Quick Takes: Comic-Con extends deal

San Diego has won a skirmish in its war with Los Angeles and Anaheim to retain Comic-Con International, but the outcome of the tri-city battle over tourism dollars remains in doubt.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, down to his final weeks in office, announced Monday that Comic-Con organizers have agreed to extend their contract to use the waterfront convention center by one year, to 2016.

Los Angeles and Anaheim, with larger convention centers than San Diego, made major pitches in 2010 to lure Comic-Con away from its ancestral home in San Diego. By extending the contract to 2016, San Diego gains an extra year for its proposed expansion of the convention center. This year the 130,000-plus attendees put $68 million into the San Diego economy.

—Tony Perry

Green Day cancels dates

Green Day has canceled the rest of its North American club tour dates for this year and postponed appearances scheduled for January and February 2013 as frontman Billie Joe Armstrong continues treatment for substance abuse issues, the band announced Monday.

“Obviously, the timing for this isn’t ideal, but Billie Joe’s well-being is our main concern,” bassist Mike Dirnt said in a statement Monday. He described the singer as “doing well.”

Armstrong headed to rehab just days after an expletive-laden meltdown during a show at Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas in September.

—Gerrick D. Kennedy

Giants win it all (except viewers)

The San Francisco Giants’ sweep of the Detroit Tigers set a record low for the World Series’ television ratings.

The four games on Fox averaged a 7.6 rating and 12 share, Nielsen Media Research said Monday. The previous low was an 8.4 for the 2008 Phillies-Rays and 2010 Giants-Rangers series, which each went five games.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with TVs tuned into a program. Shares represent the percentage watching among all homes with TVs in use at the time.

—Associated Press

Hosseini novel set for May 21

Khaled Hosseini’s next novel will be a journey across time and space.

The author of the million-sellers “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” has finished his third book, “And the Mountains Echoed.” Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) and publisher of his first two novels, said Monday that the new book will be released May 21.

Hosseini, the Afghan-born author and physician, said in a statement that the new novel is a multi-generational family story “revolving around brothers and sisters, and the ways in which they love, wound, betray, honor and sacrifice for each other.”

Hosseini, 47, is one of the world’s most popular authors, with his first two books selling more than 38 million copies.

—Associated Press

Whitney gets $1-million grant

The foundation of the late artist Keith Haring has awarded a $1-million grant to the Whitney Museum of American Art to help fund exhibitions at the museum’s planned satellite space in downtown New York.

The new building, designed by architect Renzo Piano in New York’s fashionable meatpacking district, is scheduled to open in 2015.

—David Ng

Finally

Hosts: Taylor Swift and LL Cool J will host the Grammy nominations television special that airs on CBS Dec. 5.

Taking the reins: Neil Patrick Harris will direct a new magic-themed show at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood that is set to open on Nov. 27.

Renewals: ABC has given full-season orders to rookie comedy “The Neighbors” and sophomore drama “Scandal.”