NEW YORK (AP) — Two charter airplanes carrying the "Today" show anchor team and their crew from Hawaii to Yellowstone National Park were diverted in the air to Oklahoma for coverage Tuesday of the catastrophic tornado outside of Oklahoma City. Television networks rushed their big names to the scene, including anchors Brian Williams of NBC's "Nightly News" and Scott Pelley of the "CBS Evening News." For "Today," in the unaccustomed position of fighting back from the No. 2 spot against ABC's "Good Morning America," it marked the third time in recent months that news disrupted special broadcast plans. [...] it was an easy choice.

Listings include the week's ranking and viewership. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 15.48 million. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 13.33 million. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 11.87 million. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 10.56 million. Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 9.53 million. "Billboard Music Awards," ABC, 9.48 million. ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is a unit of News Corp.; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.

The Nielsen company estimated that 14.3 million people watched Candice Glover's victory over Kree Harrison in last week's final episode of the season. Both the CBS drama "NCIS" and comedy "The Big Bang Theory" had more viewers. The season finale of "Scandal" had the largest audience ever for that show, while the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday had the highest viewership for that show in 10 years, Nielsen said. ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is a unit of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A prominent Venezuelan talk show host has gone off the air after allegedly being caught on tape discussing politics inside Venezuela's ruling party with a Cuban intelligence official. The announcement on his program "La Hojilla" (The Razor Blade) late Monday came hours after opposition lawmaker Ismael Garcia released a recording in which Silva purportedly is heard discussing divisions in the government following the death of President Hugo Chavez. In the recording, a man identified as Silva says he worries that parliament leader Diosdado Cabello, a former army officer, is conspiring against President Nicolas Maduro, who narrowly defeated Capriles in an April 14 election. The recording added to the political tension in Venezuela, where lawmakers met Tuesday for the first time since a brawl inside the National Assembly chamber three weeks ago that injured several members of the opposition.

Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti will be trying to become four-time Indianapolis 500 champions, four women will roll off the starting grid, a local boy is on the pole and a group of dynamic rookies that includes A.J. Allmendinger is there to add intrigue. [...] there's no shortage of compelling story lines accompanying Sunday's race to leave television executives feeling confident about another bump in viewership this year. "What we've seen in the past couple of weeks, and in the past weekend from a story-line point of view, gives us a great opportunity to put on a terrific show for our viewers," said Rich Feinberg, ESPN's vice president in charge of motorsports production. Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever are back to handle analyst work, with Cheever having expanded his role with the network to include all six races it will air this season. For a single day, single sport event, I think 84 cameras is one of the biggest shows that ESPN does, period. All of which ties back to the goal shared by IndyCar and its television partners of building the sport's fan base, leading to more interest and increased viewership.

Disney also laid off about the same number at the movie studio in April to cope with the decline in DVD sales as consumer habits shift to digital forms of home entertainment. [...] Disney has been on a roll financially, beating or matching earnings per share estimates for the last eight quarters. After it reported a 32 percent gain in net income for its fiscal second-quarter earnings two weeks ago, more than a dozen Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on Disney stock to an average of nearly $72. ESPN also has seen costs increase with skyrocketing prices for the broadcasting rights to live sports. In August 2011, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced that ESPN would receive millions of dollars in state tax breaks with the construction of a digital technology building and the addition of at least 200 jobs over five years.

NFL, Xbox enhancing interactive television viewing The NFL and Microsoft, through its next generation Xbox device, are combining to upgrade interactive TV viewing of pro football games in a multiyear agreement announced Tuesday. "When you think about the sidelines, what is most important for us is how you make the game of football better, make what the coaches and players do better, using technology but preserving the competition," said Brian Rolapp, chief operating officer of NFL Media. Fans will get new television viewing innovations including the ability to watch games, Skype video chat with other fans, view statistics, access highlights in real time and gather fantasy information about players and teams — all on a single screen. "From the use of instant replay to the yellow first-down line that has become an important element of the at-home television viewing experience, the NFL is committed to leveraging technology to improve our game for coaches, players and fans," Commissioner Roger Goodell said. For fans, the NFL on Xbox will provide the most complete way to enjoy live football by bringing the first fully integrated fantasy football experience to the TV.

After years of clamoring from fans and rumors firing them up while the cast hung on for a green light, "Arrested Development" has risen from the dead with 15 half-hours premiering en masse on Netflix on Sunday at 3:01 a.m. EDT. "Arrested Development" is the cock-eyed comedy blessed with a king's ransom of talent and the twisted vision of its mastermind, Mitch Hurwitz, that aired on Fox for three seasons as a cult favorite, then was canceled for low ratings — and maybe because it befuddled everyone who wasn't hooked on its lunacy. "Mitch and the cast didn't want to do something not as good as the old series," says Bateman (who plays Michael Bluth, the fractious family's would-be mediating presence). The new Netflix season takes the form of what you might call an anthology as it updates viewers, character by character with each episode, on the Bluth family — that once-wealthy, now-broke and at-each-other's-throats clan squabbling in Newport Beach, Calif. A wicked homage to the scandals of Enron and Tyco and a loopy foreshadowing of the 2008 Wall Street meltdown, "Arrested" premiered in 2003 as a sendup of high-end vanities, greed and corruption as displayed within the Bluth family circle. Besides de Rossi, Cera and Bateman, the cast of "Arrested" Redux brings back Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter, who reconvened in a strategic yet catch-as-catch-can fashion. [...] Hurwitz took his creativity another step. Since all the episodes are happening simultaneously, he couldn't resist including crossover appearances from other actors in each episode. "Mitch made it a choose-your-own-adventure season, in that you can watch any episode out of order and it makes sense but, depending on which order you watch them, the series kind of tells a different story," says de Rossi (who plays spoiled materialist sister Lindsay). From the start, it was dense, convoluted and layered, packed with sight gags, self-referential jokes, flashbacks, hand-held cinematography with run-on sequences (promoting improvisation to enhance Hurwitz's scripts) and, of course, its droll, documentarylike narration by Ron Howard, one of the show's executive producers.

Beach volleyball tour back after 10-year absence In addition to the grand slam event using the 2-on-2 format familiar to Olympic fans, organizers are also planning 4-on-4 and 6-on-6 tournaments, as well as a World Series Cup that pits the top two-person teams from the U.S. against the top international pairs. Organized by Leonard Armato, the former commissioner of the AVP domestic tour and the former agent for sports stars from Shaquille O'Neal to Oscar De La Hoya, the event will also feature a beach music festival with acts like D.J. Steve Aoki and the band Tap City, along with other performers to be determined. Quadrennial attempts to capitalize on Olympic success have failed to materialize, with the AVP tour declaring bankruptcy in 2010 and emerging in a crowded field of mini-tours competing for the sport's biggest stars. Having the FIVB's backing virtually guarantees that the Long Beach event will draw the best players; in addition to prize money, the FIVB tour has been the primary way that pairs qualify for the Olympics. NBC has broadcast every Olympics since beach volleyball joined the Summer Games in 1996, and the bikini and beach party sport has become a well-rated staple of prime time. Combining Armato's experience running beach volleyball events with NBC's history broadcasting the sport helped sell the idea. "Beach volleyball is the 16th sport in the United States; this is absurd, because in the rest of the world we are the second sport," Graca said. Dalhausser said the idea of a festival revolving around beach volleyball is also appealing to the players.

Wife and husband Amy and Samy Bouzaglo recently invited the popular makeover show "Kitchen Nightmares" to their restaurant, Amy's Baking Co., after years of bad online reviews from unhappy customers. The Bouzaglos complained on the show that they were the victims of online bullying, but host and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay agreed with the bad reviews. A press conference that had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the restaurant was canceled after the show threatened legal action.