Entertainment

Starr Report

With all the newsprint and cyberink spilled over the new freshman talk shows, let’s not forget that Hallmark Channel launched two new daytime offerings last week — Marie Osmond’s talk show, “Marie” and “Home & Family,” a lifestyle-oriented show hosted by Mark Steines and Paige Davis.

Here’s a look at how they fared in their inaugural weeks.

“Home & Family,” a two-hour show which airs daily at 10 a.m., averaged 134,000 viewers, which was down 32 percent from what “The Martha Stewart Show” averaged there last season (196,000 viewers). “H&F” averaged a 0.1 household rating, which was down 50 percent from its “Martha Stewart” timeslot predecessor. The show kicked off with 160,000 viewers on Monday, Oct. 1; last Friday’s show averaged 144,000 viewers, according to Nielsen.

“Marie,” meanwhile, averaged 206,000 viewers last week at noon — a whopping 89 percent increase over what aired at noon last season. That wasn’t exactly ratings fodder (“Mad Hungry with Lucinda” and “Petkeeping with Marc Morrone”), so keep that in mind.

“Marie” also averaged a 0.2 household rating, which improved the timeslot average 100 percent over last year, and showed a 50 percent increase in females 18-49 (her core audience).

“Marie” kicked off with 320,000 viewers, which fell to 258,000 on Day 2 and continued to drop throughout the week, falling to 141,000 viewers last Friday, Oct. 5.

Speaking of talk shows, Ch. 2 anchor Kristine Johnson will be a guest co-host on “The Talk” next Monday, Oct. 15 (2 p.m. on Ch. 2). It will be her second appearance on the show, hosted by Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Aisha Tyler, Sara Gilbert and Sheryl Underwood.

And . . . circling back to Hallmark, I’ve got some issues with Hallmark Movie Channel’s reruns of “Perry Mason,” some of which I first addressed in this column last June.

Back then, I was irritated at the speeded-up quality of the frames, which made it appear that the characters were moving and talking cartoonishly fast. At the time, this was blamed on a technical glitch involving “compression software,” which was eventually remedied.

Well, the “compression software” issue has returned, with a vengeance — and now it’s accompanied by commercial cuts that occur literally in the middle of a character’s sentence, or in the middle of a scene. That’s probably some sort of computer glitch, too, but it’s annoying, nonetheless.

Where’s the outrage, people?

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Michael Learned, best known to TV fans as Olivia Walton from “The Waltons,” will star in the stage production “The Outgoing Tide,” which begins performances Nov. 7 and is presented by The Delaware Theater Company.

The play, which will unfold at 59E59 Theaters, officially opens Nov. 20 and was written by Bruce Graham. It revolves around an elderly man who decides not to live out the rest of his days in an assisted living facility and clashes with his son; Learned plays the man’s wife.

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MSG Network will celebrate its TV history — and the history of Madison Square Garden — with a special event being held tomorrow (Thursday) at 11 a.m. at Madison Square Park, which was the location of the original and second Garden arenas.

During the event, MSG will unveil the unforgettable moments that will be commemorated through two exhibits — “Garden 366” and “Defining Moments” — that are part of the Garden’s three-year renovation and will be included in the newly refurbished building starting next month.

Among the TV moments included:

* MSG Network’s first televised event in October, 1969— a 4-3 Rangers victory over the Minnesota North Stars.

* The first high-def MSG telecast in October 1998 (a Rangers-Sabers 0-0 tie.

MSG Network, by the way, was the first regular provider of sports coverage in high-def, with all Rangers and Knicks home games airing in HD during the 1998-99 season.

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Last, but not least:

* It’s a big week for all-things Jonas: The Jonas Brothers will perform in concert tomorrow at Radio City — and there’s a new episode of “Married to Jonas” airing Sunday (10 p.m.) on E! . . . The election cycle has been good for TV One’s “Washington Watch.” The Roland Martin-hosted public affairs show was up 35 percent in households for its fourth-season premiere . . . NBC’s Raina Seitel will host tomorrow’s opening of Pamela Gonzales Soho at Soho Mews. It’s the designer’s first New York City concept store . . . Disney Channel continues to kick butt and take names — it was TV’s top-rated network last week in kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14 (total day) for the 69th consecutive week, led by “Good Luck Charlie.”