Entertainment

The Starr Report

Behold the power of Regis.

Regis Philbin’s first appearance as a recurring guest on “Rachael Ray” this past Monday paid handsome dividends for the show — which finished first in its 10 a.m. timeslot, here in New York on Ch. 7, in households (and second in women 25-54). Reege will appear with Rachael Ray from time to time; it’s good to see him back on morning TV, where he’s always a welcome presence.

Also off to a good start here in Gotham is “Jeremy Kyle” which, on Monday, pulled a 1.3 (4 p.m. on Ch. 9) to improve its lead-in (a repeat of “Wendy Williams”). That wasn’t too far removed from the 1.4 Katie Couric’s “Katie” averaged, the same day, in a better timeslot (3 p.m.) on a bigger station (Ch. 7). Just sayin’.

Meanwhile, the one-hour season finale of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” averaged 2.8 million viewers on TLC Wednesday night and finished first in several women demos (25-54, 18-49 and 18-34). ’Nuf said about this train wreck.

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Univision talk show giant Don Francisco (aka Mario Kreutzberger) will be feted by the Museum of the Moving Image next Tuesday, Oct. 2 with “An Evening with Don Francisco.”

The event, which unfolds with a 7 p.m. discussion, followed by a reception at 8:30, will celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month and the 50th (!) anniversary of Francisco’s show, “Sabado Gigante” (“Giant Saturday”). “Sabado Gigante,” by the way, holds the Guinness World Record for the “World’s Longest Running Variety Program” — and Kreutzberger has missed only two episodes over the last half-century.

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Last, but not least:

* Industry vet Sandy Cannold has joined ABC News as executive producer of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” . . . First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on “Steve Harvey” on Wednesday, Oct. 3 (3 p.m./Ch. 4). She taped her appearance yesterday in Chicago . . . Alex Trebek will travel to Italy and Germany from Oct. 6-13 to help audition prospective contestants for “Jeopardy’s!” upcoming “Salute to the Miliary” competition . . . TNT has renewed “Major Crimes” for a second season of 15 episodes set to premiere next summer. Mary McDonnell stars. . . Kevin McKidd (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Trainspotting”) and photographer Annie Leibovitz will attend The Macallan Single Malt Scotch event Oct. 10 at The Bowery Hotel . . . Kelli Raftery (“The Talk”) was in town yesterday. Let’s see if she’s really reading this.