FINALLY

Slatkin’s new post: Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., has been named principal guest conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony beginning Sept. 1, 2008, the orchestra announced Friday. His Pittsburgh appointment is for three years.

Bush’s ratings coup: Who says President Bush isn’t popular? Well, his diminutive animated form anyway. Comedy Central had a big night with its Wednesday premiere of “Lil’ Bush,” the irreverent animated series that imagines the leader of the free world as a trouble-making tot running around the White House while his father occupies the Oval Office. The series was the network’s most-watched opener since “Drawn Together” in 2004, with 2.1 million viewers.