Emmy Rossum made her Hollywood breakthrough in 2004 as Christine, the ingénue who captures the attention of the disfigured title character in Phantom of the Opera. Nine years later, Rossum is playing Ridley, one of the villainesses in Beautiful Creatures who menaces a young woman (played by Alice Englert).

The transition from would-be victim to antagonist has played out on screen as well as in life for Rossum, who has taken on increasingly mature acting challenges as she’s gotten older.

“I wonder if I looked or seemed as terrified as I actually was when you first met me,” she told Celebuzz, whichpoor  first spoke to Rossum for Opera. “I was not ready for everything that came with that movie, and I was out of my element and had no idea how to handle myself.”

In Beautiful Creatures, Rossum faced not only the prospect of playing a bad guy – or girl – but vamping it up, old-Hollywood style, unlike she’s ever attempted before.

“She kind of channels different old movie stars from Rita Hayworth to Marilyn Monroe,” Rossum explains. “Embracing those different looks was incredibly fun. I loved the challenge of playing this likeable evil villain.”

Although the idea of an “evil villain” somehow being “likeable” might seem counterintuitive – not to mention a tough task for an actor – Rossum says that it’s precisely because of her on- and off-screen evolution that she’s capable of handling the part.

“I guess the roles that I’ve gone after have been more challenging and more adult as I’ve felt able to take on different things,” she says.

Beautiful Creatures opens in theaters nationwide February 14. Watch Celebuzz’s exclusive interview with Rossum, and then head to the comments section and tell us:  what do you think of Rossum as an actress? Is she capable of being really, really bad?

How does a network figure out how many pilots it can green light for next season? Well, first they have firm up their inventory. That’s what’s going down for several TV networks as several renewal announcements are being given out on Tuesday.

CBS is holding on to its entire daytime lineup. In addition to The Young and the Restless, expect another season of The Bold and the Beautiful, the ladies of The Talk and game shows The Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal. [TVGuide.com]

CBS’ cable sister network, Showtime, was also making a clean sweep of renewals for its Sunday night lineup. Shameless gets a Season 4; House of Lies moves on to Season 3; and Californication will move on to its seventh season. All three series debuted on Jan. 13 to their biggest audiences ever and are averaging double-digit percentage increases over their previous seasons. [Showtime]

True Blood’s Alan Ball made the right decision when he decided to step down from his post as the showrunner for the hit vampire series in order to focus on his other projects, including Cinemax’s Banshee. The series, which stars Antony Starr as an ex-fugitive passing as a small town sheriff, has been renewed for a second season airing in 2014. The current 10-episode season airs Fridays at 10PM. [Cinemax]

BBC America/BBC One has renewed Ripper, its dark series about the aftermath of the “Jack the Ripper” murders set in 1889. It stars Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg. Season 2 will consist of eight episodes to premiere in 2014. [BBC America]

Ratings: The Following is gaining a following. The new FOX thriller starring Kevin Bacon is the only new drama this season to improve its numbers in Week 2. It also ranked No. 1 for Monday evening among the ad-coveted 18-49 audience. Bones, which led in to the new show, also saw an increase in its audience with 9.2 million viewers tuning in. NBC came in at No. 2 for the evening with The Biggest Loser and its new drama, Deception. [TVGuide.com]

Warner Bros. TV and The CW are excited to announce that last week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries took the top spot for social media activity. According to the announcement, “The Vampire Diaries fans threw a #TVDparty throughout social media last week, generating nearly 865,000 social interactions across Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Viggle according to Trendrr.TV, taking a bite out of former list topper American Idol and besting iconic hits such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and Glee.” [Warner Bros. TV]

Fiona Gallagher (Emmy Rossum) on Showtime’s Shameless may have stepped up and taken charge of the Chicago household and the entire brood of trouble-making kids because their parents were deadbeats, but that doesn’t mean she is without her own flaws. The apple only falls so far from the tree, right?

Though the second season of the series saw her succeeding in getting her GED, she still has a long way to go before she can actually put it to good use to get her family out of their less-than-stellar situation.

“She’s trying to do what she can with her GED, although it’s proving a little harder than she initially thought. So she’s definitely not having any job security like we’d hope she would have had by this point. She’s still working a the nightclub and having odd jobs and kind of making a couple of poor, Frank-like decisions that leave Lip as the one who’s pulling the pieces together,” Rossum said when Celebuzz was on-set with her in Los Angeles, Calif. for Season 3.

“We’re seeing the ramifications of having bad parenting and how that doesn’t leave you with much on how to help decide what kind of an adult to be.”

Unfortunately for Fiona, though, she still needs those bad parents to get her and the rest of the kids out of some legal jams. Season 3 will see the Department of Family Services stepping into the Gallagher household and removing the young ones — and that means all of them. Fiona isn’t going to kick back and be glad to have a vacation from responsibility or time to focus on herself, though; she is going to have to make a deal with the devil, so to speak, to get her family back together.

“That’s really terrifying for Fiona because she’s not their legal guardian, and she really needs her parents to help her out, but both of her parents suck,” Rossum laughed.

“I think Monica is the lesser of two evils, but she’s not around, so Frank is the only option. Frank is not living in the house, although when DFS comes in, and she needs Frank to help her get the kids back, he finagles his way back into his old room [temporarily].”

Though Lip (Jeremy Allen White) has certainly proven himself capable of helping Fiona take care of family problems in the past, he’s still a minor, so this time he’s taken with the rest of the kids.

“Lip and Ian go to a group home. Debbie goes to this bizarre foster family where they have, like, a hundred kids running around, and they’re running a jewelry slave trade. And Carl and Liam end up together with these two amazing gay guys who are a couple who really like them and want to adopt them.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, even when they are together, Lip and Fiona will come to blows this season over exactly how to take care of the family. Lip may not be the oldest, or even the most mature, but he has skills and talents that make him the smartest of the brood.

“Lip and Fiona are definitely butting heads. He’s getting older and more capable and is, in a lot of ways, a lot smarter than Fiona. So they definitely have some friction. And he has Mandy Milkovich living now in the house, and Fiona really doesn’t like free loading!” Rossum said.

“There’s definitely a lot of growing pains.”

Fiona and Steve — err, Jimmy (Justin Chatwin) — are still together on Season 3, but even that relationship is about to take some hits, as Fiona realizes she does have a bigger problem with Jimmy’s lies than she at first realized. Will Fiona ever be able to find a sense of contentment!?

“Jimmy’s Jimmy, but she loves Steve. She loves the thieving car stealer who drove fast cars and was sexy and mysterious, and Jimmy is a guy who had a secret life and wasn’t really who he said he was. Although he really loves Fiona and her family, he’s a little boring,” Rossum said.

“He’s playing Mr. Mom and making omelettes in the morning and smoothies. Fiona’s kind of realizing that what she thought on paper sounded good may not be really what she wants.”

Shameless returns Sunday at 9 PM on Showtime.

What are you most excited to see on Season 3 of Shameless? Sound off in the comments below!

– Danielle Turchiano

Watch the Season 3 trailer below.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is making an appearance in Philadelphia on an episode of FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Though there are few details surrounding the hip-hop mogul’s role, he is set to begin filming on Monday. The eighth season of It’s Always Sunny premieres on FX on October 11. [THR]

“Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepsen will appear on Tuesday’s season finale of FOX’s dance reality competition, So You Think You Can Dance. The 26-year-old will perform her newest single, “This Kiss,” to coincide with the release of her debut album, Kiss. The season finale of SYTYCD will air Tuesday at 8 PM on FOX. [FOX]

When will Shameless, House of Lies and Californication return to Showtime? 

Showtime has set the winter 2013 premiere dates for Shameless, House of Lies and Californication and given us a tidbit of what we should expect when the shows return. Shameless will pick up a few months after last season with Jimmy (Justin Chatwin) moving into the Gallagher home. On the seccond season of House of Lies, Marty (Don Cheadle) and Jeannie (Kristen Bell) will have to deal with the fall out from the big merger showdown. As for Californication, Maggie Grace (Lost) will join this season and develop an interesting relationship with Hank (David Duchovny). All three series will return on January 13, 2013 starting with Shameless at 9 PM. [Showtime]

Jenna Dewan has been cast in the Lifetime pilot, Witches of East End. The star, who will appear in American Horror Story this fall, will play Julia Ormond’s daughter, Freya Beauchamp. The character is described, as a former wild child who will find out she’s a witch shortly after she settles down with her fiancé. [TVLine]

The It Gets Better project will air a second special this October on MTV and Logo. The program will include stories from young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people and will be anchored by columnist/It Gets Better creator Dan Savage. The 60-minute special will air two days before National Coming Out day on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 11 PM. [MTV]

Stanley Tucci is headed to PBS. The accomplished actor recently seen in The Hunger Games will host the network’s documentary series, Independent Lens. Previous hosts include America Ferrara and Don Cheadle. The season will officially begin on Monday, Oct. 29 at 10 PM but will preview with Brad Lichtenstein’s As Goes Janesville on Monday, Oct. 8. [EW]