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Forward thinking

By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published October 9, 2006

BETTER BACKSTAGE

Love Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but how many series set behind the scenes at a comedy sketch show will people watch? We'll find out Wednesday night at 8, when NBC airs the first episode of 30 Rock. This one is a half-hour comedy, starring the ham-on-wry trio of, from left, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan. Maybe Saturday Night Live is still funny from the other side.

NO NOMINEES FROM HERE

The Nobel Peace Prize is scheduled to be awarded Friday. Bookmakers are giving best odds to a three-way split among parties who brokered the end of a 29-year uprising in Jakarta that left 15,000 dead: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; members of the former Aceh separatist rebel movement; and Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president who mediated the deal.

BIG BOOKS

It's also a major week for literary prizes. In addition to the Nobel literature announcement on Thursday, the winner of the Man Booker Prize, the top British award for contemporary fiction, will be named on Tuesday. And on Wednesday in New York, the National Book Foundation will announce nominees for the 2006 National Book Awards.

WILD ABOUT HARRY

One of our favorite crime writers has a new book today. Michael Connelly has lived near Tampa for several years, but he's still writing grippingly dark novels about Los Angeles police detective Harry Bosch, who grapples with a serial killer and a political conspiracy in Echo Park.

GOOD SPORTS

Three of the sports world's most noted athletes celebrate birthdays this week. Today, golfer Annika Sorenstam is 36. On Tuesday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will be 37, and NASCAR dynasty driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. turns 32.

- COLETTE BANCROFT, Times staff writer 727 893-8435 or bancroft@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 9, 2006, 00:54:36]