Quick Takes: Seacrest to stay at KIIS-FM

KIIS locks up Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest will continue hosting the morning show at top-rated KIIS-FM (102.7) as part of a three-year contract announced Tuesday by Clear Channel Communications that also calls for him to continue hosting and producing the syndicated “American Top 40” countdown show and to develop other media projects such as a record label, a live concert series and TV and radio programming.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Seacrest, who also hosts “American Idol” for the Fox television network, is “a true visionary who has firmly established himself as America’s leading curator of popular culture,” said Robert W. Pittman, Clear Channel’s chairman of media and entertainment platforms.

Seacrest has been anchoring the weekday 5-10 a.m. slot at Top 40 music outlet KIIS since 2004, having replaced Rick Dees, and regularly averages more than 1 million listeners a week tuning in for at least five minutes. The show also is syndicated nationally.

—Lee Margulies

Michael Douglas as Liberace

Michael Douglas is already looking forward to his next film role.

The 66-year-old actor, who has been battling throat cancer since August, told the weekly Hollywood Reporter that he’ll play the title part in Steven Soderbergh’s “Liberace,” which is set to begin shooting in May or June.

Douglas said he will learn in January if his cancer has been eliminated. Doctors have told him there is an 80% cure rate.

—Associated Press

Armstrong will join ‘Idiot’

Broadway’s fall doldrums have been hard on “American Idiot,” the jukebox musical featuring the songs of the punk band Green Day. Weekly attendance for the show at New York’s St. James Theatre has been hovering around the 50% capacity mark in recent weeks, usually an indication of imminent closure.

The exception was a week in late September and early October when Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong stepped in, prompting a surge in ticket sales for that period. Producers have clearly learned from the experience because on Tuesday they announced they were bringing Armstrong back for a limited run starting in January.

Armstrong will play the role of St. Jimmy for 50 non-contiguous performances starting Jan. 1, organizers said. The singer is scheduled to appear in the musical Jan. 1-9, Jan. 18-30 and Feb. 10-27. He will be replacing original Broadway cast member Tony Vincent.

—David Ng

From TV week to graphic novel

After chewing up television with its wildly popular Shark Week, Discovery Communications aims to snatch an even bigger bite for its popular franchise: comic books.

The parent company of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet hopes to make a big splash when it releases its first comic book, “Top 10 Deadliest Sharks.” The book — dubbed a nonfiction graphic novel — comes out Wednesday and is being published by Philadelphia’s Zenescope Entertainment under the Silver Dragon Books imprint.

Like its TV counterpart, the “Shark” graphic novel takes a serious but accessible look at some of the species’ dangerous members.

—Associated Press

More high jinks from ‘Jackass’

Johnny Knoxville’s crew is again following a box-office release with a digital movie of leftovers called “Jackass 3.5.”

Producers Paramount Pictures and MTV Films said Tuesday that “Jackass 3.5” will be released in weekly online installments, with a subsequent feature-length film released digitally in March. Exactly where “Jackass 3.5” will be available wasn’t announced. The footage will show surplus stunts from “Jackass 3D.”

—Associated Press