Dateline Nbc Television Program

In the three years after she left her post at "Dateline NBC," Maria Shriver collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the network as part of an exit deal, even as she pondered whether she could continue her journalism career while her husband was governor of California.

More than one raver or beat-hippie idly surfing network TV on the evening of Jan. 30 knew a brute shock of the all-too-familiar. NBC's "Dateline," in another installment of its sordid and successful "To Catch a Predator" series, rolled tape on the latest batch of vermin lured to an obscure Long Beach residence with online promises of sex with (fictitious) young teens. Caught in "Dateline's" on-camera haul was musician Matty Nash, the percussionist-founder of L.A.

"Dateline's" Stone Phillips will be leaving NBC at the end of June after the network declined to renew his contract as part of a corporate belt-tightening effort. The departure of Phillips, a 15-year veteran of' NBC, comes after the news division trimmed staff in the fall and dropped "Nightly News" weekend anchor John Seigenthaler when his contract expired earlier this spring. In all, the network's 6,000-person news operation is expected to shrink by about 400 positions over two years.

The sister of a man who was suspected of being a sexual predator and who killed himself as the cameras of "Dateline NBC" closed in on him sued NBC Universal Inc. for $105 million Monday. Patricia Conradt's brother, Bill Conradt Jr., shot himself in November in a Dallas suburb as police knocked at his door and a camera crew for the newsmagazine waited in the street.

A controversial "Dateline" series about sexual predators returns to the airwaves tonight, bringing with it a renewed discussion about the appropriate relationship between the press and law enforcement. In the last 18 months, the NBC newsmagazine set up three hidden-camera stings to confront suspected pedophiles seeking out young teenagers in Internet chat rooms, leading to the arrests of more than 50 men.

NBC often struggles in the ratings on Thursday night, but not with Britney Spears. Spear's interview with Matt Lauer on "Dateline" drew an average 8.9 million viewers and built strongly throughout the hour, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. It also won the 9 p.m. slot among the adult group most coveted by advertisers, those ages 18 to 49, with a 3.8 rating/12 share. The 24-year-old pop star told Lauer that media criticism about her parenting skills had crossed the line.

By Saturday, this quiet residential neighborhood had, on the surface, returned to normal. The sun warmed the morning chill. A dog barked in the distance, and children played in their backyards. But inside an otherwise empty stone-and-brick rental house were reminders of an undercover police operation that caused an uproar in this neighborhood last week: Electronic equipment was stacked on a kitchen counter. A stuffed toy hung from a chandelier like a Christmas ornament.

Amid all the applause, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III did take a little flak when he backed out of a promise to first appear on NBC's "Today" in favor of CBS' "60 Minutes." The official reason was a request by the pilots association to hold off until the investigation into the water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 progressed, but insiders believed that Sullenberger's publicists had decided that "60 Minutes" was a bigger, better platform. (A book deal is already in the works.

Dueling celebrity scandals filled the May sweep airwaves Wednesday night, and when the dust settled it was clear that viewers were far more curious about the alleged indiscretions of Paula Abdul than the admitted transgressions of Pat O'Brien. ABC generated impressive numbers with a special edition of the newsmagazine "Primetime Live: Fallen Idol," which featured Corey Clark, a former "American Idol" contestant who claimed he had an affair with Abdul, one of the show's three judges.

Networks have long been ushering reality show castoffs onto morning shows and otherwise deploying news divisions to promote in-house product, but on Wednesday night, in the heat of the May sweeps, some kind of dam seemed to burst. ABC, in a twist on the typical embrace, used its news division to go after the hottest property in Fox's entertainment division, airing a so-puffed-up-it-was-hilarious expose of the alleged affair between "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul and ex-contestant Corey Clark.