Robert Downey Jr., an unlikely choice to play a superhero, is receiving much praise for his performance in the title role of Iron Man, which is opening at 8:00 p.m. in many theaters throughout the country tonight (Thursday). "This supremely gifted actor will please several generations of filmgoers," writes Bill Zwecker in the Chicago Sun-Times who calls the movie itself "simply great escapism." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times notes that the part seems to be "nicely tailored to Downey's talents and is a great deal of fun as a result." Says Lou Lumenick in the New York Post: "First and foremost, this is Downey's show." And some show it is, most critics agree. "Make no mistake," writes Peter Howell in the Toronto Star, "this is the birth of a new franchise. The only thing wrong with Iron Man -- and I can't believe I'm saying this -- is that it's too short, even at 126 minutes. It ends just as the action is really picking up. When was the last time a summer blockbuster left you longing for more?" And Michael Sragow concludes in the Baltimore Sun: "So far this spring, as far as live-action would-be blockbusters go, all that glitters is iron."

Apple announced today that it has reached agreements with 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony, Lionsgate, and other studios to sell movies via its iTunes online service on the same day that the studios release them on DVD. The company had previously reached a similar agreement with Disney. New titles will sell for $14.99; catalog titles for $9.99. The agreements, coming with so many studios all at once, would appear to thwart threats by major retailers like Wal-Mart and Best Buy to refuse to stock DVDs from any studio making such a deal with Apple. They also pose a threat to other online services that are developing their own download services. Apple will benefit not only from direct sales of the movies but also from sales for several of its hardware products, including video iPods and the Apple TV, a device that can send movies wirelessly from a home computer's hard drive to a home-theater monitor.

Seeming to knock down another ethical guideline that most journalists abide by without reluctance, the gossip website TMZ.com on Wednesday revealed the name of the 14-year-old son of a movie star who is the "alleged victim of unlawful sex" with a 22-year-old woman. "TMZ Hits New Low," headlined Kevin Roderick in his L.A. Observed blog. The Smoking Gun website, which has published its fair share of scandalous news items, reported on TMZ's revelation but said that it had decided to "redact" the boy's name. It noted that besides disclosing the child's name, TMZ also ran a photo of him taken when he was 10. "The reason the story is even interesting to TMZ is because of who the child is," Kelly McBride, who teaches journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute in Florida, told the Associated Press. "I'm not sure that alone is enough to justify identifying the boy." TMZ has not commented.

Paramount said Wednesday that it will put back on retail shelves 12 of the Blu-ray titles that it yanked when it agreed to market HD DVD titles only last August. They include: Aeon Flux, Babel, Black Snake Moan, Dreamgirls, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Sleepy Hollow, The Untouchables and The Warriors. Pricing for the reissues was not announced. Meanwhile, it was reported Wednesday that since February, when Toshiba threw in the towel and abandoned the HD DVD format, sales of Blu-ray players have actually dropped Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD Group's Retail Tracking Service, told the Video Business website that continued slow sales of Blu-ray players show that "few consumers were dissuaded [from buying them] primarily by the 'format war.'" But Andy Parsons, spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Assn., said that the real problem was that no one had expected Toshiba to fold so quickly and that retailers were left without enough players to satisfy demand. "We're just now beginning to recover," Parsons told the Los Angeles Times. "Many players are still on back order."

At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper co-host Richard Roeper wrote today (Thursday) that he has been accused of "liberal bias" for not reviewing the "intelligent design" documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed on the TV show. In his column in the Chicago Sun-Times Roeper insisted that no liberal conspiracy was involved in the omission. "Expelled wasn't screened for us," he wrote, but given the attention the film has received he finally managed to see it. "Wow," he concluded, "What a piece of garbage."

The recent writers' strike may have inflicted permanent damage on scripted serialized dramatic shows as audiences lost track of story threads and abandoned them, the New York Times observed today (Thursday). The newspaper reported that such shows as ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives drew their lowest ratings ever when they returned. CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation posted its worst ratings since its fall season, and Fox's House saw its audience drop 22 percent from its average before the strike began, the Times noted. On the other hand, sitcoms returned with about the same ratings -- or even better ratings, with some producing their best numbers of the season. David Poltrack, who tracks ratings performances for CBS, explained: "Comedies don't have continuing story lines." Viewers, he noted, don't have to remember what happened in previous episodes. And another unnamed network program executive told the newspaper: "Some viewers may have used the strike as a way to get off the train of some serialized shows."

Next year's February sweeps will take place in March, Nielsen Research announced Wednesday, saying it was delaying the all-important ratings period a month to avoid "potential disruptions" that might occur when stations switch from analog broadcasting to digital on February 17. Some viewers who may still not be aware that their TV sets cannot receive over-the-air digital broadcasts after that date, it noted, may be unable to watch television until they buy and install a settop converter box.

In their first public statements concerning their nearly three weeks of bargaining talks -- they're due to end on Friday -- the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Screen Actors Guild each appeared to concede that they remain far apart on reaching an agreement. The AMPTP accused the union of making unreasonable demands including doubling DVD residuals and "huge increases in compensation and benefits." The demands, the AMPTP said, "would result in enormous cost increases that we are not willing to accept." SAG later posted a response, saying "The AMPTP knows we did not state that they had to agree to all of our non-new media proposals. We expect the AMPTP to negotiate in good faith and we will do the same."

If it's Wednesday, it must be another winning night for Fox. With American Idol scoring a 14.3 rating and a 22 share in the 9:00 p.m. hour, the network easily dominated the ratings for the night. Nevertheless, the Idol ratings were down by more than 25 percent from the comparable night a year ago. CBS's Criminal Minds provided solid competition with an 8.7/13. Earlier in the 8:00 p.m. hour, the competition between two game shows, NBC's Deal or No Deal and CBS's The Price Is Right, was fairly close, with Deal posting a 5.4/9 and Price, a 5.1/8. CBS took over the lead at 10:00 with a 7.8/12 for CSI:NY.

Hispanic civil rights groups are denouncing a recent report by the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric in which a woman, identified as an illegal immigrant who had just given birth to a child, was "lectured" by reporter Byron Pitts, who told her that "many Americans who struggle to take care of their own families think it is unfair that they should have to take care" of non-U.S. citizens. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza and the Asian American Justice Center were among the groups protesting against the feature. Writing in the influential Politico.com, veteran Washington D.C. journalist Gebe Martinez commented, "If CBS is playing to immigration hawks to boost its sagging ratings, the network risks being tuned out by the expanding Latino community. Advertisers know that by 2011, Hispanic buying power will total $1.2 trillion, almost 10 percent of all U.S. purchasing power." Martinez quoted MALDEF attorney Peter Zamora as saying, "We are not going to be the victims of anti-immigrant reporting, and we are not going to sit by as the community is demonized." CBS News responded that it aimed "to do our best to listen to the many voices engaged in immigration issues, to produce fair and accurate stories and to bring national attention to this complicated topic."

AT&T will join Verizon in offering Qualcomm's MediaFLO on-demand movie service to certain cell-phone users beginning Sunday, the company announced Wednesday. Unlike most wireless video services, Qualcomm uses a separate frequency that requires the use of special receivers. AT&T's will be available on two handsets that go on sale Sunday, the LG Vu, which is priced at $299.99 and the Samsung Access, at $199.99. In addition users will be charged $15 per month for 10 channels. Currently AT&T Mobile TV will not be available on Apple's iPhones, which are programmed to use only AT&T's relatively slow EDGE wireless system for voice and data.

Just one day after Macrovision's takeover of TV Guide was completed, reports began appearing Wednesday indicating that the new publishers will begin making massive layoffs at what was once America's most popular publication. Jeff Bercovici of Condé Nast's Portfolio magazine said on its website today (Thursday) that TV Guide's editor-in-chief, Ian Birch, is likely to be included among those let go. He quoted a source as saying, "They're losing a phenomenal amount of money." L.A. Weekly columnist Nikki Finke wrote on her Dateline Hollywood Today blog that the magazine is being "gutted," with managing editors Lois Draegin and Steve Sonksy also among those being pink-slipped.