Anika Noni Rose, probably best known as Lorrell in Dreamgirls, has signed on to costar with Jill Scott in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. Jill Scott will play Precious Ramotswe, the owner of an all-female detective agency in Botswana. Rose will play Grace Matsuki, Precious' assistant. Uh, Precious and Grace? Hmm. Those aren't exactly kick-ass detective names. If you've read the book, fill me in — is this going to be any good?

The Hollywood Reporter says it's likely that a TV series will follow the movie. I can't help but get excited about the prospect of Rose and Scott playing detectives on TV. Sounds a lot better than the Nancy Drew movie, unless we're talking about bad machine's version. … continue reading

Next Thursday on USA, the miniseries The Starter Wife premieres. Based on the Gigi Levangie Grazer novel of the same name, it stars Debra Messing as a woman named Molly whose Hollywood husband dumps her for someone younger. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be drawn to this at all, but in NYC, it has been difficult to ignore the giant ads on the sides of buses. They look like this, only with a white background:

Here's my question about those ads: Since when can you just declare something "a major television event"? Isn't that reserved for epic dramas like Roots or The Thorn Birds? (An aside: The first time I typed that, it came out The Thunderbirds. Sigh.) Can you just create an event with an ad campaign? … continue reading