Drew Barrymore and her on-again, off-again puppy-ish ex-boyfriend Justin Long are set to star in a romantic comedy together, this one about long distance relationships. And if by "long distance" they mean the distance between canyons, like troughs of a wave, and how far away the isolation of fame can make you feel even when you're standing right next to someone, then I'm sure they'll both really bring something to their roles. [Variety] State of Play director Kevin Macdonald will travel a long distance... back in time, to direct The Eagle of the Ninth, a Roman-times story starring Jamie "Billy Elliot" Bell and possibly Channing "Shut Your Mouth and Drop Your Trousers" Tatum. Promisingly, the logline begins as such: "a wounded Roman soldier and his loyal Celtic slave..." Hm. [Variety]

Some British lad has joined the cast of the new Twilight movie, called Staking 2: Hectic Hullabaloo. Jamie Campbell-Bower, from Sweeney Todd, will play one of the Voltrons, an Italian clan of vampyrs. [Variety] Zack Snyder's "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns" Sucker Punch has found its lead. Emily Browning, that little girl from Lemony Snicket, will play an asylum inmate who creates a violent fantasy world in her head. She's joins such acting luminaries as Abbie Cornish and Vanessa Hudgens. [Variety]

Those tangled up in the flailing New York City film industry can step back from the ledge for just a second. New York State legislature has voted to extend the lucrative tax break program that buoyed the local industry for another $350 million worth of tax credits. TV shows looking to film in New York may be deterred by the new conditions of the program, though, as the credits are not open-ended. There are also strict limitations on how much of a break each production can receive. But still. Good news. [Variety]

The still reliably-employed Lucy Lawless has landed a new gig, one that returns her to familiar ground. She'll again be working with Xena: Warrior Princess creators Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, this time on a series (for Starz, sigh) called Spartacus. She'll play the tough bosslady of a camp of gladiators. This comely fellow will play the title role. [Variety] Speaking of comely fellows, NBC and DirecTV have renewed their laboriously-praised joint venture Friday Night Lights for two more seasons. So more of Riggins and Hoodad and Whatshisnuts, ladies. Go team! [Variety]

The Wackness director Jonathan Levine is directing a movie for Fox Atomic about a babysitter. No, it's not some big-breasted young lady who gets horribly taunted and murdered, it's a boy who has funny things happen to him! The Sitter, which "will harken back to Adventures In Babysitting", is about a college student suspended for a semester who returns home to live with his moms. Then he has to babysit. Hilarity ensues. [THR]

MTV has ordered four more seasons of its crazy old coot of a series The Real World. This will bring the total for the 17-year-old reality thing to a haunting 26 cycles. The producers are currently filming a Cancun-set season, so where will these four new installments take place? Atlanta? Dallas/Houston? St. Louis? Orlando? Adamsville, RI? Emblem, WO? What do you think? Oh, also... four more seasons of Road Rules, too. So. [THR]

According to the not-yet-out piece, The Hills’ Audrina Patridge, nude photo aficionado and recent recipient of a brand new pair of boobs, is so focused on maintaining her widely-seen curves that she sports those 4-inch health-impairing stilettos every Sex And The City fan thinks will turn them into Carrie Bradshaw while cleaning house. And thin-as-a-rail Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly uncomfortably yammers on about how she once weighed in at an apparently unacceptable 135 pounds and “literally stopped eating...I’d do Bikram yoga and go to bed. I lost 15 pounds in one month.” We hope the John Mayer tossaway can forgive us for not immediately rising to our feet and giving Minka a standing ovation.

Even picky sperm selector Denise Richards goes overboard in her interview, treating the TVG reporter like a shrink and leaning on her oft-used plea for pity by referencing her recently passed mother: “After my mom died last year, I gained at least 10 pounds. I know because TMZ was kind enough to publish pictures of me looking very, very soft in the stomach.” How refreshing to discover the secret to overcoming grief caused by the death of a family member: just obsessively google images of yourself in a bikini and concentrating on going down a jean size or two! As for the self-professed chunky toddler, A.C. Slater-turned-reality-trash-host Mario Lopez says he “never feels awake unless I’m sweating,” and tells the mag he exercises “for a minimum of one hour a day.” Which sounds about right, considering his current career responsibilities are limited to applying hair gel before “judging” street dance crews alongside J.C. Chasez!

[Photo credits: Getty]

• TV GUIDE [TVG]

It's an innovative deal where NBC found a partner who will share costs and exhibition windows," an insider explained.

While Finke also reports that the network execs in Burbank definitely received scads of mini-footballs in a show of support from the show's loyal audience, there isn't any indication at press time that shattered lightbulbs made it any further than the mailroom. Either way, congratulations are due to all who fought for the show to survive. Don't get too excited, though, for all this news really means is that you've just bought yourselves another 365 days in which to start planning NEXT year's "Save Friday Night Lights" campaign. We'll see you then ... same bat time, same bat channel.

• EXCLUSIVE: NBC Picking Up 'Friday Night Lights' After Partnering With DirecTV [DHD]

According to today's Variety, NBC is looking to share the drama with another network. They've reached out to E!, TNT, and even Direct TV. The idea here being that one of those places would share in the production costs, then both networks could broadcast it, and the show would live happily ever after. Not since Bonnie Hunt have TV execs wanted to give something so many chances. Well, here's hoping it works out this time. At the end of the day, who cares what channel it's on, so long as it's actually on?

• 'Lights' may shine on other networks [Variety]

Yes, that's right, much like Jericho and Roswell before it, Best Week Ever is encouraging fans of Friday Night Lights to show their support for the series by making use of the USPS. However, unlike sending packages filled with peanuts and Tabasco, Best Week Ever is not encouraging fans to appease the hungry suits in Burbank by sending them foodstuffs. Rather, they would like fans to mail in light bulbs with the words "Lights On" written on them. Sounds like those poor souls who man the NBC mailroom might want to invest in some thick work gloves, as we're fairly certain that a good number of those bulbs will break in transit. No matter what the end product looks like when it arrives on Ben Silverman's desk, we're just happy that his mailbox will soon be full of something other than little love notes to himself. Good luck, kids!

• Save Friday Night Lights [BWE.tv]

As a sudden wave of thunderstorms rolled through Brownsville Tuesday, staff with the Los Angeles-based, On Location Casting shook their heads in disappointment.

The crew, a casting director and assistant, flew into Brownsville Monday in hopes of finding extras to cast on the NBC series, "Friday Night Lights." Only a handful of TV hopefuls showed up for the audition.

"As soon as I saw the gray clouds I thought, 'OK, people are not going to come out in this weather'," said Tina Kerr, extras casting director for On Location Casting.

"We just have to hope it's not like this when we're filming."

Skeptical of the bad weather excuse is the Guanabee blog: Citing Census statistics that ranked Brownsville as "the most impoverished city in the nation with more than 40 percent of the city's 171,000 residents living below the poverty line," they wonder how a little moisture could have been all it took to discourage residents from answering the casting call. We strongly suspect the poor showing was simply the result of the casting department not adequately getting the word out; alternatively, it may also have been a case of the industry-savvy locals closely following the seismic power shifts at the network, and being all too aware that Kevin Reilly's departure didn't bode well for the fate of his unwatched pet project. Brownsville's day players might have instead opted to hold out for a more dependable paycheck, such as a background gig on NBC 'Rock Star' Ben Silverman's upcoming adaptation of Columbian whore-augmentation telenovela hit, Without Breasts There is No Paradise.

• Few answer TV casting call [brownsvilleherald.com via Guanabee]

FNL execs are wooing the ex-View lightning rod to appear in an episode this fall. "Rosie's a big fan of Friday Night Lights, as we know from The View, and we heard she was interested in being on the show," executive producer Jason Katims tells me.

"Usually we don't do any stunt casting, but we have a character coming up — six or seven episodes into the new season mdash; of a female soccer coach who is really angry about all of the school's resources going to football. It's a really funny character and I think she'd be perfect for it. [...]

"[I]f she comes out, loves doing it, and wants to do more, she could do it. But initially, it would be just one scene, and that would be the way to get her. Knowing that she could come [out to the show's Austin, Texas, set], hang out, have a scene with Kyle Chandler and then be done could be very appealing to her."

It would, we imagine, be somewhat less appealing to Kyle Chandler. Still, the stunt casting might do wonders for the series's lagging ratings, pulling in millions of viewers eager to watch O'Donnell loudly and tearfully link the football coach's greedy monopolization of athletic program resources to the Iraq War. It promises to be a tour-de-force performance ranking up there with her fine work in Riding the Bus with My Sister, and one that fits well within NBC's rock-star co-chairman's brilliant strategy for reinvigorating their fall schedule with a slew of rageoholic-camera-hog guest appearances.

• Exclusive: Will Rosie and Friday Night Lights Play Ball? [TVGuide.com]