Casting calls

• Steve Howey (cast member on Reba and at one time a waiter in a Littleton restaurant, according to IMDB.com) has landed the lead in Fox's comedy pilot The Beast.

• Oliver Platt has been tapped to star in ABC's comedy pilot The Thick of It, about workers in the office of a low-level congressman. The two-time Emmy nominee will play the chairman of the party committee.

• Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars cast) has joined the cast of the as yet unnamed potential spinoff of ABC's Grey's Anatomy.

Numbers game

936: Consecutive weeks that CBS has placed first in daytime television. That translates to 18 years as the daytime leader. The Young and the Restless was the top-rated daytime drama in households for the 948th consecutive week in the week ending March 4. The network had four of the top five programs in households:

• The Price Is Right 2 (1),

• The Young and the Restless (2),

• The Price Is Right 1(3) and • The Bold and the Beautiful (5).

Chatter

"Saturday Night Live was the best time of my life. It was like X-Men School for comedians. When Lorne Michaels (executive producer, SNL) shook my hand, I haven't been broke since."

Chris Rock, comedian, actor, talking about Saturday Night Live with Inside the Actor's Studio host James Lipton. The interview airs at 6 tonight on Bravo (cable channel 61).

Channel changes

The New Adventures of Old Christine returns to the CBS lineup tonight with two new episodes, Sleepless in Mar Vista and Undercover Brother. They will air at 7 and 7:30 p.m. (CBS 4). The series, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, moves into its new 7:30 time slot March 19.