Congratulations to Tom Cruise on his new gig! Cruise is reportedly part owner of United Artists, the historic film studio founded by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffiths. He and Paula Wagner, his producing partner, are working in conjunction with MGM to restore the studio to its former glory.

This couldn't have come at a better time for Cruise, whose career suffered a major blow when his deal with Paramount wasn't renewed earlier this year. Sumner Redstone, head of Viacom, Paramount's parent company, recently told Vanity Fair:

When did I decide [to fire him]?... I don't know. When he was on the Today show? When he was jumping on a couch at Oprah? He changed his handler, you know, to his sister—not a good idea. His behavior was entirely unacceptable to [my wife,] Paula, and to the rest of the world. He didn't just turn one [woman] off. He turned off all women, and a lot of men.... He was embarrassing the studio. And he was costing us a lot of money. We felt he cost us $100, $150 million on Mission: Impossible III. It was the best picture of the three, and it did the worst.

Frank talk, but what Redstone doesn't mention is Scientology, Cruise's religion and possible motivation for the change in his behavior. (Maybe he'd heard what happened to Brad?)

It's been a typically bizarre week for Scientology, starting on Saturday when CBS (a Viacom property!) aired an episode of 48 Hours Mystery called Scientology—A Question of Faith. The show told the story of a young man raised by Scientologists who killed his mother. 48 Hours questioned whether he was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and if the church's anti-psycho-pharmacology stance contributed to the killing.

The report enraged church devotees, prompting CBS's PublicEye blog to take on accusations of religious bias and network acquiescence to pharmaceutical advertisers directly. The argument has spilled over into the comments section of PublicEye, where pro- and anti-Scientology partisans continue to duke it out.

At least the argument hasn't gotten physical, as it did in the strangest Scientology story to float across the transom in the last few days. According to Chronic Magazine, the self-proclaimed "blazin' source for hip-hop news," Brandy, who's been associated with Scientology since at least 2004, turned a church bible study into a full on rumble.

According to the Chronic:

Reportedly, the singer came from a Scientology meeting with two other male friends to attend a bible study class at the church. As Bran began to ask questions and challenge several Christian principles, a fight broke in the back of the church that involved her two associates and members of the church. Reportedly chairs flew as the brawl proceeded to get out of control. Members of the church quickly asked Brandy to leave and informed her that they intended to inform the media of her behavior.

The media's probably too busy to care since it's preparing for another big Scientology story: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are set to be married in two weeks. By all indications, the ceremony will adhere closely to the tenets of ... Yep, Scientology.