Woo-hoo! The Simpsons cast has signed up for three more years on Fox — and three movies!

        “It's all very cheery for me. I couldn't be happier with the results,” says Nancy Cartwright, the Dayton, Ohio, native who provides Bart Simpson's voice.

        The Simpsons is TV's longest-running prime-time animated series, and the oldest TV sitcom currently on the air. It premiered as a weekly series in January 1990, after three seasons as an animated short on Fox's Tracey Ullman Show.

        No word on when The Simpsons would make the big screen transition, following the path of The Rugrats, Beavis & Butt-head, Doug, Recess and South Park.

        Miller time: Comedian Dennis Miller promises he won't look like a deer caught in the headlights when he starts his second season in ABC's Monday Night Football booth at the Canton Football Hall of Fame game Monday (8 p.m., Channels 9, 2).

        Mr. Miller recalled his debut a year ago, while speaking to TV critics in Pasadena, Calif., last week:

        “They cut to me in Canton standing next to Al (Michaels), and I'm thinking: "I'm usually in my undies at this time with a clicker on the couch,' ” he says. “And I'm thinking something weird happened here: "I've fallen through some cosmic bunny hole, and I don't even know what ... I'm doing here.”

        He describes his personal growth as a sportscaster last year this way: “At the beginning of the season I was scared ... because I didn't know how hard it was going to be, and at the end of the season I was scared ... because I knew how hard it was.”

        By the way, the Pittsburgh native refers to ABC partner Dan Fouts as “Danno” and Mr. Michaels as “Albino.” Mr. Fouts also is starting his second ABC season.

        “We couldn't have pulled this off even vaguely without Albino, because it's like working a couple of new guys into the Walendas act. Al took care of us,” Mr. Miller says.

        Mr. Michaels, the former Reds radio announcer (1971-73), “doesn't mind if I do anything goofy when the game is crap,” Mr. Miller says. But if the game is close, the comedian says, he knows to “shut up with the mindless jive.”

        When football fans ask Mr. Fouts about the comedian's arcane references, he tells them: “Don't worry about the ones you don't get, enjoy the ones you do, and remember, there's a ball game going on.”

        Joining the Monday Night Football team this season is Fred Gaudelli, who had produced ESPN's Sunday night NFL games. He notes that the NFL no longer demands that ABC feature every team — including habitual losers like Cincinnati and Arizona — on Monday Night Football. Last season's Super Bowl teams — the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants — didn't play on Monday night.

        So who will make it to the Super Bowl?

        “If form holds, it will be Arizona against Cincinnati,” Mr. Michaels says, “and we'll wish we had them on Monday Night.”

        Chris Yaw update: Former Channel 12 reporter Chris Yaw, the subject of my Monday column, has accepted a position at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Battle Creek, Mich. The Rev. Mr. Yaw will start in September as associate rector for Christian formation. The graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., was ordained June 16.

        Great race: Survivor contestants Susan Hawk and Jeff Varner and two Playboy playmates are among the 18 people participating in the six-vehicle Cannonball Run 2001: Race Across America airing Sunday-Thursday (9-10 p.m., USA).

        TV notes: Comedian Caroline Rhea (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) will take over The Rosie O'Donnell Show (3 p.m., Channel 5) when Ms. O'Donnell quits next summer. Ms. Rhea had been unsuccessful in launching her own talk show in recent years.

        Opry lands: The Grand Ole Opry Live, which has aired as a 30-minute show (8:30 p.m. Saturday, TNN) for nearly 20 years, will move Aug. 18 to sister Country Music Television, a channel dropped by Cincinnati Time Warner Cable several years ago.

        Opry fans will be delighted that CMT will expand the live cable telecast to an hour. Vince Gill will perform on the CMT debut, says Kaye Zusmann, CMT chief programmer.

        The Opry is the longest-running live radio show in the world, says CMT publicist Jama Bowen. Tristate residents with a strong radio can listen to the show after sundown on Nashville's WSM-AM (650).

        Family values: The third annual Family Program Awards will be presented today in Beverly Hills by the Family Friendly Programming Forum, co-founded by P&G executive Bob Wehling. The awards program airs on CBS Aug. 10 (8 p.m., Channels 12, 7).

        Parental help: Fox Family Channel devotes an hour to explaining ratings for TV programs, video games, CDs and movies today on What Every Parents Needs to Know about Entertainment Ratings (6 p.m., Fox Family Channels). Sounds like an excellent resource for every PTA.

Her brother, her hero
Unrest makes ArtWorks goals more challenging
KNIPPENBERG: Knip's Eye View
James Taylor's got a friend in Cincinnati
Move suits cable production group
'Simpsons' cast re-ups on Fox
The Early Word
Top 10s
Get to it