“Tavis Smiley,” which has hired a new executive producer, welcomes “Olympus Has Fallen” star Angela Bassett and the new movie’s director, Antoine Fuqua, to tonight’s show (midnight/Ch. 13).
Former PBS exec Jacoba Atlas has replaced Neal Kendall as the executive producer of Tavis Smiley’s PBS show, which is now in its 10th season. Kendall is moving over to produce Arsenio Hall’s syndicated talk show, which premieres this fall (it will air at 11 p.m. on Ch. 11 beginning Sept. 9).
“Tavis Smiley,” by the way, will reach an historic milestone in late May, when it airs its 2,000th episode. The show will celebrate its anniversary the week of May 20-24 with a slate of A-list guests — and a retrospective of its storied 10-year history. Stay tuned for more info.
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The tweet smell of success: Tuesday night’s third-season finale of “Pretty Little Liars” not only scored impressive ratings, but set a social-media milestone. The episode, which finished first — for the 11th consecutive week — in females 12-34, teens and female teens — also helped “Pretty Little Liars” (ABC Family) become the first TV series ever to amass over 1 million tweets (total airtime), which accounted for one-third of all Twitter activity in the hour (1.1 million).
Now that’s what I’d call social significance.
Over on the broadcast side of the ledger, CBS announced that it’s renewed “CSI” for the 2013-14 season — signing star Ted Danson to a contract extension. George Eads, Jorja Fox, Eric Szmanda, Paul Guilfoyle, Robert David Hall, Elisabeth Shue, Elisabeth Harnois, David Berman and Jon Wellner will also return next season.
And CBS’s corporate cousin, TV Land, has renewed “Hot in Cleveland” (Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White) for a fifth season.
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Last, but not least:
* Richard
“Dick” Lippin, chairman/CEO and founder of The Lippin Group, will be honored today by Penn State’s Liberal Arts Alumni Society with its 2013 Service to Society Award . . . Tuesday night’s “The Millionaire Matchmaker” was its top-rated episode this season across all key demos while snaring 1.4 million viewers on Bravo . . . Today on Sirius: Steve Stanulis welcomes Vincent Pastore and Melanie Fraser on his “In the Life” show . . . Alison Sweeney (“The Biggest Loser”) and “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski will co-host More Magazine/Fitness Magazine’s Women’s Half-Marathon in Central Park (April 14). It’s the event’s 10th anniversary.