Quick Takes: ‘Walking Dead’ intrigue

A day after news reports surfaced that Frank Darabont was leaving “The Walking Dead,” there was finally a little clarity Wednesday about where the zombie show was headed.

Darabont is stepping down from his multifaceted role at the AMC series — he was executive producer and an occasional director — and, at most, will be involved as a consultant. In his place, AMC will promote the show’s No. 2 executive, Glen Mazzara, a veteran of “The Shield” who has been heavily involved in “Dead” since the end of 2010.

When the Darabont news broke Tuesday night, it shocked many in Hollywood, coming at a time when the series’ stock couldn’t be higher.

A second season of Rick Grimes and his band of scrappy humans is currently shooting in Georgia. A recently released trailer for the season garnered significant buzz, and a Comic-Con International panel Friday in San Diego — in which Darabont participated with no evidence of any problems — showed fans as eager as ever for the Oct. 16 return of the post-apocalyptic series.

An AMC spokeswoman declined to comment.

—Steven Zeitchik

‘Playboy Club’ focus of protest

A TV watchdog group on Wednesday accused NBC of glamorizing the porn industry in its upcoming new drama series “The Playboy Club” and urged NBC affiliates around the United States not to air it.

In letters to NBC’s local TV stations, the 1.3-million-member Parents Television Council said that the drama “glorifies and glamorizes this insidious industry” and that pornography destroys families and exploits women.

“The Playboy Club,” which is due to debut Sept. 19, is set in the early 1960s and centers around the lives of Playboy Bunnies and customers of the original Playboy Club in Chicago.

NBC executives were not immediately available to comment.

—Reuters

From ‘Hangover’ to the stage

Justin Bartha, best known to most Americans as the strait-laced Doug in the “Hangover” movies, is appearing in the off-Broadway dramatic comedy “All New People” and has another play lined up after that.

Bartha says he’ll star opposite Jesse Eisenberg in “Asuncion,” a dark comedy that Eisenberg wrote and which will be presented by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater at New York’s Cherry Lane Theater.

Bartha and Eisenberg, who are friends, have experience acting together. Last year they starred in the independent film “Holy Rollers,” about Hasidic drug dealers

—Steven Zeitchik

Split decision for George Lucas

The Empire has struck out.

Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday defeated a bid by George Lucas’ company to stop a prop designer from making and selling replicas of the iconic storm trooper helmets from the “Star Wars” films. The court did, however, prevent the designer from selling them in the United States.

Andrew Ainsworth sculpted the white helmets worn by the sinister galactic warriors in the original “Star Wars” film in 1977 and now sells replicas over the Internet. Lucasfilm Ltd. has been trying for years to stop him, in a battle that has climbed through the British courts.

Lucasfilm’s lawyers argued that the storm trooper suits are sculptures and, therefore, works of art covered by British copyright law. Two lower courts ruled in 2008 and 2009 that the costumes were props, not artworks — victories for Ainsworth.

The country’s highest court on Wednesday upheld those decisions.

But the judges agreed with Lucasfilm’s lawyers that Ainsworth had violated Lucas’ copyright in the U.S. by selling costumes there.

Ainsworth’s lawyers said the ruling means he can continue to make and sell the replicas, but not export them to the U.S.

—Associated Press

Winehouse sales light up charts

Singer Amy Winehouse’s untimely death sparked a whole lot of “Rehab” this past week.

Her albums surged in sales, reaching 50,000 in the latest sales cycle, according to Nielsen SoundScan, surpassing the 44,000 albums that had been sold this year up until last week.

Winehouse’s 2007 breakthrough album “Back to Black,” which contains the hit single “Rehab,” sold 37,000 copies. All but 1,000 of them were downloads. “Frank,” her debut album released in 2003, saw a total of 7,600 sales, of which 7,000 were downloads.

The five-time Grammy winner, beloved for her soulful vocals but infamous for erratic public behavior, arrests and drug problems, was found dead Saturday afternoon in her London apartment.

—CNN