Evening News

New York Magazine: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Saved! Thanks to a cost-sharing partnership with DirectTV, NBC will bring back the low-rated but awesome FNL for a third season. Now the question is, which network will be brave enough to share the cost of CAVEMEN with ABC? TNT? Telemundo? The Prehistory Channel?

E! Online: Is FNL really saved? A tentative agreement has been reached with NBC and DirecTV to do a dual-platform season three of Friday Night Lights—allowing it to live on in the fall. Though there was originally much season-three optimism trickling out of Jason Katims' posse, Mr. Katims just shared the following statement on the current status of FNL: "We remain optimistic about the future of the series and appreciate the overwhelming fan support, but it is too premature to comment on the status of any negotiations."

Hollywood Reporter: The Paley Center for Media on Wednesday announced the details of its spring season for its New York and Los Angeles locations. The schedule for New York includes "Human Giant Live!" (April 1), ABC's THE VIEW (April 9), "George Gershwin and Kay Swift: An Evening of Song and Television" (May 15), Sundance Channel's "On the Road in America" (May 28) and "Here's to Life: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to ONE LIFE TO LIVE" (June 10). Along with the upcoming PaleyFest08, the L.A. schedule include nights centered around "Quarterlife" (March 28), ABC Family's GREEK (April 28), Fox's BONES (April 9), FX's THE RICHES (April 18), CBS' MOONLIGHT (April 22), "A Conversation With George Carlin" (May 8) and "THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS 35th Anniversary" (April 10).

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Victoria Rauch Lichterman, assistant professor of humanities at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), has researched and spoken on the subject of “Racial Ventriloquism,” a social science term for white writers creating dialogue for blacks. “For example, on the soap opera, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, white thinking and language are expressed by black actors,” she explains.

Blogcritics: Connie Phillips writes on GENERAL HOSPITAL: "Did you guys stick around for the last five minutes of yesterday's show to get the crash course on CGI and how GH is the first soap to be incorporating it on a regular basis? In my opinion, it's had mixed results. I love the Port Charles skyline and the backgrounds we now see from the hospital roof (which made its debut on NIGHT SHIFT) but the speedboat ride to Spoon Island and the car dangling from the bridge were second rate effects at best."

Hollywood Reporter: Jori Petersen has been upped to vp media relations at ABC Daytime and SoapNet. Petersen will work closely with Brian Frons, president of daytime at Disney-ABC Television Group, overseeing all strategic public relations efforts for ABC Daytime, SoapNet and Buena Vista Prods. Petersen, who was vp media relations at SoapNet, will continue to report to Nicole Nichols, senior vp entertainment communications at Disney-ABC Television Group. "Jori is a strong, creative executive who has a proven ability to launch great campaigns, lead a team and brings a contagious excitement to this newly created position," Nichols said.

Rutland Herald: When Mary Sue Price looks at the bins of root vegetables and rows of artisan cheeses at the indoor farmers market and café called LACE on Barre's Main Street, she thinks "Action!" You could say that this writer for the soap opera GENERAL HOSPITAL - who has a home in Corinth - is also thinking "revolution." This city that once symbolized opportunity for creative types like granite sculptors is Price's inspiration for a brave new experiment born out of the recent entertainment writers strike: creating shows specifically for the Internet. She's making the café the setting and shooting location for a new comedy series that will be distributed via the Web. One goal of projects like hers is to put more power in the hands of the talent instead of the TV network suits.

Phawker: Duane Swierczyinski' novel The Blonde may be headed for the big screen. "Paul Leyden (ex-Simon, AS THE WORLD TURNS) is busy writing the screenplay. We met a while back and killed a whole Sunday at Triumph Brewery, talking about the book and movies and stuff. It was a blast."