3.5M tune in to UPN for Britney's home movies
   Britney Spears is a huge draw in the tabloids, and apparently just as much of one on television. UPN premiered the limited-run series “Britney & Kevin: Chaotic” Tuesday night and it nearly doubled the network’s 9 p.m. timeslot average, with 3.46 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnights. “Veronica Mars” averaged just 1.87 million there this season. “Chaotic,” which featured home movies of the now-married couple during their courtship, earned a 1.8 rating among viewers 18-49. But as usual, Fox’s “American Idol” was Tuesday night’s highest rated show in the demo, with a 10.1 average at 8 p.m. That led Fox to first place for the night with an 8.6 average rating and a 23 share. CBS finished second at 3.7/10, NBC third at 3.4/9, ABC fourth at 2.4/6, the WB fifth at 2.1/5 and UPN sixth at 1.5/4.
   Fox led easily at 8 p.m. with its 10.1 average for “Idol.” CBS was second with a 2.7 for the first hour of its coverage of the Academy of Country Music Awards, with the WB third with a 2.3 for “Gilmore Girls.”
   At 9 p.m. Fox led with a 7.0 average rating for “House.” CBS was second with a 4.1 for the second hour of the ACM Awards and ABC third with a 3.2 average for the last 20 minutes of supersized “George Lopez” and a 40-minute “According to Jim.”
   At 10 p.m. NBC led with a 5.5 average for “Law & Order: SVU.” CBS was second with a 4.3 for the last hour of the ACM Awards and ABC third with a 2.2 for “Blind Justice.”
   Fox finished first for the night among households with a 12.7 average rating and a 20 share. CBS finished second at 7.7/12, NBC third at 7.1/11, ABC fourth at 4.5/7, the WB fifth at 3.2/5 and UPN sixth at 2.2/3.

CBS News still pondering post-Rather changes
There may not be the kind of radical changes Les Moonves implied during the winter press tour, but CBS News will be getting more tweaks. Yesterday during CBS’s upfront presentation, CBS News president Andrew Heyward said that the “Evening News” will incorporate more changes under anchor Bob Schieffer. Schieffer has already made some on-air changes, doing more spontaneous exchanges with correspondents. Heyward said a new format could include more correspondents playing a bigger role in delivering the news. But he stopped short of promising the multiple anchors that Moonves had hinted at, saying that format would not work. Since Schieffer took over for Dan Rather in March, ratings for the already third-place newscast have dipped even lower.

CBS upfront presentation skewers NBC & Zucker
Taking shots at the competition is an upfront tradition, but this year it seemed CBS took particular glee in deriding NBC, the longtime leader among adults 18-49 that fell to fourth place this season. CBS is expected to pass NBC in upfront sales for the first time. Yesterday’s presentation included a clip from “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” making fun of NBC, after which CBS president Les Moonves declared himself a Conan fan. CBS also offered a spoof based on a song from the Broadway show “Avenue Q” entitled “It Sucks to Be Me.” Puppet versions of NBC’s Jeff Zucker, ABC’s Bob Iger and Fox’s Rupert Murdoch all lamented their seasons while a triumphant Moonves proclaimed “It’s great to be me.” Moonves also questioned NBC’s decision not to change its Thursday schedule. To be fair, NBC was just as brutal last year, when an upfront skit showed an actor playing Moonves being kidnapped after being lured by the line, “Les, there’s a reporter who wants to put your name in the paper.”

Will NBA go the way of NHL? Lockout may loom
The NHL lockout has apparently taught nothing to the NBA and its players. Only a month ago a new collective bargaining agreement between the two sides seemed like a mere formality, but yesterday talks broke off. The current deal between the league and players ends June 30, and there are no more talks scheduled, meaning a lockout is a real possibility. The NBA has reportedly already agreed to raise the salary cap and to distribute funds equally to teams to lessen the effect of the league’s luxury tax, a penalty for teams above the salary cap. The league blames players’ agents for the problem. One day after the union met with a group of agents, it informed the league it wouldn’t approve several things the league claims had already been agreed upon. The NBA endured a lockout in 1999, and ratings still haven’t recovered to pre-lockout levels, though that also coincided with Michael Jordan’s second retirement.

Revived 'Shield' will return sans its big ratings pull
FX’s “The Shield” will be back for a fifth season, although Glenn Close, who helped revive the series, will not. With Close a part of the cast this season, the show has averaged 3.2 million total viewers, up from a 2.5 million average for season three. She decided last week not to return, but FX nonetheless made a 13-episode commitment for next year. In other programming, NBC will debut David E. Kelley’s reality show “The Law Firm” on Thursday, July 28, at 9 p.m. The program will feature 12 young lawyers trying real cases with real clients, real judges and real consequences for a $250,000 grand prize. VH1 launches “Kept” May 29 at 9 p.m., a reality show where Jerry Hall picks one of 12 guys to be kept and given a six-figure stipend. After “Kept” the network will debut “Strip Search,” where 15 guys fight for seven open spots on a Las Vegas male revue dance ensemble. And on Oct. 1 Discovery Channel will premiere “Pop Nation: America’s Coolest Stuff,” a sort of “Antiques Roadshow” for modern pop items.