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nina garcia
punditry
'Times' Shocked That Rove Succeeds on TV Despite Hideous Appearance
Another story about how Karl Rove is a surprisingly adept television pundit. Wow! Everyone is shocked that Rove doesn't spit blood and cackle maniacally and speak in tongues when asked to opine in Hillary Clinton's political future! At least this one mentions conflicts of interest and how some nutcases view the increasingly fuzzy divide between 'journalism' and 'paid political consulting' as worrisome (or at least they did a decade ago when the Clintonites first made the leap). Still, there's this: "As an on-camera presence, Mr. Rove is not necessarily a natural. Neither his doughy chin nor his ashen complexion would be confused with those of, say, Brian Williams of NBC News." We can't all be as pretty as BriWi. [NYT]
tv
Return Of The Electric Company!
So PBS is bringing back my four-year-old self's second-favorite TV show, The Electric Company, and filming starts in Washington Heights and the Lower East Side this week. I don't remember there being much of a plot in the original series but this is how the new one is set up: "Somewhere in the big city lies a natural-foods diner that is headquarters to a not-so-secret society known as the Electric Company. The four semi-superheroes who meet there... have pledged not only to use their powers for good but also to eat sensible portions of healthy meals." God, more than 20 years past the target viewer age for the show, and I still don't have the power to eat sensible portions of healthy meals. Of course this post is mainly just an excuse to embed the famous "Heyyy you guyyys" opening for the original series, which you'll find after the jump. More »
jobs
Jimmy Fallon's Ascent Upon Us
Reports surfaced a few weeks ago that Jimmy Fallon, the former Saturday Night Live cast member, would replace Conan O'Brien on NBC's Late Night. This morning NBC will formally announce the move, reports the Times: "[Fallon] is expected to appear at the news conference accompanied by Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of SNL, who was also responsible for choosing Mr. O’Brien’s successor on Late Night." As said in the comments last time around: "Every generation gets the late-night comedy talk show host they deserve." [Times]
shouting heads
Bill O'Reilly Meltdown Resurfaces
Yeah, you already knew Fox News host Bill O'Reilly could be a volcanic asshole on camera, because he explodes at people all the time. But it's still fun to watch O'Reilly thoroughly lose his shit in this old clip from his Inside Edition days, which resurfaced on the Web tonight. You have to feel for whatever poor soul wrote the script for O'Reilly's teleprompter. Video — including the exclamation "Fuck it! Do it live!" — after the jump. More »
project runway
Nina Garcia Finally Leaving Elle
It is the inevitable coda to the many problems at Hachette — the loss of Elle's Project Runway ties, the layoffs, the pathetic Web traffic — and according to Page Six it has finally begun: Nina Garcia is leaving Elle. According to the gossip page, the Runway judge is following her reality fashion show to Hearst's Marie Claire. Of course everyone saw this coming, literally. Garcia was recently spotted coming out of the Hearst building after ditching a big Elle party a couple of weeks prior. But the likelihood Garcia will remain on the show offers some faint hope to Runway viewers that new host network Lifetime won't be able to wreck it completely. It also raises the question of whether Marie Claire will somehow ruin Garcia completely, but she's survived at one dysfunctional, second-tier fashion title already, so why worry? [Post]
NBC Chief's Katie Couric Visit
"COULD Katie Couric be returning to NBC? That was the buzz yesterday morning after NBC boss Jeff Zucker was spotted climbing out of his black SUV on a visit to Couric, who left the Today show to anchor CBS Evening News, at her East Side apartment." This is followed by a highly implausible cover story/denial involving Couric running errands for Zucker. [Post]
30 Rock In A Tailspin. Wait, what?
"Since the strike, this once-dependable sitcom has... lost its way creatively, ditching plot and character in a desperate, scattershot search for laughs, as if its new goal were to become a live-action version of Family Guy... [Liz Lemon] at least used to try to make her show better [but] has spent the spring dragging through outlandish romantic entanglements and going ballistic over missing sandwiches." [USA Today via TV Tattle]
super deluxe
Super Deluxe Becomes The Internet's Arrested Development
It's over! The most consistently funny comedy site on the Internet is getting folded into AdultSwim.com. Turner is shutting down Super Deluxe and laying off most of its staff, according to paidContent.org. Now the original web content will get stuck with clips from Family Guy and Adult Swim's increasingly weird-without-payoff lineup. The good news: The guy below gets a TV deal. More »
tv
Whoopi's Tax Talk on The View: "Shit"
How many times does astute political analyst Whoopi Goldberg need to tell you, and her cohorts on The View, that they're going to have to raise taxes? "Whoever gets in there [as President] is gonna have to raise taxes. It's B.S. We don't have any money! ... Shit," she mutters at the end of the clip, as the rest of the ladies wisely ignore her. (Click to watch.)
clips
John McCain Has Heard of 'The Office'
John McCain's primary qualifications for the presidency are that he's old, he was tortured, and he's been a corrupt Senator for hundreds of years. Also he'd like you to know that he has a sense of humor, which is why he's The Daily Show's most-invited guest ever. On the show last night, McCain once again demonstrated how "hip" and "with it" he is by naming a character on a popular sitcom. One that is currently on-air, even! Not, like, Maynard G. Krebs or something. Jon Stewart desperately tried to get him to appear more presidential by making a joke he knew McCain wouldn't play along with.
NBC Goes Hyper Local In New York
"NBC Universal plans to announce Wednesday that it will start a 24-hour local news channel along the lines of cable’s New York One... The reasons for the reshaping of WNBC are tied to the coming expansion in digital capacity for local broadcasters as well as the sharp decline in profitability for local stations." [Times]
Katie Couric's Producer Supposedly Leaving
"[CBS News] Spokeswoman Kelly Halyard insists: 'Sean McManus asked [producer] Rick [Kaplan] to consider taking some time off to rest after working two jobs for the past 11 weeks. After his week off, Kaplan will transition back into his full-time role as the executive producer of the CBS Evening News and CBS News’ election coverage.' Counters our source: 'Total bunk.' Our insider suspects this to be PR spin to keep Katie’s situation from looking any worse. If Rick actually does return to the Evening News, 'he won’t be there long. They are just spinning.'" [Jossip]
cbs
Man Charged With Saving CBS Leaves Second Failing Show?
CBS continues to be a total disaster. Last year they brought in former MSNBC president Rick Kaplan to save Katie Couric's Evening News (without asking Katie's opinion). We all know how that went! Not that Kaplan stayed there long—soon he was dispatched to take control of the constantly failing Early Show, where he replaced the scary, tequila-swigging Shelley Ross. Ross left, but her "mean girl" staff remained. So far, Kaplan has not righted the sunk ship. Now we hear it's curtains for Kaplan. Or at least he's taking a suspicious two-week vacation during sweeps. The kind of vacation you don't come back from. Speculation from a leaky CBSer, below. More »
clips
'Sad Perv Day' II: The Legend of Janka's Gold
After nightmare dater John Fitzgerald Page met Dr. Phil today there came a person we feel is in the running for "even worse worst person in the world": Paul Janka, the creepy deviant who masturbates before more uninterested women than Dov Charney, pens glorious odes to date-rape, and who famously went on depressing media joke dates with Moe and Kelly Kreth. While visiting Dr. Phil, Janka apparently just perved on the staff. More »
branding
Anderson Cooper Misses Obama's Abercrombie Boys
So it seems the Barack Obama campaign has replaced those three annoying young men in Abercrombie & Fitch shirts with a creepy collection of older white ladies in pastels, as though he were a polygamist cult leader or something. Dashing CNN anchor Anderson Cooper does not seem thrilled about this change, for some reason. His colleagues instinctively felt his displeasure at trading pumped-up college dudes in tight, trendy t-shirts for middle-aged housewives, so they started giggling. Coop-style journalism is contagious! Clip after the jump. More »
publicity stunts
Anderson Cooper Continues To Support Hot, Sweaty Troops Abroad
Anderson Cooper continues to let it be known, in every possible medium and format, that he is willing to entertain America's brave, well-toned troops in troubled hotspots should his services as a tough-but-emotionally-nurturing (and sometimes giggling) CNN anchor be required. You'll recall Cooper's message of support in Outside magazine's May issue: "I don't understand why more artists don't go and entertain the troops... I saw this documentary on Marlene Dietrich, and during World War II she was going out, right to the front lines. I think she was having sex with a lot of the troops, too." Cooper must have gotten to thinking about Dietrich's personal sacrifices, because a Rush & Molloy tipster just spotted him "looking patriotic in a USO tee on an early flight from New Orleans to JFK last week." Your salute to the troops, like those before it, will surely not go unnoticed, Anderson. [Daily News]
Barbara Walters More Hated At Today Than Katie Couric
Barabara Walters had "a bitter parting from Today. She said, 'Unlike Katie, there were no going-away parties for me,' connecting her departure to become the first woman on an evening newscast [at ABC] to the current situation of CBS’s Katie Couric." [Times]
