Television Broadcasts

LAST week wasn't a great one for NBC, which saw its fall lineup, including the premiere of a new spin on the old car caper "Knight Rider" and the return of the onetime hit "Heroes," stumble in the ratings. Whatever happens, though, NBC Entertainment co-Chairman Ben Silverman has already delivered on an important part of what could ultimately prove his legacy at NBC: Hurling a Hail Mary pass to save the low-rated but critically acclaimed fan favorite “Friday Night Lights.

A year ago, Turner Sports dived into postseason baseball without so much as warming up in the bullpen. "It was like trying to start a car in winter," said TBS producer Tim Kiely. It wasn't as if the company didn't know its way around a diamond. TBS, after all, had been doing Atlanta Braves games for 30 years. But still, for a general public used to dealing with the broadcast networks and ESPN in the postseason, it was disconcerting.

A beauty queen in a full-length evening gown is enough to make Abu Mohammed Jibril's blood boil. Those bare arms and uncovered head. That cleavage. And don't get him started on the bikini portion of the show. Miss Universe is disgusting pornography to the deputy head of Indonesia's Mujahedin Council. "It's destructive," he said of the contest that airs here. "Miss Universe is very famous, so Muslim mothers want their daughters to be like Miss Universe and copy what they've seen.

The Supreme Court would not be recommended as the best place in this city to hear a raucous conversation that makes full use of the F-word, the S-word and assorted other vulgarities. It is a place of decorum. Officers will firmly reprimand a visitor who errs by leaning an elbow on the next chair. Tuesday morning may be an exception, however.

Thanksgiving weekend is so not about eating turkey and sitting around with loved ones. It's about getting the heck away from the table and being first to grab the remote control. Really, from dawn until dusk Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today, you could be watching football games that will be crucial to portioning out decimal points in the blurry BCS college football title chase or deciding NFL playoff spots.

Boise State's dramatic 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in Monday's Fiesta Bowl, originally televised by Fox, will be reshown three times tonight as an edited one-hour special on FSN West. The special, titled "Best Damn Instant Bowl Classic," will air after the Arizona-Washington basketball game at around 9:30 p.m. and again at 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Tonight's UCLA-Oregon State game, originally not scheduled for television, will be televised on FSN Prime Ticket at 7.

Fox Sports reversed course Wednesday and announced that tonight's UCLA-Oregon State basketball game will be televised by FSN Prime Ticket starting at 7. The Bruins, undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation, are making their first Pacific 10 Conference trip of the season. The conference and Fox have a national television contract, and last summer Fox decided today's Pac-10 national television game would be Arizona-Washington at 7:30 p.m.

Campaign '08 is officially underway. MSNBC announced Monday that it would carry live coverage of the first Democratic presidential debate, to be held in South Carolina on April 26, nine months before that state's primary. The 90-minute debate, hosted by South Carolina State University, is being produced by NBC News and organized in cooperation with the South Carolina Democratic Party. So far, it's the first debate on the calendar.

The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider an appeal by satellite television provider EchoStar Communications Corp. of a nationwide injunction barring it from transmitting network television signals. The court's decision is the latest step in a nine-year legal battle between Englewood, Colo.-based EchoStar, which operates the DISH satellite network, and the major television broadcast networks and their affiliates.

The duo behind the blockbuster Internet applications Skype and Kazaa think they have the secret to online video: Make it more like TV. Joost (pronounced "juiced") seeks to merge the best features of Internet file-sharing technology -- such as its ability to deliver content efficiently -- with a television-like viewing experience.