Never is “American Idol” better than when seemingly second-rate contestants emerge from the shadows to blow the annointed frontrunners out of the water.

Rocker David Cook has managed to pull that off a few times this season already, most memorably with his rock take on Lionel Richie’s “Hello” before he even made it into the Top 12. Still, the 25-year-old hasn’t garnered anywhere near the attention seen by babyfaced teen David Archuleta or Irish diva Carly Smithson.

But on Tuesday night, Cook may have shed the “dark horse” mantle once and for all. His gutsy transformation of “Billie Jean” into a rock ballad prompted judge Randy Jackson to call him “the most original, the most bold contestant we’ve ever had… dude, you might be the one to win the whole lot.”

Archuleta, on the other hand, got mixed reviews for his performance of “You’re the Voice,” with Simon Cowell telling him it reminded him of a theme park performance.

Still, on the “Idol” forums, Cook lags Archuleta in the number of posts viewers have written about him. After Tuesday’s show, hoever, at least one die-hard “Archie” came out to give Cook a hand:

“He’s showing that my second favorite (him) isn’t too far behind my first (David Archuleta, obviously)”

Keep going, David (Cook). One more week and you just might take over that other David once and for all.

It’s rare that anyone gets a hometown parade in their honor and even more rare thata persongets a hometown movie premiere — unless that person is George Clooney.

Monday night Clooney was in Maysville, Kentuckywhere his family hails from — his great grandfather was the mayor –fora special screening of his new football movie, “Leatherheads,” and Clooneytold Reuters on Tuesday that he had a great time. He even saw the gal he took to his sophomore prom.

“You know youdo a (Hollywood) premiere and everybody’s real cool.But these guyswere all dressed up and they were so excited. It was a real old-fashioned premiere. Everybody was lit up and having fun.I got onstage and introduced my dad and everyone cheered.”

That’s his dad, Nick,in the picture at the left, straightening George’s crooked tie.

Clooney said that in 1978 he pulled the ropes to draw back the curtains forhis sister’s stageplay at the town’s old Washington Opera House, where the “Leatherheads” premiere was held. “There’s something really great and full-circle about it,” Clooney said.

UPDATE: Since this was post on Monday, word comes from CBS that U.S. household viewership for “How I Met Your Mother” was up 9 percentfor Britney’s appearancefrom one week before. Monday’s show lured 10.6 million viewers overall, which was its highest totalthis year. Among adults 18- to 49-years-old and adults 25- to 54-years old, the show had its highest ratings in its three-hear history, CBS said.

MONDAY’S POST: Britney Spears’ latest attempt to bring some normalcy back intoher life goes on full public display Monday night when she appearson U.S. televisionsitcom “How I Met Your Mother.” She plays a receptionist in a doctor’s office who has eyes for one of the show’s characters, Ted, portrayed by Josh Radnor.

A few video clips can be seen on the Web site of broadcast network CBS which airs the TV show. In one of them, Britney is holding a book titled, “The Power of Me,” and for awhile she certainly did have a lot of power in show business.

In fact Spears, 26, was named the most powerful celebrity in Hollywood by Forbes magazine in 2002 after earning $39.2 million in one, 12-month time frame. But ahh, how the mighty Britney has fallen.

Since her2006 breakupwithex-husband Kevin Federline, Spears has spent time in rehab, lost custody of her two children and most recently was hospitalized twice forpsychiatric evaluation.

Her father has now taken control ofher personal and business affairs, andher life would seem to beback on track.Late last year she wasfrequently photographed in Los Angeles wearing pink wings and talking in afake British accent. Nowshe is back to blonde and smiling brightly in the video clips on CBS.com.

WhetherBritney’s fans willcontinue to supporther remains a key question in her career. In late October, she released her most recent album, “Blackout,” and it quickly hit No. 2 on record charts. The first single, “Gimme More,” also was well-received. So,her fans do not appear to have abandoned her — yet.

Monday night’s “How I Met Your Mother” is the next test on her road to a Hollywood career recovery.

Owen Wilson’s popularity gets put to the test this weekend when his new movie, comedy ”Drillbit Taylor,” lands in theaters. Aimed at a young audience, Wilson portrays a cheap bodyguard hired by three young boys to protect them from a schoolyard bully.

“Drillbit” is the first movie to open in which Wilson, 39, has been the leading star since he was hospitalized in Los Angeles in August last year when it was widely reported that he had tried to commit suicide. Only his closest friends and family know exactly what happened because Wilson has avoided the media since then. During his hospitalization, his publicist released a statement from him in which he asked for time to “heal in private,” but the statement said little else.

Typically, a star of his calibre would be expected to sit for media interviews to promote his movie ahead of its debut, but Wilson’s lips have been sealed. Did he really take an overdose of pills? Did he cut his wrists? Both those details have been widely reported, and no doubt his fans want to know.

More important for Hollywood watchers is whether those fans, who have made his movies like “Wedding Crashers” ($285 million global box office) big hits, will turn out for this latest movie? Or, will they turn away? After all, it is show business, and if he cannot continue bringing fans to theaters, his career could turn south.

All people really know is that for the past two weeks, several celebrity gossip magazines have had Wilson in Florida working on a new movie “Marley & Me” and speculating that he has rekindled his love affair with actress Kate Hudson. It was a breakup with Hudson last year that, according to numerous reports, led to the apparent suicide attempt.

Judges’ favorite Carly Smithson made a surprise drop into the “American Idol” bottom three on Wednesday,  but the real shock of the evening came when grumpy judge Simon Cowell handed out a rare compliment to Paula Abdul — for her kissing technique!

 In the viewers questions and answers segment that is new to this year’s show, the blunt Brit was asked if there were any plans for a sequel to the hilarious kissing skit that he and Abdul performed at the end of Season 2 that had been marked by constant  fighting between the two polar opposites.

“Yes”, replied Cowell to a startled Abdul, who has been as much at the sharp end of Cowell’s tongue and rolling eyes as some of the hapless contestants. ”And I’ll tell you why. You’re actually a very good kisser!” Abdul was so stunned she didn’t have time to respond.

Smithson, the Irish girl who has already had one shot at music stardom with a record deal that flopped spectacularly in 2001, managed to cling on for another day by making it into the Idol Top 10   while rocker Amanda Overmyer was booted out. Cowell has already been comparing Smithson, 24,  to Kelly Clarkson, the first and most successful winner of the hit TV talent show.

But with “Idol” now in its 7th season, you sometimes get to wonder if the biggest stars of the show aren’t the three judges with their bickering and their vastly different personalities,  rather than the performers.

News arrives today that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are expecting again — and again. Twins!

Angelina has dodged all inquiries about being pregnant, but late last month when she was photographed with an obvious baby bump at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California, it became clear — at least as clear as it could be — that she was again with child.

Today, celebrity magazine “In Touch Weekly” unveiled this week’s cover story saying Brad and Angelina will soon be having twins — a boy and a girl. The magazine cites “a pal” of theirs as the source.

Brad’s publicist could not be reached for comment, and Angelina’s did not return an e-mail asking for confirmation. So, who knows? But if past experience is any indication — the two have been notoriously tight-lipped about their previous baby plans –  the report is likely correct. Time, of course, will tell.

Terrible. Indulgent. Predictable. Atrocious.

“American Idol” judge Simon Cowell pulled no punches on Tuesday night’s episode, berating most of the singing competition’s remaining 11 contestants for their poor song choices, lack of conviction, and predictable performances.

“This is a very weird show tonight,” Cowell quipped, saying it might have been a bad idea to ask the contestants to perform Beatles songs two weeks in a row. “This is all getting a bit strange.”

Cowell, who is known for being tough on the aspiring superstars coveting the title of “American Idol,” spared almost no one from his brutal barbs.

Carly Smithson, the Irish diva who Cowell compared to pop sensation and “Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson last week, was “indulgent” and not very smart for singing “Blackbird,” he said.

Meanwhile, perennial Cowell favorite Brooke White performed “Here Comes the Sun” but he deemed that ”terrible” and ”wet,” even taking aim at White’s “horrible dancing.”

Cowell then lambasted Chikezie for playing the harmonica during his performance of “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” calling it “literally atrocious” and “gimmicky.”

It didn’t end there. Amanda Overmyer’s “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and Michael Johns’ “A Day in the Life” were both “a mess,” while Ramiele Malubay’s “Should Have Known Better” was “amateurish,” Cowell said.

He reserved his harshest words, however, for Kristy Lee Cook, the blonde tomboy who grew up in a log cabin and who has narrowly escaped elimination for two weeks running.

“It’s like musical wallpaper. You notice it, but you can’t remember it,” Cowell said.

For much of the night, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul were on the same page as Cowell, though they defended both Smithson and rocker David Cook, whose performance of “Day Tripper” Cowell said was not as good as Cook thought it was.

The few kudos Cowell doled out went to David Archuleta and Syesha Mercado. Archuleta, a fan favorite, rebounded from forgetting the lyrics during last week’s performance of “We Can Work It Out.” Cowell on Tuesday called 17-year-old Archuleta’s rendition of “The Long and Winding Road” “a master class.”

Mercado, meanwhile, impressed the judges with her version of “Yesterday” — a big turnaround for the Floridian who narrowly escaped being voted off last week.

“It wasn’t incredible, but you chose the best song,” Cowell said.

Coming from him, that means a lot.

Simon Cowell plays the King of Mean on the panel of judges on “American Idol,” telling some wannabee stars they must be deaf if they think they can sing, calling others’ dancing hideous, and telling one female contestant she looked like the Incredible Hulk’s wife. But a story emerged this week that shone a new light on 48-year-old Cowell — he gave a couple whose three-year-old daughter is suffering cancer a check of $162,000 to pay off their mortgage.

The bombastic Brit, who was recently estimated by Forbes magazine to earn about $43 million  year, was so touched by the story of Madelaine Stoen when she appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s U.S. TV chat show that he declared he would be her “guardian angel.” Madelaine’s parents Amy and Randy Stoen from Claremont, Minnesota, were struggling financially after the youngster was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and would take turns traveling more than 100 miles from  home each day so she could get treatment.

After presenting the couple with a check, Cowell was quoted on the Oprah Winfrey Web site saying that he’s only just learned about the joy of giving. “I didn’t realize that. It’s taken me 48 years. It’s going to catch on, this, because it is a very, very good feeling,” he said.

Wonder if he’ll be as generous to the remaining finalists in ”American Idol.” 

As celebrity child names go, it’s not the oddest. But when it was announced today that Oscar winning actress Halle Berry and her boyfriend Gabriel Aubrey named their new baby girl Nahla Ariela Aubry, a collective “huh?” went up around the newsroom.

A quick google of Nahla shows it is the acronym for the Northern Alberta Health Libraries Association, and we’re pretty sure Halle didn’t name her daughter for them.

Nahla most often is referenced as Arabic for “drink of water,” and Ariela seems to have several different meanings depending on where one is looking. So far, Halle has said in a posting on the Web site of celebrity TV show “Access Hollywood,” that she and Gabriel ”didn’t have a name picked out until just before we left the hospital.” But that was about all she said.

So we went directly to the source — in this case Halle’s publicist, who did not immediately return our e-mail. (sigh) 

Well, at least the girl’s name wasn’t Apple, which is what Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband Chris Martin named their daughter. That was different.

Every once in a while, if you’re lucky and in the right spot at the right time, you get an interview that can stay with you a lifetime.

Eleven years ago while covering the Berlin Film Festival, I sat down with British director Anthony Minghella, who died in a London hospital on Tuesday at the age of 54.

His new film “The English Patient” was screening at the festival when news arrived that it had just picked up 12 Academy Award nominations. Minghella was obviously elated, especially because, as he explained, he had spent four years trying to get the film made that none of the major studios wanted to touch.

“The nominations are beyond any dream anyone is entitled to have,” he said with a wide smile. It was an interview in a Berlin hotel lobby that was supposed to be 10 minutes but ended up lasting nearly an hour — and has stayed with me ever since.

Minghella loved talking about his film. He was proud that his cast agreed to accept deferred salaries after the project was almost abandoned shortly after the start, and how everyone in Hollywood he approached for funding had turned him down.

“It was a very unpromising document: a European film about a man haunted from his war-time past, good actors but no stars and a director who had little experience,” said Minghella, an articulate man full of energy and ideas.

He was unlike any other director, producer or actor I have talked to before or since. At the time, in February 1997, he was 43 and just starting out as a filmmaker after being a lecturer at Hull University. He was so full of life and boundless enthusiasm.

“The English Patient” was, of course, a great film. But talking to Anthony Minghella about it was even better, an experience I’ll never forget.