STUDIO BRIEFING TV: June 26, 2008

STUDIO BRIEFING TV: June 26, 2008

FOX TROTS WITH DANCE
Until the Olympics come along, it's likely that dancing will be America's favorite activity to watch on TV -- if the ratings results of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance are any indication. Wednesday night's two-hour show topped its rivals in every half hour between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., as it averaged a 5.6 rating and a 10 share. At 9:00 p.m. NBC placed its new Baby Borrowers against Dance but drew a third-place 4.7/8. But audiences were unwilling to attend the network's Celebrity Circus at 10:00 p.m. as it recorded a 3.2/6.

NBC REMOVES "PREDATOR" STORY FROM WEBSITE
NBC has removed all reference to NBC Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" sting in Murphy, TX during which Louis Conradt Jr., an assistant county prosecutor, shot and killed himself after police arrived at his house, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Thursday). On Wednesday, the newspaper said that the network had reached a settlement in a $105-million lawsuit filed by Conradt's sister. Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but it was presumed that the removal of the "Predator" report from the NBC site was included in it. Other deleted material included a response to an investigation of the incident by ABC's 20/20 and a statement about the suicide written by Dateline correspondent Chris Hansen. The material remains available on other websites.

BROKAW WON'T STAY AT MEET THE PRESS "UNDER ANY CONDITION"
Tom Brokaw is insisting that his current stint as Tim Russert's replacement on Meet the Press is only temporary. And while his remarks may have the familiar ring of Diane Sawyer's when she took over hosting duties on Good Morning America and Bob Schieffer, who announced his plans to quit Face the Nation earlier this year, Brokaw maintains that he won't take on the Meet the Press assignment "as a fulltime job under any condition." In an interview with TVNewser website, Brokaw said, "My intention is to get us through the election and give [NBC News president] Steve Capus time to make a decision. If he hasn't made a decision by then, if he needs extra time, I'll give him extra time. I've had my moment in the sun. I've been at this a long time. ... I want to go back to the imperfectly-mapped out plan for my life."

LOGAN BEING MOVED TO WASHINGTON DESK
Lara Logan, the CBS News correspondent who frequently reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, has been given the new title of chief foreign affairs correspondent and will be moved from her overseas desk to one in Washington, the network announced Wednesday. The announcement of her new position came one week after she strongly criticized broadcast news outlets, including her own, for cutting back on international news reporting in general and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq in particular, saying that she would "blow her brains out" if she had to watch the U.S. nightly newscasts. CBS, however, made it clear that Logan was not being yanked from her overseas duties because of her remarks and insisted that it had been in the works for some time.

WGA PRESIDENT WANTS FCC TO PROBE PRODUCT INTEGRATION
Writers Guild of America West President Patric Verrone has asked the FCC to establish rules requiring program producers to make viewers aware that companies have paid to integrate their advertisements into some programs. In a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin, Verrone said that product integration is intended to "subliminally advertise to viewers." Moreover, he suggested, it alters the traditional role of TV writers. "When writers are told we must incorporate a commercial product into the storylines we have written, we cease to be creators," he said in the letter. "Instead, we run the risk of alienating an audience that expects compelling television, not commercials."