The Beat

ADAM CAROLLA'S comedy about a carpenter turned boxer, The Hammer (March 21), is the TV and radio personality's first starring role but not his first foray into the sweet science. After he grew tired of football and quit the team after a year at Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen, Calif., Carolla picked up boxing as a way to stay in shape. "I went to a bad gym on the bad side of L.A. and paid $8 a month," he says. "No one spoke English, and it was so cheap that when you sparred they would give you the sweaty headgear right off the head of the guy who sparred before you. That's filthy." ... NBC aired the last completed episode of its ratings-starved high school football drama Friday Night Lights on Feb. 8, leaving fans to wonder what will be done with seven remaining episodes that have been written but not taped. The series, which stars Minka Kelly (above), may be canceled, but NBC is considering alternatives: Filming a two-hour wrap-up movie that would end the series, or perhaps broadcasting the rest of FNL on another network, like TNT. There's also a chance NBC will keep the series as is; a network rep says a decision should come in the next few weeks.

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