Dear John

Dear Reader, I'm so sorry, gulp, but "Dear John" is like a very bad relationship with a very beautiful someone: You want it to work, you truly do, but the pain, the guilt, the boredom, the CW soundtrack . . . . And I wish I could say it's not them, it's me, but I really think it's them. The film's very beautiful someones are the ab-riffic Channing Tatum as John, whom director Lasse Hallström wisely keeps either shirtless or in tight tees for most of the film, and that golden girl Amanda Seyfried (" Big Love," "Mamma Mia!"

SOUTHPORT, N.C. - This is the kind of touristy fishing village that defines Southern charm. A cute little downtown filled with restaurants, a waterfront park and artsy shops. Late 19th century houses with verandas on streets shaded by towering live oaks. Herons and egrets sharing the Cape Fear River and Intracoastal Waterway with pleasure craft. It's the perfect setting for a Nicholas Sparks story. And on a hot summer day last year, the film version of the prolific author's "Safe Haven" was in production here in the isolated little town where the book is actually set, "which is unheard of," said actor Josh Duhamel, who costars with Julianne Hough in the feature directed by Lasse Hallström and adapted by Gage Lansky and Dana Stevens.

Based on the novel by Nicolas Sparks, director Lasse Hallström's romantic drama "Dear John" follows the relationship between Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum) as they communicate through love letters during seven years of military deployments. For John's scenes in the Middle East and Africa, livestock coordinator Dan Hydrick provided exotic background animals to give a sense of place. But for Savannah's scenes in the United States involving a young autistic character, Hydrick tackled an even more unusual challenge: teaching a young autistic actor, Braeden Reed, to ride a horse.

Alan Kirschenbaum, 51, a television producer and comedy writer who worked on such shows as "Raising Hope," "My Name is Earl" and "Yes, Dear," which he co-created, was found dead Friday at his Burbank home. Early reports indicate he may have committed suicide, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office. No other details were released. An autopsy is pending. CBS, where Kirschenbaum had a new show in production, said in a statement it was "stunned and devastated" by his death and called him "a gifted and successful" comedy writer and producer.

"Dear John" rode a surprisingly strong wave of support from the fickle but fervent teenage girl audience to the highest opening ever for a movie on Super Bowl weekend, knocking "Avatar" out of the top spot in the process. "Dear John," Hollywood's fifth adaptation of a tear-jerker Nicholas Sparks novel, sold $32.4 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. That's significantly above last week's estimates based on pre-release polling, which predicted that "Avatar" would stay ahead of the Sparks film.

Didn't it take John Robinson just about the same time to destroy the Rams as it took him to destroy the USC football program? MICHAEL HANNIN, Woodland Hills

Seemingly contradicting depositions by O.J. Simpson, Paula Barbieri says he apparently received a "Dear John" letter from her a few hours before the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman, sources said Tuesday. Simpson and his attorneys have said one reason he had no motive for the murders was that he had an ongoing relationship with Barbieri. But depositions by Barbieri seem to contradict Simpson, the sources said.

It was love at first sight for a skinny, 25-year-old book salesman named Mickey Houghton when he sighted Juliette Thompson, a comely, 20-year-old musician. That was 48 years ago, in a hotel where both of them lived in Galveston, Te Mickey and Juliette were an item, more or less, for four years. Then came World War II, duty in Europe for Mickey, and a "Dear John" letter from Juliette. The war ended and Staff Sgt. Houghton came home. Juliette was married.

What a five-star farce! "Dear John" begins--and almost immediately the funny one-liners hit the fan. Premiering at 9 tonight on Channels 4, 36 and 39, it starts good, then gets very good before getting better. The somber protagonist of NBC's new comedy is teacher John Lacey (Judd Hirsch), who seeks solace in the One-to-One therapy club after his wife leaves him for his best friend. Instead of answers, though, he finds absurdity. The executive producers here are Peter Noah, Ed.

All right, Miss Blue Eyes, take a letter. To John Robinson, coach of the USC Trojans. Slug it, "Eyes Only, Not For Copying." He won't want to show this around. Ready? Let's go. "Dear John: "We've got to talk, John. I'm sorry it had to come to this. I don't quite know how to say this, but, John, it's about the game Saturday. "John, there's something you ought to know. You know those guys in the funky uniforms with the gold stripe around the arms and shoulders? "John, you got to beat those guys.

John Mayer isn't afraid to take blame for the heartache he's inflicted on various Hollywood and music starlets -- and in the case of Taylor Swift, he's not afraid to dish it out either. Particularly when it comes to the 2010 Swift track "Dear John. " Mayer was "really humiliated" by the tune, allegedly written about their romantic entanglement and its wrenching end, he told Rolling Stone. "I didn't deserve it," he said . "I'm pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that.

Why We Broke Up A Novel Daniel Handler, with illustrations by Maira Kalman Little, Brown: 354 pp., $19.99, ages 15 and older Most of us have been there, experiencing the unprecedented high of a first love followed by the debilitating low when it crumbles. But few of these tragic trajectories have been written about as poignantly as in "Why We Broke Up. " The young-adult debut from Daniel Handler, a bestselling author better known as Lemony Snicket, is an illustrated novel that is its own series of unfortunate events, chronicling a brief but intense teen relationship gone wrong.

Some actors like to tout their methods. Others boast of roles they've pulled off. Channing Tatum prefers a little more candor. "I'm never going to be the best actor," Tatum said over lunch last week at the Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank. "I'm just not. But I will work harder than anyone out there. " He's living up to that pledge. In the last year, the 30-year-old former fashion model has appeared on the big screen as a lovelorn soldier ("Dear John"), a maniacal but oddly sensitive Casanova with a happy-face tattoo in a private place ("The Dilemma")

It's rare, but not unprecedented, for television shows to win Emmy Awards as a going-away present for their final season. "Everybody Loves Raymond" did it in 2005, carting off the outstanding comedy series statuette. Ditto "The Sopranos" in 2007 for drama series. With several high-profile shows, including ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "24," taking their final bows in 2010, it could happen again, though history tells us that it's far easier to bring home the gold when your show is just starting out than when it's wrapping things up. Here's an assessment of the recognition chances of some of the Emmy-caliber prime-time programs that have, or soon will, bid prime time adieu this year.

The Road Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $34.95 There was little chance that director John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's bestselling novel "The Road" was going to be as powerful as the book, which turns the cliché of post-apocalyptic survival into a haunting, poetic tale about fathers and sons and letting go. And sure enough, literalizing McCarthy's story on screen does rob it of some of its mystery. But Viggo Mortensen is effective as a dad trying to protect his son from ravagers in the scorched wasteland of the future, and Hillcoat skillfully conveys McCarthy's profound sense of melancholy and impending doom.

Estimated sales in the U.S. and Canada: Movie (studio) 3-day gross (millions) Percentage change from last weekend Total (millions) Days in release 1 "Shutter Island" (Paramount) $22.2 -46% $75.1 10 2 "Cop Out" (Warner Bros.) $18.6 NA $18.6 3 3 "The Crazies" (Overture/Participant /Imagenation)

"Dear John" rode a surprisingly strong wave of support from the fickle but fervent teenage girl audience to the highest opening ever for a movie on Super Bowl weekend, knocking "Avatar" out of the top spot in the process. "Dear John," Hollywood's fifth adaptation of a tear-jerker Nicholas Sparks novel, sold $32.4 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. That's significantly above last week's estimates based on pre-release polling, which predicted that "Avatar" would stay ahead of the Sparks film.

Based on the novel by Nicolas Sparks, director Lasse Hallström's romantic drama "Dear John" follows the relationship between Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and soldier John Tyree (Channing Tatum) as they communicate through love letters during seven years of military deployments. For John's scenes in the Middle East and Africa, livestock coordinator Dan Hydrick provided exotic background animals to give a sense of place. But for Savannah's scenes in the United States involving a young autistic character, Hydrick tackled an even more unusual challenge: teaching a young autistic actor, Braeden Reed, to ride a horse.