Timed to arrive with Valentine's Day, Warner Bros. is releasing the romantic comedy Music and Lyrics starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant -- and critics, by and large, are greeting it with warm kisses. "This movie doesn't pretend to be anything more than a cheerful night out, and on that count it scores: It will set a happy mood for couples and a lot of singles, too," writes Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun.That's generally the tenor of most other reviews. For example, A.O. Scott writes in the New York Times that the movie "is the type of modern Hollywood production that aspires to nothing more than the competent dispensing of mild amusement and easy emotion." And Eleanor Ringel Gillespie advises in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Over-thinking Music and Lyrics is a waste of time. It is what it is, and it is that honorably." Grant and Barrymore receive much applause for their performances and virtually all of the reviews remark on how they display an exceptional on-screen chemistry (despite the fact that there's a 15-year age difference between them). "Grant is a superb comic actor when he gets his jiving and shucking under control, as here," writes Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post. Barrymore "is adorable and an equal match for Grant's charm," writes Claudia Puig in USA Today. Carrie Rickey sums up in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "More substantial than a sugary treat, this crunchy rom-com with Hugh Grant as a has-been popster and Drew Barrymore as a never-was poet (they collaborate on a hit song) is simply irresistible." And Roger Moore who gives the film only a so-so review in the Orlando Sentinel, nevertheless remarks, "If you get any pleasure from watching two of the best romantic comedy actors of the past 20 years do their thing and give their all, then this is the date movie for you."

Lauren Bacall, who made her starring debut in the film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's To Have or Have Not 63 years ago, said Tuesday that movies have fallen victim to "mediocrity" over those years, "and I think it's too bad that's happened." Appearing at a news conference at the Berlin Film Festival, where her latest film, Paul Schrader's The Walker, is being screened out of competition, Bacall, 82, blamed television for the decline of quality filmmaking. "I think there are still good people who want to do good work and think that's all that matters," she said, "and I think unfortunately in television sometimes they want to do good work, but a lot of the time they're doing terrible work and I think that has affected movie making badly. ... It's all about ratings now and everything. It should be about the work, and it's not." As for herself, she said, "what [appearing in films] means to me mostly is staying alive. I have too much energy to stop working. I don't believe in retirement. I love working."

Netflix, which last year began buying rights to independent films being showcased at film festivals through its newly created Red Envelope Entertainment (named after the red envelopes it uses to distribute DVDs), is teaming up with Clint Eastwood to produce an independent film of its own, centering around Tony Bennett. On Tuesday it announced that it is fully financing a documentary titled Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends that will feature an interview with Bennett conducted by Eastwood, who will also serve as executive producer. It will be directed by Bruce Ricker. In a statement, Netflix executive Ted Sarandos said, "Netflix spearheading this prestigious project showcases our abilities to bring unique content to our subscribers and, in this case, a global audience."

Stephen Frears, who is nominated for a best director Oscar for The Queen, will exec produce a film about last year's police killing in a London subway station of a Brazilian man who was thought to be a suicide bomber, the London Independent reported today (Wednesday). Director Henrique Goldman told the newspaper that the film will not take a political stand on the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and that audiences will come to understand the rights and wrongs of the incident "very, very strongly in their bones without any preaching." The film, he said, will focus on how the killing changed the lives of de Menezes' family and friends. Following the incident, police issued an apology, but no criminal action was ever initiated against any of the officers involved.

For the first time ABC World News with Charles Gibson has overtaken NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams -- in total viewers as well as adults 25-54, according to Nielsen Research. "Reaching that point, if only for a week, is a significant marker for us," World News executive producer Jon Banner told today's (Wednesday) New York Times.For the week ending last Friday, World News averaged 9.7 million viewers; Nightly News, 9.5 million; and the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, 8 million. Daily Variety observed today that Gibson's victory may have been aided by stronger local lead-in programming than Williams's. The ABC newscast was aided by a lead-in of 9.4 million viewers versus 8.7 million for NBC. Gibson's victory did not come at Couric's expense. In fact, her 8-million total represented the largest viewership for her newscast since she took over as anchor last September. (The newscast had been heavily promoted during CBS's telecast of the Super Bowl.)

Thanks in large part to a ratings resurgence for the Grammy Awards and the overall strength of its regular programming, CBS remained the most-watched network last week, averaging an 8.8 rating and a 14 share. Fox, whose American Idol took the top two positions on the Nielsen list, placed second with a 7.0/11. ABC followed with a 6.4/10, while NBC trailed with a 5.7/9.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 18.4/27; 2. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 15.9/23; 3. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 15.2/22; 4. House, Fox, 14.4/21; 5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 13.8/20; 6. Grammy Awards, CBS, 12.1/19; 7. CSI: Miami, CBS, 11.9/19; 8. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 11.2/16; 8. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 11.2/16; 10. Deal or No Deal (Monday), NBC, 10.8/16.

Fox's American Idol dropped barely a handful of viewers for this week's Tuesday edition as it garnered an 18.2 rating and a 26 share. With House picking up additional viewers over last week as it drew a 15.4/22, Fox once again dominated Tuesday's ratings. The only solid competition against either show came from CBS's NCIS as it scored a 10.3/15 against Idol in the 8:00 p.m. hour.

ABC's Good Morning America moved ahead of the usual weekday morning leader, NBC's Today, on Monday of this week, according to Nielsen Research. GMA, which aired the first part of an interview with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad conducted by Diane Sawyer, attracted 5.7 million viewers, while Today claimed 5,418,000. ABC News chief David Westin sent public congratulations to Sawyer, who a week earlier had interviewed Syrian President Assad in Damascus. Westin described her work as "breathtaking."

Entertainment Tonight co-host Mark Steines and show producer Bonnie Tiegel appeared on CNN's Larry King Live Tuesday night to denounce reports that appeared on rival media outlets that ET had paid Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer/beau Howard K. Stern $1 million for an interview following Smith's death. "Larry, we do not pay for interviews. It is just not done," Tiegel told King. Steines maintained that ET was able to land the interview because the show had developed a "relationship" with Smith and Stern. "We were so close to this that Howard, when he saw me, when he sees Bonnie and our producers, they see a trusted face. They see somebody who they've allowed into their life. And that's ... how this interview came about." However, when King asked Tiegel, "Did you pay for anything else? Did you pay for -- if not for the interview, did you pay for a video he may have given you?" she appeared to dodge the question, repeating only, "We do not pay for interviews."

Garth Ancier, who, as Fox's programming chief when the network was launched in 1987, introduced such shows as Married ... With Children and The Simpsons, and later went on to head programming for the now defunct WB network, has been named the BBC's president of U.S. operations. Among his responsibilities will be overseeing the BBC America cable channel and the BBC's production unit in Los Angeles, which developed ABC's hit Dancing With the Stars.