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Us actor whose success as the scruffy TV detective Columbo was complemented by a wide range of stage and screen roles

Show-business history records that the American actor Peter Falk, who has died aged 83, made his stage debut the year before he left high school, presciently cast as a detective. Despite the 17-year-old's fleeting success, he had no thoughts of pursuing acting as a career – if only because tough kids from the Bronx considered it an unsuitable job for a man. Just 24 years later, Falk made his first television appearance as the scruffy detective, Columbo, not only becoming the highest paid actor on television – commanding $500,000 an episode during the 1970s – but also the most famous.

Inevitably the lieutenant dedicated to unravelling the villainy of the wealthy and glamorous dominated his career, although – unlike some actors – he escaped the straitjacket, or in his case shabby raincoat, of typecasting. In addition to stage work,...

ABC Family's "Harry Potter" theatrical airings conjured up solid numbers over the weekend, while a Lifetime "holiday movie festival" also spread the cheer.

Saturday's airing of "Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets" from 7-11 p.m. averaged 3.4 million total viewers, ranking as the second-most-watched cable program over the four hours, according to Nielsen Media Research. Sunday's airing of "Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban" from 6-9 p.m. was cable's most-watched program over the three hours in total viewers (3.4 million).

Meanwhile, Lifetime drew 3.5 million viewers to Nicole Eggert starrer "Holiday Switch", which aired at 9 p.m. Saturday as part of the network's "Fa La La La Lifetime", hosted by Carson Kressley and Melissa Peterman ("Reba").

At 9 p.m. Sunday, "Finding John Christmas", which starred Valerie Bertinelli, drew 3.3 million total viewers on Lifetime.

Meanwhile, the season finale of E! Entertainment Television's "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" drew 1.8 million viewers at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. That's an increase from the season average of 1.1 million.

CBS has set the primary casts of two original movies. Peter Falk, Tammy Blanchard and Katey Sagal have been tapped to star in A Christmas Without Ornaments, and Tom Skerritt, Tim Guinee and Betty Buckley have joined Mary-Louise Parker in Vinegar Hill. A Christmas Without Ornaments is the third CBS holiday movie featuring the angel Max. Falk, who played the role in A Town Without Christmas and Finding John Christmas, is in final negotiations to reprise the role in the new telefilm, a heartwarming story about two very different families who need help at Christmastime.

Baywatch alumna Brooke Burns is returning to the beach with a starring role in Fox's new drama series The North Shore. Meanwhile, Golden Globe winner Valerie Bertinelli has been tapped to star opposite Stephen Root in Fox's comedy pilot Sorry Charlie, and stand-up comedian Aron Kader has landed a lead role in NBC's comedy pilot Beverly Hills S.U.V. The North Shore, from 20th Century Fox TV, is an Upstairs, Downstairs look at the guests and staffers at a Hawaiian hotel. Burns will play the manager of the hotel. The role has been recast. In addition to co-starring on Baywatch, Burns hosted NBC's reality series Dog Eat Dog. She is repped by Paradigm. Sorry Charlie, from Sony Pictures TV and Jersey TV, centers on parents (Root, Bertinelli) who struggle with the fact that their kids are growing up. Bertinelli's recent credits include CBS' drama Touched by an Angel and the telefilms Crazy Love and Finding John Christmas. Beverly Hills S.U.V., from NBC Studios, is a workplace ensemble comedy set an upscale Beverly Hills car boutique. Kader will play the inept but manipulative nephew of the boutique's globe-trotting Middle Eastern owner, left in charge of the place by his uncle. Kader, who recently performed at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, is repped by Don Buchwald and Associates and Leviton Management.

The Bernie Mac Show looked sharp in its return to the Fox lineup Sunday. ABC also had a good night with season-high numbers for the dramas Alias and The Practice, but CBS took the night on the strength of a primetime football overrun and a strong turnout for its holiday-themed movie Finding John Christmas. The third-season premiere of Bernie Mac won its 8:30 p.m. slot in the adults 18-49 demographic with an average of 10.4 million viewers and a 4.7 rating/11 share in the demo, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. Bernie Mac did a good job of holding onto its lead-in from The Simpsons (11.6 million, 5.1/13), which was down from its recent deliveries but still posted the highest 18-49 demo number of the night.