Enquirer news services
NBC may spare Providence from oblivion.
Jeff Zucker, NBC's entertainment president, said he's reconsid-ering his decision in October to cancel the drama after four years.
"I'm not afraid to admit I may have made a mistake, and we'll see," Mr. Zucker said at a news conference last week.
Last week, Providence ranked 41st among primetime shows but has been losing younger viewers whom advertisers favor. Mr. Zucker didn't say how well the show would have to perform to be renewed.
A two-hour episode, intended to be the series finale, will air Dec. 20. It's now simply being labeled a "finale," Mr. Zucker said. He noted that star Melina Kanakaredes will be handling another role soon - she's due to give birth.
Mr. Zucker also said that one of its top-ranked series, Will & Grace, could be expanding. Harry Connick Jr., whose character, Leo, married Grace (Debra Messing), may become a full-time cast member.
Negotiations with musician-actor Mr. Connick are in the early stages, the network said.
A&E biographies: Alongside America's most prominent TV family, the Osbournes, FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley and tennis star Serena Williams will be profiled on this year's Biography of the Year 2002.
For the past eight years, A&E has chosen people who have impacted our lives one way or another from the world of news, sports, politics and entertainment. This year's hit list includes a welter of inspiring (Ms. Rowley) and less inspiring (Osama bin Laden) personalities who have left their mark on history.
By assessing 2002's most important stories and events, A&E made the list, counting down from number 10 to come up with this year's most influential celebrities. Dominating the news on the forefront were of course President Bush, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon, accompanied by Halle Berry, who pioneered as the first African-American to win an Academy Award for best actress for her role in Monster's Ball.
A&E's Biography of the Year will premiere Dec. 9, at 8 p.m.
It's Showtime: Four new shows will join Showtime's slate of original series next year, including one that's sure to cause headaches for TV-listings editors.
That would be Penn & Teller: Bull----!, a series hosted by the comic magicians that will try to expose con artists that dupe unsuspecting members of the public.
The cable network's other new series are Earthlings, Out of Order and Dead Like Me.
Earthlings follows the lives of a group of lesbian friends in Los Angeles. Mia Kershner (Wolf Lake, 24), Jennifer Beals and Pam Grier are part of its ensemble cast.
Out of Order will run as a limited series - a two-hour pilot, plus four one-hour episodes. It stars Eric Stoltz (Once and Again) and Felicity Huffman (Sports Night) as a married couple struggling to keep their lives together.
Dead Like Me is a dark comedy about a young woman nicknamed George (Ellen Muth) who dies when she's hit on the head by a piece of debris from the MIR space station. She soon discovers that there is life after death, and she has a job waiting for her there - as a reaper, someone who escorts souls out of the living world and into the afterlife.
Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope), Rebecca Gayheart (Beverly Hills, 90210) and Jasmine Guy (A Different World) also star.
