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Even in a project as mammoth as “The Defiant Ones,” director Allen Hughes still points to one installment of the four-part series as an especially daunting task: the feature-length third episode, premiering Tuesday night on HBO.

What began as a one-off project quickly grew to, in Hughes’ mind, a potential five part series. Hughes explained as part of a recent interview with IndieWire that a fateful conversation with HBO VP of Programming Nina Rosenstein. (Hughes describes her as “my godmother at HBO.”)

“At one point, I was like ‘Nina, I’m telling you, it’s five.’ I was fighting Jimmy and Dre on that, as well. Nina said, ‘It’s four.’ I said, ‘But, mathematically, that’s gonna make my job–‘ She goes, ‘Yeah, but that’s what it is. It’s four.’ I took that as a challenge. I said fuck it. That’s why Part 3 is like ‘Apocalypse Now.

Eight-piece boybands, middle-aged men dressed as Egyptians getting honey rubbed on their chests, Louis Walsh being... Louis Walsh. Yes, this series of X Factor might not have been the most thrilling, but even in a non-vintage year, there has been plenty to laugh at and enjoy.

This evening's final features Fleur East, Ben Haenow and Andrea Faustini battling for the prize of a record contract and the chance to hit the charts in time for Christmas. All the betting and polls seem to suggest that it's a one-horse race with Fleur running away with it, but The X Factor has thrown up surprises in the past, so nothing can be ruled out.

The X Factor: Find out Andrea, Ben and Fleur's final songs

The X Factor: 10 things we learned from the final press conference

The live final is always a spectacular affair, with hordes of special guests over the weekend (Sheeran!

Eight-piece boybands, middle-aged men dressed as Egyptians getting honey rubbed on their chests, Louis Walsh being... Louis Walsh. Yes, this series of X Factor might not have been the most thrilling, but even in a non-vintage year, there has been plenty to laugh at and enjoy.

This evening's final features Fleur East, Ben Haenow and Andrea Faustini battling for the prize of a record contract and the chance to hit the charts in time for Christmas. All the betting and polls seem to suggest that it's a one-horse race with Fleur running away with it, but The X Factor has thrown up surprises in the past, so nothing can be ruled out.

The X Factor: Find out Andrea, Ben and Fleur's final songs

The X Factor: 10 things we learned from the final press conference

The live final is always a spectacular affair, with hordes of special guests over the weekend (Sheeran!

Amsterdam is capitol of the world on Nov. 10 as the biggest stars in music flock to the 2013 MTV European Music Awards. And since everything’s a little wilder in Europe, prepare to be blown away by the fashion choices of Miley, Katy, and many more!

It’s a party in Amsterdam, right Miley Cyrus? With the 2013 MTV European Music Awards taking place on Nov. 10, the industry’s best and brightest were on hand to celebrate and honor the year’s biggest hits — and in Miley’s case, shock the world. From the “We Can’t Stop” singer to Katy Perry and Ariana Grande, check out the amazing fashion at this year’s EMAs below!

Miley Cyrus Wows At MTV Ema

Miley did it again. She took the liberated attitude of Europe to a whole other level at the EMAs, stepping onto the red carpet in, well, how do we even describe it?...

The Bet Hip Hop Awards had some show-stopping performances, rap freestyle disses, and fun fashion moments — plus, some really deserving artists took home awards.

The 2013 Bet Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta, Georgia aired on Oct. 15, and not a dull moment was to be found! The night was full of spectacular performances and awesome music — including some epic collaborations! From Diddy wearing a king’s crown for his performance to 2 Chainz‘s fashion dares, the night was a real party! What was Your favorite moment of the night?

Bet Hip Hop Awards 2013 — The Show’s Best Moments

Diddy’s Performance

Diddy ruled the night’s performance – almost quite literally. With a crown on his head, the performer lit up the stage. Take Our Poll

He took the stage with French Montana, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross to perform their hit “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’,”and the crowd went wild for their collaboration!

It's finale night, dance fans. Who are going to be the winners of "So You Think You Can Dance" Season 10? We'll get to that, as we'll be live-blogging the whole almost-2-hour event as it unfolds.  Almost 2-hours you say? Yes, there will be a bit of a break while the President addresses the nation. But we'll be here when it returns.

7:57 pm: Refresh often. We'll be updating as we watch. Do you need a recap of last week's routines? Here you go. We will also be embedding available videos as we have them.  

8:00 pm: They waste no time by jumping in and introducing the full Top 20, and the judges - Stephen 'tWitch' Boss, Adam Shankman, Paula Abdul, Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy. Cat Deeley and Nigel remind us that there's no judging tonight - this is just a celebration of the dancers. The results are in. We...

Anyone who's played Words with Friends knows how addicting the mobile game can be. Now, we all have a chance to put that letter tile addiction to good use as Zynga recently announced the "Word with Friends Celebrity Challenge" kicks off tomorrow, September 27th.

Celebrities such as Kristen Bell, Sophia Bush, Jonah Hill, John Legend, Snoop Lion, Eva Longoria, Edward Norton and Paul Pierce want you to join their Words with Friends team and help them win a piece of $500,000 for their chosen charity!

Starting today, players can join any celebrity team they'd like. All it takes to support your chosen team is playing the game! Each word played during the tournament will help boost the team's ranking. The higher the rank, the more money that team wins for their cause.

The Celebrity Challenge continues through October 3rd and players can keep up with celebrity matchups by heading over to WordsCelebrityChallenge.

Nickelodeon Greenlights Third ‘Fred’ Movie, Picks Up 20-Episode ‘Fred’ Series At TCA today, Nickelodeon confirmed our story from December about a new installment in the network’s Fred franchise, a series of 11-minute self-contained episodes. Nickelodeon announced that it has ordered 21 episodes of Fred: The Show, a live-action, short-form comedy series created by and starring YouTube standout Lucas Cruikshank as his signature character Fred Figglehorn. Additionally, Nickelodeon has given a pilot order to Marvin, Marvin starring Cruikshank as a quirky, intergalactic new kid in school who clumsily tries to adapt to his new life as a human teenager. The project, created by Jon Ross (10 Things I Hate About You), had been in development at Nickelodeon since the summer of 2010. It is being executive produced by showrunner Jeff Bushell (Beverly Hills Chihuahua) and Evan Weiss and Gary Binkow of The Collective. Set to premiere in early 2012, Fred: The Show follows Fred...

Filed under: Reality-Free, TV Previews, The Show Girl

Is Liam's new '90210' beach bar the new Peach Pit After Dark?

The show's '90s incarnation was known for bringing in big musical guest stars (Color Me Badd in the early years and Christina Aguilera at the diner's After Dark club were standouts), and the current reboot continues to follow suit.

'90210' has had cameos by musicians like N.E.R.D., DJ Samantha Ronson, Nelly, The Veronicas and even Snoop Dogg, and an insider tells us exclusively that there's another rock band coming soon, and this one will be performing at Liam's new bar. Keep reading for more ...

 

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Adele, Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars tie for six nods each, just falling short of West's seven nominations.

By Kelley L. Carter

Kanye West (file)

Photo: Getty Images

For the second year in a row, a hip-hop artist is leading the pack in Grammy nominations.

Although his name was only called for one category during Wednesday's (November 30) "Grammy Nominations Concert Live!!," Kanye West walked away with a leading seven nods, following the hip-hop trend set by last year's leading nominee, Eminem. He's nominated for his Watch the Throne joint album with Jay-z and also picked up a few nominations — including Song of the Year — for his powerhouse collaborative track "All of the Lights," which features Rihanna, Fergie and Kid Cudi. He's even nominated against himself, with Watch the Throne and his own My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy nabbing Rap Album of the Year nods.

West was followed by this year's critical darling,...

The nominees for the 2011 Grammy Awards were announced live on CBS on Wednesday night.

Adele, the smash hit British retro soul singer, had a huge evening, earning nods for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Kanye West scored nods for both his solo work and his collaboration with Jay-z. The pair's song "Otis" was nominated for Best Rap Performance, where it will go up against tracks from Nicki Minaj & Drake; Lupe Fiasco; Chris Brown, Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes; and Wiz Khalifa. West's song "All of the Lights" will compete against "Otis" for Best Rap Song. West, overall, had seven nominations, leading the pack.

Folk rockers Mumford & Sons were nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Performance, and Best Rock Song.

Indie singer-songwriter Bon Iver received recognition in the categories for Song of the Year,...

'It's going to be real major,' Wayne says of behind-the-scenes look at his current tour.

By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Lil Wayne

Photo: MTV News

Fans who haven't gotten a ticket to Lil Wayne's I Am Still Music Tour will still get a chance to see Weezy on the big stage after all. While backstage at his New Orleans show last week Weezy revealed to MTV News that he has been filming select dates and will compile the footage into a tour documentary similar to Jay-z's 2000 film, Backstage, and Russell Simmons' 1995 doc The Show.

"I just felt like a movie like that hasn't come out in so long," Weezy said. "At that time when they put those movies out, we as the fans were interested in what they were doing on the road. ... Nobody hasn't came around since then that was that interesting other than Young Money.

If you are a fan of film you no doubt have heard of a little company with an expansive movie collection, whose sole purpose is to present films as they were meant by the director/film-makers. Not to mention an outpouring of special features that would satisfy any film fan, like behind-the-scenes, short films, essays from film critics, deleted segments and commentaries.

As has been reported on this very website several times before, there is the classic film Black Orpheus which, as it turns out, in its initial release, was a bare bones disc, but now is featured in a beautiful Blu-Ray transfer, with loads of extras, which sparked a thought.

But in hindsight, it’s the beginning of the year and for the past 5+ years or so, since I stumbled upon the pricey expensive discs, I started to realize a bit of a trend. Much of their work was a bit obtuse in vulgarity,...

"La-di-Da-Di ... La-di-Da-Di ... La-Di ...La-Di..." It seems like everyone today wants to do the "Doug E" -- one of the biggest dance crazes, which incorporates the signature move of hip-hop pioneer, Doug E. Fresh.The "Human Beat Box" and his team of DJs, known as The Get Fresh Crew (Barry Bee and Chill Will) along with a newcomer named Mc Ricky D -- aka Slick Rick -- created the New Jersey-based hip-hop label Reality/Danya Records in the mid '80s. In 1985 the label released the smash hits, "La Di Da Di" and "The Show" -- two of the most iconic hip-hop tracks of all time...

Filed under: Features, The Show Girl

Every once in a while, a show comes along that proves TV can actually be educational. This week, I preview one of those shows, 'Great Migrations.' National Geographic's new 7-part special is full of breathtaking footage of animals all around the globe and fun facts. Like what, exactly, is this animal?

I also have scoop on AMC's 'The Walking Dead,' straight from the show's zombie-killing cast. Are you pumped for this new series? Tell me why in the comments and you could win some cool limited edition 'Walking Dead' freebies.

Then I check in with Russell Simmons -- the man behind Def Jam, Phat Farm, various charities and hip-hop site GlobalGrind.com (not to mention some very entertaining tweets) -- and the ladies behind his businesses to hear about their new show 'Running Russell Simmons.'

Got questions? E-mail me TV questions at TheTVShowGirl@aol.

With Smallville entering its 10th and final season, we’ve just been sent a press release which confirms the show will be at Comic-Con Sunday, July 25. Also, while Tom Welling only made his first Comic-Con appearnace last year, he must have enjoyed his stay in San Diego as he’s attending along with showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, as well as series regulars Erica Durance, Cassidy Freeman and Justin Hartley.

The panel is Sunday at 10:00–11:00 a.m. in Ballroom 20 and it’ll feature an exclusive sneak peek at clips from the final season’s premiere episode and the panel will answer fans’ questions. Writer/producer Geoff Johns (chief creative officer at DC Entertainment) will moderate. Hit the jump for the full press release:

Tom Welling And “Smallville” Cast And Producers Return To Comic-con In Advance Of The Show’S 10th And Final Season

Long-Running Hit Series Makes...

The Bet Awards took over Hollywood this past weekend. Although the city was in mourning over Michael Jackson's death, in true Hollywood style, the show must go on. Most parties were turned into celebrations of Michael's life and career. At MyHouse in Los Angeles, P. Diddy hosted the Last Train to Paris launch party presented by CÎROC. Diddy took over the mic and started singing to Michael Jackson’s music that the DJ was spinning. A few tables away Jessica Alba was spotted singing along to the tunes. At the Steve Rifkind and Src Late Night After party...

The Diplomats, Jadakiss, T-Pain, Mary J. Blige and others make room for surprise from Jay-z to Soulja Boy.

By Shaheem Reid

Young Jeezy performs at Hot 97's Summer Jam on Sunday

Photo: Jeffrey Ufberg/ Getty Images

East Rutherford, New Jersey — You guys better stop sleeping on Young Jeezy. The Atlanta rap king pulls out all stops during his big show appearances. The Snowman had the highlight of the night at Sunday's Summer Jam concert, bringing out both Drake and Jay-z on his set.

Young set it off with his massive stadium knockers/ club bangers, such as "Who Dat" and "Bottom of the Map." He always seems to have the upper hand on shows such as these, at any concert for that matter, because the sound of his music is huge, and the crowd loves his anthems.

Jeezy said he wanted do something for the ladies, and with a couple of thumps of bass preceding him,...

On Thursday, October 2, Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC became the hot spot for Hip-Hop icons, when VH1 rolled down its red carpet for the fifth annual "VH1 Hip Hop Honors". Hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan, the event paid tribute to Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Naughty by Nature, Slick Rick and Too $hort this year.

Hill in particular was introduced by Freddy Rodriguez and the group stormed out to the stage for performances of "DJ Scratch Intro", "How Could I Just Kill a Man" and "(Rock) Superstar". The second tribute was opened by actress Joe Bryant. A number of artists like Estelle, Mos Def and Cee-Lo brought De La Soul's hits like "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays,'" "Stakes Is High," while the group topped it off with "Me, Myself and I" and a remix of "Buddy!".

Busta Rhymes then took the stage for the third honor, singing Slick's "The Show...