Quick Takes: ‘Made in Jersey’ pulled

“Made in Jersey,” the new CBS series starring Janet Montgomery as a scrappy, street-smart New Jersey attorney working in a Manhattan law firm, is apparently the first casualty of the fall TV season.

The series, which has drawn low ratings since its Sept. 28 premiere, has been pulled from the Friday lineup after just two airings.

A network spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the show, which was created by former Los Angeles Times reporter Dana Calvo, had been yanked but gave no further details on when or if it would return to the schedule.

The reality series “Undercover Boss” will begin airing Nov. 2 in the Friday 8 p.m. slot that had been occupied by “Made in Jersey.” In the interim, encore episodes of “NCIS” will air Oct. 12 and Oct. 26, while a repeat of “Hawaii Five-0” will air Oct. 19.

—Greg Braxton

London fest is lovebirds’ nest

This year’s London Film Festival has Ben Affleck, Dustin Hoffman and the Rolling Stones — and it’s bookended by one of the city’s premier cinematic couples.

Britain’s biggest film showcase opened Wednesday with the European premiere of London-based American director Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie,” the animated tale of a boy and his beloved — but dead — dog. It ends Oct. 21 with Mike Newell’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations,” which stars Burton’s partner, Helena Bonham Carter, as haunted Miss Havisham.

Festival director Clare Stewart said she was happy to be “bracketing the festival with one of London’s great love affairs” — the ghoul-loving filmmaker and his gothic muse.

Burton and Bonham Carter each will receive the British Film Institute Fellowship, a career achievement award, during an awards ceremony on Oct. 20.

—Associated Press

Reynolds hospitalized

Debbie Reynolds has been hospitalized and is canceling upcoming appearances after suffering an adverse reaction to medication, her publicist said.

The publicist, Kevin Sasaki, said Wednesday that the singer-actress was hospitalized in Los Angeles after having the bad reaction. She is canceling shows and appearances through the end of the year.

Reynolds is famous for her role in “Singin’ in the Rain” and earned an Oscar nomination for her gutsy character in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

The 80-year-old performs numerous shows and makes appearances each year. She is scheduled to appear on a float promoting pet adoption in the upcoming Rose Parade.

—Associated Press

Sarah Brightman headed to space

Sarah Brightman, the original Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera,” is training to become a space tourist and is planning to travel to the International Space Station in 2015.

The British singer made the announcement Wednesday at a news conference in Moscow.

Brightman said that she has begun training with the Russians to prepare for her 10-day voyage. The singer will travel to the station on a Soyuz spacecraft.

Brightman, 52, will join a short but notable list of space tourists who have paid big bucks to travel aboard the space station. The list includes Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté and video-game entrepreneur Richard Garriott.

—David Ng

A Broadway ‘Breakfast’ eyed

There’s a fresh push to get Holly Golightly onto a Broadway stage.

Producers said Wednesday that a new adaptation of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is aiming for a Shubert theater in New York City in February 2013. The world premiere will be directed by Sean Mathias.

The stage adaptation of Truman Capote’s classic 1958 novella will star Emilia Clarke of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” as the eccentric party girl Golightly, a role that Audrey Hepburn played to acclaim in the 1961 movie.

A stage version was first attempted in 1966, featuring a book adapted by Edward Albee, but was shuttered after just four previews.

—Associated Press

Willie Geist joins ‘Today’

Willie Geist will no longer have to be at work way too early.

The MSNBC personality will join Al Roker and Natalie Morales as a host of the 9 a.m. hour of the “Today” show, and contribute to the program during its first two hours, NBC News said Wednesday.

Geist will give up hosting MSNBC’s early-morning newscast “Way Too Early.”

—Associated Press

Finally

Cashing in: Nashville is getting another stop on its already long list of pilgrimage sites for music fans: the Johnny Cash Museum, which expects to house the world’s largest collection of memorabilia dedicated to the Man in Black. An opening date has not been set.