Quick Takes: Jillian Michaels leaving ‘The Biggest Loser’

Jillian Michaels, the tyrant trainer with a heart, is leaving “The Biggest Loser,” the NBC series in which overweight contestants compete to shed pounds.

The 11th season, which starts in January, will be her last, she said.

Michaels said via Twitter that she plans to take a year off, do more charity work and “focus on becoming a mommy.”

NBC executives declined to comment Friday on the departure. But Michaels said — also via Twitter — that a new trainer was on the way.

—Rene Lynch

Did he trip over an ottoman?

Dick Van Dyke, who is turning 85 on Monday, has injured an Achilles’ tendon, forcing the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood to cancel “Dick Van Dyke — Step in Time!: A Musical Memoir.”

The play had begun previews and was scheduled to open Dec. 16 for a month-long run at the playhouse’s second stage, the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater.

The Geffen said ticketholders can choose between a refund, seeing the Dec. 17-Jan. 2 “Broadway Holiday” concert production of show tunes and holiday songs, or applying the cost toward a season subscription.

—Mike Boehm

Pasadena theater raises $2 million

The Pasadena Playhouse says it has raised $2 million as part of its attempt to regain solid financial footing after closing its mainstage in February. The company, which has recently begun producing shows again, also said that it is launching a new campaign to raise another $2 million.

The $2 million came in response to a challenge by an anonymous donors’ $1 million matching grant. Artistic director Sheldon Epps said the money represents a “commitment from our board and our supporters, that assures us that we have a strong and exciting future.”

The Pasadena Playhouse emerged from bankruptcy in July, after a court in Los Angeles approved the theater company’s plans for reorganization. Before closing its mainstage in February, the company had been operating under crushing debt that at one point stood at $2.3 million.

—David Ng

It’s wonderful for this small town

For years, civic boosters have pointed out intriguing parallels that suggest Seneca Falls, N.Y., was the inspiration for Bedford Falls, the make-believe New York mill town in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Those musings are now embodied in a museum of sorts that showcases Frank Capra’s Christmas movie classic. And who cut the ribbon at Friday’s grand opening? Zuzu, of course.

Former child actress Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s daughter Zuzu in the 1946 drama, traveled to central New York to launch “The Seneca Falls It’s a Wonderful Life Museum.”

Grimes called the exhibition of movie posters, photographs, magazine covers and memorabilia “a great leap of faith … in a wonderful place that’s just so much like Bedford Falls.”

—Associated Press

‘The Closer’ will wrap next year

“The Closer” will end next year, at the conclusion of its seventh season, TNT said Friday.

The network said that the decision to close the series was made by actress Kyra Sedgwick, who won an Emmy this year and has been nominated four other times for her portrayal of the brilliant and abrasive LAPD Det. Brenda Leigh Johnson.

“The Closer” premiered in 2005 as an instant hit and has remained at the top of the basic cable rankings ever since. It has averaged 8 million viewers this year.

—Maria Elena Fernandez

Symphony in debt in Detroit

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra finished the 2010 fiscal year with an $8.8 million deficit, management reports.

A statement released by the symphony this week said the deficit for the fiscal year ended in August included a $6.7 million operating shortfall and about $2 million in pension obligations and debt service on the Max M. Fisher Music Center. The symphony had a $29.3 million operating budget.

The orchestra’s musicians have been on strike since Oct. 4 over pay.

—Associated Press

Finally

Dropped: The A&E Network has canceled “The Hasselhoffs” after only two airings. The audience for the second installment of the reality show about David Hasselhoff and his two daughters was nearly 30% lower than for the first.

Chasen update: “America’s Most Wanted,” whose first broadcast about the Nov. 16 murder of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen prompted a viewer tip that helped Beverly Hills police crack the case, will broadcast an update on the story at 9 p.m. Saturday on Fox.