Tuning In

Trump’s next big thing?

After being spurned by NBC, Donald Trump is taking his next big TV idea to Fox. The network and the real estate mogul are developing a contest show in which party girls are transformed into socialites, MediaWeek.com reports.

Aptly titled “Lady or a Tramp,” the new series is based on the U.K. show “Ladette to Lady,” in which similar transformations occurred. The American version will be produced by RDF Media, with the Donald serving as executive producer along with RDF executives Chris Coelen and Greg Goldman, Trump Prods. President Andy Litinsky and Bruce Toms (“Nanny 911”).

If the project moves forward, “Tramp” could hit the airwaves by midseason.

Hello, Dalai

With creatures great and small around him, the Dalai Lama yesterday called for a halt to lab experiments on animals and made the case for eating only fruits and vegetables, while visiting the Australian zoo of the late “Crocodile Hunter,” Steve Irwin.

The spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists delicately handled a Burmese python and petted a koala as he was feted like a rock star at Australia Zoo.

“Hunting, beef, sheep farms, piggeries, millions, billions, die,” the Dalai Lama said while speaking to a sold-out crowd of 5,000 at the zoo’s open-air Crocoseum.

Although sometimes sparked with laughter, the Dalai Lama’s 30-minute address also had a more serious note: He criticized companies and organizations that he said “remain indifferent” to the rights of animals by experimenting on them.

Mr. Irwin, host of the TV wildlife show “Crocodile Hunter,” died in September when the barb from a stingray pierced his chest while he was diving in the Great Barrier Reef.

The Dalai Lama thanked Mr. Irwin’s family for their support of wildlife.

“I appreciate Steve Irwin and his wife, Terri, all their dedication,” he said.

’Jericho’ repeats set

After resurrecting “Jericho” from an early demise just last week, CBS has set a summer repeat schedule for the show, starting in early July, Zap2it.com reports.

The network will re-air the “Jericho” pilot — in which the residents of a small Kansas town begin to deal with the effects of a nuclear attack — July 6 at 9 p.m. The following week, at 8 p.m., CBS will air a clip show recapping the season’s first 11 episodes, followed by episode 12, “The Day Before,” which began the show’s spring season. Episodes 13 to 22 will air in the Friday 9 p.m. slot for the remainder of the summer.

Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports.