Quick Takes: Audience deserts KCET

Finding viewers continues to be a challenge for KCET-TV.

Through the first three weeks of the year, the public broadcaster has been averaging 19,000 households in prime time, a 38% plunge compared with the same period last year, according to the Nielsen Co.

KCET, once the West Coast flagship of PBS, exited the network at the end of last year after months of disputes over fees and other issues.

As bad as the prime-time ratings are, the total-day numbers are even worse. Over the course of its entire broadcast day, KCET has lost fully half its viewers compared with last year.

—Scott Collins

‘Baby It’s You!’ to Broadway

The jukebox musical “Baby It’s You!” is heading to Broadway, with an opening date set for April 27 at the Broadhurst Theatre. The show — which follows the career of the Shirelles and recording producer Florence Greenberg — began its life in Southern California, with workshop productions at the Coast Playhouse in West Hollywood followed by a world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2009.

Sheldon Epps, the artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, will co-direct the Broadway production with Floyd Mutrux. In the Pasadena production, Mutrux was the sole director.

—David Ng

Razzie nods for ‘Airbender’ et al.

M. Night Shyamalan may have received best director and screenplay Oscar nominations for the 1999 best picture nominee “The Sixth Sense,” but more recently his films are being nominated for the Golden Raspberry Awards, otherwise known as the Razzies. His 2010 misfire, “The Last Airbender,” makes him a three-peat offender in the Razzie world after 2006’s “Lady in the Water” and 2008’s “The Happening.”

His 3-D version of the popular animated TV series scored nine Razzie nominations Monday, including worst picture, director, remake, screenplay, worst screen couple/worst ensemble and a new Razzie category: worst misuse of 3-D.

Also scoring nine thumbs down was the box-office giant “Eclipse,” the third installment in “The Twilight Saga.”

Both were nominated as worst movie of 2010, along with “The Bounty Hunter,” “Sex and the City 2” and “Vampires Suck.”

The Razzies will be announced Feb. 26 — the evening before the Oscars — at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood.

—Susan King

Eric Carle book due in October

Eric Carle has entered his blue period at age 81.

Penguin Young Readers Group announced Monday that “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse” will come out in October.

Carle wrote and illustrated “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and other picture book favorites. “Blue Horse” is his first work in four years. It was inspired by the expressionist artist Franz Marc, known for his portraits of animals.

—Associated Press