Hollywood Headlines: A crazy week in review

Fans love Johnny Depp and they aren’t afraid to show it. In an annual poll from Harris Interactive, Depp earned the top spot for America’s favorite movie actor for the second year in a row, beating out Clint Eastwood and Denzel Washington, who tied for second. Depp starred in two 2011 films, “Rum Diary” and “The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and provided the lead voice in the animated flick “Rango.”  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

This season it might be “American Idol” trying to stay alive among the competition. Season 11 launched on the heels of “The X Factor” and just weeks before the launch of “The Voice’s” second season. As expected, it drew fewer fans in the saturated market.

The show kicked off in the usual fashion Wednesday night with auditions in Savannah, Ga. While 21.6 million viewers sounds impressive, Nielsen reports it is actually a 17% drop compared with last year, making Season 11 the lowest-rated premiere since the show debuted in 2002.  (Danny Moloshok / Associated Press)

Country singer Blake Shelton and his wife Miranda Lambert are shifting their tour dates following the death of Shelton’s father on Tuesday. “The Voice” star reached out to fans on his website, writing. “I appreciate your understanding during this difficult time and thank you for all your prayers. Your support means the world to me. I love you guys.”  (Dan Steinberg / Associated Press)

Every January, the stars gather at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills to drink and pick up Golden Globe awards voted on reporters, editors and critics for newspapers in foreign countries. For the last three years, they’ve also sat there while host Ricky Gervais hurled insults from the podium. He did it all again this year, but was noticeably kinder than in years past. As for the winners, George Clooney -- who went into the awards telling everyone who would listen that he would be the night’s biggest loser -- walked home with the Globe for lead actor in a motion picture drama for “The Descendants.” He’s also got girlfriend Stacy Keibler. It’s good to be the Clooney.   (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

In protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act bill that’s now before Congress, several prominent websites went dark on Wednesday. Among the sites flexing their digital muscles: vast online encyclopedia Wikipedia, online market for old couches and prostitutes Craigslist and technology blog Boing Boing, among hundreds of others. As a result of the overwhelming show of protest, the bill’s lead sponsor said on Friday that the law would be taken back to the drawing board.  (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)