NBC could lay down the 'Law'
Law & Order is trying to avoid becoming a victim.
NBC and producer Dick Wolf are in negotiations to shave costs from the longest-running crime series and one of its spinoffs, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, to justify keeping either on the air. (A third, more successful series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, isn't endangered.)
A final decision won't be made until next month, when NBC sets its fall lineup. But there's a good chance at least one of them won't return. That would mark a stark departure from L&O's heyday a half-dozen years ago, when, as a top-10 series, it spawned spinoffs SVU (1999), Criminal Intent (2001) and the short-lived Trial by Jury (2005).
"I'm surprised it's in this position," Wolf says. He says he has heard no complaints about the show's quality. "It's not a creative discussion; it's obviously a business discussion. We're having very serious talks about how to take a significant amount of money out of the budgets," from cutting cast members to changing film stocks.
Says NBC West Coast chief Marc Graboff: "We're exploring with Dick ways to keep one or both."
Yet thanks to their longevity and star salaries, each now costs a steep $4 million an episode to produce, vs. $2.5 million for similarly rated Las Vegas. That show sealed its renewal by trimming its budget, dropping stars James Caan and Nikki Cox.
But unlike Vegas, L&O has earned billions for NBC Universal, which produces the show, airs its original episodes and sells reruns to TNT and its own USA and Bravo channels. Pick up a remote and you can hardly miss it: Today alone, these cable networks will air 16 episodes of the three series. But all that exposure — coupled with normal declines for aging series — has sent ratings into a tailspin.
L&O, already sagging last season, was moved to low-rated Fridays in the fall, where it has since declined 19%. It now ranks slightly behind Criminal Intent, down 16% in its new Tuesday home. Both average about 9 million viewers, still above NBC's record-low prime-time average the past two weeks.
The fourth-place network, under financial strain, is exploring whether less popular but cheaper series are better.
Fans are split. Some call L&O an institution: "It's the only show I literally drop everything to watch," says Sherrill Craig of Raleigh, N.C. Others say it's time to go, after too-frequent cast changes and too many spinoffs.
Wolf has his own agenda: breaking the record for longest-running drama held by CBS' Gunsmoke, which ran 20 years. L&O is now in its 17th. "I would obviously love the show to go 21 seasons. I still think that has the potential to happen."
'American Idol' says sayonara to Sanjaya
NEW YORK - Sanjaya Malakar, the under-talented but unflappable singer who horrified and captivated millions in his improbable "American Idol" run, was finally voted off the show Wednesday night. When the result was announced, Malakar wiped away tears and got a big hug from LaKisha Jones, the next lowest vote-getter. "I'm fine," he told Ryan Seacrest. "It was an amazing experience."
"I can promise you: We won't soon forget you," Seacrest replied.
Malakar then performed one last song, "Something To Talk About." Putting his own twist on the song, the 17-year-old known for his pretty looks and ever-changing hairstyles ad-libbed: "Let's give them something to talk about ... other than hair."
On Tuesday night's show, Simon Cowell had slammed his performance as "utterly horrendous." And for once, the notoriously mean judge was vindicated.
"I'm beginning to sense something here," a grinning Cowell said when Malakar wound up in the bottom three.
Six contestants are now left: Jones, Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks, Chris Richardson, Melinda Doolittle and Phil Stacey.
Malakar was routinely savaged by Cowell as he developed into one of the weakest, most awkward "Idol" finalists ever. Still, the gangly teen managed to outlast better singers by cultivating an unlikely fan base that helped him survive round after round of viewer elimination.
Though his breathy, childlike singing voice paled in comparison with other finalists, his ability to stand out kept him in the competition. He consistently delivered the season's most talked-about performances, even daring to sport a ponytail mohawk that added pizazz to an otherwise tepid rendition of No Doubt's "Bathwater."
That, of course, wound up fodder for watercooler discussion on G-rated morning programs and smart-alecky Web sites, stoking suspicion that Malakar was self-consciously manipulating the media to carve a place in "American Idol" history.
Many had predicted that he would make it all the way to May finale. Among Malakar's supporters: radio shock jock Howard Stern and the Web site VotefortheWorst.com, which has long promoted the show's tone-deaf candidates. (Previous targets include surly Scott Savol and sweet-natured Kevin Covais. Cult superstar William Hung never even made it to Hollywood.)
Malakar also had the backing of friends and family in his home state of Washington. "He's very handsome. That's most of it," marveled his friend Pat Wright, a gospel choir director in Seattle. "He's a teenager, and young girls and guys really like him."
Malakar seemed buoyed by his widespread fame.
"Welcome to the universe of Sanjaya!" he proudly proclaimed on a recent telecast, following a backhanded compliment from an exasperated Cowell.
Indeed, after panning another of Malakar's performances, Cowell threw up his arms and said there was nothing he could say to prevent people from voting for the oddball-turned-national phenomenon.
But, in the end, Malakar could not win enough votes to join the ranks of Taylor Hicks, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
He will, however, live forever on YouTube.
Star of stage and screen, Kitty Carlisle Hart dies
Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose career extended from the Broadway stage to television and film, has died at age 96.
Her son, Christopher Hart, confirmed his mother "passed away peacefully" at home, after struggling with pneumonia, which she contracted during Christmas.
Kitty Carlisle Hart, seen here celebrating her 94th birthday in New York in 2004, has died at age 96.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press)
"She had such a wonderful life, and a great long run. It was a blessing," he said.
Hart appeared for many years on the popular game show To Tell the Truth.
She starred in numerous movies including A Night at the Opera (1935), She Loves Me Not and Here Is My Heart, both opposite Bing Crosby, as well as Woody Allen's Radio Days. Her Broadway productions included Champagne Sec and the 1984 revival of On Your Toes.
Her operatic career included a debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967 in Die Fledermaus and the title role in the American premiere of Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia.
Hart was born in New Orleans on Sept. 3, 1910. She went on to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, the London School of Economics and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Many may recall her stint, from 1956 to 1967, as a celebrity panelist on the prime-time game show To Tell the Truth, in which three contestants would claim to be the same person and the panelists would have to determine which one was telling the truth.
Hart's late husband was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Moss Hart, known for You Can't Take It With You and The Man Who Came to Dinner. Moss Hart, who died in 1961, won a Tony for directing My Fair Lady on Broadway.
Received National Medal of Arts in 1991
Kitty Hart continued to lead a robust life through her senior years, starting each day with an exercise routine.
"I can do things a woman a fifth my age can't do.… I do 40 leg lifts without stopping, and then I take my legs, I put them over my head, and I touch the floor behind me with my toes, and then very slowly I let myself down, touching every vertebrae as I go," Hart told 60 Minutes when she was 90.
Hart served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts and in 1991, received the National Medal of Arts.
Besides her son, she is survived by her daughter, Catherine, and three grandchildren.