giving back

When Earl Cole won CBS' Survivor: Fiji earlier this year, one of the things he said he was going to do was throw a party when he came home to Kansas City. On Saturday, Cole hosted the free "Day of Celebration" and health fair at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. Proceeds from a silent auction will go to the Earl Cole Fund for Legg-Calve Perthes disease, a painful children's condition of unknown causes resulting in premature arthritis.

Source: PRNewswire

casting call

Blair Underwood is joining the cast of the new ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money, playing a visionary billionaire. The character of Simon Elder will be introduced later in the season as a potential nemesis of the wealthy, troubled Darling family that's the series' focus, ABC announced Wednesday. Underwood also appears in the HBO drama series In Treatment, set for 2008.

renewal notice

Atlanta-based TNT's The Closer this week received a green light for a fourth season, not a surprise considering it's the most successful scripted show in basic cable history, averaging 7.4 million viewers this season on Monday nights. The network has given the Kyra Sedgwick crime drama a 15-episode commitment for 2008. Its ratings through the first seven episodes are up 18 percent over the same point a year ago.

Source: Cox News Service

soap rewards

CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful introduces the "Boldface Challenge," in which viewers will have the opportunity to watch some of their favorite characters sing duets and to vote for the performance they prefer. Duets will take place on The Bold and the Beautiful at a special concert to be broadcast Aug. 24 and Aug. 27 (12:30-1 p.m. local time) on CBS. Through Aug. 19, viewers can visit boldfacerecords.com to view the duets and text their votes or vote online. Each vote enters the viewer in a sweepstakes.