Tuning In to TV

Encore for ’Dance’

Oxygen has picked up a second season of “Dance Your Ass Off,” with Magical Elves production company on board to produce.

In its first year, the series was the most-watched freshman series in the cable channel’s history, with an average of more than 1 million total viewers and 494,000 among the 18-to-49 demographic, Variety reports.

The show pairs an overweight contestant with a dance partner, and the two earn a combined score. The team with the lowest score is eliminated each week.

The new season will air next year, Variety says.

Magical Elves is the shingle behind Bravo’s culinary sensation “Top Chef,” and it produced “Project Runway” during that show’s run on Bravo.

Oprah gets ’Life’

Oprah Winfrey will lend her voice talents to Discovery Channel’s upcoming 11-part series, “Life,” Multichannel.com reports.

Set to premiere in March, the series - more than four years in the making - reveals some of the most spectacular, bizarre and fascinating behaviors that living things have devised to thrive. Many of them were captured for the first time using the latest in state-of-the-art high-definition filming techniques.

From strange creatures - such as the star-nosed mole that hunts underwater using bubbles to smell its prey - to epic spectacles - including millions of fruit bats darkening the Zambian sky - each episode tells stories of survival with drama, humor and suspense.

Miss Winfrey also is teaming with Discovery Communications on OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture service that will succeed Discovery Life network next year.

Germans avoid ’30’

In its Sunday night debut on German television, NBC’s Emmy-winning sitcom “30 Rock” scored a 0.0 rating - meaning fewer than 5,000 viewers tuned in, the Hollywood Reporter notes.

The debut was below even the lowest forecasts of broadcaster ZDFNeo. The digital niche channel had made “30 Rock” the flagship in its relaunch, promising more cutting-edge programming for a younger demographic.

But no one, young or old, tuned in Sunday. The BBC comedy “Taking the Flak” also failed to register on the ratings scale, and even the action drama “The Sentinel” (2006) barely made a dent, reaching just 30,000 viewers.

Wagner set for ’NCIS’

If nothing else, the upcoming 150th episode of “NCIS” will be remembered for one thing: introducing viewers to Tony’s dad.

Veteran actor Robert Wagner - yes, the former Jonathan Hart himself - has been cast as the father of special agent Anthony DiNozzo (played by Michael Weatherly), Entertainment Weekly reported Tuesday on its Web site. Father and son will reunite in the milestone episode, slated to air on CBS in January, EW says.

Have a case of deja vu? It’s probably because Mr. Weatherly played Mr. Wagner in the 2004 made-for-TV movie “The Mystery of Natalie Wood.”

Whip it up

Do you make the best creme brulee in town? Can you flambe figs into something special?

Can you think on your feet - and do you have television charisma?

Then you could be among the dozen chefs selected for either “Top Chef 7” or Bravo’s upcoming spinoff series, “Top Chef: Just Desserts.”

The popular show will hold an open casting call from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Willard InterContinental Hotel, 1745 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

Interested participants should go to www.bravotv.com/casting for more details and to download an application to bring to the casting call.

- Karen Goldberg Goff

’Southland’ saved

Cable network TNT says it has resurrected the NBC police drama “Southland” and will bring it back in the new year, Associated Press reports.

Beginning Jan. 12, TNT will broadcast all six episodes that were shot by the Peacock network for its aborted second season, as well as the first season’s seven episodes.

Produced by John Wells of “ER” fame, “Southland” won good reviews but not-so-good ratings when it premiered this spring on NBC. It was renewed for this fall, but the network canceled it before its scheduled October return.

Set in Los Angeles, the gritty drama stars Ben McKenzie (formerly of Fox’s “The O.C.”), Regina King (“Ray”) and Tom Everett Scott (“That Thing You Do!”), among others.

Fox on top with series

The World Series gave the Fox network world-class ratings last week as the New York Yankees squared off against the Philadelphia Phillies in four much-watched games.

Fox can thank baseball for a huge average audience of 14.69 million viewers.

Game 4 was the most-watched program in prime time, followed by Game 1, Game 2 and Fox’s pre-game show for Game 4, according to Nielsen Co.

But other networks weren’t sleeping. ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” ranked fifth for the week, and CBS’ scripted dramas “NCIS,” “The Mentalist” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” helped round out the top 10.

Fox’s Game 3 of the World Series ranked ninth.

The first four games, averaging 19 million viewers, far outpaced Fox’s 13 million average viewership in 2008 for the first four games of the World Series pitting the Phillies against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Well behind Fox last week but still strong, CBS averaged 9.84 million viewers. ABC was right behind with 9.45 million. NBC had 5.59 million, the CW had 2.24 million and ION Television had 870,000.

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.25 million viewers. Telemundo had 980,000, TeleFutura had 860,000, and Azteca had 240,000.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.50 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.95 million, and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.88 million viewers.

For the week of Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships were: 1) World Series Game 4 (Sunday), Fox, 22.76 million; 2) World Series Game 1 (Wednesday), Fox, 19.51 million; 3) World Series Game 2 (Thursday), Fox, 18.90 million; 4) World Series Pre-Game, Game 4 (Sunday), Fox, 17.82 million; 5) “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 17.38 million; 6) “NCIS,” CBS, 16.70 million; 7) “The OT,” Fox, 16.61 million; 8) “The Mentalist,” CBS, 15.53 million; 9) World Series Game 3 (Saturday), Fox, 15.40 million; and 10) “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 15.24 million.

• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from staff, Web and wire reports