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Music
+ Has Madonna taken to scalping her own tickets? Not exactly. But many music fans feared a bad precedent was being set when StubHub — a popular eBay-owned website where individuals and brokers resell sports and concert ducats — announced they'd forged a ''partnership'' with Madge and her promoter, Live Nation. Some assumed this meant blocks of tickets would be directed to StubHub, where they typically go for a much higher premium. Not so, says Chuck La Vallee, StubHub's head of business development for music. ''She's not going to be selling tickets on StubHub,'' La Vallee says. ''StubHub doesn't own inventory, ever. It's an endorsement, with Madonna saying: Look, if the show is sold out, you can still find tickets here.'' The company won't discuss terms, though The Wall Street Journal reported that Madge will get a flat fee and a percentage of the income from the tickets being resold. StubHub doesn't owe Madonna or any artist money from secondary market sales, so what's in the cash handover for them? For starters, their logo on all print ads and promo e-mails for her tour, offering a leg up on rivals like Ticketmaster's TicketsNow site, not to mention Craigslist. More importantly, Madonna's imprimatur lends legitimacy to an industry some still associate with Fast Times at Ridgemont High's shady scalper, Mike Damone. But won't every artist be stampeding to get a piece of their StubHub action now? ''I don't know if it's quite a stampede,'' laughs La Vallee. ''We'll weigh our options on an artist-by-artist basis.'' — Chris Willman

Movies
+ 21 Jump Street by way of...Jonah Hill?! Yes, it's true: The breakout Superbad comic and Judd Apatow acolyte is in negotiations to develop a movie adaptation of the popular '80s TV show starring Johnny Depp. It hasn't been decided whether Hill will actually star in the movie, but Sony confirms that he'll work on the screenplay and serve as executive producer. The series, which ran from 1987 to 1991 on Fox, centered on a group of young cops whose youthful appearance allowed them to work undercover in high schools and colleges and search out troubled kids. Sony declined to give any details on the tone or direction of the movie, but it's probably safe to say that this new version won't be featuring any earnest public service announcements, as the series often did. Neal Moritz (I Am Legend) and series cocreator Stephen J. Cannellwill produce. — Nicole Sperling

Television
+ Fox just gave low-rated comedy 'Til Death a stay of execution, but the sitcom starring Brad Garrett (left) will undergo some major changes when it returns for its third season this fall. A source close to the show confirms for HI that Fox has decided to abandon Death's original premise — newlyweds move in next door to a grumpy, long-married couple — by dropping the young characters of Jeff and Steph Woodcock (Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster) and making way for a new story line involving Kenny Westchester (Curb Your Enthusiasm's JB Smoove), who was introduced earlier this year as a ''Little Brother'' to Eddie (Garrett) despite the fact that he's in his late 30s. — Lynette Rice

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Posted May 16, 2008 | Published in issue #992-993 May 23, 2008 | Order Article Reprints