In a television season stymied by the writers strike, "Reaper" emerged as a rare critical hit for The CW. "Reaper"'s blend of comedy and demonology has echoes of cult hit, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." But despite rave reviews, "Reaper" remained on the bubble for renewal until this week. So, what makes the show so tough for audiences to embrace?

"Reaper" begins with a horrific premise. Parents fighting for their own survival pledged their first-born son, Sam (Brett Harrison), to the devil (played with plenty of guile by Ray Wise). When Sam achieves independence at age 21, the devil calls in his contract. How can Sam pay off his debt? By serving as a reaper, sending escaped souls back to hell. In each episode, the devil presents Sam with a vessel to capture a delinquent soul. Vessels have ranged from a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner to a Polaroid camera. The captured souls are then dropped off at the gateway to hell—a DMV office!

Don't get me wrong, "Prince Caspian," the second of Disney's movie remakes of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia novels is pure fun, an old-fashioned tale of a wicked uncle who usurps a throne, only to be overthrown by his goodly nephew—Caspian himself, with the help of talking animals and some swashbuckling strangers.

Director Andrew Adamson knows how to breathe life into this classic material, too. The swordfights are suspenseful, the effects cheesily magnificent and neither the sweaty chases nor the intricately planned attacks always go as you expect. In a Hollywood first, even the dwarf is funny.

But it's also the most Christian movie your kids will drag you to this year.

"SHOCK! Geri Halliwell 'rewrites the Bible'," shrieked the headline accompanying a report in yesterday's Now Magazine. "How terribly intersting," I thought, "A member of the biggest-selling female UK group of all time taking on the best-selling book of all time." But, alas Halliwell, a.k.a. Ginger Spice, wasn't creating a GPV Bible (Girl Power Version), but rather rewrote parts of Bible passages that were read at her daughter Bluebell's christening so that they would "read better."

Her actions may seem a bit odd, as there are many versions with different wordings to choose from, but the very fact that there are so many versions reflects generations of people trying to make the Bible not only fit their dogmatic viewpoint, but "read better." While the rewritten passages weren't revealed, it's hard to believe that Geri's actions are "shocking." In fact, what is shocking is that there wasn't enough real gossip floating around to truly merit the descriptor.

Who knew a Narnian prince was a triple threat?

Before he landed his first Hollywood lead role, actor Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian in the new "Narnia" movie sequel) was singing and dancing in a British boy band called Hyrise. Performing the mildly racy song "Leading Me On," Hyrise competed to represent the UK in 2004 during the annual Eurovision Song Contest (think "American Idol" meets "Making the Band").

Perhaps we'll see Barnes in a movie musical in the near future--"Oklahoma," anyone?

Watch a YouTube clip of Ben Barnes talking about Hyrise and belting out "Leading Me On."

"Prince Caspian," the sequel to 2005's "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," hits theaters Friday, May 16th, and to celebrate we have three books to give away—"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (movie tie-in edition). One of these books, the grand prize, is autographed by Ben Barnes, who plays Prince Caspian, as well as other cast members. The other two books are not autographed.

Want a copy?

Post a comment below by June 2nd answering the following question: "Do you have your own personal 'Narnia'? Where is it?" Make sure you include your email address in the designated area (it won't be made public). The 3 best responses--based on the judgment of the Idol Chatter editors—will win one of the books.

For complete rules and regulations click here.

To view our complete "Prince Caspian" features click here.

It was just a few weeks ago that I blogged about the interesting piece Daniel Radosh wrote for the New York Times on what he thinks are the top ten Christian songs. Then I read a review of the self-proclaimed secular, liberal Jew's new book, "Rapture Ready" over at Slate, which intrigued me enough to order it off of Amazon immediately. While it occasionally slips into snarkiness territory, "Rapture Ready" is overall an insightful book that examines Christian pop culture in a way that sadly too many Christians too often have not taken the time to do the same.

Just about everyone knows about James Frey's fall from grace and off the best-seller list with his faux memoir "A Million Little Pieces." A public reprimand on Oprah's couch will do that to an author. (Or anyone for that matter.)

But according to Janet Maslin's book review, "Little Pieces of Los Angeles, Done His Way," in the New York Times, Frey's new novel (yes, novel: this time Frey made the smart decision of going with fiction), "Bright Shiny Morning," set in Los Angeles, sounds pretty darn fantastic:

"His publisher called [the new novel] a dazzling tour de force. (Look, somebody had to, if only to create a comeback drama.) But that wasn't so far off the mark...even the stray facts had their artistry. They helped turn this book into the captivating urban kaleidoscope that, most recently, Charles Bock's "Beautiful Children" was supposed to be. Bright Shiny Morning was mobile and alert to layout, tempo, different voices, how words looked on the page. Different visual styles suited different characters. Some got long litanies of brisk, sharp dialogue. Others got dense, descriptive prose. Even the one-sentence page had its use here."

Every parent wants a better life for their children, better than the one they had. It'd be pretty astounding to hear fledgling parents at a dinner party say, for example, that they'd like to put as many obstacles as possible in their kid's path or quote "no pain, no gain" as a mantra of childrearing.

"Oh no, we’d never use rails on Timmy's crib...why, he's going to run a major corporation one day!"

You just don't hear such statements. But if you heard that a Jewish, Stanford-educated physician decided to give up all of life's creature comforts to raise nine kids with his wife in a 24-foot trailer as they toured North America, shunning a traditional school education for a steady diet of surfing, natural foods, and family bonding time, would you call that a triumphant middle-finger gesture to The Establishment? Or would you call it child abuse?

There's a new release out that piled up well over $500 million—that's "Fiiiive Hundred Meeeellion Dollarzzz"—in its first week of release, including a whopping $310 million in it's opening day. What a blockbuster!

But it wasn't the new Indiana Jones movie. It wasn't a Star Wars sequel. In fact, it wasn't a movie at all.

It wasn't a new U2 Release, or Sting, or Beyonce or Bruce Springsteen. In fact, it wasn't even a song or an album.

It wasn't the newest "Harry Potter" story or a Michael Crichton thriller. In fact, it wasn't even a book.

What then, you ask, could possibly gross more that $500 million?

In a summer packed with sequels, the sequel that grossed the big number was none other than "Grand Theft Auto IV."

That's right, a video game!

Jamie Lynn's been under the radar as her belly's been expanding with the promise of new life, staying out of the eye of stalkerazzi, so we don't have to be subjected to photos of her scarfing down Arby's. But according to PerezHilton, the imminently maternal Spears did emerge from deep cover to attend church on Mother's Day.

"Jamie Lynn Spears and babydaddy Casey Aldridge spent Mother's Day at a local church service in Gloster, Mississippi, on Sunday," the site reported, noting that "Jamie's momma, Lynne Spears, is still in California. After spending about an hour inside the church, the family left and went for lunch."

No mention of what Britney did with her kids (or mom) for Mother's Day, but that's ok--Britney has been busy with another maternally themed project: another episode on "How I Met Your Mother." So at least it's related to Mother's Day, sort of.