Wbal

Series Wife Swap: : The series marks its 100th episode by taking two families selected by viewers from past fan favorites. This time, the storm-chasing, science-obsessed Heene family from Colorado swaps wives and moms with the psychic, performing arts-inclined Silvers from Florida. (8 p.m., WMAR-Channel 2) Friday Night Lights: : Dillon is in the spotlight when the Panthers' game is selected to be televised nationally. (9 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Battlestar Galactica: : Part 1 of the series finale.

Hockey arenas house violence It would be gratifying to believe that at the very least, the New York Islanders hockey player/thug, Chris Simon, who waged a vicious assault against an opponent would be permanently banned from the sport. One who would believe that, though, would be setting aside the fact that in this sport, the viciousness of the game and the possibility that blood will be spilled on the ice is part of the thrill for voyeuristic crowds. Consequently, even if one engages in an attack that could easily paralyze or kill the victim, the perpetrator will ultimately be forgiven, as he is seen as having acted "in the heat of the moment."

Talk about a superhero showdown. In a risky counterprogramming move, NBC will begin pitting its fall hit, Heroes, tonight against Fox's anti-terrorist thriller, 24, and its larger-than-life protagonist Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). The battle reflects a growing consensus among network programmers that quality shows will find an audience - even against the toughest competition. Already viewers are being forced to choose on Thursdays between ABC's Grey's Anatomy and CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Critic's Pick -- Kim Delaney (above) guest stars as a police captain who questions Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (10 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11).

Ravens defensive tackle Trevor Pryce "very likely" will miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle, coach Brian Billick said last night. "We're going to miss Trevor," Billick said on his weekly radio show on WBAL. "Getting him back was important for us. We'll adjust, but missing him on the inside is going to be a lot to deal with." Ravens@Chargers Sunday, 4:15 p.m., Ch. 13, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM Line: Chargers by 9 1/2

Thank God You're Here is a show aimed at everyone who misses Whose Line is It, Anyway?, an earlier series that featured improvised comedy and taped long and hard enough until the featured performers came up with material that was actually funny. Here, dispensable host David Alan Grier and unnecessary judge David Foley oversee the proceedings as a series of comic actors are thrown into ridiculous costumes and are plunged, ostensibly unprepared, into comic vignettes with other actors in which the first line of the sketch is, invariably, "Thank God you're here."

This week's version of a light bulb joke: How many sports media columnists does it take to screw up a report on radio ratings? Answer: See picture above. Last week, I said Ravens regular-season games on WBAL (1090 AM) and 98 Rock (WIYY/97.9 FM) in 2006 drew more listeners than the games on JACKfm (WQSR/102.7 FM) and ESPN Radio 1300 (WJFK/1300 AM) in 2005. Which is true. But that may be all I got right. According to numbers compiled by Arbitron, the radio ratings service, WBAL/98 Rock averaged 166,300 Baltimore-area listeners 18 and older for each game.

MPT viewers in the Annapolis area may have some problems with their signal this week.The station is replacing its 25-year-old Crownsville transmission tower and, while work is going on, the signal is being sent out by a temporary transmitter with much less power. Which explains why your picture may not be as clear as you'd like.Officials warn you may not receive any picture at all as the work nears completion.Full power is expected to be restored by Saturday.In other MPT news, the station received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support production of a documentary on the development of the piano (2000 marks the piano's 300th anniversary)

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.

At Oakland (Calif.) ColiseumDay Time TV StartersTonight 10: 35 54, 50 Mike Mussina (7-1, 4.45) vs.Tom Candiotti (2-5, 6.90)Tomorrow 9: 15 54, 50 Jason Johnson (0-1, 7.50)vs. Gil Heredia (3-4, 5.56)Sunday 4: 05 HTS Scott Erickson (1-6, 6.02) vs.Mike Oquist (5-3, 4.31)Radio: All games on WBAL (1090 AM) and WTOP (1500 AM)Athletics updateThe Athletics are involved in a three-team scramble for second place in the American League West, having rebounded from a recent six-game losing streak by sweeping the Royals in a three-game series that concluded with yesterday's 6-1 victory.

We are only two weeks into the new fall season, but already it looks as if we have an answer to the question of the TV year: How will Jay Leno do in prime time for NBC? The answer: Pretty well, when he is up against reruns or other weak competition, but not very well at all when he is faced with top-notch, first-run programs of the sort CBS is now throwing up against the lantern-jawed comedian on an almost nightly basis. And while NBC can probably live with being a low-cost alternative to the other networks on most nights, affiliates like Baltimore's WBAL (Channel 11)

For nearly two decades, tens of thousands of Maryland listeners have been starting their days with "Dave Durian and the WBAL Morning Team" - an easy-to-take mix of news and talk airing on the one of the oldest and most honored local news stations in the country. Monday at 5 a.m., that Baltimore media institution will be replaced by "Maryland's Morning News" -a clock-driven, harder-news and information-focused program designed for the Internet Age with more and shorter stories, an intensely local orientation, higher production values and much tighter format.

Growing up in Baltimore, Jeff Beauchamp cherished WBAL radio. On chilly mornings, he would huddle around the radio listening intently, not for news, not for music, but solely for two words magical for a boy: snow day. Beauchamp, who would one day lead the city's top news-talk station, wasn't born a journalism junkie. He never, as he puts it, wanted to change the world, but he realized very early on the power of local radio. Beauchamp, who worked at WBAL for 34 years, transforming it from a place to hear soft music into the No. 1 station in Baltimore for hard news and talk, was asked to leave his job last week, another victim of the economy and the struggling media industry.

There have been no major changes at local anchor desks. Nor have any newscasts been added or dropped. But suddenly, Baltimore is a much more competitive local news market than it has been in decades. Front-running WBAL (Channel 11) is not winning by wide margins any more with its evening newscasts, and even more surprising, WMAR (Channel 2) is no longer a ratings doormat trailing the competition by seemingly insurmountable margins. Blame it on the Local People Meters, a new bit of technology introduced in Baltimore on July 2 by the Nielsen Media Co. to measure area viewing habits.

Series Dog Whisperer: : An Italian greyhound mix, has become so possessive over bones and toys that he has bitten his owner several times. (9 p.m., National Geographic Channel) The Chopping Block: : The contestants whip up Italian dishes and prepare lunch for several famous Italian guests. (8 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Privileged: : Megan (JoAnna Garcia) unintentionally discovers a shocking secret from Laurel's (Anne Archer) past while compiling research for a proposed biography of her in this repeat.

Longtime WMAR staffer Kelly Groft has been named the station's news director, giving her the chance to head a struggling news operation she joined a decade ago. "I'm thrilled, it's something I've wanted for a very long time," said Groft, who officially takes the job Monday. "I've never shied away from a challenge." Groft, a Harford County native who grew up near Bel Air, came to work at WMAR, Channel 2, in 1998 as a producer for the 6 p.m. news. She and her husband, Jay, a news photographer for WPMT, Channel 43, the Fox affiliate in York, live in southern Pennsylvania with their two children, Hannah, 7, and Camden, 4. Groft replaces Peggy Phillip, who spent a little less than a year as WMAR's news director after coming to Baltimore from Syracuse, N.Y. Phillip has been named news director of NBC affiliate KSHB in Kansas City, Mo. Both WMAR and KSHB are affiliates of Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps.

Series Law & Order: : A troubled NYPD officer is killed by fellow cops after he takes hostages at gunpoint. (10 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Most Outrageous: : The new series premieres with a look at odd pets, including rodents and pigs. (10 p.m., Animal Planet) Specials Thrilla in Manila: : The final fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in the Philippines is recalled in this new documentary. (7 p.m., HBO). Movies The Ten Commandments:: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter star in director Cecil B. DeMille's final film, the 1956 biblical epic about the life of Moses.

Series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: : John's life changes in a confrontation with Weaver on the season finale. (8 p.m., WBFF-Channel 45) Friday Night Lights: : Matt (Zach Gilford) prepares to leave his grandmother and Julie (Aimee Teegarden) behind as he heads to college, but Tim (Taylor Kitsch) is having second thoughts about school in the season finale. (9 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Patton 360: Blood & Guts : This new series follows the career of U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton Jr., beginning with the 1942 invasion of North Africa.

Series Parks and Recreation:: Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler and The Office's Rashida Jones headline this new sitcom. (8:30 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Samantha Who?: : Andrea's (Jennifer Esposito) latest boyfriend may be keeping a secret in this new episode. (8:30 p.m., WMAR-Channel 2) 30 Rock:: Impending budget cuts cause uneasiness among the TGS staff in this new episode. (9:31 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire: : An unlikely hero arises in this new series spoofing the conventions of the medieval fantasy flicks.

Series The Graham Norton Show: : High School Musical's Zac Efron and pop music's Pet Shop Boys are tonight's guests. (7 p.m. and 10 p.m., BBC America) ER:: NBC offers an encore of the long-running medical drama's series finale. (8 p.m., WBAL-Channel 11) Movies Take the Money and Run: : Woody Allen has a "gub" and isn't afraid to use it in this 1969 spoof. (8 p.m., TCM) Yours, Mine & Ours: : Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo star in this family-friendly 2005 remake about a blended family overrun with children.