B&C Week

If you’ve never seen MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, then you’ll probably shrug at the news that tonight is the second-season finale (10 p.m. ET). If you’ve watched this unscripted study of the folkways of Southern California’s rich’n’shallow youth (and happen to be under 24), then you’ve probably organized your now-zombified life around this episode. Special bonus: no commercials, and cast members assemble in the network’s Times Square studio in New York to contemplate a season’s worth of romantic pinball. Less fun but more professional: The National Association of Broadcasters’ National Post+Production Show this week kicks off at 9 a.m. with the (all-day) Apple Final Cut Pro 5 Certification Training & Exam, Level 1 (of 2) at the Javits Convention Center. No surreptitious texting during the exam, please!

The Countrified Broadcasting System? Tonight, CBS airs the CMA Awards (8 p.m. ET), hosted by Brooks & Dunn (last time we checked, Kix B. was the guy with the ’stache, Ronnie D. the one with ’stache + chin hair). Don’t miss: Dolly Parton and Elton John dueting on “Turn the Lights Out When You Leave.” Tomorrow night, the network keeps the down-home fires burning with I Walk the Line: A Night for Johnny Cash. (8 p.m. ET). Sheryl Crow, U2 and lots of other musicians perform The Man in Black’s music and try not to seem too charisma-deficient when juxtaposed with video clips of Cash in action.

It’s NGC night at WICT! Or something like that. Lisa Ling, host of National Geographic Channel’s Explorer, is emceeing the Women in Cable & Telecommunications’ WICT Foundation Benefit Gala at the Hilton Washington hotel in D.C. She’ll get to spend some quality face time with her boss, Laureen Ong, NGC’s president and WICT’s Woman of the Year. Our nation’s capital is a natural home for lobbying groups but not so cozy for television networks. BBC America has finally come to its senses and moved to New York; the party celebrating the switch is tonight at 5 Ninth in the chic-packing district. Sweeps stunt alert! Bruce Willis guest stars on Fox’s That ’70s Show (8 p.m. ET) opposite his buddy, Ashton Kutcher. Demi, this is a TiVo moment.

With the smoke still clearing from WICT’s blowout last night, a groggy Hilton Washington flings open its doors for Court TV’s Unexpected Heroes Awards breakfast. The network’s 10th-annual salutefest concentrates on Hurricane Katrina heroes. Er, is “unexpected” really the best word to use in relation to heroism? Sounds ever so slightly like, “We never would have believed you had it in you. Boy, did you prove us wrong!” But, hey, Court TV, we know your heart’s in the right place.

Samuel L. Jackson hosts Spike TV’s Video Game Awards 2005 tonight at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles. But the two-hour edit of the show won’t hit Spike TV itself until Dec. 10. Snoop Dogg, Ozzy Osbourne and lots of other usual suspects are expected to be on hand to see whether the Game of the Year award goes to God of War, Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty 2, World of Warcraft or F.E.A.R. Hmmm: war, evil, war, war, fear. Somebody was going to nominate Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet, but they garroted that guy.

E-mail info for B&C Week to b&cweek@reedbusiness.com