'The Bible' Finally Gets a Sequel

Today in show business news: NBC is very into religion, Anna Nicole Smith is a hit again, and Helen Mirren is going to be in your mom's favorite movie.

Today in show business news: NBC is very into religion, Anna Nicole Smith is a hit again, and Helen Mirren is going to be in your mom's favorite movie.

Seeing History's massive success with its ten-part miniseries The Bible, NBC's mouth watered and it whispered "Me want...." And so the network has grabbed Bible producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey to tell the second part of the story. The Bible ended with Jesus's death, so what will The Bible 2: Jerusalem Drift A.D.: Beyond the Bible be about? The beginnings of the church, mostly. Here is how Burnett describes it: "It will begin in the dark days after Jesus’ betrayal and death. A perfect storm brews in the Holy Land, fueled by social injustice, Roman military oppression and religious unrest. High priests and the Herod dynasty vie for power. Zealot revolutionaries turn to violence to regain what they believe is their promised land. And in the face of terrible odds and brutal persecution, the small band of Jesus’ disciples stand against the combined might of Rome and their own local authorities." Oy. OK. So, it's not actually based on anything else in the Bible itself, like there's no Revelations in it or whatever, it's just about what happened right after Jesus died, a period we don't know a lot about. But then I guess it'll eventually be about the actual writing of the gospels and whatnot? So it's called The Bible and it's about the Bible. Meta! Very meta. Obviously NBC has high hopes for this sequel of sorts, though I'd have to imagine that they are at least somewhat aware that all the really good stuff already happened. Poor NBC. [Entertainment Weekly]

Hopefully The Bible: When Nature Calls will at least get higher ratings than this past weekend's Lifetime: Television For The Ruined Lives Of Women original movie Anna Nicole. I mean, with 3.3 million viewers tuning in on Saturday night it did pretty well for Lifetime, coming in just under the crazily hyped Liz & Dick, but those wouldn't be good NBC numbers. So. Yeah. Really glad I took a walk around the block justifying that segue. Aren't you glad? Good. Anyway, I didn't watch the movie, so I have no idea if it was any good or not, but I am still very surprised that Mary Harron directed it. I have read that fact many times, and it is still very strange. Oh well. Glad more people made some money from Anna Nicole Smith. [Deadline]

Dame Helen Mirren has just signed on to star in a new literary adaptation. She'll be playing a chef in the film version of The Hundred Foot Journey, a "culinary competition drama about an Indian restaurant and a three-Michelin-star joint literally across the street from each other in Southern France." Lasse Hallstrom is directing. So basically your mom has plans now. She wasn't sure what she was doing on August 8 of next year, but now she has plans to go to dinner with Judy and Donna, probably at that Italian place near where she gets her hair done, and then she is going to see this Lasse Hallstrom movie about Helen Mirren being a chef. So that's nice. Your father can heat up some leftovers, and it's August so there will probably be a ball game on or something. What are YOU doing on August 8 of next year? You don't have any plans, do you. And you thought your old ma was so uncool. [Deadline]

Here's a teaser trailer for Ride Along, a comedy starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube that is basically Training Day — they say the phrase "training day" in the trailer — except it's a comedy about a guy who needs a mean man's permission before he can propose to the mean man's sister. She evidently has no say in the matter. Great. Seems fun.