors of American Idol have stopped trying to pretend Phillip won’t run away with this.

John Fogerty, or as your children know him, “Rachel Maddow’s lumberjack grandmother.” »

Danny Masterson on His New Show Men at Work, Justin Bieber, and Disliking Paul Haggis

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Danny Masterson spent eight years as Hyde on That 70’s Show, D.J.'s under the moniker DJ Mom Jeans, and co-owns a slew of bars and restaurants with various 70’s Show cast members and his brother Chris (Francis from Malcolm in the Middle). In short, even when he’s not appearing in independent films or guesting on TV, he’s keeping insanely busy. Masterson will next appear in the new TBS sitcom Men at Work, playing a recently dumped and newly depressed guy who has to rely on his friends to get him over the slump — but as he told us, he won’t let the new job get in the way of his other projects. We spoke about Justin Bieber, bad TV pilots, and his belief in Scientology.

"Whether [Paul Haggis] used to study Scientology and has now decided not to, it’s like, 'Who cares?'" »

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