CBS

Jackson may be starting a comeback Michael Jackson was due to make a "special announcement" at a London music venue this week - expected to be confirmation of his first live concerts in years. British media said yesterday that the troubled King of Pop will announce a string of dates at the city's O2 Arena. Celena Aponte, spokeswoman for the venue's operator, AEG Live, said Jackson had arrived in London yesterday and would appear at a news conference at the arena tomorrow afternoon. Jackson's last live performance in Britain was at the 2006 World Music Awards.

Survivor: Fiji comes careening to a close tomorrow night at 8 on CBS (WJZ, Channel 13). In some ways, it seems like this season has been going on forever. (Upon seeing the credits in Thursday's show, I was sure that Erica was from, like, two seasons ago, but no.) But in other ways, this season is just warming up - now that all the adversaries are gone, the allies are turning on one another. But we only have two more hours to see that all play out. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

The writers strike claimed a major casualty yesterday as the Democratic National Committee canceled a presidential debate planned for Los Angeles Dec. 10. CBS was scheduled to hold the debate with anchorwoman Katie Couric as moderator. But leading candidates had said they would not cross a writers' picket line, and yesterday 500 CBS writers who had authorized a strike vote seemed on the verge of announcing a walkout for Dec. 10. "The possibility of picket lines set up by the Writers Guild of America and the unwillingness of many candidates to cross them made it necessary to allow the candidates to make other plans," CBS News said in a statement issued late yesterday.

TELEVISION 1.America's Got Talent, NBC 2.CSI, CBS 3.Without a Trace, CBS 4.Two and a Half Men, CBS 5.60 Minutes, CBS FILMS 1.Superbad, New Line Cinema 2.The Bourne Ultimatum, Universal Pictures 3.Rush Hour 3, New Line Cinema 4.Mr. Bean's Holiday, Universal Pictures 5.War, Lionsgate SINGLES 1.Beautiful Girls, Sean Kingston 2.Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal), Fergie 3.The Way I Are, Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson 4.Hey There Delilah, Plain White T's 5.Stronger, Kanye West ALBUMS 1.High School Musical 2 soundtrack, Various artists 2.Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus 3.Live at Radio City, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds 4.NOW 25, Various artists 5.Hairspray soundtrack, Various artists DVDS (SALES)

Nov. 9 1872 Fire destroyed nearly 800 buildings in Boston. 2006 CBS newsman Ed Bradley died in New York at age 65.

After days of mounting pressure from civil rights advocates, advertisers and the public, CBS Radio fired Don Imus from his nationally syndicated radio show yesterday. Imus' ouster came a day after his dismissal from MSNBC, which had simulcast three hours of Imus' 4 1/2 -hour show. It originated from CBS' flagship WFAN in New York and was beamed to some 70 radio stations via the network's Westwood One arm. The rapidly unfolding developments in the Imus saga were driven by increasing outrage over his April 4 reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball players as "nappy-headed hos," a term embedded with pejorative racial and sexual undertones.

How easy it must be to be a television executive whose network has a piece of the NFL. Before the game, all you have to do is gather a few talking heads together, let them toss around insults and strategy and watch the viewers tune in. It doesn't matter what is said or by whom; it's football and people will watch.And once the game starts, the routine is the same. Get a few more talking heads to talk more intricate strategy, roll out the cameras and point them at whatever moves in a uniform and watch the viewers tune in.Again, it doesn't matter what is said, or even who is playing; it's football and people will watch.

The first year into a potential eight-year deal is far too early to nail down concrete trends, and CBS Sports President Sean McManus is far too classy an individual to say "I told you so," but, if numbers from the Hollywood Reporter are accurate, McManus may have reason to do just that.After CBS yanked away the rights to the AFC from NBC last January with a $500 million-per-year average offer, McManus and Mel Karmazin, then the No. 2 man at CBS, said over and over that the network expected to make a profit from NFL telecasts, even if it was only a dollar.

In the latest in a series of stunning television rights negotiations, CBS yesterday agreed to an extension of the network's contract to carry the men's college basketball tournament that will pay the NCAA $6 billion over 11 years.The whopping contract will pay the NCAA more than $545 million annually, more than doubling CBS' current $247 million annual fee.CBS, which has held exclusive over-the-air rights to the tournament since 1982, beat back bids from Fox and Disney's ABC and ESPN to retain one of sports television's most valuable properties.

By now, most fans acknowledge that the Orioles' 1999 postseason hopes are pretty nonexistent. Still, there are more than a few wild cards surrounding where their games will be heard on the radio next year.The team's three-year pact with WBAL (1090 AM) expires after this season, and the pursuit of the rights may trigger a variety of scenarios, including baseball on the FM band or a new all-sports station.All speculation begins with one fairly essential truth: Money will be the biggest factor in whether the Orioles return to WBAL, where the team's rights have been located for all but 10 of the 46 seasons the team has been in town.

If the only thing that Don Hewitt had done in his six decades at CBS News had been to invent the phenomenally successful "60 Minutes," he would still have been one of the two most influential producers in the history of the medium. But Hewitt's legacy reaches far beyond "60 Minutes." For starters, each time viewers tune into a network newscast, they are experiencing something partially invented in the frenzied and fertile imagination of Hewitt, who died Wednesday at his Bridgehampton, N.Y., home of pancreatic cancer.

CBS News said there were no conditions placed on the interview with ex-NFL star and admitted dog killer Michael Vick that will air Sunday. A spokesman also said that even though CBS Sports host James Brown has never done a report for "60 Minutes," he earned the right to do the Vick piece by getting the interview on his own. In my first post about the interview, I raised questions about the choice of Brown rather than one of the CBS News correspondents who...

Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, who was named the "most trusted man in America" in a 1972 poll and came to personify the golden age of network TV news, died Friday. He was 92. Mr. Cronkite's longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said Mr. Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. at his Manhattan home surrounded by family. She said the cause of death was cerebral vascular disease. Known for his avuncular camera presence and fierce commitment to fact-based journalism, Mr. Cronkite was the face and voice that most Americans turned to from 1962 to 1981, when the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite became TV's most influential news franchise.

Spears' 'Circus' tour may go Down Under Britney Spears might take her Circus act to Australia. Attorneys for the pop singer, 27, and her father and conservator, James Spears, discussed during a recent hearing expanding her current Circus tour to include dates in Australia and Europe. Another hearing was set for Tuesday. Arraignment delay A Los Angeles court official has delayed the arraignment of Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer-turned-boyfriend and a psychiatrist who treated the former model.

Jack Bauer will be back, actor says Kiefer Sutherland, 42, will be back to play Jack Bauer for an eighth season of the hit counterterrorism drama 24, the actor said Tuesday. Sutherland told the Associated Press that 24, in its seventh season, will start shooting its eighth in May. Song and dance Anne Hathaway is set to play Judy Garland in both film and stage adaptations of Gerald Clarke's 2000 biography, Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland. In other film news, Zac Efron has dropped out of his role in a remake of Footloose.

Richardson hurt in skiing accident Actress Natasha Richardson, critically injured in a skiing accident, was on a flight to the United States, Britain's Press Association news agency reported yesterday, quoting Canada's Sacre-Coeur Hospital. Richardson was hospitalized after falling during a lesson on a beginners trail at Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec on Monday. IrishCentral.com reported that the Tony Award-winning actress suffered a head injury. Richardson, 45, is the wife of Liam Neeson and the daughter of Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave.

"Body of work" popped up all of a sudden but then just as quickly became annoying. How many times did we hear that one during CBS' NCAA tournament selection show Sunday evening? ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/ mediumwell)

If Brown wins award, maybe he'll get slimed Nickelodeon says it has no plans to remove Chris Brown as a nominee for its annual Kids' Choice Awards, despite the singer's felony charges for allegedly beating up his girlfriend, Rihanna. Brown is nominated for favorite male singer and favorite song. An online petition asking Nickelodeon to remove Brown and Rihanna as nominees had 2,166 signatures yesterday. Nickelodeon says Brown was nominated for his work as a performer, and kids will decide who wins at the March 28 show.

Jackson may be starting a comeback Michael Jackson was due to make a "special announcement" at a London music venue this week - expected to be confirmation of his first live concerts in years. British media said yesterday that the troubled King of Pop will announce a string of dates at the city's O2 Arena. Celena Aponte, spokeswoman for the venue's operator, AEG Live, said Jackson had arrived in London yesterday and would appear at a news conference at the arena tomorrow afternoon. Jackson's last live performance in Britain was at the 2006 World Music Awards.

No 'Hello, Aunt Dolly' in 'Hannah Montana,' Parton says she's out of movie Dolly Parton says she won't be in the coming Hannah Montana movie, despite word to the contrary on the Web. But Parton wishes she had been. The country legend says producers had asked her whether she would revisit her recurring role as Aunt Dolly from the TV show in the film. But her character apparently didn't make the script. Still, Parton says she loved playing the role on the TV show because it opened her up to a new generation of fans.