Appearing on the cover of Time magazine and being called by it as "the last movie star" has apparently not gone to George Clooney's head. In an interview with the Hollywood Today website, Clooney dismissed Time's cover article about him as something that "played well walking into the Oscars," suggesting it was instigated by publicists promoting his Oscar-nominated performance in Michael Clayton. "I take it with a grain of salt" Clooney commented. "All this stuff is cyclical, when people are nice to you. A couple of films that they don't like and you'll be the last of the 'last movie star[s].'" Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported Monday that Clooney's latest movie Leatherheads will have its premiere Monday in Maysville, KY (pop. 9,000), where the actor grew up, and where his father, news anchor Nick Clooney, and his aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney, were born. Maysville Mayor David Cartmell told the A.P. that the screening will probably be the town's biggest event since The Stars Are Singing, starring Rosemary Clooney, premiered there in 1953. Rosemary Clooney died in 2002.

Toshiba has quickly denied reports that spread over the Internet on Wednesday that it would report a loss of more than $1 billion for 2007 due to the collapse of its HD DVD business. According to Daily Variety the Japanese electronics company is now saying that its operating loss, to be officially reported after March 31, will be about $655.5 million. The report conflicts with several others, including one appearing in today's (Thursday) London Financial Times, saying that Toshiba expects to lose $1.1 billion as a result of HD DVD's defeat at the hands of Sony's Blu-ray system.

Underlining James Bond's essentially British origins, Sony Pictures said Wednesday that the latest Bond movie Quantum of Solace will open in the U.K. on Oct. 31, a week ahead of its North American debut on Nov. 7. In fact, the film will also premiere on the European continent before it reaches the U.S. -- in France and Belgium on Nov. 5, and the following day in the Netherlands and Germany.

Calling it "the 'must have' utility for the serious home theater enthusiast," an Antigua-based company has begun selling software that it claims will break Sony's Blu-ray copy-protection code. Moreover, it says, its AnyDVD HD application can do so on the original disc so that it can be watched without a special Blu-ray player. Blu-ray's stronger digital rights management (DRM) protection had been a major factor in its victory over Toshiba's HD DVD. In a statement posted on its site, Slysoft thumbed its nose at film studios, saying that those "that have switched to Blu-ray may have crowed a little too early." While Sony's BD+ technology also includes measures intended to counter such a security breach, Slysoft's head of high-definition technology, Peer van Heuen, said in the statement, "We are well-prepared for this and await the coming developments rather relaxed." Slysoft is likely to find a safe haven in Antigua, which has threatened to nullify its intellectual property treaty with the U.S. -- thereby allowing copyright pirates to operate freely within its shores -- in retaliation for a U.S. crackdown on Internet gambling sites doing business in that country.

Movie Gallery, the No. 2 video-store chain after Blockbuster, wound up in red ink again last month (officially ending Feb. 10), according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The previous month, which included the Christmas holiday period, it had reported a net gain. Ironically, the latest one-month period reflected profits of $4.1 million at its Hollywood Video outlets while those for the Movie Gallery brand were reported as a loss of $4.6 million. It was Movie Gallery's $1-billion acquisition of Hollywood Video in 2005 that resulted in a crushing debt load and eventual bankruptcy.

The finalists on American Idol were pared to the top ten Wednesday night as Amanda Overmyer got her walking papers during the talent contest's results show. Unlike the tearful departures of some other contestants, Overmyer appeared to take the decision in stride. "It's been a run," she said. "Number 11 out of all them people was more than I could ever expect." Unfortunately, Number 11 also eliminates her from the lucrative American Idol concert tour, which features the top-ten finalists. Once again Idol drew more viewers during the 9:00 p.m. hour than all of the competing network shows combined, averaging a 15.6 rating and a 24 share, representing 25.53 million viewers. Earlier in the evening, a special Wednesday edition of CBS's Survivor: Micronesia won the 8:00 p.m. time slot, edging out Fox's high-flying The Moment of Truth.

Making his first appearance on television since his much-lauded speech on race relations, Sen. Barack Obama helped push ratings for ABC's Nightline over those for The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Show With David Letterman Tuesday night. Nightline drew a 4.0 rating and a 9 share versus a 3.9/10 for Tonight and a 2.5/6 for Late Show, according to Nielsen Research. Among the key demographic group of adults 25-54, Nightline (2.1/8) held a 31-percent margin of victory over Leno (1.6/7) and a 200-percent margin over Letterman (0.7/3).

NBC chief Jeff Zucker seemed to imply Wednesday that Fox Broadcasting's ascent to the top of the ratings heap this year may have had a lot to do with the fact that it airs only 15 hours of television programming per week compared to the other networks' 22, allowing it to be more selective in its content choices. Speaking at the Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference in New York, Zucker predicted that all of the other networks will be cutting back on the number of scripted television shows they will offer, because they are financially burdensome. "It is harder today to put on 22 hours of great scripted programming," he remarked. "The costs are prohibitive." In the future, he added, "you're still going to see the great scripted programming, but you're not going to see 22 hours a whole week anymore."

Geraldo Rivera, who has battled fellow Fox News Channel personality Bill O'Reilly over immigration reform, lashed out Wednesday at Lou Dobbs, who appears on rival CNN and who has made the issue his personal cause célèbre. "He has resurrected a failed career on the backs of these poor [Mexican immigrants]," Rivera remarked on Barbara Walters's Sirius Radio show, where he was promoting his new book, His Panic, which is subtitled, "Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S." Rivera added, "He has been rabble-rousing, making a difficult situation worse." Earlier this month, in an appearance on Walters's TV show The View Rivera accused Dobbs of using his TV platform for "hate mongering" and remarked that "I would not shake his hand."

Following word that HBO had been disappointed with all six episodes of 12 Miles of Bad Road already shot and had therefore decided not to air the series, the producers have taken Road on the road. Daily Variety reported today (Thursday) that executive producers Linda Bloodworth Thomason and Harry Thomason have sent copies of the six episodes to newspaper critics, including Variety, in hopes that "some critical reassurance might prompt [HBO] to reconsider their decision ... or at least help us move the show to a more receptive environment." However, in an interview with Variety, Bloodworth Thomason acknowledged that persuading another cable or broadcast network to take over the show would prove difficult. "It's so tremendously expensive [reportedly $3.6 million per episode]. We designed it for HBO. There are few places in which it will work."

BitTorrent, the file-sharing technology that is the bane of the movie industry and TV networks, which claim that it facilitates piracy, has been embraced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The CBC announced Wednesday that on March 24th it will become the first major broadcaster in North America to release a high quality, DRM-free copy of a primetime show using BitTorrent technology. The Canadian network said that it plans to make the final episode of its hit TV series Canada's Next Great Prime Minister available completely free the day after its Sunday-night telecast. Michael Geist, Canada's Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, hailed the network's decision, saying that "it shows that Canada's public broadcaster is increasingly willing to experiment with alternative forms of distribution."