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35th Annual People's Choice Awards Winners; ION Announces Original Series; WWE Coming to WGN America on Thursdays in April

The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards aired last night on CBS. Here are the television portion winners:

FAVORITE TV DRAMA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)
WINNER: House (Fox)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY
Samantha Who? (ABC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
WINNER: Two and a Half Men (CBS)

FAVORITE ANIMATED COMEDY
Family Guy (Fox)
The Simpsons (Fox)
South Park (Comedy Central)
WINNER: The Simpsons (Fox)

FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY SHOW
Heroes (NBC)
Supernatural (The CW)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox)
WINNER: Heroes (NBC)

FAVORITE COMPETITION / REALITY SHOW
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
WINNER: Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

FAVORITE GAME SHOW
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)
Deal Or No Deal (NBC/Syndicated)
JEOPARDY! (Syndicated, CBS Television Distribution)
WINNER: Deal Or No Deal (NBC/Syndicated)

FAVORITE MALE TV STAR
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)
WINNER: Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)

FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters, ABC)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)
WINNER: Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)

FAVORITE TALK SHOW HOST
Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)
David Letterman (CBS)
Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa (Syndicated, ABC Studios)
WINNER: Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)

FAVORITE SCENE-STEALING GUEST STAR (NEW CATEGORY)
Luke Perry on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother, CBS
Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
WINNER: Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC

FAVORITE TV DRAMA DIVA (NEW CATEGORY)
Holly Hunter as Grace Hanadarko on Saving Grace, TNT
Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin on Weeds, Showtime
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT
WINNER: Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT

FAVORITE NEW TV DRAMA
90210, The CW
Fringe, Fox
The Mentalist, CBS
WINNER: The Mentalist, CBS

FAVORITE NEW TV COMEDY
Gary Unmarried, CBS
Kath & Kim, NBC
Worst Week, CBS
WINNER: Gary Unmarried, CBS

View the full list of winners and also view video highlights from the event last night.


Meanwhile, ION Television will launch an original series this year. ION Television has acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the critically acclaimed and award-winning original TV series, Durham County. The network has secured all U.S. television, digital media rights, internet streaming and video-on-demand rights for the program. ION Television will debut the procedural crime one-hour series to its audience in 2009.
Durham County stars Hugh Dillon, star of the CBS police action series Flashpoint. In Durham County, Dillon plays Detective Mike Sweeney, a homicide detective who moves his family to suburban Durham County to start over after his partner is killed and his wife Audrey (Hélène Joy) is diagnosed with breast cancer. However, he soon discovers that his neighbor and childhood nemesis Ray Prager (Justin Louis) may be a serial killer, setting off an intense showdown between the two complex men and their families.
With eerie crime storylines, Durham County, along with the CBS hit show Criminal Minds (which joins ION in Fall 2009), will offer Positively Thrilling primetime appointment viewing on ION Television. Durham County comes from ITV Global Entertainment.

WGN America will adde WWE wrestling to its Thursday primetime line-up starting in April. WGN America and World Wrestling Entertainment enter the ring with a new television partnership. WWE Superstars, a first run, original program will air exclusively on WGN America, Tribune Broadcasting's national Superstation.
The action-packed WWE Superstars, part of a new multi-year agreement with WGN America, will be produced by WWE and will feature 'Superstars and Divas' from the entire WWE roster.
The hour-long weekly program, scheduled to debut in April 2009, will provide WGN America viewers the chance to see Superstars and Divas from all three WWE franchises in one program. WWE Superstars is scheduled to air on Thursday nights at 8 and 11pm ET with an additional run on the weekend (Saturday afternoons).
WWE Superstars will replace the Thursday night Movie Underground on WGN America in the 8pm hour and the 11pm encore will replace two episodes of Scrubs on the night. Saturday afternoon time encore has not yet been announced. We will have more details on the schedule, as we get it.