CBS's 'Amazing Race' in a strong finale Tuesday
   On Tuesday night’s season finale of “The Amazing Race” on CBS, “Survivor” sweethearts Rob and Amber had to settle for something they’re not used to: second place.
   But that may mean CBS can move into first. The two-hour finale gave CBS a major boost for the May sweeps in a tight fight with Fox for No. 1 among 18-49s.
   According to Nielsen overnights, “Race” averaged a 6.7 rating among viewers 18-49, a 31.4 percent jump from the 5.1 it had been averaging season-to-date.
   “Race’s” big numbers gave CBS a tremendous boost for the night. It averaged a 5.5 18-49 rating, up 53 percent over CBS’s season-to-date 3.6 average on the night.
   CBS is averaging a 3.9 through Monday in May sweeps, with Fox just behind at 3.8. CBS still has big audience draws like the finales of “Survivor,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “CSI” yet to come while Fox has the season finale of “American Idol.”
   Still, like Rob and Amber, CBS had to settle for second place Tuesday. Fox’s “American Idol” was the highest-rated show of the night among 18-49s with a 9.9 rating, and the network’s 8.7 average and 23 share were good for No. 1. CBS was second at 5.5/14, with NBC third at 3.0/8, ABC fourth at 2.4/6, the WB fifth at 1.9/5 and UPN sixth at 1.0/3.
   Fox started the night out in the lead with “Idol’s” 9.9 average during the 8 p.m. timeslot. CBS was second that hour with a 3.0 for “NCIS” and the WB third with a 2.2 for “Gilmore Girls.”
   Fox led again at 9 p.m., this time with a 7.5 average for the medical drama “House.” CBS was second during the hour with a 6.1 average for the first hour of the “Race” finale, while ABC took third with a 3.1 average for an hour of “According to Jim.”
   With Fox out at 10 p.m. CBS led with a 7.3 for the final hour of “Race.” NBC was second with a 4.8 for “Law & Order: SVU” and ABC third with a 2.2 for “Blind Justice.”
   Among households, Fox led for the night with a 12.8 average rating and a 20 share. CBS was second at 9.3/15, NBC third at 5.8/9, ABC fourth at 4.5/7, the WB fifth at 2.9/5 and UPN sixth at 1.8/3.

BusinessWeek No. 2 editor Morrison steps down
There’s no replacement and no clear reason why he’s leaving. But effective July 15, Mark Morrison will no longer be the managing editor of BusinessWeek. Morrison, who has been a New York editor for the magazine for 21 years, told editor in chief Steve Adler that he will return to his native Texas, where he will remain with the magazine as an Austin correspondent. Adler told the BusinessWeek staff in an email sent Tuesday. Morrison had been the No. 2 editor for 12 years. Adler’s note did not say why Morrison was leaving. Like most magazines, BusinessWeek usually likes to have a replacement in line before a big departure, but Adler did not mention a successor. BusinessWeek’s ad pages are down 11.2 percent this year compared with last through April, according to numbers released this week by the Publishers Information Bureau.

Zucker: 'Today' needs innovation to snap its funk
It’s not easy being on top, as NBC’s “Today” has found out over the past few weeks. From a critical New York Times story two weeks ago to a piece in, of all places, TV Guide this week, “Today” has been taking a PR hit to go with that ratings dip. Now NBC is answering back. NBC Universal TV president and former “Today” executive producer Jeff Zucker acknowledged yesterday that there are some problems but said “Today’s” fall has been exaggerated because of its long win streak. At a breakfast for the one-year anniversary of the NBC-Universal merger, Zucker said, “The last couple of months, the numbers have been closer than I'd like, but we're still in a very strong position.” “Today’s” lead over ABC competitor “Good Morning America” has shrunk to 610,000 viewers this season, and last month executive producer Tom Touchet was fired. Zucker also said that Touchet wasn’t fired because of the show’s shrinking gap over “GMA,” but because “Today” has lacked innovation. He said show did innovate morning show ideas like concert series, in-studio windows and snappy openings, but hasn’t done much lately while “GMA,” he admitted, has gotten better. But to the notion that Couric and co-host Matt Lauer aren’t right for the job anymore, Zucker said: “I don’t think there’s an issue with the talent. It’s the way you produce them.” The Times story made Couric sound quite the diva, with descriptions like, “At the first sound of [Katie Couric’s] peremptory voice and clickety stiletto heels, people dart behind doors and douse the lights.”

CNBC housecleaning continues with Miller out
Mark Hoffman became CNBC president in February, and he’s not wasting much time tightening things up. Less than a week after Tina Brown’s “Topic A” show was canceled, after mutual agreement by CNBC and the former magazine editor, another big name is leaving. Fewer than 16 months after he began, Dennis Miller is leaving his primetime weekday show, effective Monday. The show has averaged about 168,000 viewers since it launched in January 2004, but just about 114,000 so far this year. Reruns of “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” will replace “Dennis Miller” in the 9 p.m. timeslot. With Fox looking to start a financial news network of its own, it seems that Hoffman is trying to revamp to help prevent further audience erosion. In April, the network averaged 125,000 total day viewers, down 24 percent from 165,000 in April 2004. In primetime the network has slipped even more, down 39 percent year-to-year in April to 131,000 average viewers.

Latest on Chappelle: Taking S. African sabbatical
Where in the world is Dave Chappelle? The latest rumor is the Comedy Central star taking some me-time in South Africa. Last week, when the network postponed the scheduled May 31 debut of season three of “Chappelle’s Show,” rumors from drug abuse to walking pneumonia to creative differences started to fly. But on Wednesday Entertainment Weekly quoted an unnamed source saying Chappelle flew from Newark to South Africa on April 28 to check into a mental health facility. Comedy Central said it has had no contact with Chappelle, but EW’s source says that Chappelle is still at the facility. Newsweek reported earlier this week that Chappelle had entered drug rehab. The EW story says between four and five episodes’ worth of sketches for the new season have been shot but none of the onstage introductions. After two very strong seasons and a wildly popular DVD, Chappelle signed a deal with Comedy Central last August worth up to $50 million for two more seasons of “Chappelle’s Show.”

FX's year-round schedule adds comedy to drama
Fox tried the year-round TV schedule last year and received mixed results for the cable-like strategy. Now sister network FX is giving it a whirl. The network will bring original programming, including a first stab at comedy in recent years, to viewers for at least the next 52 weeks, starting with the last five weeks of “The Shield,” which ends June 14. That’s when Denis Leary’s “Rescue Me” will return. June 15 marks the debut of “30 Days,” a six-episode documentary from “Super Size Me” guy Morgan Spurlock. On July 22 FX will launch “Over There,” a series about the current war in Iraq, and in August the comedies “Starved” and “It’s Always Funny In Philadelphia” will premiere. Come September “Nip/Tuck” will return and run through January, when the show “Thief” begins. After that, new seasons of “The Shield” and “Rescue Me” will run through May. In other programming, ESPN and ESPNU will air the original movie “Code Breakers” on Dec. 10, about a 1951 cheating scandal at West Point that led to the dismissal of 83 cadets during the Korean War. ESPN is also working on a movie called “Four Minutes” about running pioneer Roger Bannister, which will debut on ESPN2. And CNN will reorganize its afternoon lineup starting June 6. The network will air CNN International’s “Your World Today” at noon, then three hours of Wolf Blitzer starting at 3 p.m. That means “Crossfire” and “Inside Politics” will finally, officially be off the schedule.

French media overseers say pope joke not funny
And we thought the Federal Communications Commission was tough. France’s Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) has warned the Canal Plus network it faces fines if it again airs material that could be offensive to political, cultural or religious groups, in this case Roman Catholics. On the show “Les Guignols de l'Info” (The News Clowns), which parodies current events using puppets, newly elected Pope Benedict was called “Adolf II” and was said to bless Catholics “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Third Reich.” The skit was a reference to the pope’s young days as Joseph Ratzinger, when he was a wartime member of the Hitler Youth organization at a time when membership was required of young boys. It probably didn’t help that the show aired on April 20, a day after the pope was elected, and also Hitler’s birthday. Both Roman Catholic bishops and a group of Jewish organizations in France immediately protested the show. The network has apologized and put the 17-year-old program on notice.