Tuning In

Sue’s ’Sex’ out at O

Sunday night is getting less steamy.

Oxygen’s “Talk Sex” call-in show with colorful septuagenarian educator Sue Johanson is ending its run after six seasons, the cable network announced Tuesday.

The final show airs Sunday at midnight.

“I’m going to miss it terribly,” Miss Johanson told Associated Press. “It’s been part of my life, and I just love it. I’m going to miss writing scripts. I’m going to miss having to read books.”

Miss Johanson’s show, derived from a Canadian radio program that began in 1984, offers practical advice and the latest information on sexually transmitted diseases. It is all the more colorful hearing the information from a Toronto-based nurse who looks and sounds like one’s grandmother.

Miss Johanson, 77, says she had to recognize that 1 a.m. (when her shows end) is not her finest hour. Because it’s a call-in show, taping the show earlier doesn’t make sense.

“I have been on television for 32 years,” she says. “I think it’s time. I figured if we haven’t got it by now, we’re not going to get it. We’ve got to make room for somebody else.”

She says she enjoyed working with Oxygen and wasn’t pushed out. The only editing Oxygen ever did was to urge her not to use a particular slang for male genitalia.

“Talk Sex” is Oxygen’s most-popular late-night show, and its ratings among young viewers this season have been the best ever, the network said. Material from the show will continue to be available on Oxygen’s Web site and on demand.

Miss Johanson, however, says she’s not retiring and will continue to give lectures. “I’m a ham,” she says. “I love a large audience.”

Fallout for ’Hannah’?

“Hannah Montana’s” latest wasn’t the greatest.

Sunday’s installment — the first new episode of the Disney Channel show to air since news of 15-year-old series star Miley Cyrus’ controversial pictorial in Vanity Fair broke and the June issue of the magazine was distributed — attracted 3.1 million to the Disney Channel from 8 to 8:30 that night, according to Multichannel.com, citing data from Nielsen Media Research. That’s 32 percent less than the 4.6 million viewer average for premieres of the series’ five other new installments during the 2007-08 TV season, Nielsen says.

Yet Disney Channel officials said the episode, titled “The Way We Weren’t,” still topped its competition with youngsters 2 and older, children 6 to 11 and tweens 9 to 14 during its time slot. The episode also finished third for the week of April 28 through May 4 among tween viewers 9 to 14, garnering 731,000 of those viewers, Disney Channel officials noted.

Superheroes expand

Marvel Animation is powering up the “Marvel Super Hero Squad,” the Hollywood Reporter says.

The Marvel Entertainment division says it’s producing 26 half-hour episodes of a new “superstylized” animated series aimed at 6- to 8-year-olds and featuring such well-known heroes as Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Thor, Fantastic Four and Captain America. All will be residents of a caricatured Super Hero City and be thrust into humorous adventures as they thwart the villainous plans of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Loki, the Abomination and others.

Marvel is in discussions with networks for the distribution of “Squad,” and the show is expected to be available for broadcast in 2009. The company already has two new series — “Wolverine and the X-Men” and “Iron Man: Armored Adventures” — set to premiere early next year on Nicktoons, THR notes.

Marvel also is developing a multimedia and merchandising campaign for the show, with Hasbro handling the toy line.

The news comes just days after the theatrical release of “Iron Man,” which raked in $102.1 million during its four-day opening frame.

On tap tonight …

Scrubs (8:30 p.m., NBC) — It’s the hospital gang’s finale on NBC, but fans shouldn’t despair. The sitcom takes up residence next year on rival network ABC.

Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports.