The Access Entertainment Week In Review

Reality television provided big news this week, as “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars” both came to their dramatic conclusions.

Jordin Sparks emerged victorious on the splashy “Idol” finale, making her the youngest contestant (at 17) to ever hold the title.

Her powerhouse voice was put to the test on Tuesday night, as she faced off against fellow finalist Blake Lewis in the final performance show of the season. After singing three songs, including the winning song from the show’s first-ever songwriting contest, Jordin seemed poised as the frontrunner. Lewis, known for his beat-boxing and unique style, struggled with the ballad forced upon him; while Sparks — no stranger to ballads — performed it with ease.

Before the big show, judge Simon Cowell told Access that he really didn’t know which way America would vote, as this year’s competition was a case of “The singer (Jordin) vs. the entertainer (Blake).” While he admitted that Jordin had “suddenly” grown very popular, he said that Blake was a more dynamic entertainer and would be the easier artist to produce due to his originality. Simon ended up apologizing to Jordin at the end of the performance show, admitting he was wrong for thinking she wasn’t good enough to make the finals.

Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno was deemed the champion on “Dancing With the Stars,” following a tight race to the finish line with Joey Fatone and Laila Ali. All three finalists performed well on Tuesday night (and again on Wednesday’s finale), but Ohno and his partner, Julianne Hough, came out on top when the judges’ scores were combined with viewer votes.

The Cannes Film Festival rolled on this week, kicking in to high gear with the arrivals of major A-list stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Jolie and Pitt set the festival ablaze with the premiere of the emotionally wrenching “A Mighty Heart” (already getting good reviews), while DiCaprio brought things down to Earth with his environmental documentary “The 11th Hour.”

Despite the hubbub at Cannes surrounding Jolie and Pitt over their careers and celebrity status, Angelina took time out from talking about her movie to discuss the importance of her family. She revealed that she plans to take a year off from acting to spend more time with Brad and their four children, and also spoke of her determination to be “as good a woman as [she] can be” following the devastating loss of her mother to cancer earlier this year.

Clooney and Pitt joined their fellow “Ocean’s Thirteen” stars Matt Damon and Don Cheadle in Cannes for some good old-fashioned goofing around with Access’ Billy Bush, following their very serious benefit dinner held on Wednesday which raised $9.2 million to help refugees from the Sudanese province of Darfur.

Clooney added to his list of charitable works while in Cannes by participating in the benefit auction held by AmFAR to support AIDS research. He joined host Sharon Stone, singer Kylie Minogue, and many other celebrities participating in the charity gala.

Rosie O’Donnell was back in the spotlight this week due to a heated on-air argument with “View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The two women (known for getting into debates on the show) had their loudest — and longest — argument to date, stemming from their opposing viewpoints on the war in Iraq. And then on Friday, ABC announced that Rosie would not be returning to the show for the three weeks remaining on her contract.

Three “Grey’s Anatomy” stars made headlines this week: Katherine Heigl’s comedy, “Knocked Up,” premiered in LA, Isaiah Washington’s PSA on intolerance debuted on television, and T.R. Knight confessed to Access that he was unsure about his future with “Grey’s” because he has not yet received a call inviting him back next season.

Attorneys for the Hoff and the ex-Mrs. Hasselhoff (Pamela Bach) were in court again this past week. That is all we really know for sure.

A source told us that the lawyers went to court to work out some key details in the ongoing custody battle over their two daughters, in advance of a June 1st hearing. According to our source, the judge said that David cannot be monitored for alcohol consumption by his employees and that blood tests, which would show if the former Baywatch star had consumed alcohol, will now be administered at random by a nurse who does not work for him.

We are also told the judge gave daughters Hayley (14) and Taylor (17) some latitude in custody/visitation arrangements that are currently in place. If there is a special occasion requiring a change in the visitation schedule then the children have to work out those arrangements with the parents.

So is this what really happened? Hasselhoff’s attorneys told us “none of this is true.” Bach’s attorney has not responded to our call. But we’re told that Pamela is happy with the outcome of the hearing and that David is “elated.”

Bruce Willis filed a lawsuit against an auto dealership, claiming that they sold him “an inoperable car riddled with extensive mechanical problems,” although the owner of the dealership said that the car was in perfect shape when it left the lot, and that Willis never inspected the car before purchase.

Bruce’s former wife, Demi Moore, spoke with Access Hollywood‘s Nancy O’Dell about the joys of motherhood, saying “I think it is by far one of the most empowering experiences a woman can have.” And did she drop a hint about possibly expanding her own family when she said: “I wouldn’t mind [having a boy]. I wouldn’t mind a little balance, you know — balancing out that estrogen.”

Nancy is due to have her baby daughter any day now, and revealed this week that she and her husband, Keith, had named the baby Ashby Grace Zubchevich after Nancy’s grandfather.

And finally, in the more random department: Paris Hilton was spotted buying the Holy Bible and “The Power of Now” at an LA bookstore, former “Survivor” finalist Sue Hawk updated Access on what she’s doing these days (including shooting snakes & lighting things on fire!), and John Mayer played “hostage negotiator” as he goofed off on the streets of New York City.