TV host and zookeeper Jack Hanna says he took his own advice and used pepper spray on grizzlies headed toward him.

The Columbus Zoo keeper and frequent David Letterman guest says he was with his wife and other hikers in Montana’s Glacier National Park on Saturday when they saw the mother bear and two large cubs coming toward them. Hanna and the others moved slowly back up the trail to a clearing and stood still while the mother and one cub passed by.

Hanna says the other cub, weighing about 125 pounds, charged toward the hikers. Hanna sprayed the bear in the face, and it fled.

Hanna had recently filmed a message for the National Park Service encouraging hikers to carry pepper spray.

CBS will take a new view of daytime after the end of “As the World Turns.”

When the soap opera concludes its 54-year run in September, it will be replaced by an hour-long daily talk show with six celebrity co-hosts — all women, an echo of ABC’s popular “The View” series.

CBS announced Wednesday that the hosts of the as-yet untitled daytime show include Sharon Osbourne; Sara Gilbert of TV’s “Roseanne” fame; Holly Robinson Peete from “Celebrity Apprentice;” Broadway actress Marissa Jaret Winokur; Leah Remini of “The King of Queens;” and Julie Chen, who hosts CBS’ “Big Brother” and “The Early Show.”

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Greg Stoda: Jimmy Johnson will need a clever game plan

By GLENN GARVIN

When Jimmy Johnson was football coach at the University of Miami, he told its president to go to hell — and survived. After coaching the Dallas Cowboys, he mocked the owner for getting a face-lift, compared him to Michael Jackson — and survived.

Now he’s going to Nicaragua as a contestant on the TV show Survivor.

I’m betting on Nicaragua.

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It wasn’t a happy hour for Annie Whittington on “Big Brother.”

The 27-year-old bartender from Tampa, Fla., was revealed to viewers Thursday as the 12th season’s saboteur and was then unanimously evicted from the voyeuristic CBS reality competition.

The contestants, who were unaware she was the mole, chose to keep cocktail waitress Rachel Reilly, 26, from Las Vegas in the camera-laden house instead of Whittington.

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As befitting a lazy week in midsummer, prime-time television was dominated by mentally untaxing fare with dancing, dating and dousings.

None of them involved LeBron James. The Miami Heat forward’s ESPN special to announce his new employer was seen Thursday by nearly 10 million people, higher than all but three prime-time programs on the broadcast networks last week.

Nielsen”s top 15 programs included two editions of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” contest, two editions of CBS’ crowded house reality series “Big Brother” and two editions of ABC’s “Wipeout,” where hapless contestants try to avoid being dunked in water while circumventing an obstacle course. ABC’s “The Bachelorette” was behind only NBC’s talent show as the top reality series.

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A fourth major broadcast network and actor Jake Gyllenhaal are adding their support to the ambitious fundraiser “Stand Up to Cancer.”

Fox TV will join previously announced ABC, CBS and NBC in donating a simultaneous commercial-free hour of prime-time for the September telethon airing from Los Angeles.

Gyllenhaal will appear in a “Stand Up to Cancer” public service announcement set to debut during Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game airing Tuesday evening on Fox.

More cable networks also have agreed to carry the fundraiser, with VH1, HBO Latino, TV1 and G4 joining previously announced HBO, Discovery Health, MLB Network, E! and the Style Network.

“Stand Up to Cancer,” to be hosted by Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams, will air Sept. 10.

Melina Kanakaredes is taking herself off the case for “CSI: NY.”

CBS said Monday that the actress has decided to leave the crime drama after six seasons. The network expressed disappointment but said it respected her choice to “move on.”

The actress says she would treasure the “amazing” friendships she made on “CSI: NY.”

Kanakaredes’ departure was announced just weeks before the shows resumes production on July 28.

“CSI: NY” will move from Wednesday to Friday night this fall.

There was no word from CBS on a possible replacement for Kanakaredes, who played police Detective Stella Bonasera.

Daytime television’s brightest stars are taking their chances in Las Vegas at the annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards, where the long-running soap opera “As The World Turns” can ease some of the pain from cancellation with a haul of trophies.

The longest-running daytime drama, which received 14 nominations, is ending its run on CBS on Sept. 17.

“General Hospital” had 18 Daytime Emmy nominations, while “The Young & The Restless had 16 and perennial children’s favorite “Sesame Street” had 14.

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The sticking point in Conan O’Brien’s complex exit negotiations with NBC involves his TV staff, not Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a person familiar with the talks said Tuesday.

Although discussions also focused on whether NBC would keep the rights to familiar O’Brien comedy bits including Triumph, O’Brien’s focus was ensuring severance deals for his “Tonight” staff and crew, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be private.
O’Brien is “dug in on that,” the person said.

NBC fired back in a statement, saying “it was Conan’s decision to leave NBC that resulted in nearly 200 of his staffers being out of work.”

“We have already agreed to pay millions of dollars to compensate every one of them. This latest posturing is nothing more than a PR ploy,” the network said.

A spokesman for O’Brien declined to comment.
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A jury should get to decide whether a TV producer’s dealings with David Letterman were attempted blackmail or just hard-nosed business, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon refused a defense request to throw out an attempted grand larceny charge against the producer, Robert “Joe” Halderman. The ruling puts the case on a path toward trial, which could bring testimony from the “Late Show” host about events in his private life that have been pushed into public view.

The case spurred Letterman to tell viewers in October that he had slept with women on his staff.
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