Home
TUBE TALK Starting Feb. 11, when Dawn Tarnofsky-Ostroff takes over at UPN for departing chief Dean Valentine, it'll be interesting to see how well being executive vice president of entertainment at Lifetime prepares her for the land of ''WWF Smackdown!'' Then again, her background programming Lifetime's women-in-jeopardy movies should suit her in overseeing UPN's ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (which she had a hand in developing during a pre-Lifetime stint at 20th Century Fox TV), though Lifetime heroines don't fight their way out of jeopardy with sarcasm and wooden stakes. With yesterday's announcement of her hiring, Tarnofsky-Ostroff becomes the fourth woman currently running a broadcast network's entertainment division, following Fox's Gail Berman, CBS's Nancy Tellem, and ABC's Susan Lyne....
The New England vs. Oakland NFL playoff game may have been all but whited out by snow, but it helped CBS blanket the competition in this week's Nielsen ratings race. The contest drew 28.7 million viewers, the best showing for CBS on a Saturday night since the 1994 Winter Olympics. But with CBS's ''Survivor'' contest over, NBC's ''Friends'' drew 29.2 million viewers to become the most watched show of the week. Still, CBS averaged 15 million viewers for the week, beating NBC (14.2 million) despite the latter's strong showing for ''Friends'' and the Golden Globes (23.5 million viewers). ABC was third (8.9 million), edging out Fox (8.7 million). UPN came in fifth (4.2 million), followed by the WB (3.7 million).
TROPHY TIME In a year when ''Training Day'''s Denzel Washington might become the first African-American man to win a best actor Oscar in 38 years and ''Monster's Ball'''s Halle Berry might become the first woman ever to win a best actress Oscar, the Academy is granting an honorary Oscar to pioneer Sidney Poitier, in recognition of ''his extraordinary performances and unique presence on the screen and for representing the motion picture industry with dignity, style, and intelligence throughout the world.'' In announcing the award, which Poitier will receive during the March 24 Oscar ceremony, Academy president Frank Pierson said, ''When the Academy honors Sidney Poitier, it honors itself even more.'' That's a curiously self-congratulatory statement, given that, in 73 years, the Academy has so ignored African-Americans that only six have won acting Oscars and none has ever won a directing or writing Oscar. The 74-year-old Poitier, who has appeared in more than 40 movies and directed nine, was the first -- and so far, only -- black performer to win an Oscar for a leading role, in 1963's ''Lilies of the Field.''
REEL DEAL Don't tell Oprah, but Jonathan Franzen's bestseller ''The Corrections'' will be made into a movie. The National Book Award-winner, better known for its self-proclaimed highbrow author's public embarrassment over being selected for Oprah's Book Club than for its dysfunctional-family storyline, is being adapted by screenwriter David Hare (''Plenty'') for Stephen Daldry (''Billy Elliot'') to direct.
LEGAL BRIEF Lorraine Bracco has reportedly filed for divorce from Edward James Olmos. The couple, married since 1994, had been separated since last May.
