By Leo Barraclough

LONDON -- The BBC has tapped Tony Hall as its director general, following the departure of its former chief George Entwistle.

The BBC did not approach any other candidates, it said.

Hall, who will have a salary of £450,000 ($718,000) a year, is expected to start in early March. Tim Davie will remain as acting director general until then.

Entwistle left in the wake of a controversy surrounding the BBC's handling of two separate child abuse scandals, both centering on flagship public affairs show "Newsnight."

Chris Patten, chairman of the pubcaster's governing body the BBC Trust, said: "While there are still very serious questions to be answered by the on-going inquiries, it is in the interests of license fee payers that the BBC now starts to refocus on its main purpose -- making great programs that audiences love and trust.

"In doing this it will need to take a long, hard look at the way it operates and put in place the changes required to ensure it lives up to the standards that the public expects. Tony Hall is the right person to lead this."

Hall said: "It's been a difficult few weeks -- but together we'll get through it.

"I'm committed to ensuring our news services are the best in the world.

"I'm committed to making this a place where creative people, the best and the brightest, want to work."

By Andrew Stewart

Moviegoers got into the holiday spirit over the Nov. 16-18 frame, as a pair of pics, "Anna Karenina" and "Silver Linings Playbook," found love  at the specialty box office.

Both films bowed in limited release, at 16 domestic locations apiece, though the Weinstein Co.'s "Playbook" played slightly better, with an opening per-screen average of $27,688, and a $443,003 three-day total. Focus Features' "Anna Karenina" managed to crack the $20,000 per-screen benchmark thanks to higher revised weekend totals of $320,690.

There was some cannibalization over the weekend, since both pics launched at some of the same theaters, including the Landmark in Los Angeles. "Playbook," however, drew a more commercial crowd, driven largely by stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. The pic scored strong results in Philadelphia, where the film is set.

"Anna Karenina" saw its biggest returns from upper-crust theaters such as New York's Lincoln Square and the Village. And while "Anna" drew low- to mid-sized grosses from locations in Chicago and Boston, the film saw massive upticks in those cities Friday to Saturday, with Boston at more than 100% and Chicago at 90%.

"The art crowd, no question, was the driver this (past) weekend," Focus distribution prexy Jack Foley says.

Weinstein plans to expand "Silver Linings" to some 400 locations Nov. 21 (modified from the pic's originally planned wide release), while "Anna Karenina" broadens to approximately 300 engagements Nov. 30. Both pics will continue to roll out through awards season.

By Stuart Levine

Chevy Chase is dropping out of Glendale Community College.

Comedy star has departed NBC's "Community," but will still be seen in the majority of episodes that have been shot for the upcoming fourth season. The laffer returns to the Peacock lineup on Feb. 7 in its 8 p.m. Thursday timeslot.

One of the original "Saturday Night Live" Not Ready for Primetime Players, Chase has long stated his unhappiness on the Sony-produced series. He publicly feuded with former showrunner Dan Harmon and has often derided the quality of the show.

"Community" has never earned strong ratings for NBC, but it has a vocal fan base and demos that resonate with higher income families. Because of that, the net decided to bring the show back in midseason.

News was first reported on Deadline.

By Stuart Levine

The latenight race among Los Angeles local newscasts is tightening.

During the November sweeps, KABC's "Eyewitness News" leads with an average telecast of 274,000, but that's just 20,000 more than KCBS. It's the closest KCBS has been to KABC at 11 p.m. since 2007.

To show how competitve the half-hour is following primetime, KNBC is third at 205,000, just 70,000 below KABC.

In the early morning 6 a.m. hour, when many viewers are watching local news for traffic and weather for the day ahead, KABC is in front with 195,000 viewers. KTLA is second at 160,000 with Fox11 News at 76,000.

KCBS has much ground to make up in the mornings, however, with only 57,000 tuning it. Channel is bested by all, including KNBC with 65,000.
At 5 p.m., when KCBS, KNBC and KABC are all on the air with their local news, KABC is clearly best with 283,000. That is the most-watched Los Angeles newscast of any channel for any time period during the day.

Second at 5 o'clock is KNBC (145,00), followed by KCBS with 129,000.

By AJ Marechal

Discovery Channel has retired the popular reality series "Dirty Jobs," according to a blog post by series host Mike Rowe.

More than 150 episodes were aired on the cabler, initially bowing in 2003 as a spinoff from a local San Francisco program "Somebody's Gotta Do It." Series was produced by Pilgrim Films.

Discovery had no comment.

In a Huffington Post article titled "A Turkey Without a Pardon: Bidding Farewell to 'Dirty Jobs'," Rowe penned that "a few weeks ago, I was officially informed that 'Dirty Jobs' has entered into a new phase … in the more popular industry vernacular, canceled."

Rowe noted that he wanted to "immediately pass the news on" to the show's fans, but that it has taken the host "a few weeks to digest."

"'Dirty Jobs' is a very personal show, and it's difficult for me to imagine a future that does not involve exploding toilets, venomous snakes, misadventures in animal husbandry, and feces from every species," he continued. "I'd like to thank those people most responsible for reinvigorating my erstwhile career, and launching the most honest show in the history of reality TV."

Indeed "Dirty Jobs" put Rowe on the map as an unscripted mainstay, even leading to spokesperson deals with paper towel companies and animal health products. Rowe has also lent a hand to other Discovery shows and specials, including narrating programs such as "American Chopper," "Deadliest Catch" and "Ghost Lab."

"I can't say that 'Dirty Jobs' never jumped the shark, but I'm proud to say it's still the same hatchet," Rowe wrote. "The last episode looked pretty much like the first. … We stuck to the mission statement. … It was, as they say, a very good run."

As for Rowe's future in showbiz, he assured fans that "good things are in the works."

By Cynthia Littleton

In this season of time-shifted turbulence for the nets, NBC has prospered with must-see live TV.

"Sunday Night Football" and Monday reality hit "The Voice" have powered the Peacock to a strong start this fall -- surprising even the most optimistic network insiders. The urgency to watch live gridiron action and the singing competition series has given the network desperately needed momentum at the start of the week and, most important, a lead-in on Monday that launched the Peacock's most promising frosh drama, "Revolution."

"We are just hell-bent on programming (shows) that have to be watched at a certain time," NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said. "The best business model for us is live shows (and) shows where people have to talk about the storylines and the contestants."

Lead-ins and night-to-night momentum have been in short supply at NBC for most of the past decade. So it's no wonder Greenblatt took a moment on Tuesday to tout the net's worst-to-first showing in adults 18-49 in the November sweep (compared to last year), even though sweeps aren't as important to the TV biz as they once were (thanks to advances in Nielsen's measurement systems).

"It feels great," Greenblatt said during a conference call. "It feels like it is possible to move the needle. Momentum can do great things for you. There's an intangible excitement in the building that is infectious for our producers and our advertisers."

In the same breath, Greenblatt was careful to acknowledge that NBC will likely enter a rockier ratings period after football ends and "Voice" and "Revolution" take breathers until March. Fox will get more competitive with the return of "American Idol," while CBS has the Super Bowl in early February.

"I do know that we're going to drop accordingly," Greenblatt said. "There's some big competitive things coming in the first and second quarter. We expect a pretty significant leveling of the playing field."

In the season-to-date measure, NBC is leading CBS for bragging rights as No. 1 net in adults 18-49, with NBC up 23% from the same period last season to 3.2 rating/9 share while CBS has ebbed 18% to 2.8/8, according to Nielsen. In adults 25-54, the Eye and Peacock are neck-and-neck at 3.7/9, again with NBC up 23% and CBS off 18%. CBS maintains its edge in total viewers (11.7m vs. NBC's 8.7m).

NBC's margins in the November sweep period (with three days still to count) are similar, which NBC noted marks the net's best November perf since 2003.

"We feel like starting out this strong, and heading into what we know is going to be a tougher winter, just feels like a big accomplishment," Greenblatt said. "Once we get into March we'll be back in the game in a big way with the return of 'The Voice' and 'Revolution.' "

For the season overall, Greenblatt was cautious about making predictions. "I feel pretty confident that we're not going to end up in fourth place (in 18-49) again this year after all these years," he said. "I'd be astonished if we ended up to be No. 1. ... I'd be thrilled if we landed at No. 2 and pretty pleased if we were just in third place."

Greenblatt made a point of thanking the journos on the call for coverage of NBC's fall perf, and noted that he's happy not to see so many qualifiers like "perennial laggard" attached to every story about NBC.

"I look forward to what you write nowadays," he said.

Now that's a turnaround.

By Dave McNary

Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," has been selected as the winner of the animation writing award from the Writers Guild of America West's Animation Writers Caucus.

The caucus will present the kudo to Groening next Wednesday at WGA West headquarters with guild president Christopher Keyser set to attend. The award is given to those who "advanced the literature of animation in film and/or television through the years and who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer."

In 2006, "Simpsons" writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss were tapped for the Animation Writers Caucus Animation Award. Long-time "Simpsons" writer Mike Scully received the caucus award two years ago.

"The Simpsons" has won nine WGA awards since the animation category was introduced in 2003.

Groening received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame earlier this year in conjunction with the airing of the 500th seg of "The Simpsons" on Fox.

By AJ Marechal

OWN is bringing YouTube stars the "Golden Sisters" to the smallscreen for a special one-hour presentation next month.

Mary, Josie and Teresa are three elderly sisters who rose to Internet fame after a clip of them watching and reacting to a celeb sex tape went viral.

OWN will air two back-to-back half-hour episodes at 10 p.m. Dec. 16 that center on the sisters as they engage in quirky situations, including creating online dating profiles, consulting with dating coaches and preparing for the apocalypse.

"Golden Sisters" is produced by LMNO Cable Group. Eric Schotz is exec producing, with Paul Harrison co-exec producing.

By Christopher Morris

Straight out of the box, U.S. consumers took home boy band sensation One Direction in major numbers, and the U.K. quintet's sophomore album became its second No. 1 release of the year.

Leading seven new titles onto the top 10, "Take Me Home" (Syco/Columbia) captured the top with first-week sales of 540,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data for the week ending Nov. 18. That's the third-largest opening-week sales total to date this year, trailing only Taylor Swift's "Red" (1.2 million) and Mumford & Sons' "Babel" (600,000).

Owing to a lag in the Stateside release of its 2011 debut set, the Brit "X Factor" grads notched another chart-topping album earlier this year: "Up All Night" vaulted to the top in March with a 176,000-copy tally. Group's bow has sold a total of 1.37 million.

A short list of performers has topped the one million mark with 2012 releases: One Direction, Swift, Mumford and Lionel Richie (with "Tuskegee").

"Take Me Home" dislodged Swift's "Red" (Big Machine) after the country-pop star's three-week sojourn at No. 1. The album dipped to No. 2 with 145,000 sold (down 26%). Sales to date total just shy of 1.9 million, easily the bestselling album of 2012.

Twihards pushed Atlantic's soundtrack for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" to a No. 3 arrival with 93,000 sold. Though each of the accompanying soundtracks for the boffo vampire romance series has sold less than its predecessor, all five have placed in the U.S. top five, with "Twilight" and "New Moon" capturing No. 1.

Canadian hip-hopper the Weeknd (né Abel Tesfaye) rode in at No. 4 with his first full-length album, "Trilogy" (Republic), which scanned 86,000. As its title suggests, set compiles tracks from three previously released mixtapes.

Regrouped Seattle grunge institution Soundgarden, absent from the studio for 16 years, materialized at No. 5 with "King Animal" (Republic), which scored an 83,000-unit debut. Vets picked up close to where they left off: Act's last album "Down on the Upside" peaked at No. 2.

While no match for Michael Buble's 2011 Yule smash "Christmas," Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas, Baby" (Verve) continued to show long holiday legs in its third stanza, slipping to No. 6 with an 8% lift in sales to 80,000 copies.

Despite high visibility as a judge on "The Voice," Christina Aguilera made a soft arrival with "Lotus" (RCA), which entered at No. 7 with 73,000. Singer's last three studio albums bowed in the top five.

Second installment of Green Day's album trilogy, "Dos!" (Warner Bros.), moved in at No. 9 with 69,000. "Uno!" reached No. 2 in October. Bay Area punk trio's 2012 tour plans were sidetracked by a rehab stay for lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong.

Siren Lana Del Rey's mini-album "Paradise" (Interscope) checked in at No. 10, scoring 67,000. The vocalist made her first chart mark with "Born to Die," which debuted at No. 2 in February behind Del Rey's attention-grabbing "Video Games" clip.

Top 10's other holdover was the "Now 44" compilation; the Capitol-distributed collection dropped six rungs to No. 8, shifting 70,000 (off 29%).

Next week's chart will reflect Black Friday sales and feature debut numbers for hot new titles by Rihanna, Kid Rock, and "American Idol" champ Phillip Phillips.

By Stuart Levine

ESPN has pacted to become the home of college football's championship game through the 2025 season.

Deal also covers semifinal games and any other bowl games that will be part of the rotating schedule of national championship venues.

After much grief from college football fans, a new playoff system is set to begin with the 2014 season. In its current state of choosing a champion, the top teams are selected by the BCS poll and bowl committees rather than having the teams play one another to see who is No. 1.

"Because of college football's widespread popularity and the incredible passion of its fans, few events are more meaningful than these games," said ESPN president John Skipper. "We are ecstatic at the opportunity to continue to crown a college football champion on ESPN's outlets for years to come, the perfect finale to our year-round commitment to the sport."

ESPN, which already has rights to the NFL's Monday Night Football package, as well as with Major League Baseball and Wimbledon, among others, is continually looking to grow its live-sports packages as a way to hedge against DVR viewing.