Starting Monday, John Steigerwald will be working solo on the KDKA-AM (1020) evening talk show he hosted with Scott Paulsen since mid-February.

Steigerwald continues with his news-and-politics-driven talk show as the 7 to 10 p.m. host.

Paulsen's last show was yesterday. He said he didn't want to work the nighttime hours but had agreed to it on a trial basis, and that he was keeping his options open for other possibilities at KDKA or elsewhere.

"We thank him for his contributions to CBS Radio, including WTZN, and have left the door open for other opportunities down the road," said Marshall Adams, KDKA director of news/talk programming. (Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Former "Nightline" reporter Dave Marash has quit Al-Jazeera English, saying his exit was due in part to an anti-American bias at a network that is little seen in this country.

Marash said he felt that attitude more from British administrators than Arabs at the Qatar-based network.

Marash was the highest-profile American TV personality hired when the English language affiliate to Al-Jazeera was started two years ago in an attempt to compete with CNN and the BBC. He said there was a "reflexive adversarial editorial stance" against Americans at Al-Jazeera English.

"Given the global feelings about the Bush administration, it's not surprising," Marash said. But he found it "became so stereotypical, so reflexive" that he got angry.

Will Stebbins, Washington bureau chief for Al-Jazeera English, denied any bias against Americans. "We certainly evaluate U.S. policy rigorously," he said. "But we do our best to give everyone a fair shout." (Associated Press).

ABC's hit reality show "Oprah's Big Give" turned out to be a life-changing experience for former contestant Kim Prentiss.

Like the other contestants on "Give," which airs 9 p.m. EDT Sundays, she was charged with making a difference in the lives of needy and deserving strangers across the country. When Prentiss, who works in marketing for the Tennessee Titans radio, signed up to do the show, she was looking for a way to shake up her life at age 40.

She says she had no idea how much of a change would come her way. A "Give" challenge in the Denver area, where she worked with inner-city children in an after-school program, profoundly touched her.

"It turned my life around," she says. "When you see kids who may not even have a full meal on the weekends -- the last good meal they get is on Friday when they leave school -- you think twice before buying a new outfit. It blew me away."

Prentiss is amused that her downfall on the program -- thus leading to her elimination -- was the fact she got lost for several hours while going to a challenge. Because "Give" is about doing the challenges in a time crunch, Prentiss, a former traffic reporter in Knoxville, Tenn., wasted hours just trying to find her way around cities like Miami and Houston.

"Even when I was the traffic tracker [for radio], I caused more accidents than I helped people avoid," she says with a laugh. "I'm a bad driver." (Terry Morrow, The Knoxville News Sentinel)

Recent Oscar nominee Hal Holbrook is making a house call to NBC's "ER," doing a guest appearance on the first night of sweeps.

Holbrook, coming off his Academy Award-nominated turn in "Into the Wild," will play a cancer patient who has a strong effect on Luka (Goran Visnjic). The episode is scheduled for April 24.

"The show has had an amazing array of incredible actors who have walked through the doors over the years, and Hal Holbrook certainly continues that tradition," executive producer David Zabel says. "He is perfect for this role and we couldn't be more pleased to have him."

Holbrook will play Walter, whom Luka meets while visiting a hospice ward. Despite his terminal status, Walter faces what's left of his life with a positive outlook -- and has managed to outlive all the other patients at the facility. Luka re-evaluates a big decision in his life after meeting Walter.

Holbrook has won five Emmys in his career, including one for portraying Abraham Lincoln in the 1974 miniseries "Lincoln." He was also nominated for one in 1967 for his signature role as Mark Twain in a televised version of his stage show "Mark Twain Tonight!" (for which he also won a Tony).

More recent credits include guest appearances on "The Sopranos," "NCIS" and "The West Wing." Among his films are "Magnum Force," "All the President's Men" and "Wall Street." (Zap2it.com)

HBO is beefing up its late-night offerings, adding a pair of comedy series to its lineup this summer.

The Australian import "Summer Heights High" and the animated show "The Life and Times of Tim" are both scheduled to premiere in June and will air back-to-back on Fridays.

"Summer Heights High," which has become a hit in its native country, takes a jaundiced look at life in an average high school.

"The Life and Times of Tim" centers on, as you might suspect, Tim, a regular guy whose best intentions invariably lead to bad consequences. (Zap2it.com)