It's a Nasty Convention Ratings War, and CNN Claims Victory Over the Big Guys

Capitalizing on Michael Phelps's Olympic momentum, HBO will feature the world-class swimmer, right, in a cameo on "Entourage." (By Claudette Barius -- Hbo Via Associated Press)

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In perhaps the best example of perfect timing in the history of television, David Duchovny, who stars in Showtime's "Californication" as a charming guy whose wife has dumped him because he can't stop having sex with other women, has entered a rehab facility on the eve of the show's second-season debut.

His malady: sex addiction.

The actor's publicist yesterday confirmed to the Associated Press the report of the rehab stint, which first appeared on People.com.

We promised our editor we wouldn't make a crack about Duchovny taking his craft too seriously.

"I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family," said Duchovny through his lawyer. The former "X-Files" star is married to Tea Leoni; they have two children.

Showtime understandably had no comment; we'll let you know whether this has any effect on viewing levels for the show's first episode, Sept. 28.

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The numbers of Asian American, African American and Hispanic households, and of potential viewers older than 55, grew at a rate two to three times that of the general population in the past year, Nielsen Media Research reported yesterday. That can only mean that television networks struggling to attract viewers will rush to develop shows starring Asians, Hispanics, blacks and thespians over 55 -- hahahahaha!

The number of people 2 or older (in homes with TV sets) has hit 290 million for the 2008-09 television season, the number-crunching Nielsen company said yesterday. Nielsen, the provider of ratings for the TV industry, updates its universe stats right before the start of a new TV season. Actually, the figure is 289.95 million -- about 1.3 percent more than last season's 286.3 million. (Nielsen tends to discount people under the age of 2 because, let's face it, they don't get an allowance and so have no disposable income to spend on Humvees, Sugar-Coated Honey Bombs, Grand Theft Auto XXIII or Viagra.)

The number of Hispanic and Asian American TV homes grew by more than 4 percent compared with last season. The number of black households increased by 2.2 percent. And the number of people 55 and older jumped nearly 3 percent. Of those 289.95 million people 2 or older now clocked by Nielsen, more than 71 million are 55-plus.

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