'Idol' winner Ruben Studdard now 'Biggest Loser'

from left, David Brown, Ruben Studdard, and Hap Holmstead

Ruben Studdard didn't even get one last pig-out session before making his way to "The Biggest Loser" ranch.

"You know, the funny thing is, I was actually working the night before, so I didn't get an opportunity to have a pig-out session, no,"Studdard said in a phone call. "I actually flew from a concert to the ranch. ... I'm sure I probably would have had a piece of cake or something before I went up to the ranch for months and months."

The 35-year-old singer became famous winning another reality show — "American Idol" — but had seen his weight climb in the years since. He is the 15th season's heaviest contestant at 462 pounds. "The Biggest Loser" returns Oct. 8 at 8 p.m on NBC.

The Grammy-nominated artist said after the show, he'll record his sixth album, but he will also make sure to "give every day of my life some Ruben time."

"That's what I've been taught, as you know. I have to get up every day and give myself the two hours that I need to keep myself together before I even get into any music stuff, and that's just going to have to be how I do it," he said.

'Law & Order: SVU' returns with cliffhanger

This publicity photo released by NBC shows, from left, Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro, Kelli Giddish,

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" will be paying tribute to its ripped-from-the-headlines heritage this season, the drama's executive producer said.

The show returns for its 15th year at 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, picking up on last season's cliffhanger finale that had New York City police Detective Olivia Benson (series star Mariska Hargitay) held at gunpoint by a rapist.

It will be followed by a second new episode at 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday, this one with a story line about kidnapped girls that echoes the Ariel Castro case in Cleveland.

In upcoming episodes, a politician will run into trouble over "sexting," while another plot will focus on a celebrity chef and the shooting of a young African-American man — an apparent mash-up of Paula Deen's racial-slur woes and the Trayvon Martin case.

"We use headlines as a jumping off point but we utilize them as a way to explore the issues that underline these stories," producer Warren Leight said.

While fiction, the episode about the chef demonstrates "how we all profile people one way or the other when we pass them on the street," he said.

The new season represents "a significant reboot" of the crime drama, said creator Dick Wolf, adding that Hargitay and the show have never been better.

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is the sole remaining first-run U.S. series in Wolf's "Law & Order" franchise.