In your provocative Tuesday media column: the NYT's new Big City columnist gives us hope, Ted Turner vs. Rupert Murdoch, Utah newspaper standards war, the internet won't be free forever, and Cenk Uygur to Current TV.
Will Forte returned to Conan as Ted Turner, and this time he's unhappy about TBS desecration and wears a holiday sweater. Just don't tell him "Merry Christmas" because Teddy Jr. (his best friend/stuffed buffalo on wheels) is Jewish, ya hippie!
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and 38 other billionaires have signed a pledge to give away 50 percent or more of their fortunes to charity. Sounds good! We'll kill them last when the revolution comes.
Oprah and Obama aren't going to Chelsea's wedding—they weren't even invited. Is the location an elaborate ruse? Could Bristol Palin be trying to upstage her? A guide to the most perplexing wedding of the century.
• The critics: Sam Sifton of the Times shows no love for Le Caprice, giving the Brit import a zero-star review; New York's Adam Platt reports on the Breslin and gives it two stars; Time Out's Jay Cheshes gives Danny Meyer's Maialino four stars out of five; and GQ's Alan Richman weighs in on Casa Lever.
• Scott Conant…
Everyone knows Martha Stewart is the consummate domestic goddess— ruling the kitchen and household with iron fists full of fresh thyme and rosemary. Watch Martha and friend Ted Turner head to his Montana landholding for a little fly fishing.
We were assaulted by a drunk asshole at a Christmas party last night, so we missed the Did You Hear about the Morgans? premiere. Luckily fictional freelancer Betsey Morgenstern doesn't get invited to anything, so she was around to cover.
Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter and the man you can blame for destroying your productivity at work, turns 33 today. Fashion designer Calvin Klein is turning 67. Meg Ryan is 48. Today show news anchor Ann Curry is turning 53. Former GE CEO Jack Welch is 74. Ted Turner is turning 71. Jodie Foster is 47.…
Ted Turner distanced himself from the media business in 2006, when he stepped down as vice-chairman at Time Warner, which previously bought his eponymous broadcasting company. And now envisions a magical world in which he again calls the shots.
Michael Jackson saw rivalry in Madonna's eyes, Kelly Rutherford's husband won't be coming near her, and Jude Law's not the best father. All that and more in your Friday morning Gossip Roundup!
♦ ABC has ordered up new episodes of Life on Mars, but it has no plans to shoot new ones of Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, or Eli Stone. [THR]
♦ Penguin's Ann Godoff will be publishing pollster Nate Silver's two books as part of the deal he signed for $700,000. [NYO]
♦ Michael Phelps has signed on as a pitchman…
Calvin Klein turns 66 years old today. Chef (and axed Dancing with the Stars contestant) Rocco DiSpirito is celebrating his 42nd. The Today show's Ann Curry is 52. Larry King may look 100, but he's (only) turning 75. Former GE CEO Jack Welch is 73. Ted Turner is 70. WNYC president Laura Walker is turning 51. Book…
Ted Turner: simultaneously a crazy old coot and a totally awesome and admirable ex-media mogul! The CNN founder is out promoting his new autobiography, which gives him a chance to go on and on and on about his pet grudge, the scalawags at Time Warner who blew up his fortune by merging with AOL. Dude, it was only seven…
♦ Following a small incident yesterday, MSNBC is reportedly planning to institute a tape-delay on Morning Joe beginning on Monday. [TVNewser]
♦ Vivian Schiller, the head of NYTimes.com, is leaving to join NPR as its new CEO. [Gawker]
♦ NBC political director Chuck Todd is co-authoring a book called How Obama Won…
Rachel Weisz walking by herself downtown ... Liev Schreiber carrying his son Alexander on Lafayette Street ... Natalie Portman on the set of her new film ... Jeff Goldblum leaving ABC studios after an appearance on Regis & Kelly ... Salma Hayek carrying her daughter Valentina ... Ed Westwick walking to the Gossip Girl…
Had Ted Turner's old rival Rupert Murdoch just issued an "autobiography" written by a former lieutenant, as Ted Turner has, one suspects it would not have been embraced so eagerly by sympathetic journalists at 60 Minutes, the Times, the Wall Street Journal and even AP, which meditated whimsically on the CNN founder's…
CNN's coverage this morning of the Clinton Global Initiative featured a wacky live interview with CNN mastermind, United Nations bankroller and possibly compulsive wife-stealer Ted Turner. His inquisitor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, was clearly pained by the experience. Their conversation included gems from Turner like, "It's…
We're adding "Ted Turner's publicist" to the list of jobs we could not be paid enough to take. Says Ted to his minder during an interview: "I DON'T NEED YOU FOR THAT! YOU'RE JUST AN OLD PUSSY! YOU'RE JUST AN OLD PUSSY! YOU'RE JUST A LITTLE MOTHER HEN. [in falsetto] "WE'VE GOTTA DO THIS! WE'VE GOTTA DO THAT!" [back to…
Sure, we all know that Robert Olen Butler is the Pulitzer-winning author whose author wife, Elizabeth Dewberry, just left him to become one of media mogul Ted Turner's girlfriends, prompting him to pen the nuttiest email of all time. But how familiar are we all with his award-winning work? Maybe some excerpts from …
