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Season premiere of Saturday Night Live this past weekend, featuring Olympian Michael Phelps as host and a cameo by Tina Fey as VP Candidate Sarah Palin, drew in 7.4/18 in metered markets, reports Nielsen. That number marks the highest rated episode since September 29, 2001 with Reese Witherspoon hosting, which was also the first SNL episode following the 9/11 attacks.  National numbers for the SNL season debut will be out on Thursday. (Cynopsis 9/15)

ABC News’ Charles Gibson’s interview with Palin on 20/20 last Friday night pulled in 7.9 million viewers, the highest number for that news program in more than six months. In the key Adult demo, the program averaged a 2.1/6 A18-49, per fast affiliate ratings from Nielsen. (Cynopsis 9/15)

HBO has an untitled pilot project in the works about a professional golfer from Florida who is forced to enter the witness protection program, reports Variety. Writers Carl Hiaasen, columnist/author with the Miami Herald and Mike Lupica, sports columnist/author of the Daily News will collaborate on the script. (Cynopsis 9/15)

FOX signed an expanded renewal agreement with Chef Gordon Ramsay which keeps him as host of Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares for at least two additional seasons, as well as an option for a third series. (Cynopsis 9/15)

The Sundance Channel on Jan. 1 will debut Sundance Select, a video-on-demand channel for independent films, the lion’s share of which will not hit the theaters first. Sundance Select will offer about 50 movies a year, which, Sundance executives say, will cost between $7 and $8 per movie. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (9/15)

HBO’s “John Adams” won eight Creative Emmy awards and AMC’s “Mad Men” won four to lead the pack at the Primetime Creative Emmy Arts Awards over the weekend. HBO was the top winner by network with 16 awards followed by Showtime with five, Bravo with three and Cartoon Network and Sci Fi with two apiece. Reuters (9/14) , The Hollywood Reporter (9/13)

Versus on Oct. 14 will debut “Sports Soup,” a twice-weekly sports/comedy hybrid in the vein of E!’s “The Soup” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” According to host Matt Iseman, “Sports Soup” will be “a little obnoxious, usually hilarious and so fascinating that you just won’t be able to take your eyes off it because you have to see what happens next.” TVWeek.com (9/14)

Time Warner Cable in late September or early October will begin offering video on demand via the Web with a service called the Road Runner Video Store, according to Peter Stern, the company’s chief strategy officer. The site will include about 1,600 movies and 1,500 TV episodes. Multichannel News (9/12)

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