Syndie Insider

Sony's Seinfeld is about nothing. In syndication, though, that's something. The show may have been flat for the week ended Jan. 19, with a 7.8 national Nielsen rating, but, for the fifth time in six weeks, it was also syndication's top off-net comedy, pushing out Warner Bros.'Friends. Seinfeld has been getting more double runs this year, which partially accounts for the uptick.

In the rest of access, most of the heavyweight shows stayed in a fairly narrow range. Paramount's Entertainment Tonight was the top magazine for the 340th straight week, up 2% to a 5. And King World's Wheel of Fortune continues to be the top game show (and syndicated show overall), down a bit (1%) to a 9.8. King World's Jeopardy is the No. 2 game show, with a 7.5.

Lisa Hackner joined Universal Domestic Television as executive vice president of development. She was previously vice president of development at Telepictures Productions, Warner Bros.' unscripted production arm.

At Telepictures, Hackner developed Elimidate, Change of Heart, Judge Mathis, Street Smarts and The WB's High School Reunion.

Hackner has appointed Sheila Rosenbaum vice president of development. Rosenbaum was at Buena Vista Productions, where she developed The Wayne Brady Show. She also was a producer on Elimidate and was a producer on The Jerry Springer Show from 1993 to '98.

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Signature Films is launching Autograph, a weekly half-hour show featuring in-depth interviews with celebrities, for broadcast and cable. Autograph will be distributed by Los Angeles-based o2c. The show will be hosted by the Russian-born Agata, who became well-known in Europe before coming to the U.S.

With Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution preparing to launch Ellen DeGeneres's talk show this fall, Warner Bros.-owned production company Telepictures Productions already has launched a Web site for the comic. The site, www.ellendegeneres.com, is hosting a contest, giving away tickets to see a DeGeneres concert in New York May 1 or 2.