Heidi Montag’s plastic surgeon, Dr. Frank Ryan - who became a hot topic of discussion when he performed 10 cosmetic procedures on the “The Hills” star in one day - was killed when his Jeep plunged off a Malibu highway and into the ocean on Monday.

According to a Tweet he posted just before the crash(?!), Ryan had just been hiking a sand dune with his border collie, which was also in the car. (OK. Can we all please just agree to put the Blackberry down while driving?)

With zero sense of irony, media reports indicate that Montag has, since the accident, posted Tweets about Ryan being “an angel,” while others clients and friends remembered Ryan at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday night.

TELEVISION

* Tyra Banks is apologizing up and down for a promo for “America’s Next Top Model,” in which she compliments a would-be contestant named Ann for having “the smallest waist in the world” and says, “There’s something about her I like.” (And this isn’t truthfully representative of the modeling world … how, exactly?) Click here to watch the promo in question.

* HBO is closing a deal for a show that will star Kevin Spacey as a charismatic cult leader. Well, he does seem pretty charming, now that I think about it …

* “Dancing with the Stars” will be announcing its new roster of contestants during a live, on-air prime-time press conference, aired during “Bachelor Pad” on August 30. Thanks for the new pomposity craze, LeBron.

MOVIES

* The James Bond franchise may be dying, thanks to a fiscal crisis at MGM. Let’s see you get out of this one, Bond.

* “Mad Men” star January Jones (who plays Betty) is signed on to play Emma Frost in “X-Men Origins: First Class.”

* The trailer for the Joaquin Phoenix movie “I’m Still Here,” directed by Casey Affleck, is out, but I’m as confused as ever.

The film chronicles a year in Phoenix’s life, which included a profoundly bizarre appearance on Letterman, and a pronounced intention to quit acting and pursue a career in rap. But are we in “Spinal Tap” territory, or are we in the land of the genuinely delusional? Based on the clip, I still have absolutely no idea. And maybe that's part of the point.

RADIO

* Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced on Larry King’s show Tuesday night that she will be leaving radio, in part because the medium limits her first amendment rights. (Schlessinger has been embroiled in a controversy surrounding an on-air discussion with a caller about race, in which she said the N-word several times.) A complete transcript of the conversation can be found at the Media Matters blog.

MUSIC

* Classic metal band Megadeath is back together and coming to Detroit. Commence headbanging now.

* Despite Bono’s recent back surgery, he’s on tour with U2 again; he and The Edge will be scoring the upcoming “Spider-Man” stage musical (I know, I think the show's a terrible idea, too); and U2 plans to release a rock album, and “Songs of Ascent” (tunes from the recording session of 2009’s “No Line on the Horizon”), and a “club-sounding” album. Way to make me feel like a slouch, Bono.

* While Jay-Z once again topped Forbes Magazine’s list of highest-earning rap stars, Nicki Minaj is being hailed as the hot new, long-missing female voice in the world of rap. Here’s the video for her hit, “Your Love,” which samples Annie Lennox’s “No More I Love Yous.”

BOOKS

* Just in time for this year’s dream cruise is the release of Robert Genat’s “Woodward Avenue: Cruising the Legendary Strip,” which The Detroit News describes as “a book that tells, through photos and text, the story of the cars, the drive-ins, the auto shops, music and radio stations that helped create the most legendary cruising strip in the United States.”

THEATER

* The Metropolitan Opera set a record for its box office opening day, selling over $2.6 million worth of single tickets for the new season. (This flies in the face of Bugs Bunny’s timeless rhetorical question, “Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?”)

* Levi Kreiss earned a Tony Award portraying Jerry Lee Lewis in “Million Dollar Quartet,” but Lewis himself will be at the show, and participate in a post-show jam session, on September 10. Goodness, gracious indeed.

Renee Tellez contributed to today's links. Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.