It’s partly the reviews–“Dylan’s finest since ‘Blood on the Tracks’, etc., etc.”–and the word of mouth. (One well-connected New Yorker heard it early and talked it up in his circle as the best since 1967’s “John Wesley Harding.”) It’s partly Dylan’s current high visibility and audibility: the memoir, the PBS documentary, the iPod ad, the radio show. (He’s also the greatest deejay now living.) And the CD benefits from the pent-up praise that would have greeted 2001’s “Love and Theft”–had it not come out on 9/11. Dylan told the novelist Jonathan Lethem, writing in Rolling Stone, that he has no plan to retire and that he feels he’s just in his “middle years.” Do the math, listen to the record–and don’t bet against it.

–David Gates

Five years after “Ally McBeal,” Calista Flockhart returns to television in the ABC drama “Brothers and Sisters.” She talked to Marc Peyser.

That did cross my mind. I thought, “Wow, I wonder if I’ll remember how to act.”

Probably not so much.

I guess he did.

I didn’t really call back.

I was a full-time mom.

Very seldom. Of course I do have help, but I spent a lot of time on the playground, taking Liam to school, that kind of stuff.

Are you serious? Liam doesn’t actually like it. We’re into chicken nuggets.

I’m not going to answer that. I’m sorry.

Who knows?

It comes with the territory. People like to find a problem child and talk about it.

I never felt like, “Oh, I’m the star and now you’re bringing in Sally.” It’s an ensemble piece.

Everybody seems to be adjusting pretty well. His latest quote is: “You’re an actress, but you’re mostly a mama.”

Mark Peyser

That baby’s got some big idea making us wait around like that. Finally , Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s 5-month-old daughter, Suri, made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair in a photo by Annie Leibovitz. It’s official: the infant is not a hoax or a Scientology experiment, nor was she borrowed from the camera loader on “Mission: Impossible III.” The girl’s gorgeous, and she’s already given her folks the greatest gift. No, not love. A happy ending to the PR story from hell.

–Jac Chebatoris.

Beyoncé celebrates her 25th with the ultimate indulgence: a cake of her face. Vote for next week’s photo Thursday, at noon, ET, at Newsmakers.NEWSWEEK.com.