Lifetime and CBS will both air Whitney Houston TV specials

CBS, in return, gets a November sweeps special — although it has scheduled the Houston tribute on a Friday night, suggesting that CBS does not necessarily think this one’s going to be a ratings barnburner.

Cashing in on ‘DWTS’

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Whitney Houston dies at 48: Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were tainted by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, died Feb. 11, 2012.

Slowly but surely, we’re learning why various celebs really agreed to another grueling 10 weeks of competition on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

Last time Kirstie Alley competed on “Dancing,” in 2011, she was launching her line of diet food and wanted to be seen slimming down during the dance competition.

On Thursday, after the first round of “Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars” aired on ABC, TV Land announced that it ordered a presentation for a new comedy called “Giant Baby” — starring Alley. FYI: A presentation is like a pilot episode — only a lot cheaper.

In the sitcom, Alley will play a high-maintenance Broadway star who’s in for a shock when her 26-year-old son — the one she gave up for adoption — shows up at her door after his adoptive mother dies.

A series pickup on the project is “cast contingent,” TV Land said Thursday. The casting that’s still in question is that of her “son,” described in the news release as “nerdy and schlubby.” Surely this role won’t be hard to fill — Hollywood’s loaded with schlubby guys, who are all the rage these days. You can’t throw a brick in Hollywood without hitting some schlubby guy on his way to an audition or a meeting with his agent. The hard thing these days is to find a non-schlub to cast in a show.

Anyway, so long as Alley lasts on “DWTS: AS,” she’s a cha-cha-cha’ing advertisement for her TV Land series. This week, Alley got the second-lowest score from the show’s three judges, ahead of only Pamela Anderson, who wound up getting the hook after viewer votes were added into the mix. So Alley’s got to step up her game.

Before getting the heave-ho Tuesday, Anderson said, fighting tears, that she had hoped to survive at least to Week 2 of the “Dancing” competition because she was set to dance a routine that would be a national TV tease for her next project — starring in a Broadway production.

For previous columns by Lisa de Moraes, visit washingtonpost.com/
tvcolumn.