entertainment - "television"

With less than a week since American Idol 7's conclusion, it's time to start talking about American Idol 8. Following a rather lackluster season, Simon Cowell promises changes for next season, but in a vague way that suggests he really has no idea what's happening. 'There's going to be a big shake-up. You'll see,' he told the UK's Times. Also in the story, show creator Simon Fuller defends his ATM--I mean, franchise. 'We're still a goliath. We're still bigger than anything else, and now David Cook is going to sell millions of records for us,' he said.Across the Atlantic, The new york Times runs several reality TV-related stories that illustrate its increasing lack of credibility when covering television, not that having Alessandra Stanley on staff doesn't do that automatically. (One of those pieces, on The Real World's possible home in Brooklyn, basically fills space because it has no new information, and thus includes pointless quotations like this one: 'My wife's into it. She has

International News: Agency to represent news clips -- U.K. video clip agency ITN Source has signed a deal with Northern Irish broadcaster Ulster television giving it rights to handle global sales for an archive featuring rare political and celebrity material.

ABC, CBS and NBC have agreed to set aside the same hour of prime-time television on the first Friday night in September for a live, joint telethon benefiting cancer research.

I WOULDN'T NORMALLY talk about reading in a column about television, but many of you know already that I'm a technoholic.

I WOULDN'T NORMALLY talk about reading in a column about television, but many of you know already that I'm a technoholic.

Obituary: Wrote themes for 'Andy Griffith,' 'I Spy' -- Earle H. Hagen, Emmy-winning composer of some of the most familiar musical themes in television history, died of natural causes May 26 in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 88.

Reality TV: Does show need fixes to be more relevant? -- Reality show hosts will compete for their own trophy at September's 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, now that the Academy of television Arts & Sciences has added a category for them.

Boston Beer Co. has long made television commercials in Boston to promote its Samuel Adams ales and lagers. But when a production company finishes a new round of Sam Adams advertisements this year, Massachusetts taxpayers could wind up paying as much as 25 percent of the tab.

It's tempting to applaud 'João Magueijo's Big Bang,' a special on the Science Channel on Tuesday night, simply for existing.

IN 20 years in television, I have never met anyone remotely like Kate Cornish, heroine in the new novel Boned, writes Tracey Spicer.