The Rundown - May 02, 2007

Here we go, it's your entertainment Rundown for the first week of May, 2007:

• This month marks the 25^th anniversary of the release of the first Conan film, Conan the Barbarian. Dark Horse publishes Conan titles regularly and you can find out more about Conan products and order them from Things From Another World. You can also get some nifty Conan downloads for your computer free from Dark Horse!
• Oprah Winfrey told Larry King last night that when her contract is up, "she's done." Oprah is the longest-running, highest-rated daytime TV talk show in US history. It has run for 21 years.
• Larry Birkhead, Anna Nicole's baby daddy, done took her home to Kentucky. Dannielynn... Nicole? Smith? Birkhead-Stern-Gabor? Whatever.
• Actor Tom Poston, largely of Newhart fame (though his list of credits is as long as your good arm), has died. An interesting real-life fact: Poston was married to actress Suzanne Pleshette, who played Bob Newhart's wife in his first show. Our condolences to his family and friends. Tom Poston can be seen in reruns of Dharma & Greg May 4^th and 5^th on FX.
• Patrick Dempsey, of Grey's Anatomy fame (as late), will drive the pace car in the Indy 500 on May 27^th. Meanwhile, his co-star, Isaiah Washington, will appear in a PSA for gay rights, following a recent flap where he was accused of using a homophobic epithet toward a co-star in a backstage argument.
• Keira Knightley told Elle magazine that she is dismayed over being a celebrity and may very well quit acting, altogether. The Pirates of the Caribbean star is particularly disquieted that her picture has been used on pro-Anorexia sites.
• Speaking of Disney, they've got their hands in all sorts of superhero pies (get your minds out of the gutter!), from the daily reruns of Smallville (6:00 PM, CST) to last weekend's Gilmore Girls marathon featuring Milo Ventimiglia (Peter of Heroes), to this weekend's presentation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I & II. Check local listings for times on ABCFamily.
• The US military has launched their own YouTube site. Largely a PR move, it claims the videos available have only been edited for time and highly disturbing content, but critics note that it shows a very one-sided view of the war in Iraq and also contains several straightforward recruiting spots. The US Army has also recently tightened its grip on soldiers' blogs, forcing those who used to serve in Iraq to submit blog entries for perusal prior to publishing.
• Joan Baez claims John Mellencamp invited her to play for the US Army, but the Army denied her the chance to perform. The Army says the move had nothing to do with the singer's past comments or politics; the request for her to join Mellencamp simply came too late.
• Digg has found itself in the middle of a user revolt: when it tried to comply with a "cease and desist" letter from the AACS, and began deleting links to posts and sites which explain how to crack DVD encryption (and/or offer software for download), users began resubmitting and voting-up the informative links by the hundreds. Digg founder, Kevin Rose, gave-in, saying, "[It's clear] you'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company."
• A new book claims famed serial killer, Jack the Ripper, may have been Johannesburg, South Africa's "King of the Pimps." The book discusses several commonalities between the two historical figures, and offers a lot of circumstantial evidence, but draws no definitive conclusions.

And that's The Rundown for May 2^nd, 2007.