‘Dweebs’ Canceled; ‘Bonnie Hunt’ On Vacation
On the heels of an absolutely disastrous performance by the network on Friday night, CBS on Monday announced the cancellation of “Dweebs” and a vacation until midseason for “The Bonnie Hunt Show.”
The two sitcoms contributed mightily to a Friday night average of just 4.6/8 nationally for CBS between 8 and 11 p.m. “Dweebs” at 8 did a 4.8/9 and “Bonnie,” which followed, slipped half a point to 4.3/8.
Although “Picket Fences” crawled up to a 6.1/11 at 9, a special called “The State Halloween Special” dropped back to a full hour of 3.0/6, a number that could get you banned from the Public Broadcasting Service.
The network, which in Monday night’s announcement promised other Friday changes soon, said a repeat of “Touched by an Angel” will air in the first hour of the Nov. 3 schedule, while a repeat of a special called “Here Comes the Bride, There Goes the Groom” will be seen from 8 to 9 on Nov. 10.
Oprah inks movie deal
Oprah Winfrey’s empire just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it has signed the talk show host and her production company, Harpo Productions, to an exclusive production deal under which she’ll produce motion pictures for Walt Disney Pictures over the next five years.
Winfrey, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the film “The Color Purple,” will star in some of the films she produces. Harpo is planning an adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved,” in which Winfrey will star in the story of a freed slave who kills her child.
Other projects include movie versions of the Anchee Min novel “Katherine” and Steve Lopez’s “Third and Indiana.”
“This is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me,” the talk show hostess said in a statement. “I have wanted to make feature films since college.”
Irving R. Levine retires
After 45 years, the man with the little bow tie and big middle initial is leaving NBC News.
Washington-based Irving R. Levine, the Peacock’s dean of correspondents and its chief economics reporter since 1971, will retire from the network today to become another kind of dean - dean of International Studies at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
Levine’s NBC swan song was Sunday on Tim Russert’s “Meet the Press.” Mike Jensen will continue as chief financial correspondent out of New York. Levine’s title will be retired, Russert says.
No retirement for the bow tie or middle initial, though.
‘Babylon 5’ on Internet
Warner Bros.’ syndicated sci-fi series “Babylon 5” took flight in cyberspace with the Monday launch of America Online and World Wide Web sites devoted to the show. Fans of the series will be able to share information, digitized photographs and sounds by typing in the keyword Babylon 5 or B5 on AOL, or by going to the address WWW:http://pathfinder.com/babylon5 on the World Wide Web.
‘Picket’ cast member quits
CBS’ drama “Picket Fences” is losing a cast member. Don Cheadle, who for the past three seasons has portrayed D.A. John Littleton, is departing next month.
According to executive producer Jeff Melvoin, Cheadle last spring expressed a desire to move on.
“I approached Don and asked if there was anything we could do to convince him to stay,” Melvoin said.
But Cheadle said he wanted to pursue film work and perhaps a writing venture. So, said Melvoin, “The episode that will air (on Friday) is a very fond farewell to a very well-liked character.”
Melvoin said there are no immediate plans to replace Cheadle, who is the first cast member to leave the show and its fictional Rome, Wis., setting since creator David E. Kelley abdicated control of the program over the summer.