NBC airs top Saturday wild card game in four years
The Dallas Cowboys and winning Seattle Seahawks played an exciting wild card playoff game on Saturday night, and that translated into solid ratings for NBC. The game posted a 17.2 household rating among metered markets, making it the highest-rated Saturday wild card game since Atlanta versus Green Bay pulled an 18.3 back in 2003.

The game helped NBC dominate the night among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, as the network averaged an 8.4 rating and a 23 share. Fox was a distant second at 2.4/7, CBS third at 1.9/5 and ABC fourth at 1.0/3.

NBC took each hour of the night, beginning with an 8.6 at 8 p.m. for the first hour of its game. Fox was second that hour with a 2.3 for an hour of Cops, with CBS third with a 1.6 for a Cold Case rerun and ABC fourth with a 0.9 for a repeat of Desperate Housewives.

At 9 p.m., NBC led again with an 8.0 rating for football, followed by a 2.5 rating for Fox for Americas Most Wanted. CBS was second with a 1.8 for a repeat of Without a Trace and ABC fourth with a 1.0 for another Housewives rerun.

NBC completed the sweep at 10 p.m. with an 8.7 rating for football, with CBS second with a 2.2 for 48 Hours Mystery and ABC third with a 1.2 for yet another re-airing of Housewives.

Among households, NBC took the night easily with a 14.1 average rating and a 24 share. CBS finished second at 5.2/9, Fox third at 4.1/7 and ABC fourth at 2.5/4.

Friday night was more competitive among 18-49s, with CBS taking the night with a 3.1 average rating in the demo and a 9 share. That edged NBCs 2.8/8, while Fox was third at 2.0/6, ABC fourth at 1.7/5 and CW fifth at 1.3/4.

CBS began the night in the lead with a 3.2 rating at 8 p.m. for Ghost Whisperer, followed by a 2.5 for NBC for 1 vs. 100. Fox was third that hour with a 1.8 for Nanny 911, with ABC fourth with a 1.6 for an hour of According to Jim repeats and CW fifth with a 1.4 for its first hour of Friday Night Smackdown.

NBC and CBS tied for the lead at 9 p.m. at 2.9, NBC for Las Vegas and CBS for Close to Home. That left Fox third with a 2.3 for Trading Spouses, CW fourth with a 1.6 for Smackdown and ABC fifth with a 1.3 for repeats of Knights of Prosperity and In Case of Emergency.

At 10 p.m. CBS regained the lead with a 3.2 for Numb3rs, with NBC second with a 2.9 for Law & Order and ABC third with a 2.2 for 20/20.

CBS finished first for the night among households, averaging a 7.5 rating and a 13 share. NBC was second at 6.1/10, ABC third at 3.4/6, Fox fourth at 3.3/5 and CW fifth at 2.5/4.

Blackmail gone bad: Man busted for targeting Oprah
Does Oprah Winfrey have something to fear? An Atlanta man has been charged with trying to extort a slice of the talk show hosts hefty pie. According to reports in the Chicago newspapers, 36-year-old Atlanta Keifer Bonvillain said he had recorded tapes of conversation with an employee from Winfrey's company that would be quite damaging to her humanitarian image and that he planned to publish a book based upon the material in those tapes. Bonvillain had 12 hours of taped conversation. A Winfrey associate, who was working with the F.B.I., offered $1.5 million to Bonvillain to squelch the tapes, setting up the sting that eventually got him arrested. Bonvillain denied the charges, telling the Chicago Sun-Times that it was "a big mix-up."

Comcast subscribers may lose Sinclair local stations
Sinclair Broadcast Group seems to be fighting with everyone these days. In the midst of a dispute with MediaCom, the station owner has now gotten into a standoff with Comcast a over money that could lead Sinclair to pull 30 stations off the country's biggest cable provider in a move that would affect 3 million Comcast customers. Sinclair is demanding cash payments from Comcast to carry its channels in 23 markets, when the current carriage deal between the companies expires Feb. 5. Comcast says it won't pay and that Sinclair is the only company shaking it down for cash. It's unclear whether Sinclair will actually be able to withhold its channels because federal law requires that no in-market stations can be taken off cable during a sweeps week. Meanwhile, more than a dozen Sinclair stations have been yanked from MediaCom in the Midwest in a retransmission dispute.

'Celebrity Big Brother' contestants fleeing the house
Contestants are fleeing the Celebrity Big Brother house in Britains latest edition of the show faster than you can say washed up. Already two contestants have left voluntarily, and the show has been on air for less than a week. The latest to exit was respected film director Ken Russell (Tommy), who left after a dispute with Jade Goody, a former contestant on Big Brother, who has been brought back to spice things up in the house. Goody, who turned her Big Brother fame into big bucks, has reentered the house with her boyfriend and her mother, Jackiey. Upon her arrival, the housemates were divided into two groups those who would join the Goody clan in the main house and those who would act as their servants. The first to leave the house, rock musician Donny Tourette, left on Friday after refusing to act as a servant to Goody and family. He scaled the walls surrounding the house. Then yesterday, Russell left. He had locked horns with Goody over the fact that he had served himself a plate of cheese and biscuits rather than waiting for the servants to do so. Just before leaving the show, Russell, who had been thought a likely winner, called himself a big old fuddy duddy in the diary room.

Fourth Associated Press journalist killed in Iraq war
A fourth member of the Associated Press covering the Iraq war has been killed. Messenger and cameraman Ahmed Hadi Naji was found shot in the back of the head on Friday. He was 28. Naji's wife, with whom he had 4-month-old twins, reported him missing on Dec. 30. Naji had worked for the AP for two and a half years. His death comes during some of the deadliest months in the Iraq war, and during a particularly sad time for the AP. Associated Press Cameraman Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah was killed by insurgents on Dec. 12 in Mosul. In April 2005, AP cameraman Saleh Ibrahim died after an explosion in Mosul, while in 2004 the AP lost driver Ismail Taher Mohsin, who was ambushed and killed in Baghdad. Before Naji's death, Reporters Without Borders said that at least 94 journalists had been killed during the Iraq conflict.