Cynthia Nixon, who gained fame and an Emmy with "Sex and the City," added a second trophy Saturday for a guest role on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
Nixon was honored in Los Angeles at the Creative Arts Primetime Emmys, which recognize technical and other achievements for the 2007-08 season and preceded next weekend's main ceremony.
Other acting honors went to Glynn Turman, named best guest actor in a drama for "In Treatment"; Kathryn Joosten, best guest actress in a comedy for "Desperate Housewives"; and Tim Conway, best guest actor in a comedy for "30 Rock."
Joosten's portrayal of Mrs. McCluskey on the ABC drama also earned an Emmy in 2005.
HBO's miniseries "John Adams" was Saturday's top winner with eight awards, including best costumes for a miniseries, movie or special. AMC's "Mad Men," the top series nominee, took home four awards, including best cinematography for an hourlong series.
The creative arts Emmys will be shown as a special next Saturday on E! Entertainment, followed Sunday by ABC's live broadcast of the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Among networks, HBO received a leading 16 awards, followed by ABC and PBS with 9 each. CBS earned eight awards and NBC six. (Associated Press)
BET entertainment chief Reginald Hudlin, who boosted original programming at the channel known for music videos and reruns, is leaving the company, BET Networks said Thursday.
Hudlin is returning to his "entrepreneurial roots" as an independent producer, according to an internal memo from BET chairwoman and CEO Debra Lee that was released publicly by BET. BET executive Stephen Hill, who's in charge of music programming and talent, will serve as interim entertainment president during the search to replace Hudlin.
Lee lauded Hudlin for infusing BET's program development with creativity and energy, and noted that his division produced the network's highest-rated shows, including "Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown" and "Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is."
Those series exposed the tough lives of the music stars and, like other BET shows, targeted younger viewers. (AP)
Production on "24" will take a two-week break while writers figure out what will happen next on the serialized Fox drama.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, filming on "24" will be shut down Sept. 15-Oct. 9, a previously unscheduled hiatus. The trade paper says that the down-time was imposed by veteran showrunner Howard Gordon as an opportunity to rewrite several scripts and reconsider the direction of the season's final six episodes.
This is just the latest speed bump in the seventh season of the Emmy-winning drama.
The show's producers have been quite candid about the different false starts for the season, shifts in plot that caused several delays last summer.
After production actually started rolling, the writers' strike interrupted things after the completion of the season's eighth episode, causing fans to have to go a season without a new chapter of the Kiefer Sutherland-fronted series.
The show returned to production in April on seventh season episodes, as well as the two-hour telefilm, which will air in November and serve as a bridge to new episodes.
Because of the eight episodes in the can and the early production start, the two-week hiatus won't have any impact on the January premiere. (Zap2it.com)
NBC has sold nearly all of its commercial time during next year's Super Bowl, beating expectations despite a soft advertising market. The network said Thursday it has sold 85 percent of its available slots. Strong categories include automobiles and movies.
A dozen 30-second commercials sold for $3 million apiece. With only about 10 slots left, NBC could command even more money for each.
Normally, about 60 percent of Super Bowl ad slots get sold by this time of year, when the professional football season's final bout is still more than four months away. The Wall Street Journal reported on the development earlier on its Web site.
Sporting events have been a rare bright spot for media companies facing declining ad revenue this year in the weak economy. Although television ratings have been dropping for years as audiences turn to video recorders and alternative viewing platforms such as computers and Apple Inc.'s iPods, people tend to want to watch big sporting events live and on high-quality screens.
Viewership for NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., was better than expected during the Olympics Games and exceeded the minimums NBC guaranteed advertisers, allowing the network to free up time slots it had reserved to make up for any shortfalls.
NBC said it sold $25 million in ads during the Games, on top of more than $1 billion sold beforehand. (AP)
WQED will air a one-hour special on the Pittsburgh Symphony's incoming music director, Manfred Honeck, in "Pittsburgh's New Maestro," at 8 p.m. Thursday. ... "Access Hollywood" reports Jennifer Lopez has bowed out as a judge on the upcoming season finale of Bravo's "Project Runway." The show's style guru, Tim Gunn, will take her place. (Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor)
First Published: September 15, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
