NBC regroups with Marriage Ref; Aretha readies album; Shutter Island cruises; and more

Well, the Winter Olympics had to end some time, leaving NBC with all the problems it had before they started. This story sets up the basic dilemma now that Conan O'Brien has been fired and Jay Leno is returning to the "Tonight" show: More hours of prime time to fill.

Jerry Seinfeld

One key piece of the puzzle is supposed to be Jerry Seinfeld's "The Marriage Ref," but The New York Times' Media Decorder blog reports on immediate (mostly negative) reaction, on Twitter and elsewhere, to the first airing of the show last night. In just one example of the panning from the professional critics, Alan Sepinwall of our sister site NJ.com found it "heinous."

poll by twiigs.com

Meanwhle, the New York Daily News reports on how the network will rely heavily on "Law & Order." USAToday has a feature on "Parenthood," the heavily promoted new series debuting tomorrow on NBC.

And all that's just prime time; Jay Leno may face an uphill battle as well.

Other entertainment items of note on the web this morning:

MUSIC

Aretha Franklin in Detroit on Friday.

• The Detroit News reports on a listening party for tracks from Aretha Franklin's new album, set to come out later this month.

• Dental issues apparently settled, Lil Wayne is set to go to jail Tuesday, the AP reports.

MOVIES

• Martin Scorsese's latest movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, "Shutter Island," had another good weekend and stayed on top at the box office, the Los Angeles Times reports.

• "Shrek Forever After," the fourth and (supposedly) last movie in the series, will open the Tribeca Film Festival next month in advance of its wide opening in May.

• Critic Roger Ebert has started using a computer voice simulator, and plans to unveil it publicly with his Oscar predictions on Tuesday's "Oprah Winfrey Show."

• And speaking of the Oscars, if you've been wondering how the Best Picture voting will work with 10 nominees, this story explains it all.

TELEVISION

Dermot Mulroney

• The Hollywood Reporter breaks the news that Dermot Mulroney has been cast to star in the revival of "The Rockford Files." As someone of an age and a gender for which "The Rockford Files" is sacred ground, I'm not sure I'm OK with this.

• Yahoo's OMG blog has some video of "Lost" cast members talking about the show's final season.

• Craig Robinson of "The Office" will host the new season of "Last Comic Standing."

• EW.com's Ken Tucker has a mostly positive review (with lots of video clips) of this weekend's "Saturday Night Live," featuring Jennifer Lopez.

ONLINE

• This is kind of technical, but it's pretty interesting: Universal Music Group may have to pay damages to a woman whom the company improperly ordered to stop using a Prince song in a home video posted online.

Renee Tellez contributed to this roundup. Bob Needham is director of entertainment content for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at bobneedham@annarbor.com or 734-623-2541, and follow him on Twitter @bobneedham.

Tags: A.M. Entertainment Links