"Curb" to Join WUTV Late-Night Lineup

This is what I’m thinking:

* It was difficult for WUTV General Manager Nick Magnini to curb his enthusiasm about the station’s late-night lineup this fall.

At 11:30 p.m., the Fox affiliate will air toned-down reruns of the first season of Larry David’s HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

“Curb” kicks “That ‘70s Show” from that time slot.

At midnight, reruns of the first season of HBO’s “Entourage” will replace “Friends” repeats. It will be amusing just to hear what Hollywood agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) sounds like without the expletives.

“I’m very optimistic,” said Magnini of carrying the HBO shows. “Seventy percent of the Buffalo audience has not seen the shows.”

That’s because only about a quarter of Western New Yorkers subscribe to the pay-cable service HBO. Of course, people have seen both series on DVD and they also air nationally on cable.

At 6 p.m. this fall, WUTV will replace “Seinfeld” reruns with returns of “How I Met Your Mother.” “Seinfeld” will still air at 10 p.m.

Magnini said the big news at WNYO – which has the same owner as WUTV – is that all city versions of “Real Housewives” will air weekdays at noon. That just might take a ratings bite out of the female demographic watching local news at noon.

* Things Go Weirder with Coke: Channel 2 ran a story at 11 p.m. Monday about three unique ways to use Coca Cola, including getting grease and blood stains out of laundry. At the end of the piece, weatherman Kevin O’Connell noted that it also was a good idea to put ice in a glass and have a Coke. When it comes to news, this was hardly the real thing. It played more like a product placement advertisement than a news story.

* After “Friday Night Lights” co-stars Kyle Chandler (who was born in Buffalo) and Connie Britton earned Emmy nominations, NBC picked an unfortunate time to rest the series this Friday. Some regular readers of this blog were concerned that “Lights” might have been permanently turned off. But it is scheduled to return on July 23.

* You can’t say that LeBron James left Cleveland for a much bigger market. Miami is only one spot ahead of Cleveland at No. 17 in the country.

* CBS is running some misleading promos about the recent nominations for “The Late Show with David Letterman.” The show was skipped over for a nomination in the category that Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were nominated. Letterman’s show only earned two nominations for directing, hardly worthy of promoting.

Amusingly on Monday night's show , Letterman talked about getting "the cold shoulder" from the Emmys after the promo celebrating the minor nominations ran on Channel 4. Letterman added it was the first time in 26 years that his CBS or NBC show wasn't nominated.

* You know that amusing advertisement “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” about the conceited guy in the shower, on a boat and on a horse trying to sell Old Spice Body Wash? It was nominated for an Emmy and will compete with Betty White’s Snickers ad, among others. You can’t miss the Old Spice ad. It is even carried in movie theaters. And it actually is funnier than some of the movies that follow it.

* The episode of “The Office” in which Jim and Pam got married in Niagara Falls not only won an Emmy nomination for writing. It also earned one for sound mixing, which couldn’t have been easy all the time near the Falls.

* Bet you didn’t know department: Kristen Wiig, the “Saturday Night Live” star who was nominated in the best supporting actress category, was born in Canandaigua and graduated from Brighton High in a Rochester suburb.

pergament@msn.com