The ShowBuzz Weekly Forecast
After much hype, Kanye West and 50 Cent will go head-to-head on Sept. 11 to see whose album outsells the other. If hip-hop isn't your thing, check out the wide variety of movies and other forms of entertainment appearing this week.
MOVIES
"The Brave One" stars Jodie Foster as a New York City radio host who begins seeking vengeance after her fiance is killed in a brutal attack.
"Eastern Promises" stars Viggo Mortensen as a driver for a dangerous Eastern European crime family and Naomi Watts as a midwife in a North London hospital. Their lives become further complicated when Watts' character assists in the birth of a baby whose dead teenage mother was linked to the crime family.
In "Mr. Woodcock" Billy Bob Thornton stars as a ruthless high school coach who tormented Seann William Scott as a teenager and who, later, begins dating Scott's mother, played by Susan Sarandon.
"In the Valley of Elah" is the story of a veteran, played by Tommy Lee Jones, and his wife Susan Sarandon, whose son just returned from Iraq but disappears. Charlize Theron plays the detective who investigates the case.Photos: Susan Sarandon
"King of California" stars Evan Rachel Wood and Michael Douglas as her mentally ill father just released from an institution. Douglas is consumed with finding gold left behind by Spanish missionaries.
MUSIC
"Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates" is country star Kenny Chesney's latest album featuring the hit single, "Never Wanted Nothin'."
Producer-turned-rapper Kanye West's third album, "Graduation", has been highly anticipated because it is being released on the same day as 50 Cent's CD "Curtis".
Folk/punk girl-rocker Ani DiFranco's new album "Canon" features some of her older hits, like "Fire Door," "Buildings and Bridges" and "Shy."
"Carry It On" is a new album from legendary folksinger Joan Baez; it features powerful songs like "Joe Hill" and "We Shall Overcome."
TV
The Cartoon Network's first ever live action series "Out of Jimmy's Head" premieres Friday at 7 p.m. EDT. But don't worry, animation fans: This series based on the trials and tribulations of a 13-year-old boy features cartoon characters who inhabit his brain after an emergency brain transplant.
On Monday's "Live with Regis and Kelly" Philbin and Ripa recall past moments, from the wacky to the moving and downright unique. Then this "Live" observance culminates Friday as former co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, who left the show in 2000, drops by to reminisce about her role in this enduring TV institution. (Check local listings for this syndicated talk show.)
"NOW" takes a hard look at the war in Iraq through the eyes of the U.S. men and women fighting it. In a special hour-long edition, "NOW" focuses on the Third Infantry's First Brigade from Georgia's Ft. Stewart, which earlier this year headed back to Iraq for its third deployment in four years. The show airs Friday on PBS (check local listings).
"Nashville" is a "high-stakes, high-drama docu-soap" set in Music City. That's what the Fox Network calls it, anyway. Could the members of this cast be poised to fulfill their dreams and capture stardom? Find out when the series premieres Friday at 9 p.m.
BOOKS
"You've Been Warned" by James Patterson is the story of a rising photographer haunted by a gruesome dream.
Garrison Keillor releases a new Lake Wobegon book, "Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon."
"The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945" by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns is the companion book to the series to air on PBS.
"The 47th Samurai" by Stephen Hunter is the story of two men forever connected by the battle for Iwo Jima.
DVDs
Catch up with Season Three of the hit drama "Grey's Anatomy," starring Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey.
"The Starter Wife," based on the novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer, was a miniseries airing on the USA Network this summer. It starred Debra Messing as a jilted first wife trying to come into her own.
The first season of the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones is out on DVD.
"Snow Cake" is the story of an ex-con, played by Alan Rickman, who finds himself involved with two intriguing women: Carrie-Ann Moss and Sigourney Weaver, whose character is autistic.
THEATER
The Shakespearean classic "King Lear" starring Sir Ian McKellen opens on Sept. 11 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music - Harvey Lichtenstein Theater.