Two weeks into non- Jay Leno programming, NBC’s audience for the final hour of prime-time TV has increased by 45 percent. While NBC doesn’t necessarily have any hits in that hour, the instant response by viewers indicates they are more comfortable with the traditional mix of drama, news, and reality rather than a late-night show moved into prime time. The failed experiment of Conan O’Brien taking over the “Tonight’’ show and Leno moving into prime time ended just before the Olympics. Leno was averaging 5.15 million viewers in his slot, the Nielsen Co. said. Through two weeks of other programming, the network is averaging 7.44 million at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central. Local affiliates expressed anger that Leno’s low ratings hurt their late local news.
Leno’s old spot draws new viewers
Oprah heads to court
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is expected to spend two weeks defending herself at trial in a defamation case linked to the sex-abuse scandal at her girls school in South Africa. A federal judge this week refused to dismiss the suit filed by Winfrey’s ex-headmistress, paving the way for a March 29 trial in Philadelphia. The billionaire talk-show host, as a named defendant, must be in court and has rearranged her TV production schedule to do so, her lawyers said in a recent court filing. After the abuse complaints surfaced in 2007, Winfrey said she had “lost confidence’’ in headmistress Nomvuyo Mzamane and was “cleaning house from top to bottom.’’ A dorm matron who worked under Mzamane was later charged in South Africa with abusing six students. The judge found that Winfrey made both Mzamane and the dorm parents appear “culpable’’ by telling parents, “I’m going to find a new head of the academy for the school. . . . Dorm parents are gone, [Mzamane] is gone.’’
Sheen returns to work
Charlie Sheen
is back at work and shooting has resumed on “Two and a Half Men,’’ his agent said yesterday. The 44-year-old actor voluntarily entered a rehab facility “as a preventative measure’’ that temporarily halted production of CBS’s top-rated sitcom last month. Sheen still faces legal problems arising from a fight with his wife in Aspen, Colo., in December. He is charged with assault, criminal mischief, and menacing, which carries a possible sentence of one to three years in prison. Sheen pleaded not guilty to domestic violence charges in Colorado’s Pitkin County District Court on Monday. A judge scheduled a jury trial for July 21.
Chicks and balances
"We're feeling kind of those butterflies in our stomach once again." -- Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks, talking about the Court Yard Hounds, her duo with her sister and fellow Dixie Chick Emily Robison
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