E! Online - I'm wondering about straight-to-video releases. It has to be obvious to everyone involved during filming that the movie they had hoped would be "box-office magic" is actually a stinker, especially when the lead actors are terrible (hello, Jessica Simpson!). So why go through with something that not only has no hope of ever making any money but will eventually be an embarrassment for all?

AP - Nicole Kidman appealed to the Sydney media on Thursday for "a little space" as she travels around Sydney with her new baby.

AP - Federal prosecutors have decided not to pursue a criminal case into how Heath Ledger obtained the powerful painkillers that contributed to his overdose death this year, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.

AP - "It seemed to me to be like a product of extreme sexism, and I kept thinking to myself, 'God, if this was just, like, Kal Penn or George Clooney or any of the other (Obama) surrogates or supporters ... there wouldn't be (any) question about it. Nobody would even talk about it." — Scarlett Johansson, who says she was embarrassed by the media coverage of her so-called "e-mail relationship" with Barack Obama.

Reuters - A pithy but entirely lightweight original movie, Lifetime's "True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet" entertains nonstop and even tosses out a few truths about its subject matter. Although the title suggests something almost pulp-like, this little cream puff of a film, which revolves around the misadventures of a teen superstar, is fit for any teenage viewer.

AP - Morgan Freeman was discharged Thursday from a Tennessee hospital after the Oscar-winning actor was treated for broken bones and other injuries sustained in a weekend car crash in Mississippi.

AP - George Lucas says he's already identified the one person who can keep the "Indiana Jones" franchise going: Harrison Ford.

AP - It's a puzzle worthy of The Riddler: Why is there no video game based on "The Dark Knight"?

Reuters - Oscar-nominated director Stephen Frears is astonished a 2003 film he made about British politics -- promoted as the prequel to his hit movie "The Queen" -- is now being released in the United States on DVD.

E! Online - CBS is investigating a replacement for its lead CSI.