Brandon Routh

CBS comedy Partners depicts the friendship between a gay man and a straight man who are architects and best friends, and like a few other Fall TV series, it's based on the lives of its creators. Showrunners Max Mutchnick and David Kohan came to the network TCA to talk about how their friendship inspired the show, and how much of themselves are in the characters. The actors playing the small-screen versions of them, Michael Urie and David Krumholtz, were also on hand to chat, along with their onscreen love interests, Brandon Routh and Sophia Bush, who both talked about how eager they were to do comedy.

• Routh, who plays Wyatt, the boyfriend of Urie's character Louis, talked about starring in his first sitcom, and said that he had been pushing to do comedy since he started acting. When a reporter said that his character seemed like the "dumb blond" of the show, Kohan corrected the reporter by saying that Wyatt's defining characteristic "[isn't] dumb — it's guileless" and that Wyatt is from a different background than Louis, but, "he's no dummy." Routh agreed, saying, "He's so trusting . . . When you're trusting, you don't think anyone has bad intentions."
• Bush stars as the girlfriend of Krumholtz's character Charlie, and like Routh, she ascertained that she'd been wanting to try comedy, but that One Tree Hill derailed her a little. "I got on the show, and it just . . . never ended!" She joked that nine years in Hollywood "is like 100 years," and she seemed excited to be trying out her comedy chops. "I've been gunning for this for a very long time."
• Mutchnick and Kohan met in high school at age 14, and after becoming writing partners, they cultivated the friendship that's the basis for the relationship of Louis and Charlie. Though Mutchnick joked that he was "absolutely" as self-obsessed as Louis is, the executive producers also stressed that the characters aren't exactly them, but it's the dynamic between them that's the foundation for the show. "The dynamic is almost vaudevillian in its lunacy," added Krumholtz, while his costar Urie said that it helps to have them around on set because "there's so much to draw on."

Based on the graphic novel series of the same name, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a genre-bender — it's part action flick, part rock and roll anthem, part romantic comedy. Overlaid with whimsical video game effects, it's a risky combo to employ for a mainstream film, but director Edgar Wright has executed it so confidently and with such commitment that it's a triumph.

Michael Cera is the title character, a bass player in the band Sex Bob-Omb, who mostly hangs out with his friends and deals with the daily drama of his love life. When he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), his mysterious, multicolored-tressed love interest, he falls at his feet to date her. Like any new relationship, there are challenges — specifically Ramona's past, which includes seven angry exes that Scott must fight to the death if he wants to keep seeing Ramona. Not only is his life on the line, each of his nemeses has a mystical power he has to overcome (my favorite? Brandon Routh's vegan-powered psychic abilities). It's fantastical, for sure, but give it a shot: Scott Pilgrim is an energy drink of a movie, an effervescent gem with the aesthetics of a video game and the heart of an indie romance.

To find out why I liked the movie, just keep reading

The stars of The Lovely Bones hit the red carpet last night for their LA premiere. Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz, Saoirse Ronan, and Rose McIver were decked out alongside director Peter Jackson, while the film's executive producer, Steven Spielberg, went casual in his baseball cap. Superman star Brandon Routh turned out with wife Courtney Ford, who you might recognize from her role on this season of Dexter. Mark Wahlberg was able to attend last week's screening in NYC, but he missed this one due to his commitments back on the East Coast. One leading man who might have been in attendance was Robert Pattinson — Vampire Diaries star Katerina Graham twittered about seeing him but if he was there, he went undetected by photographers.

To see lots more of the stars on the red carpet, just read more

• Kristin Chenoweth will be a guest judge on the next season of American Idol. — Zap2it
• Mad Men's Christina Hendricks will join Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel in Life as We Know It. — Variety
• Laura Linney will star in The C Word, a new comedy pilot for Showtime about a suburban wife battling cancer. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Robin Williams will star in the romantic comedy Wedding Banned. — Reuters
• Brandon Routh, most famous for his role in Superman Returns, will have a recurring role on the upcoming season of Chuck. — Entertainment Weekly
• Daniel Craig will star in the psychological thriller Dream House. — Coming Soon
• TNT has ordered a third season of Leverage. — Variety
• Helen Mirren has signed on for a film adaption of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. — Variety

Charlize Theron and Ashton Kutcher headed to Pasadena last night for the World Football Challenge. The action on the field was between the Chelsea and Inter Milan, but Ashton and Charlize kept the photographers busy on the sidelines and blue carpet. Charlize spoke before the match in her black dress about how her charity, the Africa Outreach Project, is organizing soccer games for underprivileged kids in South Africa. Ashton's no stranger to philanthropic endeavors of his own, but the evening's focus was on Charlize's work — and, of course, the game.

To see more from the game just read more