Top Hollywood Talent Shops OK Merger

Both Battleground and Lilyhammer get mixed reviews, as streaming services branch out

(NEWSER) - Online streaming sites Hulu and Netflix both launched original series this week, as both services take baby steps toward competing with regular television, reports Gigaom . A look at each:

• Hulu's Battleground is the more conventional of the two, a 13-episode comedy about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin that started today, with a new 22-minute episode airing each Tuesday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has solid praise for Battleground, saying it is "a smart, well-written comedy series you might find on a premium cable network." The AP is less kind, however, calling it "a light, watered-down knockoff of The Office," while the New York Daily News comes down somewhere in-between.

Movie reviews: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum can't save amnesia romance

(NEWSER) - In The Vow, Rachel McAdams plays a woman who must learn to love her husband again after amnesia wipes her memory. It's no surprise it was released ahead of Valentine's Day: It's pure mushiness, critics say.

• In the New York Daily News , Elizabeth Weitzman calls the film a "down-the-middle, by-the-numbers fantasy, in which no one is too quirky or interesting or challenging in any way." Still, "there’s no shortage of viewers ready to embrace an old-fashioned, guilty-pleasure romance."

Police believe the 75-year-old committed suicide

(NEWSER) - Soul Train creator and longtime host Don Cornelius was found dead this morning in his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home, in what police are calling an apparent suicide. Law enforcement sources say the 75-year-old died from a single gunshot wound to the head, which they believe was self-inflicted. Cornelius' Soul Train holds the title of the "longest-running first-run nationally syndicated show in television history," reports the Los Angeles Times . Its 35-year run began in 1971, and in 2010 Cornelius told the paper that he was working on a sort of biographical movie about the show. More»

A Hollywood money manager gives the details to 'New York'

(NEWSER) - "Very few" superstars live within their means, a Hollywood money manager tells New York . Cash, in particular, can spell bad news: "We had one guy go through $600,000 one year," the manager explains. "We try to get everything on a credit card: It helps track it." He gave the magazine details of one A-list actor's finances. Highlights:

• Total income: $15,912,000
• Cash spent: $175,000
• Fine art: $1,200,000
• Jewelry: $875,000

Actor will name those who 'abused me'

(NEWSER) - A vampire hunter on The Lost Boys is now after Hollywood pedophiles. Former child actor Corey Feldman, a star of Stand By Me and The Goonies, has vowed to reveal the names of two Hollywood figures who abused him when he was 14. "These older men were leching around like vultures," Feldman told The Sun . "There are people who have got away with it for so long they think they are above the law. That's got to stop." More»