Television news briefs.

POITIER'S MISSION IS UPN'S `MARS'

Sydney Tamiia Poitier may not have found lasting success on UPN's "Abby," but the actress is ready to stick with the network. The young actress will become a regular on UPN's "Veronica Mars."

Poitier, whose father is Oscar-winning actor Sidney, will play a journalism teacher at fictional Neptune High School, who becomes a mentor for series star Kristen Bell's Veronica. The part isn't featured in the pilot, but will first appear in the show's second episode.

For Poitier, the "Veronica Mars" represents just a hop, skip and a jump within the Viacom family. She went from a regular role on the short-lived "Abby" to a recurring part (also as a journalist) on CBS' "Joan of Arcadia." She also appear on an episode of UPN's "Twilight Zone" update and in NBC's "First Years."

"Veronica Mars," which focuses on a fearless 17-year-old girl who helps her private investigator father (Enrico Colantoni) unearth secrets in a wealthy seaside community, will premiere Sept. 21, with Poitier's first episode arriving one week later.

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ROCCO'S RESTAURANT MAY GO DARK

A ruling Tuesday by a New York judge cleared the way for Jeffrey Chodorow and other backers to shut down Rocco's on 22nd Street and also barred the restaurant's co-founder Rocco DiSpirito from entering the restaurant.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman told Chodorow that he could not be required to run a restaurant that was losing money.

The founding of Rocco's was the subject of the successful first season of NBC's reality series "The Restaurant," which aired last summer. The second season, which depicted the eroding relationship between DiSpirito and Chodorow, failed to draw the same audience when it premiered this spring and the show was ultimately yanked from NBC's schedules.

Rocco's on 22nd Street may soon be yanked from its home in New York's …