Man arrested in mall shooting death of rapper

Los Angeles — Up-and-coming rapper Dolla was killed in a shooting at an upscale shopping mall, and a man was arrested in connection with the murder, police said Tuesday.

Los Angeles County Coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said the man killed Monday afternoon at the Beverly Center was 21-year-old Roderick Anthony Burton II, the birth name of rapper Dolla.

Police said in a statement Tuesday that Aubrey Louis Berry, 23, of Atlanta, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with a gun Monday night. His bail was set at $1 million.

Burton is among a growing list of slain rappers, including Tupac Shakur in 1996, the Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC in 2002 and Deshaun “Proof” Holton in 2006.

Burton was shot several times in a parking structure at the Beverly Center and was declared dead at a hospital, police said.

Police did not say what may have motivated the killing.

NBC attempts a time-share season

New York — NBC is giving the equivalent of broadcast timeshares to “Heroes,” “Chuck” and some of its six new series to keep airing original fare in a schedule where the chief constant is Jay Leno.

The network is building prime time and its hopes to escape fourth place around Leno and the boldest experiment in network television in some time. His comedy show will begin airing at 9 p.m. five nights a week in the fall.

With the workaholic Leno providing new material year-round, NBC felt the need to surround him with as few repeats as possible, said Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Movie Studios.

“We’ll have more original programming this year than ever before,” he said.

The oddball secret agent series “Chuck” was on the bubble until saved by an enthusiastic campaign by fans and a sponsorship deal with Subway. It will air 8 p.m. Mondays after NBC televises the Winter Olympics, while “Heroes” occupies that time slot in the fall.

Similarly, NBC will air the new series about paramedics in San Francisco, “Trauma,” at 8 p.m. Mondays next fall. The new science fiction “Day One” will replace it in the spring.

ABC turns to familiar comics for new season

New York — ABC plans a comedy night on Wednesdays next fall with familiar sitcom stars Kelsey Grammer, Courteney Cox, Patricia Heaton and Ed O’Neill in new series with roles suited to the times.

The network said it will have 11 new series next season. Under entertainment chief Stephen McPherson, ABC has been the most aggressive network in starting new series and will keep trying even though many new ones have failed in the past few months.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, but innovative, different and compelling is going to be the key,” McPherson said Tuesday. ABC is the third-most popular network behind CBS and Fox, and its viewership declined by 3 percent this season.

Sitcom mainstay Grammer leads “Hank,” playing a corporate titan who’s been laid off. Heaton, who co-starred with Grammer in a short-lived Fox comedy after her best-known role on “Everybody Loves Raymond” finished, plays the wife and mother of an Indiana family trying to survive tough times.

Former “Friends” star Cox is on the prowl in “Cougar Town,” playing a newly single woman learning the new rules of dating in a youth-obsessed culture.

O’Neill, best known as the harried dad in Fox’s “Married … With Children,” takes on another TV family in “Modern Family.” In the style of “The Office,” this series looks at three families from the perspective of an unseen documentarian.

Sarah Jessica Parker concerned for surrogate

Los Angeles — Sarah Jessica Parker says she’s concerned for the safety and well-being of the surrogate through whom she and husband Matthew Broderick are expecting twins.

The “Sex and the City” star tells “Access Hollywood” that the attention has led to an invasion of the woman’s privacy. Parker says the stress has taken its toll on her, and she worries about her “and the safe delivery of our children.”

The 44-year-old says in an interview airing Tuesday on NBC that the surrogate’s telephone and computer have been hacked into, and she’s received threats. Parker says it hasn’t ended there: “She’s had friends threatened and family threatened and she’s had family of friends threatened.”

“I care deeply about her and I am incredibly outraged by the sort of extraordinary and unprecedented invasion of her privacy,” says Parker. “I think even given the unfortunate way we live now in this unending appetite for the more salacious information, it has still shocked me, and it has still really disappointed me.”

Parker said a pregnant friend of the surrogate was also chased by the paparazzi.

‘American Idol’ winner going to Disney World

Los Angeles — Kris Allen or Adam Lambert won’t just be crowned the next “American Idol” — one of them is going to Disney World.

Whichever singer wins will shout the famous phrase “I’m going to Disney World!” in a commercial airing after the show’s finale tonight. He’ll also croon “When You Wish Upon A Star” in the spot.

Disney said a camera crew will capture the celebratory pronouncement on the Nokia Theatre stage moments after “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest announces the champion’s name. The Fox competition is down to Allen, a 23-year-old college student from Conway, Ark., and Lambert, a 27-year-old theater actor from San Diego.

The “Idol” tie-in relates to the “American Idol” attraction that opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., this year.