Quick Takes: ‘The Killing’s’ angry fans

Guess those fans of “The Killing” weren’t kidding when they said they were angry.

AMC’s moody crime drama returned for its second season Sunday with a two-hour premiere that averaged 1.8 million viewers, plunging one-third compared with last year’s premiere, according to Nielsen.

The key to the drop-off may be last year’s season finale cliffhanger, which outraged fans by not wrapping up the mystery surrounding teenager Rosie Larsen’s death.

AMC pointed out that the Sunday ratings slipped a more modest 16% compared with last year’s overall season average.

AMC ran the premiere again at 11 p.m., for a nightly cumulative of 2.5 million viewers.

—Scott Collins

Care package for ‘Idol’ contestant

“American Idol” contestant Joshua Ledet is getting a special delivery in Hollywood courtesy of his home state of Louisiana: tamales from Zwolle.

Ever since Ledet, a 19-year-old native of Westlake, La., mentioned on the Fox talent show several weeks ago that one of the things he missed most while competing in Los Angeles was Louisiana food, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne has been overseeing shipments of Louisiana eats.

Dardenne and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board sent about 60 pounds of boiled crawfish to Hollywood a few weeks ago. Dardenne said the next dish would be tamales from Zwolle, a town near the Texas line that is home to the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta.

—Associated Press

Date too ill for ACM awards

While accepting her second consecutive entertainer of the year award at Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, Taylor Swift probably left more than a few viewers scratching their heads at her remark from the stage about her date who couldn’t join her.

After thanking fans whose votes landed her the ACM’s top honor, she said, “My date tonight was supposed to be a high school football player named Kevin McGuire, and he is not here. But I promised him I’d give him a shout-out. So Kevin and all your family and friends, thank you for wanting to take me to the ACMs.”

She was talking about an 18-year-old in Somerdale, N.J., who has leukemia.

McGuire’s sister, Victoria, had launched a Facebook page in February hoping to persuade Swift to attend his high school prom. The singer responded with an invitation to attend the ACM Awards instead. But when the weekend arrived, McGuire was too ill to travel. He watched the show with his family at a restaurant.

—Randy Lewis

A ‘Today’ gig for Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is scheduled to make her debut as a morning show co-host Tuesday when she appears alongside Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Ann Curry on “Today.”

Palin is NBC’s answer to the much-hyped guests on the other networks’ morning shows this week, including an interview Monday with Oprah Winfrey on “CBS This Morning” and Katie Couric’s weeklong guest-hosting stint on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

—Patrick Kevin Day

Has he tweeted Jobs news yet?

He’s already a titan of social media, so it only makes sense that Ashton Kutcher would play the late Apple founder Steve Jobs in an upcoming biography.

Kutcher’s publicist confirmed Tuesday that the independent film “Jobs” will begin production in May while he’s on hiatus from CBS’ “Two and a Half Men.”

The actor, who has more than 10 million Twitter followers, will portray Jobs through his rise from hippie to revered tech entrepreneur as the co-founder of Apple. Jobs died in October.

—Associated Press