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A haunting "House'

The Rev. Carroll Pickett doesn't know quite how it happened. He never wanted to minister to a death-row inmate on his or her last day in this world. Somehow, though, he ended up ministering to 95 of them as chaplain for the "Walls" prison unit at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas.

His experience is chronicled in the profoundly moving "At the Death House Door" - a documentary by Peter Gilbert and Steve James of "Hoop Dreams" acclaim - premiering at 9 tonight on cable's Independent Film Channel (IFC).

The film hits cable at a time when lethal injections are big news in the headlines, and the work clearly is meant to make viewers question the humanity of the practice. What drives "At the Death House Door," however, is not a strict political agenda but the eloquent beauty of Mr. Pickett's voice.

The pastor's first involvement with the prison came during a hostage crisis in which two members of the congregation he led were killed. He said he would never again set foot in the jail. Yet within a matter of years, he took a position as the prison chaplain, hoping the work would be less demanding than running his own church and, thus, might save his crumbling marriage.

What began as a job counseling prisoners and leading a church choir soon morphed into one requiring Mr. Pickett, 74, to preside over the world's first lethal injection, in 1982, and dozens more that followed.

In words that are soft-spoken but powerful, the chaplain speaks about those years and the faces he saw, guiding viewers through the most complex of situations, in which a man must try to serve both God and his employer, a human system he does not fully support.

Mr. Pickett talks about his transformation from death-penalty supporter to outspoken critic, about his unwavering commitment to treat each prisoner as a human being and friend, about the private pain he felt after each trip to the death house, and about the one inmate he is convinced, to this day, was innocent. The story of that man, Carlos De Luna, is an additional narrative woven into the film.

The filmmakers add a certain visual poetry to the proceedings with footage of the silvery-haired, bespectacled pastor wandering through the prison graveyard or standing beneath the glowing windows inside a church. Yet these fragile moments are nothing compared to clips of the tapes Mr. Pickett recorded after coming home from each execution. It's an understatement to say that hearing his soul-bearing confessions about what he witnessed during people's last moments is both affecting and haunting.

New Emmy hosts

Cameron Mathison and Sherri Shepherd will host the 35th annual Daytime Emmy Awards June 20 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, ABC said. Neither Mr. Mathison nor Miss Shepherd has ever hosted the Daytime Emmys, nor has either won one.

Mr. Mathison plays playboy Ryan Lavery on ABC's "All My Children" and hosts SOAPnet's competitive reality series "I Wanna Be a Soap Star." During the fifth season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," Mr. Mathison took fifth place with his professional partner, Edyta Sliwinska.

Miss Shepherd has been a co-host on ABC's "The View" since 2007. She has appeared in TV shows such as "30 Rock," "Less Than Perfect" and "The Jamie Foxx Show."

Short takes

* Season six "American Idol" finalist Sanjaya Malakar is returning to TV in a new ad for a retirement and financial services firm, TVGuide.com reports. The spot, to be made specifically for the South Asian market, will be part of Nationwide's "Life Comes at You Fast" campaign and will give a nod to Mr. Malakar's (in)famous hairdos. In the commercial, Mr. Malakar visits an Indian monastery, where he's told not only that he needs to start planning for retirement, but that he should work on that hairstyle of his. With his Nationwide ad, Mr. Malakar follows in the footsteps of Kevin Federline, MC Hammer and Fabio, among others.

* Meanwhile, the latest "American Idol" winner, David Cook, will perform during an outdoor concert this morning at "The Early Show"plaza in New York, CBS officials said yesterday. The concert will be broadcast tomorrow on "The Early Show," seen weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. on WUSA-Channel 9.

* One final "Idol" item: The May 21 finale of the Fox show finished atop the ratings heap for the week of May 19 through 25 - with 31.6 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said yesterday. The remaining four shows within Nielsen's top five, their networks and viewerships were : 2) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 27 million; 3) "Dancing With the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 20 million; 4) "Dancing With the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 19.2 million; and 5) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 18 million.

On tap tonight

Lost (9 p.m., ABC) - The two-hour season finale offers more revelations - including the identity of the person in the mysterious casket fans saw at the end of season three.