AfterElton Briefs: John Barrowman Is Pissed, Thomas Jane Clarifies, "Ringer" Ratings, and More!

Hugh Jackman at the UK premiere of Real Steel

• Amy Winehouse would have turned 28 today. We posted her final music video earlier, but what was your favorite Amy song? I know that "Rehab" shot her to superstardom, but for me "Back To Black" is her greatest single.

• The Talk has gone from a low-rent View clone to a fabulous all-out trainwreck (for why, Google "Julie Chen The Talk"), but they did somehow lure Stevie Nicks to the show yesterday, and below you can see her discuss her new album, and the inspiration for why she started songwriting as a teen.

• John Barrowman is upset with the Scottish Catholic Church's comments on marriage equality. “That’s not being Christian at all. In fact, I think it’s evil. Being gay is not, as they claim, against the laws of nature. I was born this way. And there’s a reason I was born this way. I didn’t decide to wake up gay one morning."

• The PBS Masterpiece series Downton Abbey has set the Guinness World Record for Highest Critical Review Rating For A TV Show, narrowly beating out She's the Sheriff and The Kardashians.

• A while back we posted the pilot for the terrific web series Old Dogs, New Tricks, and now comes word that the first four episodes will be filmed in November for a January air date (But they could use your help with funding). And one of the special guest stars (in what may become a recurring role) is Patrick (Thrust it! Thrust it! Thrust it!) Bristow.

• Last week we we wrote about Hung star Thomas Jane's comments to Vulture about his refusal to have his character do anything gay. Thomas has clarified his remarks, saying they were all in "good humor, good fun," and not meant to be taken seriously.

• The ratings are in, and Ringer did okay for the CW. It was the most watched program in that CW time period in three years, and was up 68% over its lead-in, 90210, which was down 18% from last year's premiere.

• Fox is developing a series based on the DC comic character The Spectre, who has been around for 70 years, but I don't think I've heard of until now.

• If this is a publicity stunt, someone needs to go to prison.

• Is Paul Rudd trying to piss me off?

• Cher called in to Ellen today to defend Chaz going on Dancing With The F**king Stars.

• Parenthood aired its Season Premiere last night (To soft ratings, unfortunately), and below you can see our TCA chat with star Sam Jaeger.

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