Quick Takes - July 16, 2010

QUICK TAKES

All-Star Game no hit

The midsummer classic has turned into the midsummer snooze.

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, played in Anaheim and broadcast on Fox on Tuesday night, drew only 12.1 million viewers, its smallest audience ever. That was a 17% drop from the 2009 game, which averaged 14.6 million viewers. The previous record low was the 2005 game, which was played in Detroit and averaged 12.3 million viewers.

Part of the problem is that since Major League Baseball introduced interleague play, the uniqueness of seeing the best of the leagues face off has been reduced. The game also usually starts after 8:30 p.m. on the East Coast, which some argue is too late for little kids to enjoy the entire game.

The last time the All-Star Game drew more than 20 million viewers was in 1995, according to Nielsen. Its biggest audience in recent history was the 1976 game in Philadelphia, which had more than 36 million viewers.

—Joe Flint

Nashville turns out for ‘Idol’

Auditions for the 10th season of “American Idol” are kicking off in Nashville as wannabe contestants prepare for a show without judge Simon Cowell.

People began lining up for wristbands early Thursday morning. By 9 a.m., supervising producer Patrick Lynn estimated there were upward of 10,000 people waiting in the nearly 90-degree heat. Auditions begin Saturday.

The hopefuls were mixed on Cowell’s departure. Some were relieved they won’t have to face him; others wished they could get his critique.

Wristbands will also be handed out Friday, with auditions beginning Saturday.

—Associated Press

Guilty verdicts in Stamos case

A Michigan couple were convicted Thursday of trying to extort $680,000 from actor John Stamos by threatening to sell old photos of him with strippers and cocaine to the tabloids unless he paid up.

Allison Coss, 24, and Scott Sippola, 31, were found guilty of conspiracy and using e-mail to threaten a person’s reputation — charges that could land them in prison for up to five years.

The two were arrested in December in an FBI sting after Stamos’ lawyer complained that the actor was the target of an extortion attempt. No photos ever surfaced.

Dozens of fans waited to congratulate Stamos, 46, the former “ER” and “Full House” star, as he left the federal courthouse in Marquette, Mich.

—Associated Press

Chaplin rarity to be screened

A short silent comedy that was lost for decades holds a big surprise for film buffs and historians when a familiar face emerges from the bushes in police uniform and that unforgettable mustache.

The 1914 film, “A Thief Catcher,” was missing for so many years that everyone forgot Charlie Chaplin made a cameo as a buffoon Keystone cop, with all his familiar twitches and gestures.

Out of nowhere, the 10-minute film turned up late last year at an antiques sale in Taylor, Mich. Film historian Paul Gierucki thought he was buying just another Keystone Studios comedy and didn’t watch the 16-millimeter print for months.

Then, in March, he saw Chaplin bumble onto the screen and slap around some hooligans in the film starring Ford Sterling, Mack Swain and Edgar Kennedy. Chaplin is on screen for three minutes.

The first public screening of the film, perhaps since 1914, comes Saturday at a comedy film festival in Arlington, Va.

—Associated Press

KIIS-FM holds on to top spot

Pop station KIIS-FM (102.7) topped the Los Angeles-Orange County radio ratings again last month, as it has every month since the beginning of 2010, according to figures released Thursday by Arbitron.

KIIS once more beat oldies station KRTH-FM (101.1), averaging 5.9% of the audience 6 and older, based on the survey of listeners from May 27 to June 23. More than 4 million people tuned in to KIIS for at least five minutes each week.

Top 40 station KAMP-FM (97.1) shot from seventh to third, jumping over talk station KFI-AM (640) and adult-contemporary outlet KOST-FM (103.5), which finished fourth and fifth in June, respectively.

—Steve Carney