NBC SUMMER-REALITY
NBC will begin its warm-weather rollout right after Memorial Day. The fourth season of Last Comic Standing premieres May 30 and runs Tuesdays at 9p/8c. Big-budget Treasure Hunters debuts June 18 and settles in Mondays at 9p/8c. Simon Cowell-produced America's Got Talent kicks off June 21 and runs Wednesdays at 9p/8c with its results show airing Thursdays at 8:30p/7:30c.

THE REAL WORLD: DENVER
The 18th season of MTV's legendary reality series is setting up shop in Denver, CO. Production begins this spring, for a fall 2006 premiere.

ABC INSTALLS INSTANT REPLAY
This fall, ABC's web site becomes a second home for its primetime programming. The network announced Monday it plans to test online streaming of four shows -- Lost, Desperate Housewives, Commander in Chief, and Alias -- starting April 30. The initial service is a two-month test, with a larger offering for the upcoming fall season. Series will be made available for free, with a single embedded ad during each commerical break, starting the day after they air. The network has signed up a number of advertisers, including Universal, Cingular and Ford, just to cover the streaming costs. It won't be looking to make money from the service until fall. "We'll be looking at usage behavior, how much revenue it brings in and how much it costs," Albert Cheng, VP of Digital Media, noted. "We're committed to figuring out electronic behavior, though we're still figuring out in what exact form." DisneyChannel.com will soon implement the same format offering.

POPETOWN
German Catholics have launched a crusade against the upcoming MTV animated series, which premieres May 3. Print ads for the show depict an empty cross and a laughing Jesus sitting in front of a TV, with a slogan that reads "Instead of just hanging around, have a laugh." An MTV spokesman in Berlin said execs were not worried about the complaints and that they would not pull the show. While MTV admits the show is not to everyone's taste, it said the series neither insults nor slanders religious beliefs. The 10 episodes of Popetown -- about Father Nicholas, who runs the back office at the Vatican and is forced to deal with a zany pope and his dodgy cardinals -- will air Wednesdays.

AND THE NON-TRADITIONAL EMMY GOES TO
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the inaugural Emmy award for original entertainment programming created specifically for nontraditional viewing platforms. All entries are original material made for broadband or mobile. Platforms include video blogs; Web site programs including journalistic reporting, event coverage or event analysis; mobisodes (short episodics created for mobile devices); and video-on-demand and other video delivered over an IP network or platform such as wireless or broadband. Material originally produced for television viewing and then repurposed for the new media will not be considered.

THREE MORE DAYS FOR 24
Kiefer Sutherland has signed an eight-figure deal to stay with the show through May 2009, and making him one of the highest paid actors on TV. As part of the deal, Sutherland will establish a production company on the Fox lot to produce series programming for both broadcast and cable networks. Sutherland also said plans continue for bringing the 24 franchise to the bigscreen. Production would begin in spring 2007, at the earliest.

THE HEIST IS CALLED OFF
NBC plans to air one more episode of the caper series, but hasn't committed to keeping the show on the schedule beyond this week. Having aired just three times, its averages have dropped consistently week-to-week. The series stars Dougray Scott as a professional thief who assembles a criminal dream team to rob several Beverly Hills jewelry stores during Oscar week. Things get complicated when he and the head of the LAPD robbery/homicide division (Michele Hicks) fall in love.

Source: Variety