Pauley show axed after sluggish start

Jane Pauley’s highly anticipated daytime talk show won’t make it to a second season.

NBC Universal Television announced it was canceling “The Jane Pauley Show” shortly after getting ratings for the February sweeps.

The former “Today” and “Dateline NBC” host seemed like a sure thing after 148 of the nation’s top 150 markets agreed to air her show before it even started, an unusual vote of confidence. But ratings started low and improved slowly.

“Fairly or unfairly, there were high expectations, and it was nearly impossible to meet those expectations,” said Bill Carroll, an expert on the syndication market for Katz Television. “When they were not met, it was perceived as unsuccessful.”

Pauley noted that her audience has grown steadily since November, “but it came far too late for too many (stations) to stick with us.”

Sheridan not indecent, FCC says

“Desperate Housewives” actress Nicollette Sheridan did not violate decency standards when she exposed her back in a skit that opened a “Monday Night Football” broadcast, the Federal Communications Commission has ruled.

The Nov. 15, 2004, segment before the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game sparked many complaints to the FCC, which unanimously decided Monday that it did not violate the law.

“(A)lthough the scene apparently is intended to be titillating, it simply is not graphic or explicit enough to be indecent under our standard,” the commission said.

But in a separate statement, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps complained that while the broadcast technically was not indecent, “it does raise the issue of broadcasters acting responsibly when deciding what to air during the hours when children are likely to be in the audience.”

In the promotional skit, which aired during the November ratings sweeps, Owens was fully suited for the game and in the locker room when Sheridan appeared as her “Housewives” character, seductress Edie Britt, wearing only a towel.

After he rebuffed her advances, telling her the game was about to start and his team needed him, she dropped the towel and leaped into his arms. Sheridan’s body was not seen below the waist.