Kate Gosselin powers ‘Dancing With the Stars’ to victory

No Jon, but Kate is enough for ABC win

Is there anything Kate Gosselin can’t do?

The reality star made her debut on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and helped power the talent show to its best season-premiere numbers ever. Almost 24 million people tuned in to the two-hour episode and helped drive ABC to a Monday-night win in both viewers and key demographics.

Of course, many may have been tuning in to see if Gosselin would stumble and still others might have checked out the show to see what Pam Anderson would wear or whether football star Chad Ochocinco would score big off the field. Whatever the reason, they powered ABC to its best Monday showing since the 2001 Rose Bowl.

-- Joe Flint ‘Willows’ sale not ratty at all

A signed copy of the classic children’s book “The Wind in the Willows” has been sold at auction in London for $48,794 -- around 10 times its estimated value.

The book contains a 1908 dedication from author Kenneth Grahame to the daughter of English author Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who is said to have inspired the character of Ratty. Grahame often stayed at Sir Arthur’s home, where he found the inspiration for the children’s tale.

-- associated press CatholicTV goes 3-D

Avatars and Mad Hatters are already performing before American audiences in 3-D, and Shrek is coming soon. Now, a national Catholic television network is throwing priests into the mix.

CatholicTV debuted 3-D programs Tuesday in an effort to reach younger people and to make the faith message more vivid. The network posted several 3-D shows on the Internet, released its monthly magazine in 3-D -- complete with glasses -- and said it will eventually broadcast some programs in 3-D.

“It’s a way for us to show that we believe the message we have is relevant, and we’re going to use every possible avenue to bring that message to people,” said Catholic- TV’s director, the Rev. Robert Reed, whose network reaches 5 million to 6 million homes nationwide through various cable providers.

-- associated press Geffen board honors Cates

The Geffen Playhouse’s Main Stage morphed into the Gil Cates Theater on Monday evening when actress Rita Wilson and board Chairman Frank Mancuso interrupted a benefit performance of “Backstage at the Geffen” for an important announcement: The board had voted unanimously to christen the Westwood theater’s larger venue in honor of its founder and producing director -- taking Cates totally by surprise.

“It kind of embarrassed me,” Cates said later. “I love the name, I love everything, but it’s so public. But it was really thrilling.”

Cates founded the Geffen in 1994, calling on high-profile entertainment industry contacts he’d cultivated as then-dean of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and the Emmy Award-winning producer of the Academy Awards broadcast for 14 years.

-- Irene Lacher Arts intern program saved

Los Angeles County’s policy of paying the salaries of college students who serve internships in the management offices of local arts nonprofits will survive into an 11th summer, after a Board of Supervisors vote Tuesday to spend $250,000 to save the program in scaled-down form.

“It’s a new crop of potential arts leaders, and there’s no smarter way to make such an investment,” said board member Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Last year the county spent $500,000 to sponsor 125 interns; this year there will be 75. Interns earn $3,500 for 10 weeks’ work under the program run by the L.A. County Arts Commission.

-- Mike Boehm Alexie takes Faulkner prize

Sherman Alexie has won the PEN/Faulkner prize for fiction for his short story collection “War Dances.”

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced Tuesday that Alexie will receive $15,000 for the prize. His collection touches on topics as varied as parenthood and the Sept. 11 attacks.

The prize was established in 1981 and has been won by Philip Roth and E.L. Doctorow, among others.

Alexie told the Seattle Times that the award is particularly meaningful to him, both because he’s the first Native American author to win and because “it was established by writers, for writers.”

-- associated press