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Tuesday, Aug 2, 2011 11:01 PM UTC

Five pop culture items we missed

Today's catch: Another "Friday Night Lights" film, "The Firm" as a TV show, and Von Trier going hardcore

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Topics: Pop five, Friday Night Lights, Lars von Trier, Television,

Five pop culture items we missedHappy "Spy" Day!

1. Ouroboros of the day: NBC’s cult series “Friday Night Lights” may have ended, but show execs have just confirmed a film script is in the works. So this movie will be based on the popular TV series that was a reimagining of the 2004 film of the same name, which was already adapted from Buzz Bissinger’s nonfiction book. Just so we won’t be confused when we order from Amazon.

2. Weird TV show concept of the day: In an opposite move from “FNL,” NBC will be picking up “The Firm,” a series based on the Tom Cruise movie taken from the John Grisham book. The cast is stellar — Juliette Lewis, Josh Lucas, Molly Parker from “Deadwood” — but how much mileage can they get from a plot where the audience already knows the twist ending?

3. Anniversary of the day: On the tail of MTV turning 30, Mad magazine’s “Spy vs. Spy” series celebrates its 50th birthday today. Wait, they’re still making “Spy vs. Spy” stories? And they are turning it into a movie? Hopefully it will be based on the video game based on the cartoon based on the comic strip.

4. Raise of the day: After rounds of negotiation, Jennifer Lopez will be bleeding a fortune out of someone other than Marc Anthony. Her new paycheck for another season of “American Idol” will be “a smidge over” $20 million for the season … which is $8 million more than she made last year as a judge.

5. Art porn of the day: Lars Von Trier may be shooting his latest film “Nymphomaniac” in two forms: hardcore and softcore. But if “Antichrist” was his version of a softcore film, I don’t even want to know what he’d put in an X-rated feature.

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.

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