Yet another benefit to being an Atlanta Falcon — it's easy to do a TV show for the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network.

Yes, Cartoon (it's not just about the cartoons anymore, haven't you heard??) announced today a new series, "My Dad's a Pro," starring the future Hall of Famer and his adorable son Nikko.

They also announced another 24 new series and specials. And that's not even the Adult Swim end of things. They include:

• Adventure Time – premiered Monday, April 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT
• Ben 10: Ultimate Alien – premiering Friday, April 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT
• Generator Rex (from the creators of Ben 10 and prem'g right after Ben 10)
• Unnatural History – premiering Sunday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT 
• Tower Prep
• Sym-Bionic Titan
• MAD (yes, based on the magazine)
• Regular Show
• Robotomy
• Secret Mountain Fort Awesome
• The Looney Tunes Show 
• Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated
• Young Justice
• Run It Back Sunday 
• Total Drama World Tour  
• Metajets 
• BEYBLADE: Metal Fusion 
• The Amazing Spiez
• Cartoon Network’s Hall of Game
• Firebreather
• Scooby Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster
• KROG
• Lords of Bad Axe
• Totally Spies! The Movie

And these shows are returning:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Dude, What Would Happen
• Destroy Build Destroy
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold
• Flapjack
• Johnny Test
• 6teen
• Stoked
• Bakugan
• Pokémon
• Battle Force 5
• Pink Panther & Pal
• Totally Spies

My bad: I reported earlier about KMBC's win in the Region 5 Edward R. Murrow Awards handed out by the RTDNA. I neglected to check the full listing because had I done so, I would have seen that...

• KMBZ-AM won an impressive victory over St. Louis powerhouse KMOX for its morning news (listen).
• KCUR won for a compilation reel of its breaking news coverage (listen).
• KSHB was honored for continuing coverage (listen)...
• ... while KCTV was honored twice: once for its coverage of the tapes from the Liberty bus crash (watch with annoying ad) and another for Ash-Har Quraishi's disturbing story about sexual assaults in a local hospital (watch with annoying ad). In case you hadn't heard, Quaraishi has landed on his feet in Chicago, working on WTTW's long-running public affairs program "Chicago Tonight."

UPDATE: Tom's film won the CinemaJAZZ award at the KC FilmFest.

My friend Tom Roche directed the opening film of this year's Kansas City Film Festival, and if you've got the time, you should cut out of work early to see it, 4:20 p.m. at the AMC Mainstreet.

It's called "Alley Pat: The Music Is Recorded," and it's about the 35-year career of one of the true pioneers in broadcasting, James "Alley Pat" Patrick. Alley Pat endeared himself to two generations of Atlantans with his outrageous show, his commitment to civil rights and personal courage.

Tom arrived in Atlanta in the 1970s and, radio buff that he is, almost immediately found Alley Pat's show. And started recording hours and hours of his on-air banter. Thirty years later, Tom — a video editor best known as the guy whose name is upside down in the credits of 56 "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" episodes — pulled out his Alley Pat collection and wondered if there was a film here.

There was — a fast-paced, funny and one-of-a-kind production that brings a bygone broadcast era to life.

If you're thinking, "I'll just wait for the DVD," don't. Tom told me there are just way too many music clearance issues to make production of a home-video version feasible. So you see it today or you may never see it.

Some clips:

Here's one of interest to Kansas City viewers:

Earlier, I wrote about the amazing story behind Harry Shearer's "Unwigged" DVD and how it all came about because Tom walked backstage after his Atlanta show and offered to do one.

Tom also started up a web site full of Alley Pat tapes.

Look no further than Stephen Colbert — a man whose late-night comedy-talk program attracts barely 1 million viewers per weeknight, and only airs Mondays through Thursdays — for evidence that there's nothing like lowered expectations to make you feel like a huge success.

Jon Stewart graces magazine covers and hosts big-time award programs, all for hosting a program that airs half an hour four nights a week to an average audience of 1.7 million — or about what Conan O'Brien was averaging in 1994 when NBC was thisclose to firing his ass.

That is why Team Coco's decision to walk away from network television and sign with cable powerhouse TBS is the latest brilliant strategic reaction to what has been one of the least predictable, careers in the history of late night TV. Conan O'Brien has been delivered enough setbacks to sink lesser stars.

Once again, he has responded by choosing exactly the right option, accepting that every move has its tradeoffs. This one means accepting that your future is as a cable star. But as Comedy Central and Adult Swim prove every single late night, that's not so bad.

Conan O'Brien will air a show for one hour Monday through Thursdays at 11 p.m. beginning in November, it was announced this morning.

His lead-out will now be George Lopez. But don't expect that arrangement to last forever. THR's James Hibberd reported earlier today that Fox had wanted Conan to be on contract, rather than own his own show. Even so, 100 percent clearance on Fox affiliates was not guaranteed.

Now look at him. I can guarantee you not only is Conaco (his company) given full ownership of the TBS show, but he's got an option to produce the lead-out (midnight) show when/if "Lopez Tonight" fails. TBS will have first look at all Conaco series; this will be huge for TBS, which is looking for niche comedies; and it will be huge for Conaco, which has seen niche ideas like "Andy Barker, P.I." flop on network TV.

He will get a huge swell of publicity and, with his viewing base of 2.5 million likely to grow — because he'll be on at 11 instead of 11:35 or 12:35 — will instantly host one of the biggest shows in cable.

Yes, bigger than "The Daily Show."

Audio: I talked about the upside of Conan going to TBS on WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C., tonight.

d/l

Reactions

Peter writes: "I do have the Internet and would love to see Conan's show streamed live on the TBS site. That would give him the best of both world's because he can reach the whole planet with the Web but his ratings will only be judged in the context of cable."

"Helen" writes: "Basic cable is on the way out, as millions of us don't have the little black wire but do have internet access. We can't watch George Lopez and apparently we won't be able to watch Conan O'Brien, because TBS programming isn't available on-line -- which means Stewart, Colbert, and Comedy Central have little to fear."

The reader is misinformed. TBS is in more than 100 million homes, and the percentage of people with basic cable is at all time highs.

Eighty friends and family of the late David Mills gathered for a brief public expression of gratitude for the writer's life in the most heartwarming way one can think of.

In the middle of a city that's come back strong from a devastating storm ... in the middle of a park that housed countless memories of New Orleanians past and present ... a relative stranger had a tree planted in his honor, in the belief that the live oak will do what the fallen writer surely would have, if he could have: that is, stay and grow roots.

"David wasn't from here," said Mary Howell, the local civil rights attorney who opened the tree-planting ceremony. "But in the short period he was here, we grew to love him and sense his love for this place."

Howell — who's the inspiration for Melissa Leo's character on "Treme" — noted that a thousand stately trees had met their demise in City Park during Katrina. Some wondered if the park would ever come back. But it is back, and Howell said "the fact that they are laying out fresh trees, and fresh roots, seemed appropriate today." She hoped the roots of Mills' tree "will flourish and grow deep and grow wide."

"Treme" co-creator Eric Overmyer and producer Anthony Hemingway also spoke. "We are all born into this world with a purpose in life," Hemingway said. "It's beautiful when we discover what that purpose is. I can say with confidence that David Mills was in touch with his purpose in life."

Then the attendees — including John Goodman, Steve Zahn, David Simon, Khandi Alexander, Davis Rogan, Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters — threw a bit of dirt on the tree plant and took a special memorial Hubig's pie while the Rebirth Brass Band played "Closer Walk with Thee," "Feel Like Funkin' It Up" and other songs (many of which you heard them play last night on the sensational "Treme" premiere).

Hello from New Orleans, where as luck would have it, I am in town for the French Quarter Festival the very weekend that HBO showed the series premiere of "Treme" for the cast, crew and friends of the show at the Morial Convention Center, one night before its debut on the HBO. The show's two co-creators, including "The Wire's" co-creator, David Simon, spoke before the premiere. (Here's my review of "Treme.")

Dave Walker, my friend and host, commented that he couldn't recall a show, especially an HBO show, getting this much attention for the first episode. (The exception might be "John from Cincinnati," but in a totally different way.) Judging from the VIPs who showed and the dearth of available seats among the 900 chairs set out for the screening, I would say the anticipation is as widely felt in New Orleans as anywhere else.

Dave even wondered if someone would announce a second-season pickup for "Treme" this very night. Michael Lombardo, one of HBO's top executives, was there, but he didn't say anything.

Nine members of the late David Mills' family were also there. There will be a remembrance ceremony and tree planting Sunday in honor of Mills, felled by a brain aneurysm March 30.

Despite the circumstances, co-creator Eric Overmyer couldn't help but note the overwhelmingly festive air of the occasion. "I think tonight is the cakewalk back from the cemetery, don't you?" he told the crowd.

Kermit Ruffins was there. He seated himself at the end of the last row, and set his horn down next to his chair. Clearly he wasn't going to be there at the end. (Neither were we, having seen the premiere of "Treme," between us, at least eight times.)

An HBO publicist spotted us and said, "Look who came!" and before the light even fully illuminated his face, I could tell I was looking at the one, the only Michael K. Williams, Omar from "The Wire." I found this the most thrilling thing of the night. Is he joining the "Treme" cast, like Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters before him? No one knows, save I guess for David Simon.

Speaking of the Buddha of urban drama, he told the crowd that he worried that he had no more praises to share this evening of his late colleague, after mourning Mills at a remembrance the day after he died. Instead, Simon read a letter from a descendant of Tootie Montana, the famed Mardi Gras Indian Chief who died, two months before Katrina, while addressing the New Orleans City Council. He, too, died while "fighting the fight." It's a wonderful letter and I will leave it to Dave to transcribe it at his Treme blog.

Local reality queen Sharon Liese can add another pickup — her third — this morning as Discovery Networks announced a three-episode order for her docu-series "Saved on the Strip."

Here's Discovery's writeup from its upfront release: "Blonde, brash and fearless, former high-class call-girl Annie Lobert answers to a higher calling now. She bravely patrols the streets of Las Vegas to combat sex trafficking. SAVED ON THE STRIP profiles Lobert, her new husband Oz Fox and her team of former prostitutes, who all counsel current women caught in the downward spiral of unwise choices, drugs and violence in Sin City."

Oz Fox is a guitarist for Stryper, the Christian megaband. "Saved on the Strip" will air on Investigation Discovery, a digital network.

As you may recall from my recent profile of Liese, this was the series with the working title of "Hookers for Jesus." Liese's assistant Britt Frank discovered Lobert, and soon afterward, reality producer Jon Kroll jumped on board.

Three episodes sounds like a ridiculously tiny order, but Liese told me today that the show hasn't even done any shooting. So if Discovery likes what it sees, I'd expect more hours to be added to the order.

Liese's previous series was "High School Confidential," which she filmed in her home and at a nearby high school over four years. Her second series, "High School Confidential 2," is filming in Chicago.

Handsome young man, that Matt Hicks. But whether he's now rich and handsome, you'll have to tune in Friday to see.

Hicks, a senior at UMKC and National Guard reservist, gets into the hot seat Friday on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” airing on KSHB (NBC), weekdays at 4:00 pm.

In 2004 he graduated Belton High School; the next year he joined the Guard and was deployed to Kosovo for 13 months, but not before proposing to his wife Leanne, who was in the studio for the taping.

Discovery's Planet Green has released the schedule for the wrapup episodes of Greensburg. This brings the total number of episodes to a network-sized 22. Season one is on DVD and season two is available through Amazon Video on Demand.

I'll have a story in the Kansas City Star in a week or two, with a full update on life in Greensburg nearly three years after the storm.

There will be a recap episode before the three new episodes air. Here's a brief clip.

Notice the councilman in the green shirt. That's Rex Butler voting "aye" on the LEED Platinum resolution (not "ordinance") in December 2007. On Tuesday, voters returned Butler to the Greensburg City Council; he had stepped down when his term expired two years ago. Though Rex gets a rep as being an "anti," he's actually one of those "naturally green" folks you hear from around Greensburg. What's more, he's one of the town's foremost vegetable growers. Last week he gave me a tour of his expansive backyard garden.

"We eat out of our garden 12 months a year," he told me.

But Rex, I said, I don't see any crops. What are you getting out of your garden now?

He smiled and said, "Cottontail."

PR follows ...

The city of Greensburg captured the hearts of people around the world after an EF5 tornado, one of the strongest in American history, devastated the city on May 4, 2007. Now in the final chapter of this inspiring story, Planet Green visits the community and documents how the enormous task of transforming a small city into a sustainable center has become a reality. As former residents return and the downtown area nears completion, GREENSBURG has become a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit, bringing hope for future generations. GREENSBURG is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way with Craig Piligian's Pilgrim Films and Television for Planet Green.

Programming Highlights (all times Eastern):

Sun, May 2 at 8:00 p.m. - Greensburg Recap Special

Sun, May 2 at 9:00 p.m. – Episode 1

Mon, May 3 at 8:00 p.m. – Episode 2

Mon, May 3 at 9:00 p.m. – Episode 3

About Planet Green: Planet Green is the multiplatform media destination for people looking for something new. Launched on June 4, 2008, Planet Green is following the evolving conversation about sustainability and is the entertainment brand that champions the visionaries who move our world forward in small and large ways. Planet Green and its two robust Web sites, planetgreen.com and TreeHugger.com, offer unique, insightful and inspiring content related to how we can evolve to live a better, brighter future. Planet Green's original programming, digital tools and content will entertain, educate and activate.

Whenever you hear that someone has abruptly left their job in television management "for personal reasons" or "to pursue other opportunities," the question is not whether that's good or bad, but just ... how ... bad ... it is.

Thirteen months ago, Rick Iler suddenly vamoosed as news director of KSHB, your "NBC Action News" in Kansas City, and nobody had a clue why. Certainly it wasn't "for personal reasons," the legalese they pulled out of the hat that time.

Now we may have a clue, thanks to a court filing by one Leeah Brennan, who says that she was tossed off her job at KSHB because Iler wanted to give the "NBC Action News" position to someone he'd had some action with himself.

Courthouse News reports...

Brennan claims that "Iler had a sexual relationship with a subordinate employee during his employment with defendant Scripps Howard. Defendant Iler expressly told this subordinate employee via text messages that she would have an employment opportunity, namely that she would have a reporter-type position if she had sex with him," according to the complaint in Jackson County Court.

Frankly, since Iler is gone it's been nothing but good news for the other gender at NBC Action News. Peggy Phillip has taken the reins as news director. She took Iler's place on the RTDNA's board of directors for Regions 4 and 5. Phillip hired our former political writer DeAnn Smith and just like that, KSHB had a weekly presence on the area's premiere political gabfest, "Kansas City Week in Review."

As for Iler, a Gawker commenter noted that he's now working in Cedar Rapids for a company that "delivers training and communications support solutions for banks and credit unions." BVS Performance Systems is seven miles across town from the legendary Frank Magid Associates, the research firm best known for reinventing local TV news stations.

So close ... and yet, so far.

(via Gawker)

This is the exact list found at the Peabody Awards site. I've enhanced it with links. All the descriptions are the Peabody board's.

Modern Family (ABC)
Twentieth Century Fox Television in association with Levitan Lloyd Productions

This wily, witty comedy puts quirky, contemporary twists in family ties but maintains an old-fashioned heart.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (CBS)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Worldwide Pants, Inc.

As this fascinating, often funny interview attests, the Scottish-born Ferguson has made late-night television safe again for ideas.

Noodle Road: Connecting Asia's Kitchens (KBS1 TV)
Korean Broadcasting System

The who, where, what, why and how of Asia's culinary staple, rolled into one visually delicious hour.

A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains (ABC)
ABC News

A powerful documentary shot in the hollows and house trailers of Appalachia reminds us that not all critical problems lie in "developing" nations.

SesameStreet.org
Sesame Workshop

Big Bird and company display prodigious adaptability on this delightfully educational, interactive site.

BBC World News America: Unique Broadcast, Unique Perspective (BBC America)
BBC World News America, BBC America

A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had, it places our actions and concerns in a global context.

The Cost of Dying (CBS)
CBS News 60 Minutes

Steve Kroft's report addressed inconvenient truths about the cost of end-of-life medical care with courage and compassion.

Independent Lens: Between the Folds (PBS)
Green Fuse Films, ITVS

A beautiful documentary about the art of paper folding, it makes you gasp at the possibilities -- of paper and of human creativity.

Glee (FOX)
Twentieth Century Fox Television

Dependably tuneful and entertaining, the musical dramedy that revolves around the motley members of a high-school choral club hit especially high notes with episodes such as "Wheels," about the daily struggles of a wheelchair-bound singer.

The OxyContin Express (Current TV)
Vanguard on Current TV With tales of drug-dealing MDs in Florida and Appalachian "pill-billies," the documentary makes clear the enormity of the prescription-drug epidemic.

npr.org
National Public Radio

A whole lot of things considered, from "South Park" to North Korea, make this one of the great one-stop websites. And there's music you can dance to.

Diane Rehm Personal Award
Now available to National Public Radio listeners after decades on Washington's WAMU-FM, Rehm's talk show is the gold standard for civil, civic discourse.

The Day that Lehman Died (BBC World Service)
A Goldhawk Essential Production/BBC World Service Production

Merging news with dramatic reconstruction based on exhaustive interviews, this rare docudrama for radio put listeners in the boardroom and halls of Lehman Brothers as the financial giant collapsed.

In Treatment (HBO)
Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions and Sheleg in association with HBO Entertainment

Giving new meaning to the phrase "theater of the mind,' this fictional series of psychiatrist-patient one-on-one's is the very essence of drama.

Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times (PBS)
Peter Jones Productions

Digging into the lives and machinations of the first family of Los Angeles newspapers, documentary filmmaker Peter Jones finds drama enough for several feature films.

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (HBO)
Mirage Enterprises and Cinechicks in association with The Weinstein Company, BBC and HBO Entertainment

Alexander McCall Smith's best-selling novels about Precious Ramotswe, an African detective, come vividly to life in this groundbreaking series, shot on location in Botswana.

Sabotaging the System (CBS)
CBS News 60 Minutes

Alarming and then some, Steve Kroft's survey of cyber-threats to America's infrastructure made it clear the siege is on and questioned our readiness to defend.

Brick City (Sundance Channel)
Sundance Channel, Brick City TV LLC

In this five-hour documentary series, the struggles of Newark's young mayor and other citizens trying to resurrect their blighted communities are sociologically instructive and dramatically compelling.

Thrilla in Manila (HBO)
Darlow Smithson Production, HBO Sports, HBO Documentary Films

Taking its title from the last of three legendary heavyweight bouts between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the documentary pulls no punches and lays bare misconceptions about their rivalry.

FRONTLINE: The Madoff Affair (PBS)
FRONTLINE, RAINmedia

The documentary takes viewers into the very heart of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, explaining how and why it worked for so long.

I-Witness: Ambulansiyang de Paa (GMA Network)
GMA Network, Inc., Philippines

Condemning deplorable conditions while celebrating neighborly valor and ingenuity, the report shows how people in a poor village carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using "ambulances on foot."

Independent Lens: The Order of Myths (PBS)
Folly River, Inc., Netpoint Productions, Lucky Hat Entertainment, ITVS

Margaret Brown;s exploration of two Mardi Gras traditions in Mobile, Ala., one white, one black, is highly original, moving and insightful.

Hard Times (OPB Radio)
Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Main Street repercussions of Wall Street's reckless ways were nowhere in the media more humanly and thoughtfully documented than in this series of radio reports.

Iran & the West
Brook Lapping Productions for the BBC in association with National Geographic Channel, France 3, NHK, VPRO, SVT, RTBF, VRT, NRK, SRC/CBC, DRTV SBS, YLE, TVP and Press TV

A spectacular, epic documentary that explains in fascinating, sometimes startling detail how the West and Iran arrived at the present standoff, it's imminently watchable and historically invaluable.

Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson: Covering Afghanistan (NPR)
National Public Radio

No reporter in any medium gives us a better sense of the variety of life inside Afghanistan than the multi-lingual chief of NPR's Kabul bureau.

The Great Textbook War (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
Trey Kay Productions

This thoughtful, balanced and gripping radio documentary shows how a 1974 battle over textbook content in rural West Virginia foreshadows the "culture wars" still raging.

Mind the Gap: Why Good Schools Are Failing Black Students (Public Radio Stations)
Nancy Solomon

Independent producer Solomon exhibited great empathy for the students and teachers at the suburban New Jersey high school she studied, meanwhile asking tough, necessary questions.

Endgame (PBS)
Daybreak/Channel 4/Target Entertainment, Presented on PBS/MASTERPIECE by WGBH Boston

This intensely dramatic film, focused on secret negotiations at an English country estate -- talks that helped to end apartheid in South Africa -- offers a lesson in the possibilities of peaceful conflict resolution.

Sichuan Earthquake: One Year On (Now-Broadband TV News Channel)
Now-TV News, Hong Kong

The Hong Kong-based news organization noted the anniversary of the terrible Sichuan quake with respect for the victims and their families and hard questions about the substandard construction that worsened the death toll.

BART Shooting (KTVU-TV)
KTVU, Oakland, Calif.

KTVU's quick response to a train-station altercation that ended in a fatal shooting gave its reporters an edge, but it was their persistent digging afterwards that revealed serious, systematic problems in the Bay Area Rapid Transit police's tactics.

American Masters: Jerome Robbins -- Something to Dance About (PBS)
Thirteen/WNET

A retrospective of Robbins' life and work illustrated with dazzling performance clips and annotated with comments from noted ballet and Broadway colleagues, this brilliant documentary captured the legendary director/choreographer's "dark genius."

Chronicle: Paul's Gift (WYFF-TV)
WYFF 4, Greenville, S.C.

Simple, ingenious and effective, this public-service special followed the donated organs of an accident victim to a variety of recipients, showing their joy and gratitude, thus boosting a most worthy cause.

Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard (KHOU-TV)
KHOU-TV, Houston, Tex., Belo, Inc.

Dogged work by the Houston station's investigative reporters found such blatant discriminatory treatment of female soldiers that three top Texas Guard generals were fired and a new commanding officer was appointed.

Derrion Albert Beating (WFLD-TV)
FOX Chicago News: WFLD-TV and myfoxchicago.com

WFLD got national attention with horrifying video it obtained of the beating death of an honor student just blocks from his Chicago high school, but the greater feat was its comprehensive follow-up coverage of the suspects, the legal process and prevalence of similar violence.

Where Giving Life Is a Death Sentence (BBC America)
BBC World News America, BBC America, BBC World News, Newsnight

Correspondent Lyse Doucet trekked deep into Afghanistan's rugged Badakshan province to document conditions that give it the worst recorded rate of maternal mortality in the world.

Up in Smoke (KCET-TV)
KCET, Los Angeles

Lively, eye-opening coverage by KCET's "SoCal Connected" included a revelation that there are now more legal, medical-marijuana dispensaries in the city than Starbucks franchises, and a rare look at the "Cannabis Cowboys," an elite police team of pot-farm eradicators.