Verdin Bell to the rescue

Verdin Bell Co. has helped the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” folks with their efforts to aid Katrina victims. Verdin last month cast a bronze bell for the 118-year-old First Emmanuel Baptist Church in New Orleans’ 9th Ward, as part of the show. On Thursday, ABC starts a four-week series of “Extreme Makeover: After the Storm” (8 p.m., Ch. 9) episodes about helping hurricane victims in Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Louisiana. The Verdin episode airs April 4.

Clyde comments
Life is good, says Clyde Gray, who returned to the Channel 9 anchor desk on Monday, two weeks earlier than anticipated. He had planned to take the entire month off with his wife, Kalena, and their adopted infant daughter, Claire Elizabeth, born Feb. 19.
He emailed me to say: “Claire reached the one month mark Sunday. So, the Grays had a family meeting and decided it was okay for Dad to go back to work, so here I am. Fatherhood is swell and I already miss my two princesses, but we agreed it was okay for me to come on back since we had a month together.”

Busy night
Lots of tough choices and new stuff tonight, so program the DVR to catch a couple of these:
--New episode of “Lost” (9 p.m., Ch 9)
--Following "Lost" is the premeire for ABC’s “The Evidence,” where you’ll see all the clues and evidence in the show opening, then watch the cops (Orlando Jones, Rob Estes) figure out the whodunit (10 p.m., Ch 9).
--NBC’s new “Heist” (10 p.m., Ch 5), with Dougray Scott leading a bunch of career criminals in ripping off three Beverly Hills jewelry stores during Academy Awards week. To make things interesting, he falls in love with the cop investigating the case. (NBC repeats at 8 p.m. Friday on Bravo, and 9 p.m. Friday on Ch. 5)
--“TV Land Awards” honors “Cheers,” “Good Times,” “Dallas” and “Batman” (9-11 p.m., TV Land). It's followed by “Living in TV Land” (11 p.m., TV Land), with a camera crew following around William Shatner.
--And reality TV reaches new depths with Fox's "Unan1mous" (9:30 p.m., Ch 19), where nine people are locked underground together and must choose who wins $1.5 million.