“The Hills” are really alive, with the MTV reality show drawing its biggest audience ever this week.

Monday’s 10-11 p.m. episode, which was the first of Season 3’s eight “bonus” episodes, averaged 4.8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That marks the series’ biggest viewership ever for a single episode, besting what originally was supposed to be the third-season finale in December (4.7 million viewers).

On Tuesday, in its first full day live on MTV.com, the new “Hills” episode delivered 1.8 million streams, up 29% from the day after Season 3’s premiere episode.

Jackass Star Divorces Wife of 13 Years.

Although Knoxville’s attorneys declined to comment on the divorce filings, the daredevil has been associated with infidelity, with rumors circling in 2007 of the Jackass and his The Dukes of Hazzard costar Jessica Simpson.

MTV will stage events in five cities this Saturday to turn up the volume for its upcoming live music competition series, Rock the Cradle.

The events, which will be held at Westfield shopping malls around the country, will feature a contest for teens and a parent teaming up together to play MTV’s new video game, Rock Band. The top scoring parent-child team in each market will win a trip to New York to compete in the Rock the Cradle DNA Duel finals on April 3.

The finalist will win $10,000 and a trip to Las Vegas for the season finale of Rock the Cradle, MTV’s new reality TV series debuting April 3.

The weekend events, staged by the marketing and promotion firm Pop2Life, will be staged in Los Angeles at the Westfield Topanga Mall; in the Washington D.C. area at the Westfield Annapolis; in New York at the Westfield Sunrise; in Chicago at the Westfield Fox Valley; and in New York on Military Island at 44th and Broadway.

Rock the Cradle is like another series from producer FremantleMedia North America — American Idol. But instead of industry novices, the competitors will be the offspring of rock veterans.

Competitors include the children of Olivia Newton John, Kenny Loggins, Eddie Money, Joe Walsh, Al B Sure, Dee Snider, Tom Johnston (The Doobie Brothers), MC Hammer and Bobby Brown.

MTV is giving young people the chance to follow their dreams through several new music- and dance-themed projects, including a drama from Nick Lachey that’s described as a reality version of “Fame.”

The network also has ordered two singing competitions — “Rock the Cradle” and a concept with the working title of “Celebrity Music Mentor Project.” It has also renewed the dance competition “Randy Jackson: America’s Best Dance Crew” for a second season.

The untitled pilot from Lachey, the former star of MTV’s “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica,” revolves around the students at his alma mater, the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati.

It will blend performances by the students with a narrative about what takes place in the school. For example, it might feature students breaking out into dance in the cafeteria, or use a student’s practice session as the soundtrack for a scene. Lachey brought the project to the network and is serving as an executive producer.

“Rock the Cradle,” an eight-episode series that premieres April 3, features the offspring of famous musicians competing every week in front of their parents, a panel of judges and a live audience to become stars in their own right. Set to compete are Chloe Rose Lattanzi (daughter of Olivia Newton-John), Crosby Loggins (Kenny Loggins), Jesse Money (Eddie Money), Lucy Walsh (Joe Walsh), Lil Al B Sure (Al B Sure), Jesse Blaze Snider (Dee Snider), Lara Johnston (Doobie Brother Tom Johnston), Akeiba Burrell Hammer (M.C. Hammer) and Landon Brown (Bobby Brown).

“Celebrity Mentor” pairs eight music celebrity mentors with eight amateurs who will compete to become pop stars. MTV still is finalizing the celebrity cast list for the series, set to premiere in the fall. Hopefuls will be able to post their videos online, with the celebrities each selecting one contestant to coach. Viewers will whittle down the group over the course of the eight-week competition.

Meanwhile, “Dance Crew,” which debuted February 7 and has been the top-rated cable telecast in Thursday primetime among the 12-34 demo, will be back for a second season in the summer with 10 new episodes. This time, viewers will serve as casting directors, with aspiring dance troupes getting the chance to post their videos at dance.mtv.com and the audience favorites being featured on-air.

Forget the traditional radio premiere: R.E.M.’s new album, “Accelerate,” is set to debut on the social networking application iLike.

The roll-out, the first of its kind for a major act, will allow fans to stream and share “Accelerate” in its entirety beginning March 24, a week ahead of the album’s April 1 U.S. release date.

“It was one of those ideas that was presented to us and it seemed like a good one so we ran for it,” R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe told Billboard.com.

He also noted that the way people embrace music “has certainly changed in the last 5 or 10 years. I think you can either go with it or sit back and watch it happen, and I would rather be out on the field than in the bleachers.”

Accompanied by an exclusive video of the band talking about the album, the iLike launch will make the 11-song set freely available to anyone using iLike.com, Facebook, iTunes or any of the other social networks and sites that offer an iLike application for their platforms.

The iLike premiere of “Accelerate” is R.E.M.’s latest example of using direct-to-listener online initiatives to present their music. The band recently launched a Web site of raw footage and invited visitors to edit their own video for the album’s first single, “Supernatural Superserious.” The trio has also been doling out downloadable glimpses of the new material one day at a time via Ninetynights.com.