Morning Meme: Jesse Tyler Chats With a Lesbian, Spartacus Nears a Recast, and Is Joe Manganiello Superman?

Spartacus: Blood and Sand is reportedly close to recasting Andy Whitfield’s title role. Three actors are being flown to New Zealand to test for the part, and presumably to see how they look naked. Leading candidates are Canadian Stephen Amell, Brit Aiden Turner, and Australian Liam McIntyre. You can look over the goods and vote for your favorite here.

Jon Stryker has donated a huge amount of money to gay rights. But he’s also thrown a large amount of money toward protecting primates. And now he’s been rewarded, with a new ape being named in his honor, Rhinopithecus strykeri.

If you’ve recently (since Friday) ridden the California Screamin’ rollercoaster at Disney California Adventure, you might have heard a familiar voice. Neil Patrick Harris recorded some audio to the theme of a carnival barker to go with the ride.

Would you ever live your life built solely around The Advice of Strangers?

Because Marvel had such luck getting Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark off the ground on Broadway, there is now a new Batman stage show, opening in London.

This epic collection of male tramp stamps does include some crack, proceed at your own risk.

I’ve seen cars crash into restaurants, but never a sailboat. Now I have.

Joe Manganiello has confirmed he is in early talks about playing Superman. He does have the basic qualifications for the job, as long as it doesn’t interfere with his wolf duties.

Warner Bros. is going to spend $161 million adding to the studios they filmed Harry Potter at in England, and they will be adding tours, but make no mistake, this is not anything like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Lady Gaga picked up Best Female, Best Pop Act, and Best Song at the MTV Europe Awards. She wasn’t present to see host Eva Longoria come onstage in a giant ham costume, but she did think it was hilarious.

We’ve been alerted to a new Australian series called Outland, which centers around a gay science fiction fan club. It premieres in January on ABC, Down Under. h/t Crawfish Po Boy.

Per Chris Geidner, the HRC is hitting back against the “background noise” that the Wall Street Journal started about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell's repeal being dead. Of course, I believe that Chris Geidner was told this, but I don’t know that I believe the HRC.

Tim Allen is going to star in a new ABC comedy called Man Up, which I’m sure won’t contain any jokes about masculinity. Nope, not a one.

HGTV has reached the 100 episode mark with David Bromstad’s Color Splash, and just ordered another 26 episodes from the out hunk. 

Nancy O’Dell is going to replace Mary Hart on Entertainment Tonight.

Due to pricing power and consolidation, a new study says that the Comcast-NBC merger is going to cost consumers $2.4 billion in higher cable rates. Considering I pay more to my cable company than I do to electricity, gas and water combined, this worries me.

Jeremy Renner is being considered for the role of Snake Plissken. I like Renner – his acting, his press personality, and he’s kind of hot. But he’s so short, and Snake should loom over people.

Spiegel has a long article that basically says that if America is going to embrace bear hunting idiots instead of intellectuals and inventers, we’re doomed as a superpower, and may take down the world economy as we slip into superstition.

Poor puppy. The porcupine did not want to play with you.

James Franco is in talks to join Wrath of the Titans. It amazes me how he moves from Oscar-caliber roles like 127 Hours to soap operas to popcorn movies.

Scott Caan has no patience for doing press, promos or anything related to his job. Frankly, he seems less friendly in this profile than his character does on Hawaii Five-0. It must be tough living his life.

Pluto is bigger than Eris, but still isn’t a planet.

Misha Collins gives good interview. Trying to summarize him does him a disservice, so read for yourself. But we are going to see a lot more of him on Supernatural.

We're all still in shock over the untimely passing of AE reader Fergus Logan, and our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time. AE Editor Michael Jensen will have more on Logan in this week's B.G.W.E column, but you can leave comments and learn more about him on his profile page and this forum page