Starz

The Twittering for customer troubles, little cards apologizing for missed appointments, and discounted bills for lost TV service are paying dividends for Comcast Corp. The American Customer Satisfaction Index, a nightmare for Comcast in recent years, shows a surprising surge in customer satisfaction for the cable giant. The new annual results are being released today. "It's a huge jump. We rarely see big moves like that. But of course it's coming from a low base," said Claus Fornell, the director of the study and a professor at the business school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Merlin . The name evokes a wizened old man with a long, white Gandalfian beard, leaning on a gnarly old staff. You can say goodbye to that tired old cliche, says Chris Chibnall, cocreator of Starz's smart, character-driven drama Camelot , which premieres Friday at 10 p.m. A gritty blood-, mud-, and sex-soaked take on the Arthurian legends, the series stars a hyperactive Joseph Fiennes ( Shakespeare in Love ) as the wizard of yore. "The first thing I said was no beard, no cloak, no staff," says Chibnall, who developed the show with Tudors creator Michael Hirst.

THE POPULAR STARZ series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," which is sort of like "Gladiator" with a naked "Zena, Warrior Princess," has halted production because star Andy Whitfield has been diagnosed with cancer. Whitfield plays the title role in the show. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and will begin treatment immediately, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "I'm receiving excellent care, and am feeling strong, positive and determined with an army of support behind me," Whitfield said.

DVD releases about men on a mission top this week's new releases. Take Me Home Tonight, Grade C-: A college graduate (Topher Grace) pretends he has a successful job to impress the woman he's loved since high school. Grace, who's also executive producer, wanted to make a nostalgic look at the '80s - not another film jabbing the era of big hair, leg warmers and shoulder pads. The problem is the decade had so little going for it that if you don't poke fun at it there's little reason for the setting.

YOU MAY HAVE READ Tuesday that Philadelphia's first lady, Lisa Nutter, and first daughter Olivia Nutter were to receive flowers from Councilwoman Marian Tasco at Mayor Nutter 's inauguration Monday at the Academy of Music but that someone had forgotten to order them. On Tuesday, Council staffers called Ten Pennies Florist (1921 S. Broad) to ask that arrangements be sent to the Nutter ladies at the family's Wynnefield home. We're told the arrangements consisted of calla lilies, roses and hydrangeas.

IS BRADLEY COOPER the "Sexiest Man Alive"? We hear People magazine is about to shoot the Rydal-raised Germantown Academy grad for its "Sexiest Man Alive" issue. Whether he is the sexiest man alive, or just a runner-up remains to be seen, but the actor, here shooting "The Silver Linings Playbook" certainly appears to be a contender. People says it can neither confirm nor deny any participants until the issue is out Nov. 18. Cooper's publicist says he has a photo shoot in town this weekend, but it's for another publication to promote the DVD release of "The Hangover 2. "   Twitter fake Wynnefield-native filmmaker Lee Daniels has a Twitter impostor.

Who knows what evil lurks in the fall TV schedule? Maybe the Shadow, but not me, nor any other TV critics. Saying it didn't want to spoil "curiosity and anticipation," the CW wouldn't show its remake of 90210 to anyone in advance, which speaks volumes about its failings. But ABC and NBC have kept all their shows under wraps, too, using the Hollywood writers' strike as an excuse, even if it did end seven months ago. Usually, the critics get pilots of fall shows in May. And CBS and Fox aren't exactly knocking off socks with the shows they have provided.

* TITANIC: BLOOD & STEEL. 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, Encore. TURNS OUT it took a bit longer to build the Titanic than it did to sink it. James Cameron's "Titanic" clocked in at 3 hours, 14 minutes. "Titanic: Blood & Steel," a 12-part miniseries filmed in Ireland about the events leading up to the April 1912 disaster, will get a six-night run on Encore this week, starting Monday. The broadcast networks used to build them big like this, back in the '70s and '80s, before anyone dreamed that there'd someday be so many channels we'd have "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. " Though I'm pretty sure that even in the days when Pug Henry (Robert Mitchum)

Comcast Corp. says it has developed an online video player that gives viewers a TV experience on the Internet, and the cable giant intends to put shows and movies from 24 cable networks online by the end of 2009. But it won't be free, which is what most people have come to expect of content on the Internet. Comcast cable customers - about 24 million in the United States - will have sole access to the cable TV fare through an online password and authentification process that references Comcast customers' billing records.

It began in the summer of 1978, a group of local filmmakers and devotees hoping to promote a homegrown documentary about Leadbelly, the legendary country bluesman. Now, that film, Leadbelly, is airing on the American Movie Classics cable channel - and PhilaFilm is celebrating its 20th year, screening 44 submissions from directors as varied as a Hollywood pro and a 14-year-old Massachusetts video whiz for seven days beginning Monday. Larry Smallwood, head of the Philadelphia International Film Festival, as the program that promotes independent filmmakers of all ethnicities is formally called, recommends both works.