Dave Brubeck has surgery

Jazz great Dave Brubeck was doing well Thursday after surgery at a Connecticut hospital to install a pacemaker, a spokesman said.

Patrick Giblin, spokesman at Brubeck’s alma mater, University of the Pacific in California, said Brubeck’s doctors expect him to be ready to resume concert touring in November.

The 89-year-old pianist had the surgery at Bridgeport Hospital on Monday after experiencing fatigue and dizziness at his home in Wilton, Conn.

—Associated Press

Cristina claims age bias on job

When Univision announced last August that “El Show de Cristina” (The Cristina Show) would end its run of more than 20 years on Nov. 1, host Cristina Saralegui issued a statement acknowledging that the move was “bittersweet” but saying “now is the perfect time to retire the show.”

Maybe not so perfect.

“It was very unexpected the way they handled it — it was so unpleasant,” the Cuban American winner of 12 Emmy Awards said to Spanish newspaper El Nuevo Herald on Thursday.

Saralegui, 62, said she was sad because she could not “retire with respect” and thinks that the decision had to do with her age.

“They want to change the network’s image and get rid of the oldest people and put in youngsters instead,” she said.

—Associated Press

Suit against Rowling stands

A British judge refused to dismiss a plagiarism lawsuit against “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling on Thursday, saying claims that the bestselling author stole ideas from an obscure fantasy book should be considered at a proper hearing.

Rowling and her publishers, Bloomsbury, had applied to court for the case to be dismissed, saying the copyright infringement claims brought by the estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs had no real chance of succeeding.

But Justice David Kitchin ruled that the claims had a chance of success — although he described this as being “improbable.”

The lawsuit alleges that Rowling’s 2000 book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” copied substantial parts of Jacobs’ 1987 book, “The Adventures of Willy the Wizard — No. 1 Livid Land.” Rowling has called the claims unfounded and absurd, saying she only learned of the book in 2004.

—Associated Press

Van Dyke to be in musical

At 84, Dick Van Dyke is at an age when most Hollywood stars have shuffled off to the retirement home or consigned themselves to occasional guest starring appearances on television.

But Van Dyke is apparently made of stronger material. The tireless octogenarian will star in a new autobiographical musical titled “Dick Van Dyke — Step in Time! — A Musical Memoir” that is set to open at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood on Dec. 16.

The show, which is cowritten by Van Dyke and director Joshua Ravetch, is a theatrical stroll down memory lane that uses stories and songs from the actor’s long career on stage and screen.

Ravetch previously worked at the Geffen on Carrie Fisher’s stage memoir “Wishful Drinking.”

—David Ng

Reality show follows miners

Reality television will be digging deep next April, when Spike TV follows West Virginia coal miners underground.

Thom Beers, the creator of “Deadliest Catch,” “Ice Road Truckers” and “Ax Men,” will produce the documentary-reality series “Coal.”

The 10-episode series “explores coal mining through the eyes of Mike Crowder and Tom Roberts, co-owners of Cobalt Mine in Westchester, West Virginia, and the area’s hardworking miners, families and community members,” the network said. Shooting begins this month.

The dramatic rescue of 33 Chilean miners this week proved to be must-see TV around the world and “will be referenced in some way” on the show, a publicist said.

—CNN

Finally

TV divas: Barbara Walters will sit down for a prime-time interview with Oprah Winfrey about the end of the daytime talk star’s show. The hourlong interview will air Dec. 9 on ABC, followed by another Walters show about the most fascinating people of 2010.