Movieline

TV Bites: Oprah Plunges to Record-Low Ratings

Also in this morning's TV Bites: The Hills goes out in a blaze of glory... Syfy taps musical talent for its strangest horror TV-film ever... and HBO spoils True Blood.

· With just over a year until The Oprah Winfrey Show retires from syndication, the talk show champ fell below a 3 in the ratings for the first time in the show's 24-year-history. Granted, the 2.9 rating came during a week of repeats that was preempted in 14 markets for Wimbledon tennis -- but still. [NYP]

· The Hills series finale drew 3 million viewers on Tuesday, which is over 70 percent more than last season's closer. [THR]

· Congratulations, Syfy, for casting the strangest made-for-TV horror movie this year. The Monkees vocalist and drummer Mickey Dolenz will join Tiffany and Deborah Gibson for the film called Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. [NYT]

· HBO has released descriptions of a few upcoming True Blood episodes. Spoilerphobes, beware. [zap2it]

· Pennsylvania lawmakers are investigating the legality of the Gosselin children's working permits. [NYP]