The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were a huge hit in the United States for NBC, officially being declared the most watched event in American television history. NBC's coverage of the 16-day run of the event reached 214 million viewers, topping the 209 viewers who tuned in for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

The network also stepped up its coverage of the Olympic events, broadcasting a record 3,600 hours of coverage across its various multimedia outlets, including mobile and online. NBC paid $894 million for the exclusive rights to cover the Olympics this year, and have more than made their money back. NBC is estimated to have taken in an estimated $1 billion in advertising revenue from the Games.

After a year of contentious negotiations and bitter exchanges the Big Ten Network and Time Warner Cable have reached a broadcasting agreement. In a joint statement the sides said:

Time Warner Cable and the Big Ten Network announced today that they have reached an agreement-in-principle on terms of carriage for the Big Ten Network and its high-definition and video-on-demand programming on Time Warner Cable's line-ups throughout the Big Ten territory, including Ohio and Wisconsin. The pending agreement will ensure that Time Warner Cable's customers across these Big Ten states will have access to this Saturday's Big Ten college football season openers and all future Big Ten Network programming on an expanded basic level of service.

Michelle Rodriguez, busted in 2004 for a number of driving offenses including DUI and a hit-and-run, violated her probation in 2006 and lied about her community service. So she was sentanced to 180 days in jail, and the folks at "Lost" subsequently wrote her off the show. But guess what...she's coming back to Lost this season!

Accoding to Entertainment Weekly, "Ana Lucia" will return for one episode in the new season of Lost. Rodriguez's return is shrouded in mystery, but EW does have a few details:

• Rodriguez is back for one episode, most likely this season's second. As a result, the risk to Hawaii's roadways is said to be minimal.

Jennifer Lopez has a habit of picking some really shoddy movies to star in, and 2002's "Maid in Manhattan" was no exception. But for some reason, that's not stopping the sub-par movie from being made into a television series. The latest rumor is that there are plans to revive the idea for a TV series, with J-Lo as the series executive producer.

As executive producer, Jennifer will be responsible for overseeing plotlines and the production. It's not likely she'll do all that, what with two twins to look after and her music career, so she's likely to be exec. producer in name only.

We've been having a lot of fun with John Edwards here at Cleveland Leader for months and now it seems to be catching on. Comedy Central's website Indecision2008 has released this hilarious new video poking fun at the former 2008 Presidential candidate turned laughing stock of the political world. Here is the video that will be going viral shortly.

Tori Spelling, daughter of Beverly Hills 90210's original producer, was supposed to reprise her role as Donna Martin in the new remake. She'd be joining old castmates Shannen Doherty (Brenda), and Jennie Garth (Kelly). But it looks like that's no longer going to happen.

Having heard rumors that Shannen and Jennie were getting paid more, Tori backed out of the show, citing "timing reasons" as her excuse.

Tori was reportedly signed for just $10,000 to $50,000 per episode, while Jennie and Shannen were signed for $35,000 to $50,000 per episode. When Tori found out, sources say she was fuming mad and demanded equal pay from the network. The network declined, and Tori quit.

Tori told media that the timing didn't work out for her to appear in the new pilot because she was giving birth. “So we’ll see what happens later in the season,” she said. One source says it wouldn’t be surprising if Tori and the show eventually agree to bring her onto 90210 as a November sweeps stunt.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, comedian Bernie Mac died early Saturday morning. The newspaper cites a close friend of Mac's family as the source.

Mac had been hospitalized at Northwesten Memorial Hospital in Chicago for a week where he was being treated for pneumonia. Last weekend several websites falsely reported that the funnyman had died, and his publicist repeatedly denied that he was dying. Just two days ago he was said to be in "stable" condition.

TMZ followed up on the Sun-Times report, getting a statement from Bernie's rep:

Following her embarassing performance at the MTV Video Music Awards last year, Britney Spears was spotted on the MTV stage this week taping a promotional video for this year's awards ceremony. This has sparked rumors that she might be back at the VMAs this year, hopefully giving it a better go this time.

A source told People:

"Britney looked really good. It was improvisational questions and answers with [host] Russell Brand just like [other promo guest stars] LL Cool J and Pete Wentz did. Russell joked about there being sexual tension, and Britney shot back, 'I don't feel the tension'. The other joke was about no one knowing who Russell was so she called him by the wrong name. LL called him Russell Bland and Britney called him Russell Brown."

According to their source, the promo shoot also included a 9,000lb. elephant:

"The joke of the whole thing is 'there is an elephant in the room'."

Veteran Hollywood actor Laurence Fishburne is in talks to star in the upcoming season of hit show 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'. Fishburne is said to be among the finalist to be the lead actor and is on the short list that includes other A-Listers Kurt Russell and John Malkovich.

Whoever nabs the role will play a doctor/scientis who has the same genetic profile as a serial killer but is working for the good guys. Umm, I think I will stick Showtimes 'Dexter'.

PBS recently decided to cut "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" from its weekday syndication, and one of the television show's biggest fans has now launched a campaign in a bid to save the show. Brian Linder has set up SaveMisterRogers.com in an effort to fight PBS' plans to change their once-a-day airing of the show into a format that would see the show aired just once per weekend.

"It's something I feel strongly about. Not because of my own nostalgic feelings for the program, but because I feel it is still such a special nurturing voice in the lives of children," said Linder.