Liz Taylor buried in small ceremony at LA cemetery

Elizabeth Taylor's family mourned the screen legend in a brief private funeral service Thursday at a Southern California cemetery famous for being the final resting place of Hollywood celebrities, including her good friend Michael Jackson. Inside the sprawling Forest Lawn Cemetery, barricades blocked access to the funeral, where about four dozen family members mourned the actress during a service that lasted about an hour, said Glendale police spokesman Tom Lorenz. Five black stretch limousines transported Taylor's family to and from the funeral, but no procession was held. Taylor died early Wednesday of congestive heart failure while surrounded by her four children at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she had been hospitalized for about six weeks.

Pattinson fears final 'Twilight' films will be 'R' rated

"Twilight" star Robert Pattinson fears the final two movies in the vampire love story saga will have to be heavily censored for young fans to see them because some scenes are too horrific.  The British actor, who plays Edward Cullen in the film franchise, is worried producers will slap a restrictive rating on the two "Breaking Dawn" movies after considering them too extreme for teenagers. "There's some interesting and weird stuff going on - really very, very, very strange," he tells Entertainment Weekly magazine. "It's great. For a big mainstream movie, it's the most obscure storyline and really outside the box. "It's a horror movie. I've seen a few bits, and I just can't see how it's going to be [rated] PG-13... unless they cut everything out." The climactic scenes include the graphic birth of a vampire baby.

NFL wants players tested for HGH

Human growth hormone testing is coming for all NFL players if the league has its way in labor negotiations. NFL vice president and general counsel Adolpho Birch said that the league is insistent upon HGH testing when a new collective bargaining agreement is reached with the NFL Players Association.  "We want it. We think it's necessary. We're going to ensure that it's done," said Birch, who oversees the NFL's drug-testing program. "That's something very important to us and the integrity of our game. We believe some of the basis for going slowly on it before has been addressed. At this point, it's proper for it to be an active part of our program." Birch said the NFL had discussed the matter with NFLPA representatives before labor talks ended March 11 and a work stoppage began. An NFLPA source says that an agreement for HGH testing "would have to be part of settlement discussions with the class," referring to the attorneys representing 10 NFL players in an antitrust lawsuit against the league. The NFLPA decertified as a union before the previous CBA expired in anticipation of an NFL lockout. Testing for HGH — a performance-enhancing substance barred but not tested for in the NFL's previous drug-testing program — could become a contentious subject among NFLPA members. It also could become a bargaining chip for the NFL in CBA negotiations.



NFL Player Cited For Sagging Pants
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant, was issued a criminal trespass warning for wearing baggy pants that exposed his underwear and buttocks to patrons at the NorthPark Shopping Mall on Saturday night. Off-duty officers reportedly asked Bryant and his friends to pull up their pants, but the NFL player responded with profanity. Dallas police issued a statement saying: "The outcome could have been avoided if the parties involved had simply complied with instructions given by the involved officers."  Bryant must hang out at the mall because he's had several incidents there before including a "major disturbance" at a restaurant involving a woman, a parking violation and cutting in line at a store.


TV NEWS
Despite critical accolades and heavy internal support, FX has decided to cancel little-watched Lights Out after just one season. FX has pulled the plug on its first season boxing drama. The pilot reached a modest 1.5 million viewers when it bowed last January, and that was the high point for the show, which continued to shed viewers. The network will air the final two episodes March 29 and April 5.


A network spokesperson confirmed that the acclaimed (yet ratings-challenged) drama Fringe will return for a fourth season next fall — and a full season (22 episodes!) at that. The news was announced on Twitter this evening by executive producer J.H. Wyman. “Fringe was picked up,” he wrote. “Thanks Fringedom!” The pickup comes despite last Friday’s episode hitting a series low 3.85 million viewers.


The Real World has been renewed for seasons 27 and 28. MTV's The Real World is to date the longest-running reality series in history.


Former Knight Rider star Justin Bruening has joined another reboot for NBC: Wonder Woman. The David E. Kelley-penned pilot stars Adrienne Palicki as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince, who is a successful corporate executive working to balance all the elements of her complicated life. Bruening will play Steve Trevor, a leading man Diana can’t look past, an army vet who now works in the Justice department.


Comedy Central has renewed Futurama for two more 13-episode seasons.


Desperate Housewives alum Mark Deklin has been added to ABC’s dramedy pilot Good Christian Bitches. It stars Leslie Bibb as Amanda, a mother of two and onetime “mean girl” in high school who returns home to Dallas humbled following a scandalous divorce, hoping to get a second chance at winning over her old classmates. Deklin will play a rugged, metrosexual cowboy married to one of the classmates, Cricket (Miriam Shor).


Dexter alum David Ramsey has been cast in the CW pilot Cooper & Stone, about Jenna Cooper (Alex Breckenridge) and Stone (Vanessa Ferlito), two smart female detectives on Chicago’s North Side who are best friends, equally adept at discussing fashion, music and pop culture as they are solving homicides.


What a wonderful week for Natasha Henstridge! First, the Eli Stone alumna landed a part in The CW’s buzzy Secret Circle pilot, and now she’s set to visit CSI: Miami.  Henstridge will appear in the CBS crime drama’s Season 9 finale as a Secret Service agent who likely will strike a spark with Horatio Caine (played by David Caruso).


Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Anthony Stewart Head has joined NBC’s comedy pilot Free Agents, reprising his role from the original UK series of the same name.


It sounds like Johnny Depp can take a joke: The actor will shrug off a few Golden Globes jokes to appear in Ricky Gervais' new series, "Life's Too Short," Gervais says. Gervais said on his blog that he could confirm Depp's appearance on the series, which will be for BBC2 but is expected to air on HBO2.



Bravo will not renew "The Real Housewives of D.C." after one, low-rated season. During its 11-episode run last year, "Real Housewives of D.C." never tapped into the popularity of the franchise's existing installments, which were set in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and Orange County, Calif. This despite controversy surrounding cast members Michaele and Tariq Salahi, who crashed a White House dinner without an official invitation. Two more installments, set in Miami and Beverly Hills, Calif., were introduced more recently and are currently airing new episodes.

During its 11-episode run last year, "Real Housewives of D.C." never tapped into the popularity of the franchise's existing installments, which were set in New York, New Jersey, Atlanta and Orange County, Calif. This despite controversy surrounding cast members Michaele and Tariq Salahi, who crashed a White House dinner without an official invitation.  Two more installments, set in Miami and Beverly Hills, Calif., were introduced more recently and are currently airing new episodes.