Universal Republic Records has signed celebrated actress/singer-songwriter Leighton Meester, star of the CW's hugely popular drama Gossip Girl, through an agreement with Time-Act Music

NEW YORK (AP) - ''Gossip Girl'' star Leighton Meester is cooling her heels. No, not the black patent heels she'll be perched high atop for her first scene of the day. That's hours away.

NEW YORK (AP) - Last week, the world stood still as the broadcast networks unveiled their new schedules. Everyone rejoiced at the announcement that, no, NBC wasn't axing ''Law & Order,'' while ''Veronica Mars'' fans grieved at news of its demise. Viewers began counting the days until Kelsey (''Frasier'') Grammer and Patricia (''Everybody Loves Raymond'') Heaton return to us paired in the Fox sitcom ''Back to You.''

The first season of HBO's historic drama Rome is now on DVD. The first season follows Julius Caesar's rise to dictatorship, his subsequent fall, and his assassination. Also on DVD: the complete series of Surface, season four of Hogan's Heroes and Full House, season five of The Jeffersons and 3rd Rock From the Sun, and season eight of The Simpsons.