CW is partying like it's 1992, slotting its "Melrose Place" revival behind "90210" on Tuesday nights as part of its sked makeover for the 2009-10 season. And it will send "Smallville" into battle on Fridays to get the net back in biz on the night.

CW reps would not confirm the skedding moves circulating on Wednesday. CW rounds out upfront week with presentation to advertisers in Gotham on Thursday.

The original Aaron Spelling-produced "Melrose Place" launched in July 1992 on Fox in the Wednesday 9 p.m. berth behind its Spelling sibling "Beverly Hills, 90210." CW is counting on its revival of "90210's" old skedmate to bolter its Tuesday fortunes. (The thesps pictured in the "Melrose" cast shot above were probably in kindergarten or thereabouts when the original bowed. Sigh.)

This season's revival of "90210" performed well enough to quiet all of the chatter about the entire network facing the ax.

Monday remains stat with the youth sudser combo of "Gossip Girl" and "One Tree Hill."

"America's Next Top Model" will continue to anchor Wednesdays, followed, natch, by the new ensemble drama about models in Gotham, "The Beautiful Life."

CW's hopes its "Twilight"-esque new drama "Vampire Diaries" can aid its battle on Thursdays against the big guns on the Big Four. "Vampire" will open the night followed at 9 p.m. by the veteran "Supernatural."

"Smallville" slides from Thursday 8 p.m. to Friday at 8 p.m. CW has had no traction on Fridays since it parted ways with "WWE Smackdown" last year. A "Top Model" repeat will round out the night at 9 p.m.

The net has ceded Sunday night entirely as of the fall in an effort to boost its overall perf and concentrate on fortifying its Monday-Friday lineup.

Here’s a news flash: “Lost” is a hit online. But so is CW’s “Privileged.”

For the first time, Nielsen Online has released rankings for online streaming of episodes and clips.
“Lost” tops the chart for the month of December with 1.4 million unique viewers, followed by NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with 1.1 million.

By the yardstick of the total time viewers spent with a show online, the surprise leader in December was CW’s “Privileged.” The rating-challenged dramedy drew only 29,000 unique viewers, but those that did tune in stuck around for an average of 214.6 minutes.

There’s a big caveat to these rankings, however, in that they don’t include shows streamed via Hulu because Hulu won’t breakout its numbers to Nielsen (at least if I'm reading Nielsen-ese right. A Nielsen Online rep would only say that Hulu is "not available in our syndication service.")

Nielsen’s survey includes the websites of Hulu partners NBC and Fox, as well as ABC, CBS and CW. But by all accounts, Hulu's vid streaming traffic has outpaced that of the Peacock and Fox nets' individual websites. The survey captures clips that are embedded on other websites and blogs, as long as the streams come from the network's proprietary player (but not Hulu's player).

"Fringe" got off to a surprisingly modest start for Fox last night.

It did respectable business, for sure, for a new show, winning the night for Fox in the adults 18-49 derby. But for all the promotion Fox gave it and for J.J. Abrams standing in the sci-fi/fantasy TV world, you would've expected more people to show up for the first seg.

Airing from 8-9:35 p.m., "Fringe" averaged about 9 million viewers and a 3.2 rating/9 share in adults 18-49, according to prelim Nielsens. The good news is that viewers didn't flee from the show at the half-hour marks. And "Fringe" will get a boost next week when it airs at 9 p.m. with a lead-in from the mighty "House."

Meanwhile, folks over at the CW have to be satisfied, if not overjoyed, with the second-week perf of "90210" and the debut of "Privileged." "90210" fell to 3.3 million viewers from last week's 4.9 million. "Privileged" hung in there at 9 p.m. with 2.9 million. And "90210" may yet see an uptick next week. Last night, the first-season finale of ABC Family's summer success "The Secret Life if the American Teenager" (still awaiting those numbers) aired opposite "90210," which surely put a dent in the teen and young femme turnout for CW.

Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell has all the details on last night's numbers right here.

The pipes still work at CW. "90210's" two-hour opener wins the night for CW in all of the demos it cares about, even adults 18-49 (2.6/7). Total viewership for the two hour stood at 4.9 million, and the numbers went the right way (up) at the half-hour marks. And of course, the numbers will likely rise when the delayed DVR viewing during the next few days is factored in.

All told, CW was hailing its highest-rated scripted series preem ever and a bunch of other records, as Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell reports. Good for them. Let's hope 70%-plus of these folks come back for more next week.

With the dawn of "90210," we are off and running with the 2008-09 television season. It's been noted a few million times in the past week or so in the preamble coverage that this campaign is a crucial one for the two-year-old CW, but in truth it's a big one for the netlet's older sibs as well.

The Big Four have a lot to prove this fall after the strikus interruptus of the '07-'08 campaign. Let's not forget that even when the major nets' big scripted guns returned to the skeds in March and April, viewership was down precipitously for most shows. The biz is holding its collective breath in the hopes that auds will settle back into something like their normal routines as the cycle begins anew this month. Certainly, it is true that long-absent shows like ABC's "Pushing Daisies" and "Dirty Sexy Money" and NBC's "Life" and "Lipstick Jungle" are much closer to being newcomers for the vast majority of the aud than sophomore players at this pre-launch moment.

For the sake of Our Town, let's hope that decent starts in the holiday-light viewing zone of Labor Day for CW's "Gossip Girl," Fox's "Prison Break" and NBC's "America's Toughest Jobs" -- not to mention TNT's impressive perf with "Raising the Bar" -- are good signs that people are at least paying attention again.

As for CW's Big Test with "90210," we'll know in quantitative terms if America cared or not by the time the Nielsen overnights roll in early Wednesday. The early off-air reviews from critics (who were denied the usual lead time to formulate opinions by CW's decision to hold back on screeners) have been mixed: Variety's Laura Fries was not impressed; the AP's Frazier Moore declared "It didn't screw up!" 

Among the younger set that matters most to CW, "90210's" first two hours seemed to generally get a passing grade, judging by the blogosphere chatter. (Here's a representative sample from Television Without Pity.)

But for a show that's all about nubile (skeletal for the girls) young things, there's a delicious irony in the fact that thesp Jessica Walter (a fave of TV aficionados for her role on "Arrested Development") seems to be garnering the most kind words of any of "90210's" sprawling cast. Even the text-messaging/blog-worshiping crowd is raving about the comic relief Walter (pictured right) provides in her role as the boozy, over-the-hill actress and BevHills grandma to the recently-relocated-from-Kansas Wilson clan. That's a casting coup "90210" godfather Aaron Spelling would have loved.

CW deserves a little credit for bravery for being the first into fall's choppy waters with its big premiere -- although the numerological appeal of launching "90210" on 9/02 played a big part in the skedding decision, as did the unpleasant memory of how CW's preems got trampled last year by going head to head with the big-leaguers.

The parade of new series bows continues next Tuesday with the Sept. 9 two-hour opener of Fox's biggest bet for the fall, "Fringe."

Very curious. CW has officially informed reporters today that it won't be sending out an advance screener on its Great Remake Hope of the new season, "90210," from CBS Paramount Network Television.

Of course, we automatically assume the worst in these situations. Insiders maintain that it's absolutely not the show has canine qualities, but they want to keep the pilot on a short leash until its Sept. 2 preem. In fact, CW and CBS Par TV aren't all that worried about bad reviews dissuading the target "90210" viewer from tuning in, because they don't think the target "90210" aud gives a hoot about reviews. (However, let's face it, a preponderance of bad reviews would be dent the consciousness even of those whose only reading material these days is text messages and TMZ.)

There is also genuine concern at the network and studio about bootleg versions popping up on the Internet, which is a hazard of sending review screeners out to hundreds of media outlets. So in an effort to get as many eyes as possibly tuned to the CW on Sept. 2, the pilot will stay in the can until then. Which is not to say that a few choice "90210" clips won't make their way on to the Web in the next few weeks.

"The CW and our studio partner CBS Paramount Network Television have made the strategic marketing decision not to screen "90210" for any media in advance of its premiere.  We're not hiding anything . . . simply keeping a lid on 90210 until 9.02, riding the curiosity and anticipation into premiere night, and letting all our constituents see it at the same time," the network and studio said in a joint statement Monday.

"Constituents?" Well, it is an election year...

(Me, I still can't get over the thrill of seeing Michael leave his B-more troubles behind for the lazy life of luxury in BevHills. "Wire" fans, Tristan Wilds fans -- you feel me?)

CW is having a some marketing fun at the expense of its harshest critics.

I laughed out loud this ayem when I saw a "Gossip Girl" quote ad on the side of a bus that proclaimed the show to be "Mind-blowingly Inappropriate," with a tagline crediting that august organ of critical discourse, the Parents Television Council watchdog org. There are others in the series, including one touting the New York Post's assertion that "Gossip Girl" is "a nasty piece of work."

But it was the PTC quote that struck me as inspired. Tim Winter, prexy of the PTC, is rolling with it in the same way that CW is trying to use the PTC's outrage to its advantage. "Normally, we have to pay for our outdoor advertising," Winter noted. "We'd be thrilled if every network used our quotes about their programming to describe it in their ads."

That said, Winter stressed that he is troubled by the steamy "Gossip Girl" ad campaign. No matter what CW says about the sexy show being aimed at young adults, the ads are titillating bait for teens and pre-teens, in Winter's view.

"I am deeply troubled what the CW network is doing with the programming they're putting on the public airwaves and in particular the media campaigns they're putting out to promote their shows," Winter says.

Emmy's picks for writing and directing nominees in the series categories are kinda like a state of the craft report card every year. They're often the category where new and innovative programs are recognized long before they crack the more prominent races.

But in a year when Emmy voters seemed to embrace new and different, the choices in the writing and directing heats seem more pedestrian, though some of this year's contenders were so obvious (Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld for "Pushing Daisies" Pie-lette, Matthew Weiner and Alan Taylor for the "Mad Men" pilot) as to take some of the suspense out of the race this year. Sonnenfeld (pictured left) and Taylor (pictured right) have already bagged DGA Awards for their work on these pilots.

Sonnenfeld, IMHO, can safely begin rehearsing his acceptance speech for comedy helmer. (Coming from him, it oughta be a doozy.) The competish is strong -- a six-nominee category meaning that there was one tie in the nom ballotting -- but nothing was quite so inventive and visually distinct as that first slice of ABC's "Pushing Daisies."

From my viewfinder, the dark horse in the race could be James Bobin of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords." Bobin, co-creator of the series with Kiwi comedy-rockers Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, is up for the "Sally Returns" episode of "Conchord's" 12-episode frosh season.

Dan Attias nabbed a nom for the "No Cannes Do" installment of "Entourage." Paul Lieberstein has shown that there's no end to his talents by performing, writing and directing segs of NBC's "The Office," and now he's up for helming the seg "Money" Parts 1 and 2 (sounds like a James Brown hit from the early '70s). Also nommed from "Office" is Paul Feig, for handling the season finale, "Goodbye, Toby," which happened to mark the farewell of Lieberstein's character. Michael Engler of NBC's "30 Rock" is up for the "Rosemary's Baby" installment.

Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

It wasn't a total loss. This is a contrarian view on the season that will go down in the Nielsen annals as the lowest rated on record for the Big Four nets, but there was some good news to be found here and there, amid the wreckage.

For sure, the season-long stats on the 2007-08 campaign are pretty darn ugly, as Variety ratings guru Rick Kissell smartly and soberly details in this season wrap. But in actuality we didn't have a season, we had two abbreviated seasons -- pre- and post-strike. Writers Guild of America leaders were as strategic as Eisenhower and Marshall carving up the European theater in triggering the work stoppage to begin on Nov. 5, to ensure maximum impact on current production and pilot development.

Of course, most everything the WGA was fighting for in its 100 Days War has been at work in force  -- on steroids -- in this topsy-turvy season: the increasing popularity of web streaming of programming and DVR time-shifted viewing, the increasing use of digital extensions of traditional programs to drive traffic to network-affiliated websites and to generate new revenue streams for our half-dozen favorite media congloms.

Beyond the fairness issue and the wonky oh-my-god-younger-generations-will-never-watch-TV-the-same-way-again considerations, let's look at what the nets have to show for themselves program-wise out of the fall and spring mini seasons of '07-'08.

This just in: It looks like CW's cult-fave drama "Reaper" is getting a last-minute reprieve, 13 segs for midseason. Also, I'm getting behind in reporting the good news. ABC's struggling midseasoner "Eli Stone" has also escaped the ax. Both dramas hail from ABC Studios. Coincidence? Hmmmm...

MONDAY UPDATE: Now we know. It's alive! It's alive! Click here for the latest.

One of the cliffhangers in this pre-upfront weekend is the fate of CW's "Reaper."

Its aud may be small (really small) but their love for the show burns like, well, hell fire. Its culty cachet is evidenced by its status as a Television Without Pity selection, among other examples of web-based fawning over the show about a young slacker who learns on his 20th birthday that he's going to work for the devil -- thanks to a Faustian bargain his mom and dad made some years back.

"Reaper's" pre-launch buzz about the strong cast (Bret Harrison, Tyler Labine and Missy Peregrym and Ray Wise as the Devil) and better-than-average writing didn't translate into much sampling. Show had a tough start and never found its footing in the Nielsen sense.

Word on the street as of this writing is that "Reaper," from ABC Studios and creators/exec producers Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters, is very much on the bubble, and its only fighting chance may be as a midseason replacement. Here's to hoping the devil gets his due, for season two. We should know by Monday ayem.

Fox just made it official: It's a go for J.J. Abrams' "Fringe."

Two-hour pilot produced by Abrams' Bad Robot and Warner Bros. TV, stars Aussie thesp Anna Torv as a femme FBI agent who tackles cases involving spooky unexplained phenonena with the aid of an out-there scientist and his neer-do-well genius son. Yes, it does sound like "X-Files Redux" but because "Lost" is perhaps the Greatest Show Ever we'll give Team Abrams (whose fearless leader is pictured at left) the benefit of the doubt that they can put a fresh spin on the genre.

"Fringe" pilot was penned by frequent Abrams' collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and helmed by Alex Graves.

Speculation is that "Fringe" will be Fox's Big New Fall Launch series while Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse," which already has a seven-episode order, will be the Big New January Launch series. With these two shows plus "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" returning, there's gonna be a lotta reality-bending going on at Fox next season.

Earlier today, Fox handed pickup to animated comedy "Sit Down, Shut Up," from Sony Pictures TV  and 20th Century Fox TV, insiders said. "Sit Down" is exec produced by "Arrested" maestro Mitchell Hurwitz and features the vocal talents of "Arrested" thesps Jason Bateman (pictured right), Will Arnett and Henry Winkler, along with comic Nick Kroll. That greenlight comes on the heels of Fox's order dispensed late Friday for live-action comedy "The Inn," whose pilot Bateman directed.

"Sit Down" is based on a live-action Oz comedy and revolves around the dysfunctional faculty at a high school. Pickup had been expected. Toon vets Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were already recruited as showrunners last month (Daily Variety, April 28).

No official word yet on anything from Fox, but it's understood that in addition to "The Inn," Fox has have given the nod to a third season of Sony sitcom "Til Death" and has pinkslipped the Kelsey Grammer-Patricia Heaton starrer "Back to You" after one season.

Meanwhile, CW execs are expected to make their official pickup calls later today. It's a no-brainer that the spinoff of "90210," from Rob Thomas and CBS Paramount Network TV, gets the go-ahead. Warner Bros. TV's young femme-friendly drama "How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls" is also considered a safe bet.

"Inn" stars Niecy Nash (pictured left) and Jerry O'Connell in a multi-camera comedy set in a hip Gotham hotel. It hails from scribe Abraham Higginbotham (who is yet another "Arrested Development" alum), 20th Century Fox TV, Reveille and Principato-Young Entertainment.

Meanwhile, rumblings from the Fox screening room is that execs very much want to be in biz with Bernie Mac (pictured right), whose Warner Bros.TV  project "Starting Under" has a 13-seg commitment, but they were only lukewarm about the execution of pilot, revolving around a down on  his luck guy who's forced to move in with son, by comedy vet Bruce Helford.

So the project still seems likely to get a greenlight but it will undergo some major renovations, perhaps with another scribe brought in to work alongside Helford.

Biz watchers today are also intently focused on ABC and what it may or may not be announcing Tuesday ayem as it moves into the leadoff slot normally occupied by NBC (which already lifted the curtain on its sked last month).

Chatter late Friday was that the fate of a renewal of David E. Kelley's "Boston Legal" was still wrapped up in the prospect of Kelley and 20th Century Fox TV reaching a deal with ABC Studios to move the Kelley cop pilot "Life on Mars" from 20th to ABC Studios under the direction of new showrunners Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec.

Drama "Women's Murder Club" appears to be officially K.O'd after one season, but as of late Friday there still seemed to be some hope for renewals for ABC midseasoners "Eli Stone" and "Miss Guided."

It's a very weird year. That's what everyone in town keeps saying over and over again as the biz gears up for the annual upfront ritual, which will be a little less ritualistic this year.

Gone in this Very Weird Year is the time-honored way in which reporters get big hints on what pilots are getting picked up -- by tracking the talent that is being flown in to New York.

As we all know, there are a whole lotta pilots that have not yet been shot and are just now setting casts. Most of the chatter, good and bad, about 2008-09 hopefuls this week has centered around the projects that the nets have in hand as pilots or presentations, or at least have significant thesps attached, a la ABC's "Never Better," which landed Damon Wayans (pictured right) as its lead last week.

So with the caveat that it is all spin and conjecture at this moment in time, let's review the buzz out there.

ABC's the hardest to read when it comes to new stuff.

On comedy front, Cedric the Entertainer (pictured left) vehicle (ABC Studios) seems to have traction -- or not, depending on who you talk to!

"Bad Mothers Handbook" (ABC Studios), about three generations of femmes living together, has not lensed but has the benefit of Alicia Silverstone (pictured right) and another high-profile name in the offing.

"My Brother's Hot and Other Dilemmas" (ABC Studios) about a girl attracted to her new step brother, has Alyssa Milano (pictured left). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that either a Silverstone or Milano comedy vehicle could be a nice companion for ABC's frosh hit "Samantha Who?" -- assuming that either pilot satisfies the larger obligation to actually be funny.

"Never Better" (ABC Studios) shot up on the radar after Wayans signed on and Marc Buckland signed on to direct.

Drama-wise at ABC ... I just don't know.

Only "Life on Mars," offbeat time-travel cop drama, is in the can. David E. Kelley and Tommy Schlamme have bowed out of that project, they're looking to move this from 20th Century Fox TV to ABC Studios and retool it under prospective showrunners Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg.

There's been a lot of chatter in the biz that "Life on Mars" shuffle granted a reprieve to Kelley's "Boston Legal" for another season. (Biz watchers with long memories will recall that two years ago, the same thing happened when ABC was hot for Kelley's "Mars.") But I'm hearing that "Boston Legal's" fate also has a lot to do with Kelley and how involved he intends to be going forward, among other factors.

It seems a safe bet that "Women's Murder Club" is headed for the morgue, though ABC is said to be anxious to stay in biz with star Angie Harmon. Midseason drama "Eli Stone" is said to be 50-50 for a sophomore year. And surprisingly, ABC is said to be considering a pickup for midseason comedy "Miss Guided." Can't swear to this but I heard the actors' options have been extended for a few more weeks.

At CBS, it's always a dangerous game trying to predict what Team Moonves is going to announce at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday. But some chatter about returning shows seems to be firming up.

Mara Brock Akil is a class act.

The creator/exec producer of "Girlfriends" proved that on Thursday in statement aimed at quelling the bitter response from fans of her long-running UPN-cum-CW sitcom "Girlfriends" to the news that this past Monday's back-to-back segs of the show would mark its swan-song after eight seasons. No proper series finale, just over and out.

CW explained in a statement earlier this week asserting that the decision was partly a response to the upheaval caused by the writers strike and partly an economic decision. Online petitions are circulating, vitriol in the blog-o-sphere is rising, but instead of exploiting the fans' ire for her own aggrandizement, Akil is accentuating the positive.

The uproar over the show's abrupt ending has forced CW and "Girlfriends" studio CBS Paramount Network TV to shake loose a little coin for a retrospective clip show later this season, as Variety's Michael Schneider reports. It's the least they can do for a show that has been a workhorse for two networks since the start of this decade.

"Although it's always difficult to say goodbye, I choose to focus my energy on the history that 'Girlfriends' has made, the human stories that we told, the beautifully complex images that we projected and the blessings 172 episodes bestowed on us, both personally and professionally," Akil said in a statement issued Thursday by CBS Par.

"I am immensely thankful to the amazingly talented cast, writers, directors, staff and crew for their endless dedication and hard work for eight seasons, to the network that always wanted us and the studio that always supported us, but mostly to the audience, especially African-American women, who took the time to tune into us every Monday night at nine to have a dialogue with us and who have been our partner in this journey.  I am currently in talks with the studio and network on putting together a retrospective show which will honor and celebrate this landmark series, so please stay tuned."

The fact that Akil, who also creator and exec producer of CW's "The Game," would take the high road in this situation comes as no surprise to those who know her. From her earliest days as an assistant on Fox's "The Sinbad Show" and her staff stints in the 1990s on WB's "The Jamie Foxx Show" and UPN's "Moesha," Akil impressed all who knew her as a talented, whip-smart writer and natural-born showrunner who was destined to go far in this biz. Kinda like the characters (in varying degrees) on "Girlfriends," come to think of it.

(Pictured from left: "Girlfriends" stars Tracee Ellis Ross, guest star Erykah Badu, Persia White and Golden Brooks)

"Everybody Hates Chris'" mom and dad, Terry Crews and Tichina Arnold (pictured left), were in D.C. on Friday for a screening of the series third-season opener held as part of the Congressional Black Caucus' 37th annual Legislative Conference, held this past weekend.

CW and "Chris" producer CBS Paramount Network TV hosted a screening and reception for caucus members and other salons and Beltway players at the Grand Hyatt hotel. Crews and Arnold intro'd the seg, "Everybody Hates the Guidance Counselor," which featured Chris Rock in his first on-screen guest shot on his namesake show. Also on hand for the event was "Chris" co-creator/exec producer Ali Leroi.

I was sorry to see that "Chris" didn't do much business for CW in its preem on Monday. It was a funny episode, with Rock playing the guidance counselor, but only 2.6 million viewers showed up for the 8 p.m. premiere.

Following "Chris" was the bow of "Aliens in America," which was also given the D.C. think-tank treatment on Monday by CBS Paramount Network TV. Studio prexy David Stapf and others flew in for a panel at the Brookings Institute on the show and its theme of cross-cultural education and understanding among Westerners and Muslims. Brookings Institute isn't the type of org to suck up to Hollywood, but "Aliens" caught the eggheads' attention with its premise about a typically kooky American family inviting a Muslim exchange student into their world. I enjoyed the pilot of "Aliens" and was also sorry to see that it barely opened for CW, drawing 2.3 million people. Oh well. One night does not a season make, right?

One of the people who took part in the "Aliens in America" confab was Pakistani musican Salman Ahmad, who teamed with P.J. Olsson to record the theme song to "Aliens," a new spin on the Nick Lowe song "(What's So Funny) About Peace, Love and Understanding." Sez Ahmad: "I believe in programs like 'Aliens In America' because music, film and television play a huge part in humanizing culture."

Click here to for a vid of the Olsson-Ahmad collaboration, set for release Oct. 16 on Olsson's CBS Records disc, "American Scream."

The fall season is well underway and so is the fall leg of panel-confab-Q&A madness. The Hollywood Radio and Television Society's annual network chiefs sesh outta be lively this year, what with ABC's Steve McPherson, NBC's Ben Silverman and Fox's Kevin Reilly on the same stage. (Quick quiz: Which net prexy said "Be a man" during the summer Television Critics Assn. press tour about which prexy in regards to the firing of another prexy?) All I can say is, CBS' Nina Tassler and CW's Dawn Ostroff probably shouldn't wear anything they really love to the luncheon, set for Oct. 16 at the Bev Hilton Hotel...

The night before the HRTS soiree, a group of industry vets who remember a time when a panel of entertainment chiefs featured only three male execs, will gather at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences HQ in North Hollywood to celebrate the release of an industry memoir from Ralph Baruch, founder of Viacom. Event will include a "how-to" Q&A with Baruch, who telegraphs just how much he's seen in his many years in the biz with the title of his tome: "Television Tightrope: How I Escaped Hitler, Survived CBS and Fathered Viacom"...

And for further schooling in smallscreen history, head on over to the Fine Arts Theater in Bev Hills for a conversation among TV publicists who've been through the wars (and then some). The Entertainment Publicists Professional Society panel dubbed "Legends of Television Publicity" will include network and studio vets Cliff Dektar (who was always a gentleman and a friend to me during his days with the Lippin Group), Michael Casey, Doug Duitsman, Hank Reiger, Gene Walsh and Murray Weissman...

OK, this one's kind of a stretch in terms of a TV connection, but I've always loved Raymond Chandler and this event sounds like fun. (And come to think of it there was a "Philip Marlowe" gumshoe skein on ABC in  1959-60. Powers Boothe also played the tough-talking sleuth in a mid-1980s HBO series.) Hollywood Heritage cultural org is offering a three-hour guided tour of "Raymond Chandler's Hollywood on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21. (Think "The Big Sleep," "Murder, My Sweet," Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart in really great suits.) Tour promises to take the curious to various homes, apartment buildings, streets, hotels and dives where Chandler (pictured right) and his lit alter ego Philip Marlowe hung out in the 1930s and '40s. Hard to tell where the line between fact and fiction is drawn here but it still sounds like good, clean, noir-y fun. For more info high-tail it to http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/.

I'm impressed that Chris Rock waited until season three to make his first on-screen guest shot on "Everybody Hates Chris," the loosely autobiographical sitcom he co-created, exec producers and narrates for CW.

Rock's big moment in the "Chris" spotlight finally comes on skein's Oct. 1 season preem, with Rock playing a guidance counselor at the Corleone Middle School that his on-screen alter ego, played with charm and by Tyler James Williams.

"Chris" has kinda flown under the radar lately after bowing to much acclaim and strong ratings in 2005 on the now-departed UPN. Every time I catch a seg of this show, I laugh. The season opener looks like fun. Click here for a clip of Rock in action on the show.

Now's about the time when things get harried in the production offices of new primetime series fortunate enough to land a slot on the fall sked. With most newcomers, there's a honeymoon period between the time they're picked up in mid-May and the time that cast and crew begin to hold their breath in anticipation of the first overnight ratings rolling in.

But there was no such luxury of an early-summer honeymoon for CW's unscripted frosh series "Online Nation," which bows Sept. 23. The frenzy of production set in as soon as producers got the official pickup word in May because of the research-intensive nature of program that exec producer David Hurwitz describes as "Laugh-in" for the YouTube generation.

"Unlike other shows where you can block things out, we're dealing with upwards of 40 user-generated clips per episode," says Hurwitz, who is steering the "Online Nation" ship along with exec producer Paul Cockerill. "This show is designed to be a showcase for all the creativity that is being displayed on the Internet. It's a variety show in the old-fashioned sense that we're offering something new every few minutes. But instead of producing segments, we're assembling this show 20-30 seconds at a time."

Hurwitz, an alumnus of "Fear Factor" and "The Man Show," says the biggest challenge in assembling each half-hour seg is the detective work involved. "Online Nation's" production offices in North Hollywood are stocked with nearly 20 staffers whose mandate is to surf the Web, as long as their eyes can focus, and hunt for interesting video snippets from people who qualify as non-pros, in Variety parlance. In many cases, the toughest part is getting past the user's Web pseudonyms in order to track them down and get a hold of a master copy of the clip.

(Pictured above, from left: "Online Nation" exec producer David Hurwitz, hosts Joy Leslie, Lincoln Neal, Rhett McLaughlin and Stevie Ryan and exec producer Paul Cockerill)

They met a few years ago in the trenches at MGM. Meredith worked as an assistant to MGM Pictures prexy Michael Nathanson; Marcie was on the desk of Elizabeth Ingold, the Lion’s exec veepee of production.

As both of them were bright and bubbly, young and ambitious in similar ways, the laws of workplace physics dictated that Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin would become friends. They ate lunch together most days, hung out in their spare time and developed a circle of mutual friends, many of whom were similarly employed in lower-rung showbiz jobs that offer Skybox views of the industry they seek to conquer.

Meredith and Marcie just happened to get there a whole lot faster than most, even in a town known for its accelerated career development.

The pilot of CW's "Reaper" has been one of the pleasant surprises in this year's crop of new shows. Everyone I talked to about it says virtually the same thing, that they didn't expect to like it as much as they did. It's hard to describe in a logline, which is usually a good sign for a show. The CW has heard all the industry buzz about the show and thus skedded it as the last of their day at TCA Friday, in an effort to get writers to stick around a dark hotel ballroom around on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Show is particularly well cast, with Brett Harrison playing a slacker dude, Sam, who learns on his 21st birthday that mom and dad inadvertently sold his soul to the devil. Devil shows up to enlist Sam in his new chores of helping him track down nasty souls who have escaped from hell.

Ray Wise, known for his role as Leland Palmer on "Twin Peaks" and a plenty of feature character roles, is utterly charming in his role as the Devil, and he turned on that wicked charm (and ultra-bright teeth) for the scribes on Friday. So did Tyler Labine, who is very good in the role as Sock, Sam's rambunctious friend and fellow coworker in a dead-end retail job at the local big-box Home Depot-esque store. Kevin Smith helmed the pilot seg but he was not on hand for the sesh. Exec producer Mark Gordon said Smith would be around to "help us out once and a while" but didn't sound too emphatic about Smith's ongoing participation. Nonetheless, he set a cool funny-scary tone in the pilot.

(Pictured above, left to right, top row: "Reaper" exec producers Deb Spera, Mark Gordon, Tara Butters, Michelle Fazekas. Bottom row: stars Valarie Rae Miller, Rick Gonzalez, Tyler Labine and Brett Harrison. Pictured below, Ray Wise.)