Robert Greenblatt

Uneasy fans of "Revolution," "The New Normal" and "Go On" can fill their DVRs with abandon as of now. All three freshmen series have been picked up by NBC for full-season orders. NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt praised the renewals in a statement, saying, "We're very pleased with early results of the last three weeks of our fall season roll-out. " The network used the huge audience it had for the London Summer Olympics to promote and debut its new shows. "Revolution," the J.J. Abrams-produced science fiction series about a world with no electricity grabbed 11.7 million viewers when it debuted on Sept.

The legendary Liza Minnelli epitomizes Broadway flash and pop - and now she'll sing and dance her way across the small screen in “Smash.” NBC announced Tuesday that Minnelli -- already a Tony, Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe and Grammy winner - - will appear as herself in an episode of “Smash.”  The show returns for a second season in early February. Minnelli's episode, “The Surprise Party,” will air later in the spring. Minnelli, daughter of actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli, will sing an original song in her “Smash” debut with Christian Borle (who plays Tom on the show)

In the NBC sitcom "30 Rock," the self-absorbed television chief executive, played by Alec Baldwin, obsesses over what will happen to his career when his company ? NBC ? is taken over by Kabletown, a fictional cable systems operator from Philadelphia. On Friday the real-life cable company from Philadelphia ? Comcast Corp. ? assumes control of NBC Universal, the real-life entertainment colossus that is featured in the show. And while Steve Burke, the new chief executive of NBC Universal, is a fan of "30 Rock," one of his priorities will be to reform the NBC Universal corporate culture, one that has condoned politicking and aggrandizement, the very workplace parodied by the sitcom.

An earnest lawyer in a suit and stocking feet stood on a bench at the Santa Monica pier, waving his shoes to make a point about the government. Others tried to shout him down, engage passers-by, or pass out business cards to children. This was no political demonstration, street theater, or film shoot.

Showtime wants the acclaimed comedy "Arrested Development" should Fox decide to cancel it, but only on one condition: creator Mitch Hurwitz must come with it. "If only a small fraction of the loyal audience that [watches it] on Fox came to Showtime, it would be one of our highest-rated shows," Robert Greenblatt, Showtime's president of entertainment, told the Television Critics Assn. Thursday evening.

When the season finale of the Showtime thriller "Homeland" ran last month, it didn't just cap Claire Danes' triumphant return to series television — it marked the latest milestone for a small country that lately has become an improbable player in Hollywood. "Homeland," which broke Showtime's ratings record for a first-year series finale, is adapted from the Israeli show "Hatufim" (Prisoners of War). It's one of a host of U.S. programs that began life as a Hebrew-language series in this Mediterranean nation of only 8 million people.

Calling on an executive from its television studio to propel its network, Fox Television on Friday afternoon named Peter Roth, the head of Twentieth Century Fox Television, president of the network's entertainment group. Roth replaces John A. Matoian, who resigned Friday after holding the job for less than two years. Neither Matoian nor Roth were available for comment. Matoian's resignation had been expected for months as Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox parent News Corp.

After a mysterious two-week disappearance, the body of Lisa (Lili Taylor), Nate Fisher's (Peter Krause) sweet, gentle, murderously passive-aggressive wife, washed ashore somewhere near Santa Barbara. The news, which came at the end of the final episode of "Six Feet Under" last June, broke the fever that had raged throughout much the third season. Thanks in part to Taylor's moony presence, the congenitally repressed Fisher family had plunged headlong into lunacy.

Despite the lack of movement to resolve the labor dispute between the National Football League and its players, the major broadcast and cable networks that carry the games are expressing confidence that when September rolls around it will be business as usual. This week in New York, networks including NBC, Fox and ESPN are telling advertisers to whom they are presenting their fall lineups that they believe the players and owners will strike a new deal on a collective-bargaining agreement before September.

It was the year of the man, and the woman, on TV in 2003. It just happens that it was man with man, and woman with woman. While NBC's "Will & Grace," HBO's "Six Feet Under" and Showtime's "Queer as Folk" continue to attract audiences, a new set of shows about or featuring gay and lesbian characters exploded onto the broadcast and cable networks, giving gays their most prominent presence yet in the TV mainstream.