Tuning In

Nielsen steps in

The folks at “Law & Order: SVU” will have a backup plan in place when star Mariska Hargitay takes her maternity leave.

Actress Connie Nielsen will step in for six episodes of the “Law & Order” spinoff to give Miss Hargitay a well-deserved break, Reuters news agency reports.

Miss Nielsen will play a New York Police Department detective on temporary assignment to the sex crimes unit around which the NBC drama revolves while Miss Hargitay’s character, Detective Olivia Benson, is working on a special assignment. Dick Wolf, co-creator and executive producer of “SVU,” says Miss Nielsen was expected to begin shooting her first episodes sometime next month.

“I’m thrilled that Mariska is having a baby and thrilled that we have someone of Connie’s obvious talent, beauty and stature to come in for these episodes,” he told Reuters.

Miss Nielsen is best known for her role in the 2000 Oscar-winning film “Gladiator.” Her other credits include “The Great Raid” and “The Ice Harvest” (both from 2005) and 2002’s “One Hour Photo.” The actress is dating a fellow Dane, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.

ABC taps ’Buffy’ star

The new ABC comedy inspired by the life of colorful pop star Elton John has found its leading man.

British actor Anthony Stewart Head, best known for his work on the WB series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” has landed the lead in “Him & Us,” Reuters reports.

The project revolves around an over-the-hill homosexual rock star and his relationships with his long-time manager and the rest of his colorful entourage.

Mr. Head, who played Rupert Giles on “Buffy,” also co-starred in HBO’s made-for-cable film “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself” in 2003.

Super alternative

Bravo is banking on the notion that a cross section of Liza Minnelli fans and Super Bowl die-hard enthusiasts is a very small subset indeed.

Why else would the cable channel counter program against ABC’s Sunday night telecast with a special edition of its “Inside the Actors Studio”? with the Oscar, Tony- and Emmy-winning entertainer?

Obviously, ratings aren’t the intended goal, but those who love Liza can tune in for the two-hour chat, hosted by James Lipton at 8 p.m.

Expect Miss Minnelli, the daughter of the legendary Judy Garland and Oscar-winning director Vincente Minnelli, to wax on about her mother’s troubled stardom and her own battles with fame and its sundry complications.

Blur gets ’Square’

Blur drummer David Rowntree wanted to do a cartoon series, but he wasn’t about to give up on his adult sense of humor to fulfill his wish.

So he hooked up with the edgy cable music network Fuse to create the darkly comic “Empire Square,” Associated Press reports.

“We wouldn’t have been happy in kids’ TV; you can’t be nearly as disgusting,” he told AP. “We’ve got kind of an evil sense of humor, really.”

“Square” is set to debut April 19 on Fuse, marking the channel’s first original series.

The show’s characters already are familiar in England, where viewers watched the exploits of “Square’s” Rabbit, Hooks and Richie in three-minute episodes. The series follows the lead characters as they try to become music superstars.

The new half-hour show will flesh out those elements and ditch some of the English references for American audiences.

“Obviously we can’t make jokes about specifically English things that Americans won’t understand,” Mr. Rowntree says. “[But] there’s a kind of satire to what we do, so we have to be reasonably topical.”

Mr. Rowntree, who is also director of “Empire Square,” says he became interested in animation about 10 years ago and eventually “ended up with my own company.”

Yet he hasn’t given up his day job. He and his Blur band mates, including lead singer Damon Albarn — the creative force behind the Grammy-nominated cartoon band Gorillaz — plan an album sometime next year, Mr. Rowntree says.

Compiled by Christian Toto from staff and wire reports.