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CBS has made a small tweak to its fall schedule, flipping the time periods of its new comedy “The Class” and second-year show “How I Met Your Mother.”

The network had originally planned to move “How I Met Your Mother,” which averaged a respectable 9.5 million viewers a week last season, from 8:30 to 8 p.m. ET. That would give “The Class” an established lead-in and also hammock the new series between “How I Met …” and “Two and a Half Men,” the most-watched sitcom on TV.

Instead, though, CBS has decided to let “The Class” lead off the night, keeping “How I Met Your Mother” in the 8:30 spot. That will give the new show a little bit heavier burden of kicking off the night against the likes of NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” and FOX’s “Prison Break.”

“The Class” is an ensemble comedy from “Friends” co-creator David Crane and former “Mad About You” and “Half & Half” writer-producer Jeffrey Klarik. It will follow a group of former third-grade classmates who are reunited 20 years later when one of them (Jason Ritter, “Joan of Arcadia”) throws an engagement party.

The show also features Andrea Anders (“Joey”), Lizzy Caplan (“Related”), Sean Maguire (“Eve”), Lucy Punch (“Ella Enchanted”) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

It was the subject of a bidding war between a couple of networks during last year’s development season; CBS ultimately won out by giving the show an early 13-episode commitment.



DAN RATHER DEFINES NEW JOB

Dan Rather isn’t done with the news business yet.

The long-time CBS anchor, who left that network’s evening news last year and last month left the Eye for good, has signed on to anchor a weekly news program on high-definition service HDNet. The show, “Dan Rather Reports,” is scheduled to premiere in October.

The one-hour program will feature a mix of investigative pieces, interviews and field reporting, and HDNet notes that it will be “completely uncensored.”

“We’re thrilled that Dan is now part of HDNet,” says Mark Cuban, the network’s co-founder. “Now that he is finally released from the ratings-driven and limited-depth confines of broadcast television, I am excited about the impact Dan can have on the future of news.”

Rather, too, sounds excited to embark on his new gig. “Hard news needs backers who won’t back down. Mark Cuban is such a leader,” he says. “As a team player I intend to give Mark and HDNet all of the hard work, loyalty and fearless, high quality reporting possible.”

The 74-year-old Rather stepped down as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” in March 2005, six months after a story about President Bush’s National Guard service that was based on faked documents unraveled. Since then he’s been an occasional contributor to “60 Minutes.”



WEATHERCASTER BARBERIE WEDS BOYFRIEND

Jillian Barberie can expect to see a honeymoon in her forecast.

The weathercaster recently married boyfriend Grant Reynolds over the weekend in her backyard in the San Fernando Valley, she announced on Monday’s “Good Day LA.”

“I’m so in love with this man,” declares Barberie, who was previously married to professional baseball player Bret Barberie from 1996 to 2002.

The private ceremony seems to have been a casual, under-planned affair. Apparently, she lacked both flowers and wedding dress before the happy day, and resorted to an Armani off-the-rack gown that a friend provided.

“I’m, like, a traditional girl,” she adds, referring to her plans to take her husband’s surname, but retain Jillian Barberie as her professional name.

Barberie, 39, first gained attention for providing the weather on “Fox NFL Sunday” in 2000, holding her own among the likes of James Brown, Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long.

She currently reports the weather for Los Angeles’ FOX 11 and has also hosted “The Test,” “EX-treme Dating” and “Good Day Live.” She recently competed in FOX’s reality show “Skating with Celebrities.”

Reynolds, an actor, has appeared in bit parts on the SciFi Channel’s series “The Invisible Man” and in a handful of B movies.

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