Tuning In

War tops Peabody wins

Stories about wounded Iraq veterans, reported by war-wounded TV journalists, won Peabody Awards yesterday, Associated Press reports.

Thirty-five recipients of the 67th annual George Foster Peabody awards for broadcasting excellence in news and entertainment were announced by the University of Georgia ahead of a ceremony in New York City on June 16. The awards ceremony will be hosted by NBC news anchor Brian Williams.

Peabodys went to “Wounds of War — The Long Road Home for Our Nation’s Veterans,” a series of reports by ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, and to “CBS News Sunday Morning: The Way Home” for Kimberly Dozier’s piece about two women veterans who lost limbs in Iraq.

Miss Dozier and Mr. Woodruff survived near-fatal attacks while on assignment in Iraq.

Another CBS News series, “60 Minutes,” won a Peabody for Scott Pelley’s report, “The Killings in Haditha.”

Awards also went to Discovery’s “Planet Earth,” which used HDTV technology to showcase natural wonders of the world; “Independent Lens” for “Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life,” a portrait of Duke Ellington’s musical collaborator; “Nature: Silence of the Bees,” an inquiry into the decline in the world’s honeybee population from Thirteen/WNET; and WGBH-Boston’s “Design Squad,” an engineering competition for young people.

Awards for entertainment series went to “30 Rock,” Tina Fey’s send-up of TV sketch shows and her own network, NBC; and “Project Runway,” Bravo’s fashion-designer competition.

Peabodys also went to “Mad Men,” AMC’s drama set in the world of 1960s New York advertising, and “Dexter,” Showtime’s drama about a serial killer who preys on other sociopaths. “Nimrod Nation,” an eight-part documentary series from Sundance Channel, also received a Peabody.

Other recipients included Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and “A Journey Across Afghanistan: Opium and Roses,” a documentary from Bulgaria’s Balkan News Corp.

There will be blood

Ardent “Jericho” fans who went “nuts” when CBS canceled their favorite series (for the first time) last year pale in comparison to the lengths “Moonlight” supporters are willing to go to keep the vampire drama afloat.

They’re sacrificing their own blood to keep the series on the air.

Teaming with the Red Cross and online protest rally point YouChoose.net, “Moonlight” viewers are organizing a nationwide blood drive to garner network support for a second season. They claim that more than 3,000 fans have pledged to donate a pint.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Moonlight” star Alex O’Loughlin has been so moved by their efforts that sources close to the series said he is becoming a spokesman for the Red Cross.

Yet for all the dramatic effort fans are expending to rescue the show, here’s the kicker: “Moonlight” isn’t in any imminent danger of cancellation, THR notes. Although modestly rated, the show is considered very likely to receive a pickup for the fall. Moreover, “Moonlight” still has four original episodes set to air when it returns April 25, so there’s plenty of time for CBS to mull its fate.

Still, “Moonlight” fans aren’t taking any chances — and the intensity could be wearying for CBS. The network just finished extinguishing a yearlong fan uprising about the aforementioned ratings-challenged cult drama “Jericho” — which was canceled for a second time last month.

Short takes

• NBC’s schedule for the 2008-09 TV season has been announced, and here’s the big news: The acclaimed-but-low-rated “Friday Night Lights has been renewed, “The Office”will have a spin-off, “Lipstick Jungle” is returning — and “Saturday Night Live” is airing on Thursday night, TVGuide.com reports.

• The Sundance Channel yesterday announced a development and acquisition slate that includes a new series from Elton John and Elvis Costello. According to Multichannel.com, the two musical artists are teaming up for a show called “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With … ,” which will air later this year not only on Sundance Channel in the U.S., but also in the United Kingdom and Canada. Mr. Costello will host the 13-episode talk-music series, which Mr. John is executive producing.

• Lifetime Television will renew a second edition of “How to Look Good Naked,” the reality series that averaged more than 1.1 million viewers per episode in its recently concluded inaugural season, MultiChannel.com reports. The show, hosted by former “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” co-star Carson Kressley, will also be expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour per episode. The network said ratings for the first season garnered a 53 percent jump in viewership among women 18 to 34 and an 11 percent bump among women between 18 and 49.

On tap tonight…

CNN Presents: Black in America: Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination ( 9 p.m., CNN): On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, network anchor Soledad O’Brien retraces the steps of the civil rights icon — and his convicted assassin, James Earl Ray — through interviews with witnesses and investigators, the FBI and the Memphis police. Their goal: to explore alternative scenarios of who was ultimately responsible for the murder that, for some, represented the end of the American civil rights era.

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