Jennifer Hudson's nephew confirmed dead

FBI search turns up body of youngster in the back of an SUV; body positively identified as 7-year-old Julian King.

The nightmarish weekend for Jennifer Hudson continued into the week today, as FBI chiefs found the body of Hudson's missing nephew, reports ABC News. The body was discovered in an SUV in Chicago, and was confirmed to be the missing boy this afternoon.

Reports stated that King had been shot multiple times.

A high-priority search for 7-year-old Julian King went underway after the young boy went missing following a double homicide that left Hudson's mother and brother dead on Friday. Hudson offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to Julian's whereabouts.

Authorities are still sifting through the details of the murder investigation, but police have brought in the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister Julia, William Balfour, for questioning about the incident. The two had been separated for over a year. Balfour is currently on parole for previous charges of attempted murder, carjacking, and possession of a stolen vehicle. Balfour, who is not Julian's father, was kicked out of the Hudsons' home last year.

Hudson, 27, rocketed to fame during the third season of American Idol, and went on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dreamgirls.

NBC moves Lipstick Jungle, Life

NBC schedule change sees Law & Order headlining crime-themed Wednesdays with Life; Lipstick Jungle banished to Friday.

NBC's schedule hasn't exactly made a whole lot of sense this year, and it's only taken the network until the end of October to realize it. Changes are afoot at the Peacock, and the big winner of the newly reconfigured NBC schedule is the underappreciated Life; the big loser is the underperforming Lipstick Jungle.

According to Media Life, Life will vacate the television equivalent of Siberia known as Friday nights at 10 p.m. and now solve crimes on Wednesday nights beginning November 5. That's great for Life, which stars Damien Lewis as a quirky detective, as middle-of-the-week humpday typically gets many more eyeballs than working-for-the-weekend Friday. NBC has tried to find a spot for Life for a while now, trying the show out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Life will be the 9:00 p.m. meat in the new crimefighting-themed Wednesday-night sandwich, following Knight Rider and preceding Law & Order, which begins its season earlier than expected.

Lipstick Jungle, on the other hand, takes its sassy attitude and flailing ratings to Life's old slot this Friday at 10 p.m., where it follows the adventurous new show Crusoe (boy, does that seems like a mismatch made in hell). With this move, it appears as though NBC is dropping a big can of napalm on Lipstick Jungle.

There could be more moves to be made by other networks soon as well. Monday nights are a mess, with Monday Night Football eating up audiences for Chuck, Heroes, Prison Break, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and ABC will definitely try and fix its struggling threesome of Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Dirty Sexy Money.

Let's hear thoughts from all you Life and Lipstick Jungle fans. How would you fix NBC's schedule?

CBS Pulls Ex-List From Schedule

TV Week is reporting:

CBS has made its first major schedule change of the new season, pulling “The Ex List” from its lineup effective immediately [...]

It’s unclear if production on the series will continue. Ten episodes have been produced so far, including the pilot; production is under way on the 11th episode. Four episodes of the show have aired.

Hudson offers $100,000 reward for missing nephew

CHICAGO – Jennifer Hudson and her family offered a $100,000 reward Sunday for the safe return of her missing nephew, as investigators looked for forensic evidence near the home where her mother and brother were found shot to death.

Mourners dressed in their Sunday best milled outside the childhood home of the singer and Oscar-winning actress, along with investigators seeking clues to the whereabouts of 7-year-old Julian King, the son of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia.

In a statement Sunday evening from publicist Lisa Kasteler, Jennifer Hudson appealed to the public for its help, offering the reward and asking that any information be given to Chicago police.
"Jennifer and her family appreciate the enormous amount of love, support and prayers they have received while she and her family try to cope with this tragedy and continue the search for Julian," the statement said.

Chicago police ramped up search efforts for Julian around the Englewood neighborhood, where Hudson grew up, and transferred custody of a "person of interest" in the killings to state authorities.
An Amber Alert remained in effect Sunday for Julian, who disappeared Friday, the day the bodies of his grandmother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and 29-year-old uncle Jason Hudson were found in the home they shared on the city's South Side. The deaths were ruled homicides.

The Amber Alert listed William Balfour, the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, as a suspect in a "double homicide investigation."

Police said they did not have a motive for the killings but called the case "domestic related." Bond said Balfour had not been charged.

"Detectives are working 24 hours on this case," said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "There's a lot of forensic evidence. We have to work the evidence and try and solve this case. Most importantly, we want to find the child."

Authorities said the search for Julian would be citywide, but on Sunday residents and officers focused their efforts "in the immediate vicinity" of the home, said police spokesman Dan O'Brien.
Bond said no weapon had been found at the Hudson home, a three-story house sandwiched by vacant lots littered with trash. Investigators on Sunday moved in and out of the home and examined the trash.
Mourners stopped by the Hudson home, many laying teddy bears along the chain link fence around the property. Others signed a cross that rested on the fence.
"We love you," one message read. Another said, "We'll find the people who did this."
Police officers were instructed to place fliers with Julian King's picture and description in every business in the area.
Jennifer Hudson, who won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in "Dreamgirls," was in Chicago with her family during the weekend, her sister said. Her publicist did not disclose her whereabouts, but the Cook County medical examiner's office confirmed she had identified the bodies of her mother and brother.

Bond said Balfour, who had been in police custody since Friday, was transferred Sunday to the Illinois Department of Corrections "based on his active parole violation unrelated to this investigation."

Records from the Corrections Department show Balfour, 27, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle.

Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith said Balfour would probably remain in state custody until the Illinois Prisoner Review Board looked at his case. She would not say where Balfour was being held.

It was unclear whether Balfour had an attorney Sunday, but his mother, Michele Balfour, has denied he was involved the killings or in Julian's disappearance.

In a MySpace blog entry on Sunday, Jennifer Hudson said she was grateful for community support and posted a picture of her sister's son.

"Thank you all for your prayers and your calls," she wrote. "Please keep praying for our family and that we get Julian King back home safely."

Angelina Jolie in Tears After Visiting Afghan Refugees

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie made her first post-twin trip to Afghanistan earlier this week to appeal for more support for refugees who are returning home.

At one point, she gets choked up after witnessing the refugees' poor living conditions.

"When you ask them what they need, they just smile and say, 'Everything,'" Jolie narrates. "They have suffered so much, and yet the Afghan people remain, gracious, open. They have a quiet dignity."

Bad economy good news for low-rated TV shows

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Sarah Connor might have the struggling economy to thank for not being terminated.

Industry observers say the recent cluster of low-rated shows granted full-season orders might have something to do with network executives watching the plunging Dow rather than their shows' falling Nielsens.

No execs would talk on the record, but the economic crisis, combined with the cost of marketing a new series, the lack of new programing inventory because of the Hollywood writers strike and the anticipated difficulty of locking down new advertiser commitments, has networks inclined to play it safe.

"Most years there would be more cancellations then there have been to date," said John Rash, senior vp/director of media negotiations at ad agency Campbell Mithun. "But the dual dynamics of schedule stability keeping ad dollars in place is combining with delayed programing development from last season's writers strike."
NBC's "Knight Rider," ABC's "Private Practice" and Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" recently received orders for an additional nine episodes apiece. Such a move typically indicates a network's confidence in a show's performance and signals the inclination to keep a series on the air for the duration of the season.

But all three shows have posted modest ratings in recent weeks, with "Knight Rider" and "Terminator" having numbers that in previous years would have resulted in cancellation.
The most obvious reasons for the pickups are that many series this fall are doing poorly, and these shows are performing among the best of the worst. Networks are loath to exit the fall without at least one series to tout as a success. Plus, the writers strike, as Rash noted, has delayed quality midseason replacements. And with ratings declining overall because of increasing DVR penetration and audience erosion to cable networks and the Internet, the bar for success keeps being lowered.

But the added element of economic worries this fall makes picking up low-rated shows potentially more attractive, too.

An August survey by the Association of National Advertisers reported that the majority of marketers expect their advertising budgets to be reduced in the next six months.
Once a show is canceled or moved, advertisers have the option of getting their investment back. So even if a drama series is pulling a meager rating, why risk having to resell a time period?
"The way the economy is going, there might be cutbacks in regard to advertising," said Brad Adgate, vp research at Horizon Media. "And there's always frustration from advertisers when shows get pulled too quickly, but if advertisers exercise their options to get out, it would be because of the economy."

Also, the economy directly impacts networks as well as their advertisers. NBC Universal recently announced that the company would trim $500 million from its budget. Given the cost of producing and marketing a new scripted series, the company might have a greater temptation to give a show like "Knight Rider" more time to find an audience.

"From the networks' standpoint, they're loath to cancel since the cost of finding something to replace a show may not be worth it," said Shari Anne Brill, vp and director of programing at Carat. "And advertisers still prefer to be in a quality scripted series to an inexpensive reality show," she said, adding, "I'm in the camp that believes it's a mistake for an advertiser to disappear during a recession because you need the consumer awareness so sales won't grind to a halt."

So far, the networks' doubling down on the bubble shows has had mixed results. "Terminator" and "Knight Rider" hit season lows after their pickups. But last week, "Practice" showed some life, perking up 15%.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter