Today's news you might've missed:

• We're actually starting to feel a little sorry for basketball player Kris Humphries. As he tries to cut ties with his estranged wife, reality star Kim Kardashian, he's also turned into "the most hated man in the NBA," according to one poll. Those attending Wednesday's Knicks-Nets game showed it, too, by booing Kris from the stands. [ESPN/NYPost]
• There's no Regis on "Live!" anymore but the show isn't hurting for ratings. With just Kelly Ripa, the morning show's numbers are seeing an improvement - reports say they're up 14 percent in the show's core demographic. [THR]
• Jessica Biel is reeling in a movie role: The actress is in talks to star in the indie "Emanuel and The Truth About Fishes" as a mother so traumatized by the death of her child that she cares for a baby doll as though it were real. [Variety]
• "Jersey Shore's" JWoww is now in the bikini business, having crafted a bikini top where the cups will magically stay in place even after you remove the straps. Yes, photos are at the link. [Daily Mail]
• Speaking of business, Robert Pattinson conducts plenty of it in the bedroom in the new trailer for "Bel Ami," which opens next March.

While some people pondered the uncertainty of North Korea’s economic future upon learning of Kim Jong Il’s death, “30 Rock” fans had their own concern: What will become of Avery Jessup?

The journalist, played by Elizabeth Banks, was kidnapped while on assignment in North Korea at the end of season 5.

Last seen filming Kim Jong Il propaganda, Jack Donaghy’s wife (and baby mama) turns up in a season 6 promo on a holiday card with Kim Jong Un. The card reads, “Death to U.S. Imperialist Wolves and Happy Hanukkah.”

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I only have one word to sum up “X Factor’s” season finale performance show, and it's "amazing." (OK, and one other word: Surprising!)

First up was Josh Krajcik. He took the stage and sang Alanis Morissette's “Uninvited.” But seconds into singing he stops and invites Alanis on stage to perform it with him.

At first it sounded a bit awkward, because both voices are so uniquely different, but toward the end it worked. And it worked well, with L.A. Reid calling Josh’s performance “surreal.”

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According to the Hollywood Reporter, the books behind AMC’s zombie apocalypse series “The Walking Dead” have topped New York Times best-seller lists.

Robert Kirkman's series – which began in 2003 – tops the lists in both the paperback and hardcover divisions of graphic books.

"No graphic novel series has ever dominated the list quite like Kirkman's ‘Walking Dead,’" writes THR.

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It was reported earlier this week that Dr. Maya Angelou was upset with the rapper Common over his use of the "N" word on his new album, but Angelou has since clarified that there isn't a dispute.

Common's just-released "The Dreamer/The Believer" features Angelou, 83, reciting a poem on the track "The Dreamer." The New York Post reported Sunday that Angelou was "horrified" that the rapper would have her appear on a song in which he uses the term.

The legendary poet was quoted as saying that she was "surprised and disappointed," adding, "I don't know why he chose to do that. I had never heard him use that [word] before. I had admired him so because he wasn't singing the line of least resistance."

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I was not the biggest fan of "American Horror Story's" first episode back in October, but the show has shown gradual improvement over this first season.

For one thing, characters' motivations are more or less understandable, so that's a big step forward. The writers (especially "Angel" and "X-Files" vet Tim Minear), for the most part, didn't sacrifice the story for straight-up scares. (Though the payoff, if you can call it that, of the Eric Stonestreet episode is still one of the big "WTH" moments of the year.)

Wednesday night's finale brought closure in the most literal way possible for the Harmon family. In recent weeks, you didn't ask which character was killed in the latest episode, but rather which character was still alive. For the Harmons, the last three episodes have been pretty deadly.

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Nineties singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb is now a children’s entertainer. FoxNews.com LIVE reports that the bespectacled musician behind 1994 hit “Stay (I Missed You)” is releasing the songbook "Silly Sing-Along: The Disappointing Pancake And Other Zany Songs."

“I really wanted to make a record that would take kids away from the computer and bring them together with other kids,” Loeb, 43, explained of her new project.

Lisa says the music of her youth inspired the songbook:

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"The Ender's Game" is getting its cast in place: Variety reports that the adaptation of Orson Scott Card's novel has Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin and Hailee Steinfeld signed up.

Gavin Hood is at the helm of the sci-fi film, which follows the gifted Ender Wiggin (played by Asa Butterfield), a genius strategist who's recruited to a military school to train to take down an alien race.

Ford will play Colonel Hyrum Graff, who's in charge of the recruits, and Breslin will play Ender's sister, Valentine. Steinfeld has joined the cast as Ender's friend, Petra Arkanian.

"Ender's Game" is set to bow in theaters on March 15, 2013.

As some are trying to boycott Kim Kardashian, a separate report claims Kim and the rest of her famous family are involved in a sweatshop and child labor scandal.

Star magazine has claimed that a human rights watchdog group has opened an investigation into the manufacturing process of some of the family's products, quoting the executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, Charles Kernaghan, who claimed that the Kardashians "are in bed with some pretty bad people."

The report goes on to allege that the family is gaining profits from products that are made in overseas factories where "workers are subject to inhumane conditions."

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There’s no place like home for the holidays, and on last night's “Top Chef: Texas,” the contestants looked back home for inspiration.

But first, the gang drove to Austin, and along the way we learned Paul was a weed dealer until he was 22. So you know he’ll KILL IT when they have that processed food challenge; dude’s surely a mad scientist with some Cheetos and Nutella.

Once in Austin, it was Quickfire time, wherein fans tweeted the instructions to the chefs. The first tweeted rule was simple - cook a dish with bacon. About 15 minutes later, the next rule was announced - cook a hash (“Ha, he said HASH,” Paul giggled, probably).

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