'The Playboy Club' launched on NBC this fall amid much fanfare and some controversy. After its ratings verged from bad to disastrous, we'd normally be expecting to report that the fledgling drama had been cancelled right about now.

However, NBC boss Robert Greenblatt is reportedly going to stay the executioner's hand. For now, anyway.

Talking to critics at the Television Critics Association press tour Monday, new NBC entertainment president Robert Greenblatt took the right tack: He modestly called attention to the network's few bright spots, he didn't assert that the network would roar back this fall, and most importantly, he had Joel McHale from 'Community' relentlessly mock the Peacock Network well before Greenblatt even took the stage.

It was a wise move, and a way of acknowledging NBC's many problems without turning the Greenblatt session into an inquisition about the last decade of shoddy, brain-melting mismanagement at NBC. Well played, sir.

Some news came out of the session: Greenblatt said the second season of 'The Voice' will premiere Feb. 5, after the Super Bowl. The next episode of the singing contest will air Feb. 6, which is the same night that NBC's well-received mid-season pilot 'Smash' will premiere.

It's only been a month since Christopher Meloni stepped down from 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,' but producers are reportedly screen-testing his possible replacements in New York today.

Production on the upcoming Season 13 is due to get underway soon and, according to Deadline.com, 'SVU' creator/executive producer Dick Wolf and NBC have narrowed the field to a short list of five.

The actors, who have all doubtless just spent a sleepless night in the Big Apple rehearsing their lines, have been named as: Danny Pino ('Cold Case'), Kevin Alejandro ('True Blood,' 'Southland'), David Conrad ('Ghost Whisperer'), Michael Raymond-James ('Terriers') and Rhys Coiro ('Entourage').

Each one will test today with Meloni's co-star, Mariska Hargitay, who plays Det. Olivia Benson on the drama. Both Alejandro and Raymond-James recently guest-starred on 'SVU,' so could be feeling like they've got the edge.

Tracy Morgan has apologized after he reportedly indulged in a homophobic and sexist rant during a recent standup show in Nashville. The '30 Rock' star said he "clearly went too far and was not funny in any context."

Now Morgan's '30 Rock' boss and co-star, Tina Fey, says she didn't think it was funny either. In a statement to TMZ.com, she said she was glad Morgan had apologized, but admitted it was "disturbing."

"The violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community," she said. "It also doesn't line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person.

She concluded pointedly: "I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at '30 Rock', without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that Showtime is the home of two of the best comedies currently on the air, 'Nurse Jackie' and 'United States of Tara.' Having been fortunate enough to enjoy the season two premieres of these two shows last Sunday, it came as no surprise that Showtime announced today that both 'Jackie' and 'Tara' are coming back for a third season.

Actually, it is a bit of a surprise ... that it happened so fast! Showtime could have saved the news for a few weeks or even the end of these second seasons. But you have to figure the premium cable channel is pretty happy with the ratings these shows have generated and the enthusiasm is palpable. Another season, twelve more episodes of each, and for the creators of these shows that just has to be a great validation.

When I posted the news items that came out of Showtime's portion of the CBS tour, the one question I got was "When will Dexter be back?" Well, network president Robert Greenblatt mentioned that the third season would debut in September. No word beyond that. Didn't seem like news to me. But there you are, Dexter fans; that's all I've got on that.

The executive session was introduced by a semi-funny clip from one of the network's stars, Tracey Ullman. Really, it wasn't that good, so I won't talk much about it here. Greenblatt also showed clips of The United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie during his opening remarks. Other than that? Well, isn't that enough?

Do you love Tracey Ullman? Yeah, who doesn't? The lady's a riot. Showtime is so enamored of the Brit-com-queen that they've ordered a second season -- seven fresh episodes -- of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union. The network has also lined up another English artist for 2009. Comedy star Marc Wootton is locked in for six episodes.

"I won't hold it against them that both are from the U.K.," laughed Showtime prez Robert Greenblatt. "Tracey Ullman is the veteran genius who continues to impress us with her versatility, while Marc Wootton is the up-and-comer who will surprise our audience with his own unique voice. This is an embarrassment of riches for us in the comedy department."