'30 Rock' Star Will Quit Show, Acting When Contract Expires

It's not the first time he's said he would be leaving the acting profession, but now Alec Baldwin has set a date for his retirement, saying that when his contact with NBC's "30 Rock" ends in 2012, he's quitting, reports the Boston Herald, citing an interview in the upcoming issue of Men's Journal.

Baldwin claims that he's not interested in acting anymore and wants to accomplish something else with his life.

-- Allison J. Waldman

Football Leads NBC to Sunday Victory

Pigskin proved potent for NBC on Sunday as the NFL bout between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens led the night witha 6.6 preliminary Nielsen rating among adults 18-49, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The NFL doubleheader on Fox in the afternoon bled into primetime and boosted the network's aninmation quartet, with "The Simpsons" earning a 4.2, "Cleveland Show" a 3.5, "Family Guy" a 4.4 and "American Dad" 3.3. That was good enough for second place, ahead of a 3.0 for ABC's "Extreme Makeover," a 4.3 for "Desperate Housewives" and a 3.0 for "Brothers & Sisters."

CBS' "Amazing Race" was competitive with a 3.4, but the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie at 9 p.m., "A Dog Named Christmas," logged only a 2.1.

-- Allison J. Waldman

Lehrer Moves Over as PBS 'NewsHour' Gets Remade

Starting Dec. 7, Jim Lehrer's name will not appear in the title of PBS' evening newscast -- the first time since 1976, Elizabeth Jensen reports in the New York Times.

The report will be renamed the “PBS NewsHour” and Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff and Jeffrey Brown will rotate as Lehrer's co-anchors.

Former CBS News reporter Hari Sreenivasan has been tapped to recap the news each night, and the "PBS NewsHour" will launch a revamped web site Thursday.

-- Allison J. Waldman

Matthew McConaughey Animates His Brother for Fox

Actor Matthew McConaughey is expanding his talents into animation for Fox, reports Variety.

McConaughey and the network are developing "Rooster Tales," an animated sitcom about Mike McConaughey, Matthew's brother, who's nickname is Rooster. The show tells of a colorful Southern sheriff who's married to a young Mexican woman.

-- Allison J. Waldman

Sternberg Exiting Post at Fox Cable Networks

David Sternberg, Fox National Cable Networks executive VP who is also COO of Fox Emerging Networks, is leaving the company to pursue new ventures, reports Multichannel News.

Sternberg, who has been overseeing three sports channels for Fox, Fox Soccer, Fuel TV and Fox Sports en Espanol, originally began with Fox Cable Networks as director of business development for Fox Sports International in 1998.

-- Allison J. Waldman

TV Industry Leaders to Participate in White House Job Summit

Some of the top television industry executives, including Disney's Robert Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, will be participating in a White House job summit on Thursday, according to The Wrap.

Approximately 130 business leaders will be asked to weigh in on the current employment situation in America. Google's Eric Schmidt, the New York Times' Paul Krugman and Wall Street Journal's Alan Blinder are also taking part.

-- Allison J. Waldman

USA Network Reworks January Schedule

The January returns of USA Network's dramas "Psych," "Burn Notice" and "White Collar" have been rescheduled so that each show will have its own day of the week, reports the Futon Critic.

Instead of pairing "White Collar" with "Burn Notice" as originally planned, USA has now set Tuesday at 10 p.m. for "White Collar," Wednesday at 10 p.m. for "Psych" and Thursday at 10 p.m. for "Burn Notice." 

It wll be the first time "Psych" has aired away from Fridays and without "Monk" as a lead in.

-- Allison J. Waldman

'Scrubs' Remake: Familiar Characters, New Setting

So many changes were made in refashioning ABC’s “Scrubs” that creator Bill Lawrence wanted the network to change the title, the New York Times reports in an in-depth look at the medical comedy’s remake.

Star Zach Braff remains, but there are mostly new actors, new showrunners and a new setting.

In a mailing to TV critics, Lawrence wrote: “I see ‘Scrubs’ as a new show.”

--Elizabeth Jensen

TBS Original Comedy Exec Exits

The executive who oversaw original comedy at TBS is leaving the network, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Nina Howie, whose title is VP of comedy, has been at the cable channel for 3 1/2 years.

Most of the network’s original series lineup is acquisitions, but the network this year launched the in-house “Lopez Tonight,” and also announced a development slate of several programs during the upfront.

--Elizabeth Jensen

Are Local Stations Moving Quickly Enough to Keep Viewers Tuning in for Weather?

Weather forecasts remain the backbone of local newscasts, but some stations may not be adapting quickly enough to coming changes in viewer habits wrought by the Web, B&C reports.

Some in the business say local newscasts need to move more quickly to find ways of giving viewers instant gratification on their forecast needs, because viewers are increasingly not sitting through the newscasts to get the information.

--Elizabeth Jensen