Fast Track

HBO political drama K Street found out last week it's not welcome on Capitol Hill. In a "Dear Colleague" letter last Thursday, the Senate Rules and Ethics Committee reminded the senators and their staffers about rules that prohibit using the Senate for commercial programming: "The use of Senate and Capitol space for the filming of K Street is strictly prohibited."

The letter was prompted by the committee's discovery that HBO was shooting "within the Capitol as well as inside various Senate office buildings." K Street, a hybrid fiction/reality series trying to capture Washington's inner workings, surveys real-life lawmakers for its fictional storylines. It premiered Sunday. HBO wasn't bothered. "We will just do the interviews elsewhere," said an HBO spokesperson.

The promotional boost NBC and Bravo lent to little brother Telemundo appears to have paid off. The NBC-owned Spanish-language net launched two shows—reality dating show La Cenicienta and telenovela Amor Descarado—last week to higher-than-average ratings. Amor Descarado was Telemundo's second-highest premiere for a telenovela since 1999. NBC and sister cable network Bravo ran their first-ever promos for Telemundo's new shows in August. NBC placed promos in Fear Factor and For Love or Money 2, the network's shows most popular with Latino audiences.

NBC has signed a pilot deal for a drama loosely based on the life of Los Angeles Lakers executive Jeanie Buss. The show will be executive-produced by Gavin Polone under his Pariah production shingle, with Buss, Linda Rambis and filmmaker Audrey Wells. It will be produced in conjunction with the National Basketball Association and will be set in the back offices of the Lakers. …

Rainbow and Miramax Films have inked a pact to bring 84 theatrical movies to Rainbow's IFC, AMC and WE cable networks. The deal, which starts in 2004, includes Miramax's Chicago, Chocolate and Gangs of New York. Of the movies, 52 will go to IFC, the rest to AMC and WE. ...

Bachelor Skipper Kress will share a house with eight of his ex-girlfriends to see if love can be rekindled (or if everyone can just survive) in NBC's new reality show Little Black Book. Production starts this fall. ...

Former Xena star Lucy Lawless has signed to play the apeman's aunt in new WB drama Tarzan. She has also committed to develop a series for the network in the 2004-05 season. ...

Mandy Moore will host Lifetime's fourth annual Women Rock! concert to fight breast cancer. The show tapes Sept. 30 in Hollywood and will air Oct. 23 on Lifetime. ...

Liberty Media warned last week that programming costs at its Starz service are ballooning and will badly crunch the company's profits. Liberty said license fees for theatrical movies will surge between $175 million and $225 million next year. Smith Barney media analyst Niraj Gupta says that's up 41%-52% over the $430 million he estimates Starz will incur this year, hitting $605 million-$655 million.

In the Sept. 8 Market Focus, WRDW-TV should have been listed as the No. 1 station in the Augusta, Ga., market and WJBF(TV) as No. 2.

Bill Cosby will receive the second annual Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the Primetime Emmys next Sunday. "Bill Cosby has not only made Americans laugh over a long career." said Bryce Zabel, outgoing chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, "but he has also used his stardom to shine a light on strengthening the family values which make our country great."