Another Starr Report exclusive . . .
Animal Planet has renewed “Gator Boys” for a third season of 10 episodes, which will premiere later this year.
It’s really a no-brainer, of course, since “Gator Boys” — with South Florida guys Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle — averaged over 1.1 million viewers in Season 2 and was the network’s second-most-watched series among persons 25-54 and males 18-49 (behind “Finding Bigfoot”). The second season of “Gator Boys” was also up 9 percent in total viewers from Season One, and saw an impressive 21 percent increase in women 25-54 and a 12 percent spike in persons 18-49 (among other across-the-board demo increases). The second-season episode, “Gatorzilla,” reeled in over 1.4 million viewers.
Bedard and Riffle, who spent last season with the gators in Mississippi, will return to South Florida for Season 3.
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Step away from the calories . . .
“Mad Men” star Christina Hendricks (Joan), who’s returning for the show’s sixth season (premiering April 7), says she’s developed a hankering for fried food, thanks to hubby Geoffrey Arend.
“I’ve never been into fried chicken before, but Geoffrey is now brining the chicken, smoking it, then frying it all at home,” she tells People magazine in its upcoming issue, out on newsstands today in New York.
“It’s like a whole different dish,” Hendricks says. “I took two big ol’ wonderful pieces.”
Everything in moderation, right?
Meanwhile, “Smash” star Katharine McPhee, who’s featured in the current issue of Women’s Health — she graces two covers, actually — also has food on her mind. But her snack sounds a little more, well, nutritious.
“The healthy snacks I love to have on hand are Balance bars, but specifically the cookie-dough flavor, because it actually tastes like cookie dough,” she says. “And then for other healthy snacks I go for a handful of like raw almonds or [an] apple and peanut butter.”
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So Let it Be Written: The second episode of History’s “The Bible” averaged nearly 11 million viewers last Sunday — down 2 million (and change) from its record-breaking premiere (13.1 million on March 3).
Meanwhile, the winter finale of “Switched at Birth” was Monday night’s top-rated scripted basic cable telecast in women 18-34, 18-49 and females 12-34 — and it snared 2.5 million viewers on ABC Family — while the appearance of terminally ill Valerie Harper on Monday’s episode of “The Doctors” resulted in an estimated overnight average of 2.3 million viewers and a 1.8 household rating— up 20 percent from the syndicated daytime show’s season average.
More syndication: “Steve Harvey” (3 p.m./Ch. 4) finished February as the top-rated new syndicated daytime show among the “money” demo of women 25-54 — while “Trisha Goddard,” already renewed for a second season, was up 33 percent in women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 over its November sweeps performance. It airs at 5 p.m. on CBS-owned Ch. 55 (WLNY).
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Last, but not least:
* Those were Disney stars Bridgit Mendler, Ross Lynch, Laura Marano, Dove Cameron, “Crash” and Chloe & Halle Bailey at yesterday’s Disney Kids Upfront (Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel) . . . Cornish game: Abbie Cornish has joined the cast of Discovery’s first scripted miniseries, “Klondike” . . . The CW will air a one-hour Justin Timberlake special — featuring performances and interviews with Timberlake — next Tuesday, March 19 (8 p.m.). It’ll repeat March 22 (also at 8 p.m.).