Erik Rosales leaving KMPH for Arizona

KMPH reporter Erik Rosales is leaving Fresno again, this time for a job in Arizona.

Rosales is joining KPNX (Channel 12.1), the NBC station in Phoenix, as a consumer reporter on the station's morning show. He's been at KMPH (Channel 26.1) almost three years, first as the chief assignment editor and then as a reporter. Read more →

TV briefs: 'Food Network Star'

Hot stuff: Food Network's long-running competition series "Food Network Star" returns for a ninth season at 9 p.m. June 2.

Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay will lead the charge to discover the best and brightest new faces in food television. In the one-hour season premiere, the 12 contestants arrive in Los Angeles, ready to kick off the biggest audition of their lives to find out who has the personality, on-camera charisma and kitchen chops to follow in their idols' footsteps and helm their own show. Read more →

TV briefs: 'Backyard Oil'

Oil's well that ends well: There is a modern day oil boom hitting the hills of south central Kentucky on Discovery Channel's "Backyard Oil" premiering at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

In this high stakes comical rollercoaster ride through the world of wildcat oil drilling, the right equipment, the perfect location and a hint of good luck is the key to making millions -- if you know where to sink that drill bit. Read more →

Bentley: 'Arrested Development' not dead

The odd TV saga of "Arrested Development" continues May 26 when Netflix posts 15 new episodes of the long-canceled series. It's the fourth season that FOX opted not to make when it issued a death warrant in 2006 to the much-heralded comedy.

If you don't have "ADD" (Arrested Development Delirium), the comedy follows the messed-up adventures of the Bluth family. It stars Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett and Jeffrey Tambor. Think "Modern Family" meets "Married With Children." Read more →

TV briefs: Anne Heche in 'Save Me'

Check your schedule: NBC has announced premiere dates for its summer shows.

Anne Heche stars in the comedy "Save Me," which starts at 8 p.m. May 23. "Get Out Alive With Bear Grylls" will make its debut at 9 p.m. July 8, while "Camp," which stars Rachel Griffiths as a divorced camp director looking for a fresh start, begins 10 p.m. July 10. Read more →

TV briefs: 'Drop Dead Diva'

More life(time): Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva," which follows a shallow wannabe model who suddenly dies in an accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, plus-sized recently deceased attorney, is back for a fifth season with 13 all-new episodes set to debut at 9 p.m. June 23 on Lifetime.

The one-hour, comedic drama stars Brooke Elliott, Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Kate Levering, April Bowlby and Lex Medlin. Read more →

TV briefs: Bruno Mars heads Billboard awards

First up: Fourteen-time Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars, whose single, "When I Was Your Man," has ascended to the No. 1 spot single on the Billboard's Hot 100, will celebrate by opening the "2013 Billboard Music Awards."

The event can be seen at 8 p.m. May 19 on KFSN (Channel 30.1). Read more →

Hollywood Notes: Downey a downer; J. K. Simmons shines

I'm often asked why I choose to do stories about actors in movies who are not the main star.

In the case of "Iron Man 3," where I decided to write about Sir Ben Kingsley instead of Robert Downey Jr., it was a no brainer: Any chance to chat with an Oscar-winning actor shouldn't be missed. Read more →

TV briefs: TNT summer dramas

Mark your calendar: TNT has announced the season premieres for four of its summer dramas.

"Franklin & Bash," starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Breckin Meyer and new cast member Heather Locklear, will launch its third season with a two-hour premiere at 9 p.m. June 19. Read more →

Hollywood Notes: 'Smash' a hit for Megan Hilty

It wasn't a shock when NBC announced there would be no third act for "Smash," canceling it after only two seasons. Once original episodes moved to Saturday, it was clear the end was near. If you want to see what will now be the series finale, it will air at 9 p.m. Saturday on KSEE (Channel 24.1).

My favorite thing out of the two seasons was getting to see and hear Megan Hilty, who plays Ivy Lynn. I never got to see her stage work in "Wicked" or "9 to 5: The Musical," but I feel lucky to have been introduced to her through the TV series. When I ran into Hilty at an NBC party, I told her that there are three female artists who give me goosebumps when I hear them sing -- Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenowith and her. Read more →

'Live From Lincoln Center,' it's Fresno's Audra McDonald

If you've been watching the "Live From Lincoln Center" series on KVPT (Channel 18.1), you've had the chance to see Fresno's Audra McDonald show off her hosting skills. She goes from host to performer for the episode of the concert series airing at 9 p.m. May 24.

Being on the stage at Lincoln Center is familiar to McDonald, who studied at The Juilliard School and performed on every Lincoln Center stage during her multiple-Tony winning career. Read more →

KFTV dominates regional Emmys

KFTV (Channel 21) collected eight nominations for "The 42nd Annual Northern California Area Emmy Awards."

The local Univision affiliate picked up nods for its 6 p.m. newscast, plus several individual honors among Spanish-language television stations from the Northern California region, which covers from Visalia to the Oregon border and includes Hawaii and Reno. Read more →

KMJ stays in the hunt in latest ratings

The first official Arbitron radio ratings period since the loss of syndicated programming on KMJ (AM 580) reveals that while the local talk/news station's numbers are down from the three previous ratings periods, it's attracting enough listeners to tie for second place with sister station KSKS (FM 93.7) with a 5.4 share.

KBOS (FM 94.9) is the top station with a 6.7 share for the winter period of Jan. 3 to March 27. The number is based on listeners older than 12 who tuned in a local radio station from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday-Sunday. Read more →

Vincent Kartheiser defends his 'Mad Men' character

Vincent Kartheiser believes Pete Campbell has gotten a raw deal.

He keeps hearing about how awful his "Mad Men" character is because he was the one who suggested Joan (Christina Hendricks) sleep with a client as a way to land the Jaguar advertising account. Read more →

Fresno's Miranda Rae Mayo lands on BET's 'The Game'

Fresno's connection to Hollywood continues to grow.

Fresno's Miranda Rae Mayo can be seen in late May on the BET comedy series "The Game." She has a multi-episode arc that begins at the end of this season and resumes in the seventh season. Read more →

KVPT to screen 'Orphans of the Genocide'

Filmmaker Bared Maronian and actor Ken Davitian ("Borat," "The Artist") will be the special guests at the KVPT (Channel 18.1) studios for two screenings of Maronian's documentary "Orphans of the Genocide."

The film is dedicated to the more than 150,000 orphans of the Armenian Genocide. Read more →

Hollywood Notes: Hamm mum, China Girl chatty

It's always an interesting challenge talking to the cast of "Mad Men" just before a season opener. They are always available for interviews, but they are under a strict mandate not to say a word about the upcoming season. Most of the cast will only give their name, rank and serial number when asked about what will happen.

Also, most members of the cast don't know what's going to happen past the scripts they've seen. Only Jon Hamm is told what will be happening through the entire year. He's used as a sounding board by the writers to get his reaction about the upcoming plot lines. Read more →

Kate Scott talks her way into a career

Kate Scott turned the two things she loved to do in high school -- talk and sports -- into a career in radio and it's taken her to the fourth largest market in the country.

She anchors the sports report on San Francisco's KNBR (AM 680) weekdays during the "Murph & Mac" show from 5-9 a.m. and on the "Gary Radnich & Larry Krueger" program from 9 a.m. to noon. Local cable subscribers can see the Radnich show, which is simulcast on Comcast SportsNet California. Read more →

TV Beat: Anchor Harrison's hair draws attention

Like so many people who go through cancer treatment, KFSN (Channel 30.1) anchor Liz Harrison had to deal with the loss of her hair in her battle with breast cancer.

This can be tough for anyone. But in her case -- working in a business where appearances are such a big part of the job -- it meant going back on the air without hair. Read more →

‘0 to 5 in 30 Minutes!’ digs deeper with panels

The seventh season of the locally produced “0 to 5 in 30 Minutes!” — starting at 7:30 p.m. tonight on KVPT (Channel 18.1) — will feature a slight change.

Over the first six seasons, each episode has looked at multiple topics. The difference this season is that four of the 24 episodes will be devoted to a single topic discussed by an on-camera panel of experts. Read more →

Former TV anchor launches Web show

Former KMPH (Channel 26.1) anchor John Malos will host “Straight Talk with John Malos,” a talk/news show Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. on centralvalleytalk.com. The Web site was created by Mike Briggs, a former member of the Fresno City Council and the state Assembly, and features several locally produced talk shows.

Programming on the Internet based radio-video network is simulcast on KSDI (Channel 33.1). Malos will discuss a range of topics from politics to entertainment. His plan is for viewers to call in their questions. Read more →

Big changes for Valley broadcasters in 2009

With the end of 2009 rapidly approaching, it’s time to look back at some of the biggest local television and radio moments of the past 12 months.

* Change is good: Local television stations switched from analog to digital signals, which led to better pictures and opened the door for local stations to add multiple channels. Read more →

KVPT adds the channel Create TV

KVPT (Channel 18.1) adds the new channel Create TV (Channel 18.2) to its digital lineup at 6 a.m. Sunday. You may already have seen the channel during test runs before the official launch.

Create TV is the second new service offered by the local public television station. It launched the Spanish-language V-me (Channel 18.3) in February 2007. The new channel can be seen via an antenna or on Comcast Cable channel 194. Read more →

TV Beat: KAIL rolls out two spooky specials

Halloween comes early on KAIL (Channel 7.1) with two locally produced spooky specials airing this weekend. “Eye on Horror,” at 8 p.m. Sunday, explores several central San Joaquin Valley haunts and offers a sneak peek at the locally produced horror film, “Stricken.” Sharon Kille Jenkins hosts.

It’ll be followed at 9 p.m. by “Hauntings in Central California: The Sierra Sky Ranch” where the Central California Paranormal Investigators look for proof that Sierra Sky Ranch is haunted. Read more →