Actress Close”s job is done

Sat., May 14, 2005

From wire reports

Glenn Close is turning in her badge on “The Shield.”

The five-time Oscar nominee, who joined FX’s hit cop drama this season as LAPD Capt. Monica Rawling, has decided not to return for season five – which comes as no surprise to “Shield” creator and executive producer Shawn Ryan.

Close, a New Yorker, had signed on for just a single season of the L.A.-based “Shield,” her first TV series. And her only child, Annie, will be a senior in high school.

But Ryan is convinced Close will do a few guest shots: “She might be in L.A. and want to do two or three days’ work. Life works in funny ways. I’m not pounding nails in her coffin just yet.”

With Close on the marquee, “The Shield” is up almost 25 percent in the ratings at 10 p.m. Tuesdays this season.

NBC to declare mis-‘Trial’?

It’s looking like the final gavel may fall on “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” next week.

NBC is poised to deliver a death sentence to the midseason series on Monday when it announces next fall’s lineup to advertisers, the showbiz trade papers report. If so, it would be the first time a “Law & Order”-branded series has failed to earn a second season.

“Trial by Jury,” though, hasn’t caught on with viewers the way the other shows have. After a solid start in early March – including a special Thursday premiere that drew 17.3 million viewers – it has faded somewhat in its 10 p.m. Friday spot, averaging 11.2 million viewers.

‘Carnivale’ is closed

The traveling show of “Carnivale” has made its final stop.

HBO has decided not to order a third season of the spooky series set in Dust Bowl-era America. Carolyn Strauss, the network’s entertainment president, says the show reached a natural conclusion in its second season, which ended in March.

“Carnivale” starred Nick Stahl as a young man with the power to heal who hooks up with an equally mysterious traveling carnival. Clancy Brown also starred as a preacher whose true intent was to bring hell on earth; the show led up to a confrontation between the two in the final episode.

Miller time over

CNBC is canceling comic Dennis Miller’s low-rated political talk show after less than 16 months.

Miller’s prime-time program, featuring a mixture of comedy, interviews and his conservative political opinion, was seen by an average of 168,000 viewers since its January 2004 launch, according to Nielsen Media Research. That number has dipped to 114,000 this year with the presidential election campaign over.

His last episode was Friday. The show will be replaced in the 6 p.m. time slot by a rerun of “Mad Money with Jim Cramer.”

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