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In the news
By Times staff writer Broadway gets another big-ticket showAnd then there were two. Officials for Broadway Inner Circle, which sells those eye-popping $480 tickets for The Producers, plans to expand its scope to include the revival of Arthur Miller's Crucible with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney. David Richenthal, lead producer of The Crucible, said 30 prime orchestra seats a night would be available at $240 apiece, a price that includes the tickets' new $200 face value plus a $40 commission charged by Inner Circle. "They approached us and think it's going to be a hot enough ticket to sell," Richenthal said. "If they can do it, I said I'd give them a few tickets to try." All other evening orchestra seats will remain at the previously announced price of $85. Broadway Inner Circle formed in October to offer choice seats to those who "would otherwise be forced to obtain seats through brokers/scalpers," press materials say. Critics say the plan is just another way to gouge ticket buyers on Broadway, where most shows charge upward of $80 to $100 for their best seats. The Crucible is scheduled to open in March. Study: 'South Park' is cable's worstSouth Park leads the pack of basic cable shows bringing a new level of raunchiness and violence to TV, according to a watchdog group's study. The rate of sexual references, profanity and violence in prime-time cable series was found to be more than double that of broadcast TV, the Parents Television Council said. South Park, on Comedy Central, was overall the most "offensive series," the study said, with a per-hour combined average of 126 violent or raunchy moments. The MTV shows Undergrads and Celebrity Deathmatch were next with 73 and 66 such references, respectively. The study examined 33 series for a total of nearly 112 hours shown between last April and September. * * * TV notes Hoping to maximize its May sweeps performance, CBS has moved the two-hour finale of the upcoming Survivor: Marquesas from a traditional Thursday night berth to a Sunday, May 19. The contestants are scheduled to be introduced Wednesday on The Early Show. . . . CBS is bulking up its schedule with two reality hours, bringing back The Amazing Race earlier than expected (March 11) and premiering AFP: American Fighter Pilot at the end of March. . . . NBC will extend an episode of the half-hour Scrubs to 38 minutes and Will & Grace to 34 minutes Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, during the first week of February sweeps.Matt Damon guests on the Will & Grace episode. . . . Lifetime ordered a third full season of Strong Medicine, Electronic Media says.
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