Entertainment - at USATODAY.com

LOS ANGELES - Whatever you do, don't call them the Dynamic Duo. Call them the new face of comic-book films. Or hitmakers. Or, if they were to decide, two guys who have worked on three movies together. But Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale, the director and star of The Dark Knight, are trying their darndest to shake the hokey emblems of the Batman franchise.

After a long TV season, summer offers a welcome vacation from demanding serials, striking writers and David Archuleta's father. Some entertaining options are easy, such as Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, NBC's America's Got Talent and TNT's The Closer. But why not be a home-entertainment explorer and search the cable universe for hidden gems, smooth non-precious stones and even a little fool's gold? At least it's shiny.

LOS ANGELES - Unexpected death can ensure a Hollywood legacy.

Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek and French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault have called off their engagement, their representative confirms to USA TODAY.

Roger Donaldson can be a capable director with simpatico material (see 1987's No Way Out or Thirteen Days for two standouts). This time, he fashions an above-average heist pic, despite lock-jawed Jason Statham as his lead. For felonious motivation, there's cheeky Saffron Burrows beckoning Statham and his uncommonly motley crew to tunnel into the Lloyds vault.

You may not love this year's Emmy list, but at least it won't drive you mad.

The Dark Knight is being called more thrilling and masterfully crafted than any summer blockbuster. Have you seen it? Do you agree? Share your thoughts.

DALY CITY, Calif. - Neither an endless line, pitiless fog nor the curious scent of sweet Mexican churros and portable toilets was enough to keep more than 7,000 American Idol hopefuls from the first Season 8 audition.

Monk (USA, tonight, 9 ET/PT) returns for a seventh season with two well-known guest stars: Brad Garrett and Hector Elizondo, who replaces the late Stanley Kamel as Monk's therapist. Both guests do well, but casting isn't Monk's problem. It's the writing, which continues its descent into insipid.

Hot Fuzz star Simon Pegg, who's Scotty in next year's Star Trek, wears his geekiness proudly. Imagine his joy upon learning his love interest in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, whose trailer is out this weekend, would be Spider-Man's gal pal Mary Jane. "It was an absolute treat to work with Kirsten Dunst," he says, though no upside-down kiss was involved.

USA TODAY's Jerry Shriver asks top TV culinary stars ... 'When dining out in this tough economy, what luxury c an you do without and what will you not sacrifice?'

Mad Men, AMC's sleek drama set in the advertising world circa 1960, and FX's legal thriller Damages made Emmy nominations history Thursday as the first basic cable programs to gain best-series nods.

VOTE: Who do you think should get the top awards on Emmy Awards night? Make you choices above and share your thoughts below.

Only a truly dreadful story could make 81 minutes seem like an eternity.

Horrible is wonderful on the Internet. Conceived by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a three-part musical miniseries, has become an online sensation since Part 1's release Tuesday. The traffic quickly crashed the server for free-view website drhorrible.com, and iTunes' downloadable version instantly became, at $1.99, the No. 1 video.

The Joker is more than wild. It's a tribute to the power of Heath Ledger's transcendent performance in The Dark Knight (* * * * out of four) that we can watch him, transfixed and deeply unsettled by the character's creepiness, laugh at his comic menace, and still manage to block out thoughts of the actor's tragic and untimely death. This is a career-making performance if ever there was one. Too bad it was a career-ending one as well.

Is there anything Meryl Streep can't do? Mamma Mia! (*** out of four) is worth the ticket price just to see her belt it out, jump up and down on a bed, dance in platform shoes and slide down a banister. She not only can carry a tune, but her version of the overwrought The Winner Takes It All is surprisingly moving. Her chemistry with co-star Pierce Brosnan is palpable.

With the latest baby boom, it seems as if Hollywood is doubling in size. All parents need the proper accessories, but only the hottest gifts will do for celebs. So what to give to those who have everything? "I think that there are certain go-to items you can assume they are going to be getting 10 or more of, and there are certain things that you can never have too many of," says Pilar Guzman, editor in chief of Cookie magazine. "It's the in-between that gets tricky." USA TODAY gets Guzman's picks.

Long before Minnie Driver learned she was going to be a mom, she was cast as one in the thriller Take. The role offered "a fascinating journey and one of the most profound opportunities I've had as an actor," says Driver, who is expecting her first child in August.

First there were Bushisms. Now there are Barackisms. Yes, words coined from Barack Obama's name. Editors at Slate, the online magazine, have compiled a political primer just in time for the election season.

BURBANK, Calif. - Contrary to common knowledge, Jay Leno does have children. Scores of them. And right now, one is sick. "Sounds like she's not hitting on the third cylinder," he says with concern as men with thick forearms and grease-stained hands huddle around a diminutive 1965 Honda S600 convertible. "Probably carburetion, not ignition."

Bree, back with Orson, is a self-made Martha Stewart type. Lynette's kids are in trouble with the law. Gaby, now frumpy, has kids. And Susan has a new beau. It wasn't all a dream: The two-minute scene that flashed forward five years, ending Desperate Housewives' fourth season, sets up this fall's new one. It marks an effort to jump-start the ABC soap.

Opening acts, the underdogs of the touring circuit, often face half-filled venues of disinterested fans. But concertgoers arriving early at three hot summer shows are getting more than a good parking spot. Find out why fans are likely to warm up to warm-up acts Brett Dennen, Liars and Sharon Little, each handpicked by the headliner.

Katherine Heigl has made plain she was unhappy with her ?material? on Grey?s Anatomy. That?s how she explained withdrawing her name from consideration for the Emmy Awards, after winning as best supporting actress last year. (Nominations are due Thursday). But ABC programming chief Steve McPherson rebuffed what some have seen as an effort to get out of her contract, and believes she?ll be a happier camper next season: "She's absolutely staying with the show," he says.

Here's a challenge for fans of Ugly Betty (ABC, 8 ET/PT). Watch tonight's entertaining episode from November, and then try to figure out how the show got itself so badly twisted around by May. What happened, for instance, to the dedication shown here by Daniel and Alexis (and, in a sweet, surprising change, Amanda) to putting out the magazine? Yes, the writers' strike intervened, as did cast shifts that inevitably led to character shifts. Even so, the question is how did a show that started the season getting so many things right end it by getting almost everything wrong?

NEW YORK - Fans flocked to the Ziegfeld Theatre in Midtown on Wednesday to sing the praises of Mamma Mia! and catch a glimpse of its stars.

Nora Roberts nudges aside Stephenie Meyer for the top spot on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list this week, "Ask Amy" columnist will publisher her memoirs, and Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook is again a potboiler.

In Dan Rattiner's Hamptons, you won't find any tales of PR queen Lizzie Grubman plowing into clubgoers with her SUV. Or dispatches from any of P. Diddy's Ciroc-fueled soirees.