A FEW QUICK HITS

With Topher Grace leaving and Ashton Kutcher going part-time on 'That '70s Show' next fall, co-star Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Fez, will be getting a higher profile next season. Does this mean Valderrama might be getting a spin-off as a result?

"There's been talk," he says. So would he be interested? Valderrama says maybe -- if the stars align. He certainly isn't dismissing the notion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC has ordered a pilot of an updated Night Stalker series from former The X-Files executive producer Frank Spotnitz, Variety reported. The show will rework the classic 1970s ABC show Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which detailed a hard-boiled journalist's investigations into freakish occurrences, the trade paper reported.

Ironically, The X-Files creator Chris Carter has said he was inspired in part by the original Night Stalker series, which starred Darren McGavin.

This new series would have to be relegated to the alternate TV dimension of Earth Prime-Time Delayed, as the one true Kolchak already made his mark in Toobworld back in the 1970s.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
League of Themselves alert:
Scott Reeves (ex-Ryan, 'The Young and the Restless') will play himself when his hit country band Blue County appears on 'As the World Turns' Feb. 14 in scenes with Craig and Jennifer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By JOHN PAIN, AP Business Writer
MIAMI - When Burger King decided to try a new promotion to cash in on the reality TV craze, the No. 2 fast-food chain turned to the master of the pitch — Donald Trump.

Burger King put a twist on product placement into the premiere of the third season of Donald Trump's NBC hit "The Apprentice." The two teams in the latest incarnation of the cutthroat reality TV show each had to help design a new Burger King product along with the chain's head chef, Calvin Harris. They then had to sell it while running two busy stores in midtown Manhattan during lunchtime. The team with the most sales won.

The winning team, Networth, hawked a Western Angus steak burger, loaded with onion rings, cheese, barbecue sauce, lettuce and tomatoes That burger was being debuted in 7,800 restaurants nationwide Friday.

"It will feel like a product has come from the boardroom into the restaurant in 24 hours," Klein said, even though the episode was taped months ago. Burger King is planning to run a 30-second commercial featuring Trump on NBC until the end of January, Klein said. The burger should be in stores until Feb. 4.

"It's a short, quick, targeted campaign ... It's driven more by the association with The Apprentice and Trump than it is with this particular burger."

Toobworld addendum:
It also ratchets up Trump's numbers when it comes to the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. He's appeared as himself on 'The Drew Carey Show', 'Suddenly, Susan', and 'The Job', plus commercials for Visa, Pizza Hut, and - quel horrors! - MacDonald's!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby