Today's News: Our Take

Nick Bollea — the son of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan — has been sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading no contest to charges of reckless driving.

Bollea crashed a car in August, 2007, leaving his best friend, John Graziano, in critical condition. The 17-year-old was also sentenced to five years probation, 500 hours of community service and three years with his license revoked. In court Friday, Bollea reportedly said, "I would like to apologize to the Grazianos and to my family for the accident.... I will never ever be able to say I'm sorry enough." Attorneys for John Graziano filed a lawsuit against Hulk and his estranged wife in March, claiming that the parents of an underage driver are liable for the accident.

Hulk Hogan (né Terry Bollea) was present during the proceedings, after which Nick was taken immediately into custody. — Anna Dimond

Related:
• Car-crash Victim Slams Hulk Hogan with a Lawsuit

The CW has signed a deal with the production finance company Media Rights Capital to take over its Sunday-night programming block, where Everybody Hates Chris, Aliens in America and The Game currently reside. As part of the pact, MRC is contracted to develop two dramas and two comedies, and sell ad time for them.

The CW (and the WB before it) traditionally has had a very rough go of it trying to gain traction with Sunday programming/ratings. It is believed that by pawning off the quagmire to a media conglomerate, the netlet can focus its attention on Monday through Friday — where, ostensibly, EHC and/or The Game could find new homes. (Per Ausiello, Aliens is a goner.) — MWM

Related:
• The CW Axes Aliens in America
• No Laughing Matter: CW Closes Comedy Division

Thursday's recap:

8 pm/ET
Survivor's penultimate episode drew 12.66 million total viewers, while Betty (eight mil) this week bested 5th Grader. Earl (6.08 mil) plunged 10 percent, setting up Scrubs' NBC finale (5.37 mil) for its own nine percent drop. Smallville (3.96 mil) gained 309K.

9 pm
CSI held steady at 17.82 mil, though Grey's (15.6 mil, up 500 thou) was tops in demos. NBC's Office (7.22 mil) dipped 446K, but 30 Rock's stellar season-ender gained 206 thou — and I have the study to prove it. Supernatural matched last week's 2.53 mil.

10 pm
Without a Trace surged 14 percent, to 14.6 mil. Lost placed second with 11.28 mil (slipping 291K), while ER brought up the rear with 7.6 mil, down 135 thou.

Hmm, what's the word? Oh yeah: Ick!

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner tells Extra he'd like Miley Cyrus to pose in his magazine, once the Disney star is of legal age.

Said Hef: "Sure, she’d be welcomed in the magazine. Very pretty lady. And I think to make such a big to-do over something as innocent as those [Vanity Fair] photos, I think is a reflection on how schizophrenic America is about sexuality."

A scantily clad Cyrus, 15, posed for the current issue of VF, touching off swirls of controversy. — J.R. Whalen

POLL: What do you think of Hef's overture? Vote here.

Related:
• WATCH VIDEO Ellen Pokes Fun at Miley Cyrus Photo Scandal
• In Wake of Racy Pics, Miley Not Muzzled By Mouse
• Miley Cyrus "Embarrassed" by Racy Photos

Confirming what was previously reported here on TV Guide.com, the next two seasons of Lost will contain 17 new episodes apiece — not 16 as was the previous plan.

Simple math tells the whole story. The show's producers planned 16 episodes this season, but only 14 hours will air due to the writers' strike.

"We were supposed to do 16-16-16," Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof said. "So we owe two."

He emphasized the show will not extend beyond its planned finale, scheduled for the climax of the 2009-10 TV season. — J.R. Whalen

Related:
• Lost and Found: Scads of Scoopy Nuggets!
• Ausiello Report vodcast: Lost Death Spoiler!
• Lost Finds Extra Hour.... But There's a Twist!

Alec Baldwin has a Golden Globe to show for his 30 Rock run, but what he one day might want to earn is your vote, should he seek political office. (Baldwin mulled a run for governor two years ago — before he left that nasty voice mail for his then-11-year-old daughter.) "There are other things I want to do [besides acting]," the eldest Baldwin bro shares in a 60 Minutes sit-down airing Sunday. "There's no age limit on running for office, to a degree." As such, the 50-year-old actor says it "is something I might do one day."

Baldwin once famously dubbed Dick Cheney a terrorist, only to recant the statement and instead call the vice president "a lying, thieving oil whore and murderer of the U.S. Constitution."

Baldwin in 2012, anyone? — MWM

Related:
• 30 Rock Episode Recap: "Cooter"
• Cheers & Jeers rates 30 Rock's season finale

Madonna has revealed details for her 50-plus city "Sticky and Sweet" concert tour. The music starts Aug. 23, in Cardiff, Wales, and then makes the rounds in Europe before finally hitting the U.S. on Oct. 3 (at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands). Subsequent destinations include Madison Square Garden, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, with Miami hosting the final show on Nov. 26.

The on-sale date for ducats has yet to be announced. Billboard hears that prices will range from $55 to $350 a pop. — MWM

With the upfronts just around the corner, Steve McPherson has inked a new multiyear deal to stay on as president of ABC Entertainment. "Steve is one of the most influential programmers of his generation," says Disney/ABC Television Group co-chair Anne Sweeney. "His ability to identify talent and develop successful shows is second to none."

A few of McPherson's accomplishments since taking the position in 2004, per Variety:

• ABC has gone from having just one show in the top 20 (among adults 18-49) to seven, including four of the top 10.

• This season, ABC had five of the top 10 new series (among 18-49).

• ABC has topped November sweeps in the key demo for the past three years.

Shows developed during McPherson's run include Dancing with the Stars, Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies and Samantha Who?

Arrested Development alum and recent Nip/Tuck player Portia de Rossi has been cast in ABC's untitled comedy pilot from Victor Fresco (My Name Is Earl, Andy Richter Controls the Universe).

The single-camera workplace comedy revolves around a moral guy striving to do the right things in an amoral world. (Good luck with that, brother.) De Rossi would play, I dunno, someone blonde and hot. — MWM

CBS' Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson is writing a tell-all memoir which will reveal difficult aspects of his past, as well as his road to fame from a small town in Scotland to the United States.

The upcoming book will detail, among other things, Ferguson's past addictions to drugs and alcohol and a failed suicide attempt during a period of depression. The newly minted American citizen will publish the book, America on Purpose, next year through HarperCollins.

Before his comedy career, the Scotsman apparently tried his hand as a punk rocker, club bouncer, construction worker and even a modern dancer.

Ferguson has clearly fully embraced his life as a comedian, however. Commenting on the book's potential, he said he's writing it "in the hope that it will inspire other alcoholic, punk-rock drummers from Scotland." Is this an opus you plan to peruse? — Anna Dimond


Use our Online Video Guide to catch more of Ferguson

Jennifer Love Hewitt — aka TV Guide's Sexiest Star of 2008 — is about to get another accolade. The Ghost Whisperer maven is to be honored Friday by the Step Up Women's Network at the organization's 2008 Inspiration Awards.

Last week, Love Hewitt hosted a set visit from two Step Up mentees who have entertainment biz aspirations. In a statement to TVGuide.com, Hewitt said of her visitors, "I loved having Jerrie and Dianica visit the set of Ghost Whisperer. It was fun to be able to see the excitement of making a television show through their eyes and was a great reminder of why I do what I do."

The Step Up organization works on "strengthening community resources for women and girls." A national non-profit, the group leverages professional skills of its volunteers to give back to communities. Along with Ms. Whisperer, Gossip Girl mom Kelly Rutherford will be honored in New York, May 29.

And as for Love Hewitt: Sexy and inspiring? We knew it all along. — Anna Dimond

Use our Online Video Guide to see more of the sexy and inspiring Ghost Whisperer

Can't get enough of Sexy Stars? Check out photos, video and more of TV Guide's 2008 Sexiest Stars!

Liv Tyler and husband Royston Langdon are splitting up.

Tyler's rep told People, "Liv Tyler and Royston Langdon have confirmed their separation. They remain good friends and devoted parents to their son Milo and are requesting that their family's privacy be respected at this time."

The pair married in 2003, and had Milo in December 2004. Langdon is a British rock artist. Rumors about their separation have been circulating, reaching fever pitch after Monday's Costume gala in New York, where Tyler was seen without her wedding ring. — Anna Dimond

You know, the moment I first saw the new promo I sensed trouble. Isaiah Washington, who is currently lensing a movie in New Orleans, reportedly was taken aback to see himself featured (via a newspaper clipping that raises Cristina's barely-there eyebrows) in the spot promoting the May 8 ep of Grey's Anatomy.

Noting that "Isaiah has no plans to go back" to the series, the actor's rep tells TMZ, "We were more than a little surprised that ABC used his likeness in a promo... and indeed advanced his character's storyline." (Dr. Burke is the recipient of an high honor that throws his former fiancée for a loop.) Adds the spokesman, "Mr. Washington's attorney has contacted the Screen Actors Guild and ABC as to the appropriateness of that action."

And just like that, folks, it's spring 2007 again. Let's get commenting! — MWM

Playing elsewhere on TVGuide.com:

• Ausiello has an update on Allison Mack's Smallville status.

• In our Great American Idol blog: Clay Aiken's take on today's AI.

• More reality TV for Dancing stars Shannon and Derek?

• How the writers of Two and a Half Men took on tonight's CSI.

• Movie News about FNL's Minka Kelly, Brandon Routh and "Mrs. Garrett."

• Season finale preview: Rock the Cradle.

• Cheers & Jeers takes on Jon Stewart & John McCain.

• Watch Video: Snoop Dogg on One Life to Live.

• Michael Logan asks: Where have Y&R's epic stories gone?

Could "Gene Gene the Dancing Machine" be waiting in the wings? The Gong Show is making a return to Comedy Central in July.

Dave Attell, star of the network's Insomniac series, will host the offbeat talent show. "Stars will be made. Feelings will be hurt," he said.

Win Ben Stein's Money producer Andrew Golder is producing the show along with Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. — J.R. Whalen