Magician Penn Jillette and tennis champ Monica Seles were the first stars eliminated from the sixth season of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Each came into Tuesday’s results show in last place.

Jillette, 53, added a dash of magic to his quickstep, but his footwork failed to impress the judges. Despite his dismissal, the magician insisted that he and his professional partner would continue to rehearse daily and planned to perform in the parking lot.

“There’s no way my dance career ends now,” he said.

Before her name was announced, Seles said being the first woman to leave the show “would be really hard.”

“I’m not used to losing,” said the nine-time Grand Slam champ.

Judge Bruno Tonioli acknowledged that her tennis prowess didn’t translate to the dance floor: “You’re not a performer, and it’s hard for you.”

Still, he called the 34-year-old athlete “a legend.”

“Somebody of your stature being here with us really is a privilege, and you threw yourself (in) at the deep end,” he said.

The show’s first double-elimination round also featured a Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic dance performance and two live songs by tween fave the Jonas Brothers. The pop-rock group played a cover of a-ha’s 1985 hit “Take On Me,” which was released before the trio of brothers was born, and the new song “When You Look Me in the Eyes.”

The remaining competitors include radio host Adam Carolla, pro football player Jason Taylor, Olympic skater Kristi Yamaguchi, R&B singer Mario, and actors Steve Guttenberg, Shannon Elizabeth, Christian de la Fuente, Marlee Matlin, Priscilla Presley and Marissa Jaret Winokur.

Each will perform the tango or jive on next week’s show.

Pop diva Mariah Carey will be filling in on ‘SNL’ for Janet Jackson, who is sick with the flu. Jackson, 41, was scheduled to perform one of the singles off her newly released album, “Discipline.”

NBC announced Wednesday that Carey, 37, will be filling in for Jackson’s scheduled performance in New York on March 15.

Jackson’s publicist, Patti Webster, released a statement on Tuesday saying Jackson dropped out because she has the flu and “needs some time to get better.”

This will be Carey’s first appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in over 10 years. Carey has a new album out on April 15 called E=MC2.

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.

The CW just released an official announcement that Supernatural, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Gossip Girl and America’s Next Top Model have been picked up for next season. Yes, we will see all these shows in the fall for the 2008-09 season!

Happy Snoopy dance with me, will ya?

The episode orders for each of these series remains “TBD,” but I can assure you that the cast of OTH is celebrating the pickup of its sixth season—most likely at Hilarie Burton’s house—right now in Wilmington, North Carolina. I just ran into Sophia Bush at dinner in West Hollywood a few days ago and had a nice chat about how the show is really, as she put it, “in its groove” this season, and how she and the cast feel they have a good thing going and hope it continues. Word. Ask and ye shall receive.

I also just checked in with Gossip boss Josh Schwartz, and he tells me, “Didn’t know [the pickup] was happening today but I guess—when the show is Gossip Girl—reading it online is as good! Stephanie and I couldn’t be happier or more grateful to the CW for all their support. We’ve had a blast working with this cast and crew, and shooting in NYC has been awesome. We’re excited about what’s to come in the next five episodes and season two.” Josh’s other new show, Chuck, is also expected back this fall, so he’s just on a roll. Whee!

And while Gossip Girl and Top Model seemed no-brainers for fall, Supernatural and Smallville fans are most assuredly breathing a huge sigh of relief at these pickups, since the fates of both series have been in limbo as of late. Super boss Eric Kripke knows he owes a great deal to you fans and your very vocal support efforts, especially in this here wacky world o’ web. “Our online community is a rowdy and boisterous one,” he says. “And we love them for it.”

So which series are you most excited about seeing the light of fall? Post your affections below! (And then say a little prayer for Aliens in America, will ya?)

The first oddity (but certainly not the last) about the eight-week Oprah Winfrey infomercial “Oprah’s Big Give” is that there is nary a single genuine giving moment to be found during the opening hour.

It is instead a profoundly hyperkinetic and unwieldy adventure in product placement, in Oprah-as-Messiah hype and, ultimately, in what’s so utterly fake and insidious about “reality” television itself.

Because the ABC series operates under the high-minded guise of bringing life, rescue and joy to people in need, it’s actually even more disturbing than those shows claiming no similarly socially redeeming purpose.

While the recipients of this largesse no doubt truly benefit in a format that’s one part “Queen for a Day” and one part “The Amazing Race,” the question must be asked early on: Is it worth being exploited as a quasi-pathetic charity case on national television, replete with on-cue manipulative sappy music and photo ops choreographed by editors seemingly in the throes of epileptic seizure, to gain that helping hand?

The idea here is that, armed simply with a photo, directions and $2,500 in cash, 10 selfless soldiers — including an Iraq War vet, a dot-com millionaire, a paraplegic author and a pre-med student — must change the lives of their needy assigned human/family in five days through fundraising, corporate sponsorship or just plain love (which in this case is another synonym for cold hard cash).

The “Biggest Giver” will wind up with $1 million, though Oprah insists “that’s a secret!” Oh really? These people are taking weeks out of their busy lives just to help their fellow man?

What makes “Oprah’s Big Give” especially unwatchable is a vertigo-inducing pace. Few shots last more than three seconds, making it virtually impossible to get to know any of these people on anything more than a surface level. Which is probably as it should be.

Shallow as a birdbath, the program would appear to exist less as a true philanthropic exercise than yet another self-aggrandizing vehicle in Oprah’s divine quest to become synonymous with all that is virtuous and good on Earth. We might well refer to this as “Touched By a Talk Show Host.”