Today's News: Our Take

HBO and Harpo Films Enter Multi-Year Relationship

• Dec 16, 2008 04:51 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

Oprah Winfrey

HBO announced Tuesday that the cable network had signed an exclusive multi-year deal with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films to develop and produce scripted television programming.

Though there was no acknowledgment of any projects in the works, future endeavors will potentially include miniseries, movies, documentaries and series. Kate Forte, Harpo Films' president, said ... read more

Halle Berry, Tyler Perry to Host 40th NAACP Image Awards

• Dec 16, 2008 03:21 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

Halle Berry, Tyler Perry

Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry and director/writer/actor Tyler Perry have been selected to host the 40th NAACP Image Awards in February.

Berry, who won an Academy Award for her role in Monster's Ball, and Perry, whose credits include Diary of a Mad Black Woman and TBS' House of Payne, are both former Image Award winners.

The ceremony ... read more

Peter Falk Has Alzheimer's, Claims Daughter

• Dec 16, 2008 03:04 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

Peter Falk

According to a document filed by Peter Falk's daughter, the Columbo star and four-time Emmy winner is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Catherine Falk filed a petition Friday in a Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking approval for a conservatorship of her 81-year-old father, according to The Associated Press. The documents claim Falk no longer recognizes people and now requires constant care in his Beverly Hills home following a recent hip surgery.

A hearing has been scheduled ... read more

Tom Cavanagh: "Chances Are 100 Percent" for a Scrubs Reunion

• Dec 16, 2008 02:56 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Tom Cavanagh with Zach Braff, Scrubs

Before Scrubs signs off for good, fans can count on one final appearance by J.D.'s ne'er-do-well brother, Dan.

"I would say the chances are 100 percent," Tom Cavanagh confirmed during a TVGuide.com Q&A to promote his new TNT series, Trust Me. "If I was a betting man ... read more

Tim Kang Teases New Mentalist Episodes

• Dec 16, 2008 02:37 PM ET
• by Mickey O'Connor

Tim Kang

Tim Kang isn't that different from Kimball Cho, the straight-arrow investigator he plays on CBS' hit drama The Mentalist (Tuesdays, 9 pm/ET). He is focused and thoughtful in his answers to my questions, but careful not to reveal too much or paint too limited a picture of Cho, lest future scripts contradict him. He does say that we'll learn more about the character in upcoming episodes — more than that he has a crayon-shaped piggybank behind his bedroom door. Kang tells TVGuide.com why working on the show is a dream job, who's flirting with whom and how Cho really feels about Patrick Jane.

Fox Reality Channel Married to the Idea of Househusbands

• Dec 16, 2008 01:56 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

Jillian Barberie and Grant Reynolds

Look out housewives, Real and Desperate alike — the boys are back in town.

Fox Reality Channel has ordered nine hour-long episodes of Househusbands of Hollywood, a gender-reversing take on the trophy-spouse genre, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will follow several stay-at-home spouses of successful L.A. women.

Among the Househusbands to be featured are ... read more

Ratings: Sweet Mother, Best Worst and (Another!) Biggest Bang

• Dec 16, 2008 12:29 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

How I Met Your Mother

Just another manic Monday for the CBS sitcoms. Let's break it down:

8 pm/ET
Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother easily command the top spot, with the former notching yet another series' best — 11.42 million total viewers. Mother, meanwhile, gained nine percent to deliver its largest audience since Jan. 9, 2006. (Read Barney's letter to Santa.)

Chuck claimed runner-up status with 7.56 mil, up 630K week-to-week. Trailing ABC's Charlie Brown special, Sarah Connor's midseason finale scored 5.29 mil, up a hair from last week.

9 pm
Two and a Half Men surged 15 percent to flirt with 18 million viewers, its largest audience since May 16, 2005 (the night of the Everybody Loves Raymond series finale). In turn, Worst Week (12.12 mil) soared 14 percent to set an all-time high.

Heroes held steady at 7.78 mil, as it bid the "Villains" adieu. Prison Break (5.73 mil) added 340 thou.

10 pm
CSI: Miami dominated with 14.46 million viewers (up 860K), its best numbers since Feb. 26, 2007. Worst Enemy inched up a hair, to 4.08 mil.

Sunday ratings addendum: Dexter's season finale gave Showtime 1.51 million viewers with its 9 pm airing, and two mil including the later rebroadcast. Californication nearly scored a million over two plays of its own season ender.

Dennis Quaid and Wife Settle Babies' Overdose for $750,000

• Dec 16, 2008 12:22 PM ET
• by Adam Bryant

Dennis Quaid

Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberly have reached a $750,000 settlement agreement with Cedars-Siani Medical Center for the accidental overdose of Quaid's newborn twins in 2007.

The agreement, which is pending the approval of a Los Angeles judge, ends the lawsuit filed by Quaid after twins Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace were accidentally given an overdose of blood thinner Heparin in November 2007, two weeks after they were born via gestational carrier. The children ... read more

Get a Double Dose of Ikki with MTV's Bisexual Twins

• Dec 16, 2008 12:21 PM ET
• by Joyce Eng

The Ikki Twins

After Tila Tequila declined to take a third shot at love on MTV, The Ikki Twins — aka bisexual twins Rikki and Vikki Mongeon — double up in her place to try their luck in the romance department in A Double Shot at Love (Tuesdays, 10 pm/ET). And double the gals mean double the fun, jealousy and drama — one eliminated girl revealed she is actually straight last week. TVGuide.com caught up with the sisters, who are former Hooters girls and have posed in Playboy, to get the lowdown on their bi-curious ways, how they settle mutual crushes (dibs!) and how the show affected their relationship.

TVGuide.com: How did you get involved with the show? Did MTV approach you?
Rikki: We were always big fans of the show and before we even knew that Tila wasn't gonna do a third season, I actually sent an e-mail to MTV in hopes that they would read it, but they never did! But it just so happens that ...
read more

VIDEO: Lost Sneak Peek — Jack and Ben Plan Return

• Dec 16, 2008 12:04 PM ET
• by Gina DiNunno

Matthew Fox, Lost

We all must have been on Santa's nice list this year because we are getting yet another little nugget of the upcoming and highly anticipated season of Lost. Jack, who has finally shaved off the small animal that was living on his face, runs through the plan of returning to the island with Ben — and it turns out the one who finally convinced Jack to head back to everyone left behind was none other than Locke (yes, the same guy lying dead in a coffin in the season finale).

Watch the video after the jump.