Here’s some news on the WB 49 front. The station’s low-rated 10 p.m. newscast will shrink from an hour to 30 minutes on Aug. 22, WNYO-TV General Manager Nick Magnini reported Wednesday.

It is a corporate decision from Sinclair Broadcasting. Magnini said it has nothing to do with ratings for the newscast, which is a hybrid of local news from Western New York and national news emanating from Sinclair’s headquarters in Baltimore, Md.

He added the half-hour newscast will have a greater percentage of local news than the hour format did. There won’t be any staff cutbacks, Magnini said.

Magnini said Sinclair decided to cut the newscasts on seven stations across the country affiliated with WB to a half hour, but will leave the newscasts on its Fox stations at an hour.

"Our WB viewers are more attuned to a half-hour newscast," said Magnini. "Very few stations do an hour."

He hasn’t decided what will run at 10:30 p.m., though it will be an entertainment program.

Magnini has previously stated that he is pleased with weekday anchor Kelly Kraft and the station’s news team and is encouraged that the 10 p.m. ratings have increased in each ratings book since the newscast began.

Of course, the 10 p.m. newscast on the UPN affiliate, WNLO-TV, that is produced by the top-rated news department at its sister station, WIVB-TV, has a commanding ratings lead in the head-to-head competition locally.

During the May sweeps, WNLO averaged a 4.6 rating at 10 p.m., which was 24 percent higher than its average a year earlier. It typically gets a viewership four to five times larger than WB 49’s news.

The news wasn’t as good for two Sinclair stations in Winston-Salem, N.C. The low-rated news operations will shut down on Wednesday, eliminating 22 jobs.

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In keeping with Sinclair’s hybrid news spirit, here’s some more news from Los Angeles. At a CBS session for her new sitcom, "Out of Practice," Stockard Channing said she was only committed to playing the first lady on three episodes of "The West Wing" next season and expects President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) to exit after the November sweeps.

"I think (the Bartlets will) be gone by Christmas," said Channing. "I have a feeling. I shouldn’t really speak for them because it’s a very interesting forum they’re playing with this year. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kind of forum on television. So how they’re going to play it, I think they don’t really know."

The forum she referred to was the plan to end Bartlet’s administration for a new cast of characters brought in when either the candidate played by Alan Alda or Jimmy Smits assumes the presidency.

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Stephen Nathan, the Buffalo native who was one of the executive producers of the canceled "Joan of Arcadia," didn’t stay unemployed too long. He is working on the new Fox drama, "Bones," which stars David Boreanaz of "Angel" fame as a FBI man working with a forensic anthroplogist played by Emily Deschanel.

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NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly confirmed that the comedy that has critics buzzing, "My Name is Earl," was the network’s highest-tested comedy in 15 years. Yes, it even registered higher approval that the pilot of "Friends." But Reilly isn’t getting too excited about that because a high test score doesn’t always translate into success.

" "Medical Investigation’ was a very high-testing pilot," said Reilly. "There were creative concerns about that show. We didn’t tout that pilot."

It was canceled in May after one season.

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Pamela Anderson says reports that she and her former husband, Tommy Lee, have reconciled are greatly exaggerated. "Absolutely not, no," she said. "There’s no truth to that at all. Just trying to get him a little press for his new show."

She said she hasn’t seen Lee’s NBC reality show, "Tommy Lee Goes to College," which premieres Aug. 16.