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It is unfortunate that when it comes to television programs, the shows that get the most attention are those that call the most attention to themselves -- the ones that are quirky, odd and flamboyant. With none of those qualities, "Friday Night Lights," which is now running its fourth season on Direct TV and will be returning to NBC prime time on April 30, has sort of flown under the radar. Though it has received critical plaudits, won a Peabody Award, a Television Critics Assn. awards and an Emmy, it has never received an Emmy nomination for outstanding dramatic series and none of its cast members has been nominated.

It is unfortunate that when it comes to television programs, the shows that get the most attention are those that call the most attention to themselves -- the ones that are quirky, odd and flamboyant. With none of those qualities, "Friday Night Lights," which is now running its fourth season on Direct TV and will be returning to NBC prime time on April 30, has sort of flown under the radar. Though it has received critical plaudits, won a Peabody Award, a Television Critics Assn. awards and an Emmy, it has never received an Emmy nomination for outstanding dramatic series and none of its cast members has been nominated.

Direct TV's NFL Sunday Ticket football again will use top NFL athletes, as well as a couple of high-profile rookies, in its marketing campaign. Last year's commercials, which showed top players being pushed around stores in shopping carts, are being replaced by ads in which players try to pump up their images in a "Dating Game"-like setting. Campbell-Ewald Co. shot a pair of 30-second spots last week in Los Angeles.

Robert Ginty, a versatile actor who starred in the 1980 film "The Exterminator" and built a varied career as a producer, director and actor in film, television and the stage, has died. He was 60. Ginty died Monday at his home in Los Angeles, said Michael Einfeld, manager for Ginty's son, James Francis Ginty. He had cancer. Ginty had a recurring role as Lt. T.J. Wiley in "Baa Baa Black Sheep," which aired on NBC from 1976 to 78 and which he described to the New York Times in 1984 as dealing with "the innocents of World War II, a bunch of gung-ho young kid pilots."

Alan Cooke, a British-born director whose credits ranged from television's "Lou Grant" to tours of U.S. college campuses presenting "King Lear," is dead of liver failure caused by hepatitis. A family spokesman said this week he was 68 and died in Los Angeles on Oct. 9. Born in London, Cooke began directing while a he was member of the Coldstream Guards stationed in Palestine at the end of World War II. It was a production of Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man."

A former aerospace building in El Segundo that sat vacant for more than nine years has been fully leased about one month after a Brentwood firm completed a $10-million renovation of the property. Brentwood-based Proficiency Capital leased the 157,000-square-foot building at 2300 Imperial Highway to Hughes Space & Communications Co. and its DirectTV satellite-TV unit, according to Jeff Trenton, president of Proficiency.

Hughes Electronics Corp. reported a wider net loss for the first quarter Monday, even though it added new U.S. subscribers to its DirectTV service at a faster clip than expected. The satellite TV broadcaster, which is a unit of General Motors Corp., had a net loss of $156.4million for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $105.3 million, as its costs jumped 22%. Revenue grew 7.7% to $2.04billion. GM does not provide per share earnings for Hughes.

In an effort to get more people to notice its new vehicles, Ford Motor Co. has enlisted the help of filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet to direct some commercials. The television spots, which were scheduled to debut Tuesday night during Fox's "American Idol," compare the company's Edge crossover vehicle with the BMW X-5 and the Lexus RX-350, Ford officials said.

George Wendt, who played Norm on "Cheers," is starring in a TV movie for Fox that will be directed by John Candy. The comedy, which is being shot in Toronto, is called "Hostage for a Day" and features Wendt as a man who stages his own kidnaping to escape an unhappy marriage and unsatisfying job.

Even before the TV industry has finished devising its first ratings system, pressure mounted on Tuesday from critics who favor an approach that gives parents more information about how much sex, violence and coarse language each program contains. Several children's advocates met in Washington with ratings committee chairman Jack Valenti and made it clear they are not happy with the direction of the ratings, which will be announced on Dec. 19.

In the era of TiVo, Danny Cannon knows that most people will fast-forward through a run-of-the-mill opening credit sequence. So to introduce the new Jerry Bruckheimer-produced cop series "Dark Blue," he crafted blink-or-you'll-miss-them main titles that last only 12 seconds. The son of a North London prop man, Cannon grew up on movie sets and had aspirations to become an actor. He joined an improv theater company and performed in plays before realizing his talents lay elsewhere.

In an effort to get more people to notice its new vehicles, Ford Motor Co. has enlisted the help of filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet to direct some commercials. The television spots, which were scheduled to debut Tuesday night during Fox's "American Idol," compare the company's Edge crossover vehicle with the BMW X-5 and the Lexus RX-350, Ford officials said.

Actress Anjelica Huston, who is 53, was recently in London, where she spoke to her friend actress Maggie Smith, who is 70. "I said, 'We miss you in L.A. Are you ever coming back?' She said, 'No darling, they don't like old people there.' " Tell Huston about it. Her father, legendary director John Huston ("The African Queen"), told her in her mid-20s that she was "too old" to start acting.

The NFL announced television deals Monday worth $11.5 billion. The league agreed to extend its contracts with Fox and CBS for six more years -- 2006 through 2011 -- for a combined $8 million, a 25% increase over what those networks now pay. And the league gave DirecTV a new, exclusive five-year, $3.5-million contract to continue carrying the Sunday Ticket pay package through the 2010 season. The money represents a 75% increase over the current five-year, $2-million contract.

Hughes Electronics Corp. reported a wider net loss for the first quarter Monday, even though it added new U.S. subscribers to its DirectTV service at a faster clip than expected. The satellite TV broadcaster, which is a unit of General Motors Corp., had a net loss of $156.4million for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $105.3 million, as its costs jumped 22%. Revenue grew 7.7% to $2.04billion. GM does not provide per share earnings for Hughes.

Clark Jones, 82, who directed many of television's early live arts programs, died March 28 at his home in Key West, Fla. The cause of death was not announced. Born in Clearfield, Pa., Jones attended Northwestern University. He began his broadcasting career in 1941 at an experimental station in Schenectady, N.Y., and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe and North Africa.

Emmy-award winning producer Don Silverman, who also wrote and directed dozens of episodic and special TV programs, has died of cancer. His brother, Richard Silverman, said the Boston-born television executive was 60 when he died Thursday in Los Angeles. Silverman worked in the industry for more than 40 years, first in radio and later in TV, rising from production assistant to producer-director of such varied programming as the CBS and NBC network news shows to the Miss Universe pageants.

Don Chaffey, the British-born movie and TV director who brought several Walt Disney features to the screen, has died in his sleep at his New Zealand home, it was reported last week. Ronnie Leif, his agent, said Chaffey was 73 when he died, apparently of heart disease, on Nov. 9 on Kawau Island. Chaffey began as an assistant in the art department at Britain's Gainsborough Pictures in 1944 and by 1946 was an art director.

When Roxanne Austin was promoted to president of DirecTV in June, the nation's leading satellite television provider was in a bad slump. Costs had rocketed, the company's growth rate was slowing, and shares of DirecTV's parent, Hughes Electronics Corp., had dropped to new lows. Austin made quick and sweeping changes, ranging from using in-house sales teams for the first time to requiring customers to sign up for a year's worth of DirecTV service.

A former aerospace building in El Segundo that sat vacant for more than nine years has been fully leased about one month after a Brentwood firm completed a $10-million renovation of the property. Brentwood-based Proficiency Capital leased the 157,000-square-foot building at 2300 Imperial Highway to Hughes Space & Communications Co. and its DirectTV satellite-TV unit, according to Jeff Trenton, president of Proficiency.