Hopkins, the six-part documentary series about Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital, is off to a roaring start.

The ABC News program drew 5.8 million viewers in its debut Thursday night beating the competition on CBS (Swingtown) and NBC (Fear Itself) -- an impressive feat for any documentary.

The series that focuses on the lives of Hopkins doctors and patients took a lead-in audience of 3.4 million and increased it to 5.8 million by the end of the hour. It also doubled the number of viewers 18 to 49 years old during that time period, and won across all demographics with women.

Hopkins 24/7, a ABC News series in 2000 that focused on the famous Baltimore hospital, was seen by as many as 12 million viewers on some nights during its run. But the TV universe was a far less fractured landscape in those days.

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Mario said he will be dancing the foxtrot and the mambo Monday night on ABC's Dancing With the Stars -- and the foxtrot has him worried.

"It's tough, because I'm not really a fan of foxtrot," the 21-year singer said in his weekly Sun interview. "I feel like the mambo fits me a lot better -- it's a fun dance with a lot of movement, and it's really, really fast."

Mario says he likes all the Latin-themed dances he's done of the hit show -- tango, samba and paso doble.

"With the energy of the Latin dances, when you're moving, your body just kind of follows through with it. But with the more formal dances like the foxtrot, it's just hard for me. I guess it's because I'm tall and my arms and my legs are long -- it's just is harder for me and takes more practice."

But practice he will, the Baltimore-born performer says: "The foxtrot is very formal and slow, and I just don't like it.  But, hey, I have to do it, and I'm going to give it my all. I didn't come this far to give up."

(Photo courtesy of ABC)

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Jim Lehrer, the dean of TV news anchors, is recovering at Massachusetts General Hospital after undergoing heart surgery Wednesday.

The 73-year-old PBS anchorman started feeling ill last Friday and decided against traveling to Pittsburgh for a series of broadcasts of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer scheduled in connection with the April 22 Pennsylvania Presidential primary. His doctors recommended a heart-valve procedure that was done Wednesday.

The operation was "a complete success," according to Anne Bell, spokeswoman for the NewsHour. "Jim plans to be back at full speed and on the program within a few weeks."

When asked how Lehrer was feeling Friday afternoon, Bell said, "Ever the editor, Jim wrote the statement himself that will be read on the air tonight."

Those wishing to send get-well messages to Lehrer can do so at pbs.org/newshour.

LEFT: PBS photo of Jim Lehrer

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The Clark Sisters, whose Life: One Last Time CD came out last year, are on fire in the gospel music  world. Having won three Grammys, five Stellar awards and several NAACP Image awards this year, can they continue their winning ways at tonight's Dove Awards? 

The group has been nominated for Contemporary Song of the Year for "Blessed & Highly Favored" on its album Live: One Last Time, Artist of the Year and Group of the Year. The Dove Awards air at 8 tonight on the Gospel Music Channel, the all-gospel/Christian music TV network, which can be seen on Comcast cable or DirectTV.

For more on the nominees, go to http://www.doveawards.com/.

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R&B singer and Dancing With the Stars contestant Mario would like to clear something up.

It's a small point, but a slightly nagging one: The way people say his name.

Technically, it's Mario with a soft 'a' -- like you'd say the word Mars.

Tons of people get it wrong -- including the announcer on the show, who Mario calls "the invisible guy." 

"It happens a lot of places," Mario said. "But I really can’t say anything to the invisible guy because I’ve never met him. He’s the guy who says. 'Dancing the samba: Mario and Karina.' That dude? I’ve never met him."

On Monday's episode, Mario said he's dancing the rumba with partner Karina Smirnoff. It's his first slow dance.

"I get a chance to tone it down a little bit. I’m having a little difficulty turning my wild side into a more sensitive side sometimes in rehearsals. But it’s coming along great."

Read more with Mario in Monday's Today section.

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Grammy- and Stellar Award-winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin parlayed a $5,000 loan from a deacon in his church into a multimillion dollar career.

Find out more about Franklin's rags to riches story tonight at 8:30 on CNBC's High Net Worth, with rebroadcasts at 8:30 p.m. Sunday and next Saturday at 6 a.m.

Franklin's gospel hip-hop sound gave a fresh burst of youthful exuberance to the genre during the early 1990s. His music successfully crosses from the gospel pop charts to R&B and hip-hop.

On High Net Worth, Franklin will talk with CNBC reporter Lee Hawkins about how music saved his life. He will take viewers to Fort Worth, Texas, where he was adopted by an elderly widow after he was abandoned by his mother.

He'll tell the story of how he developed an ear for music after taking piano lessons. While the church had a hold on his soul, he'll also reveal how as a teenager the streets had a hold on his life.

He'll also talk about how his life has changed for him to become the multi-talented millionaire he is today. 

Franklin owns Fo Yo Soul Entertainment, a company that produces music, books and DVDs.

A film is being made about his life, according to a CNBC news release.
 

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After his worst performance of the season and near-elimination after dancing the tango this week, Baltimore's Mario says he has "rededicated" himself to winning ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

In his weekly conversations with The Sun during the season, Mario had voiced mounting concerns about spending enough time in rehearsal with partner Karina Smirnoff while crisscrossing the country performing as a singer. On Monday, it caught it up with him when he and Smirnoff scored only a 21 out of 30 points and were one of two couples facing elimination at the end of the Tuesday night results show.

"This week has definitely been planned out better," he said. "And I've now made the show my No. 1 priority."

Mario says he is not making excuses for Monday's performance: "I'm not asking people because of my busy schedule to have mercy or pity on me -- no, not at all. I simply underestimated the time it takes to do this right. But it's all good, I got some constructive criticism from the judges, and it's only going to make me stronger.

Mario says he'll be dancing the Paso Doble to the song "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder -- and so far, he is finding it easier than the tango.

"The tango is not an easy dance to learn, and the pressure is there because everybody assumes because of my music career, I'm going to be perfect every time. Plus, Karina is amazing at what she does, but this girl's choreography is not the easiest in the world."

As to what it was like standing on-stage with one other couple waiting to hear which would be eliminated, Mario says it's a nightmare.

"When you are one of the last two on the stage, you really feel -- really feel it," he said. "Look, if it wasn't for those black ballroom pants I was wearing, I might have had a problem. ... I was so nervous, I might have peed on myself -- and those white pants I had been wearing [in previous weeks] might have showed that."

Read recaps of the Dancing With the Stars episodes so far here. 

(Photo of Karina and Mario courtesy of ABC)

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Who assassinated the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968?

A CNN special report. Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination by special correspondent Soledad O'Brien, airing tonight at 9, delves into all the conspiracy theories as to who killed King. 

All the evidence pointed to James Earl Ray, who with his own confession, was jailed for pulling the trigger. But the special asks: Was he the right man? 

O'Brien lays out the case -- tracking the civil-rights movement and the last year of King's life with that of Ray's activities after his escape from a Missouri prison.

Her report is drawn from FBI files and other law enforcement tapes, court records and Ray's journal.

Continue reading "MLK: Death of a King 40 years later" »

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Part of Tyler Perry's urban play-movie-television series success is that he knows what appeals to his largely African-American and church-going audience. And that's not by mistake.

This week, actor Lance Gross of  Perry's House of Payne, along with the TBS network executives, did a focus group on the show involving 50 "super fans"  from the Baltimore area at the Charles Theatre.

Baltimore appears to have a lot of fanatical Perry fans. The fans -- mostly men and women in their 20s through 50s -- were treated to shrimp and crab appetizers as they watched a yet-to-be aired House of Payne show. They were asked their likes and dislikes of the Tyler brand.

The group,  according to UniSun freelancer Harold T. Fisher, also listened to music with family-friendly lyrics -- some new school, some old school and R&B. 
 

Continue reading "Tyler Perry's Baltimore focus on 'House of Payne'" »

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With the news yesterday that Hopkins, a six-part documentary series on the famed Baltimore Hospital, will air in prime-time on ABC starting June 26, we caught up with Terry Wrong, executive producer of the film.

We asked Wrong, who also produced the award-winning 2000 documentary Hopkins 24/7, for his thoughts on the world-renowned institution after spending months backstage filming the lives of patients, doctors and other medical workers.

"The amazing thing about Hopkins is the dedication of the people," the ABC News executive said. "There is also this tremendously layered intelligence. When you are working at Hopkins, you quickly come to understand that you are working with some of the smartest and most dedicated people in the world."

As to differences between Hopkins 24/7 and the film that will air this summer: "I think viewers will get a greater sense of the stress and toll such dedication takes on the lives of the people who work there. Yes, you will still see the amazing medicine they practice. But you will also get an incredibly intimate look at the lives of the doctors, residents and families at Hopkins."

Left: A scene from the original Hopkins 24/7 courtesy of ABC

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Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital will be back in prime-time this summer on ABC.

As a sequel to the critically acclaimed documentary Hopkins 24/7, ABC News returns to the famed medical center for a new six-part series titled Hopkins.

Filmed during four months in 2007, the series will debut at 10 p.m. June 26.

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Battlestar Galactica's splashy poster for its fourth and final season may look like Da Vinci's The Last Supper, but series star Katie Sackhoff said today that as far she knows it was just a cool photo shoot, not a clue-riddled map to things to come. 

"It's interesting that everyone thinks there is something hidden in that Last Supper photo, like if you look hard enough, you can find a hidden message in it," Sackhoff said. "To be honest, I think we [the cast] would have had to be in on it to create a hidden message, and we were all just there having a photo shoot."

But it wouldn't be the first time that Battlestar's producers have kept their cast in the dark about plot developments, so there could be hints to uncover yet. 

Of course, the photo isn't a direct translation, making any clues harder to nail down. There are 12 Battlestar characters pictured; Da Vinci painted 12 apostles and Jesus to make an unlucky 13. Also a key clue in the original Da Vinci Last Supper is that Judas has his elbow on the table - a sign a rudeness in the ancient world that was said to foreshadow his betrayal of Jesus. Yet in the Battlestar version, at least four major characters (Sackhoff's Starbuck included) have their elbows firmly planted on the table.

Also, with a knife in his hand, Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) seems to be cast in the role of Peter. But he's in the wrong position. We could go on, but I think I'm done geeking out for the day. 
 
Battlestar Galactica returns for its final season next Friday on the SciFi Channel.

Above: Photo from the SciFi Channel

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Once again, Mario is on the road performing as a singer and wishing he had more time to rehearse as a dancer for ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

Last week, he was in New York doing a benefit concert and worrying about whether or not he was going to get the quickstep right in his Monday night performance.

This week, he's in Florida doing a concert in Miami, appearing at BET's Spring Bling and fretting over the tango that he and partner Karina Smirnoff will do Monday night in week 3 of the hit series.

"Honestly, this is the week where I wish I had the most rehearsal, because we're dancing the tango to a song called 'Roxanne' from the movie Moulin Rouge, and there is just so much I want to bring to the dance," he said today.

"What surprised me about the tango is how theatrical it is. I'll be able to do some acting in this dance -- I'll finally be able to pull from some different personalities to do this performance. It's, like, very seductive, there's betrayal, and it's an assertive dance unlike the others. But at the same time, the posture and the form and the low knees -- all of that stuff is the same. It's a definite challenge."

But performing in concert on the road cuts into rehearsal time in Los Angeles. It didn't seem to hurt him and Karina last week -- they were once again lights out.

And this week, they have a secret: Karina's gone with Mario to Miami so that they can still get time together in the rehearsal hall.

"The good thing about Karina is that she is so dedicated to teaching me that she's traveling with me."

Above: ABC Photo of Mario and partner Karina Smirnoff

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One of the most depressing trends in public life the past two decades has been the steady cutback in political convention coverage by the major TV networks. Their reason: a claim that viewers weren't interested.

But not this year with a red-hot race between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination driving record ratings for cable channels carrying debates and offering wall-to-wall election-night coverage.

"The interest that this race is generating in the news media is incredible," says Ricky Kirshner, co-producer of this summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver. "You know, even four years ago, the networks would cover the debates on a wheel [in rotation] -- covering it only because it was their turn. But now, they're actually jockeying to carry the next debate because there's so much interest in this race."

Indded, CBS has been trying for months to get a debate with which it could showcase lowly rated anchorwoman Katie Couric.

It might seen a bit early to be talking about a convention that is five months off -- Aug. 25 through 28 -- but Kirshner and his co-producing partner, Mark Squier, have been in talks with the networks and cable channels for weeks, and today they talked to the press, promising a "more interactive" TV and online experience that will "tear down walls" in traditional coverage come August.

It was disappointing to hear them say they could not yet discuss "specifics" of those new media strategies for competitive and contractual reasons. But that's OK, it was more encouraging to hear that instead of trying to shirk any sense of social and civic responsibility, everyone in TV was suddenly rushing to embrace it.

"If you check the ratings for the debates on CNN, MSNBC and Fox, it's been through the roof, it's been unprecedented," Kirshner said. "So, clearly the major networks see the excitement, and they want to cover the convention this year."

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Laura Linney, whose performance in John Adams is winning rave reviews, says she is embarrassed by how little she knew about America's first vice president and his wife, Abigail, prior to playing Mrs. Adams.

"Taking this role made me really think about what I really knew about my history as an American," Linney said today. "When I think about John Adams, I knew: a) he was married to a woman named Abigail, b) they wrote lots of letters to each other, and c) he was part of the Declaration of Independence. And, yeah, I knew he was president. And that's about it, which is embarrassing quite frankly, when  you start to be exposed to all this material and realize how important it is to us as Americans."

Continue reading "Laura Linney on her education in HBO's "John Adams"" »

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A new soundtrack album for the NBC show Heroes out this week features the work of Baltimore artist Steven Parke. Inside the album's jacket, Parke renders artists like Wilco, David Bowie and Bob Dylan in a comic-book style befitting the fantasy series.

"As an avid fan of Heroes and a music junkie, I was thrilled to be called upon to create illustrations of the bands," said Parke, who has a studio in Canton. "I had a great time capturing likenesses, and in some instances, creating unusual environments that tie the musicians visually into the Heroes universe."

Parke, 43, who has illustrated DVD packages for The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, had previously worked in the music industry, including 13 years as Prince's personal art department. The job with Prince indirectly led to the Heroes gig; Prince collaborators Wendy and Lisa are the brains behind the soundtrack album.

Above: Steve Parke's comic take on alt-rock band Nada Surf

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Talk about a Friday afternoon massacre, CBS late today announced the cancellation of Jericho as of Tuesday night's episode.

Here's the statement from Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment:

"The March 25th episode of Jericho will be the series finale. Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more. We thank an engaged and spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a compelling, high quality second season. We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try. We listened to our viewers, gave the series an opportunity to grow, and the producers put a great story on the screen. We're proud of everyone's efforts."

Call it a casualty of the new, downsized, post-writers-strike, network mentality.

No peanuts for you, CBS.

(Photo of Skeet Ulrich and Esai Morales courtesy of CBS)

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Those viewers who don't have HBO will be able to see the acclaimed John Adams miniseries starting June 10.

That's the date that the premium cable channel will release the seven-hour film about the second president of the United States on DVD for $59.99.

Among the bonus features: David McCullough: Painting with Words, a documentary that examines the work and style of the historian who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Adams. The HBO film is based on McCullough's book.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Baltimore-born singer and new reality TV star Mario says he's a little worried about his upcoming Monday night performance on ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

"I have to do a dance called the quickstep," he said in a Sun interview today. "And it's called the quickstep because it's pretty doggone quick. It's a lot more difficult than the cha-cha [the dance he did so impressively on the season premiere] for me. It's more formal, and the posture is more important -- the posture and the form. So, I'm a little anxious about whether we'll have it down by Monday night."

The good news: Mario says he is feeling better after working his way through groin and hamstring injuries incurred while he was training with partner Karina Smirnoff.

"I had to get massage dee