TVSquad

Did it seem weird to anyone else that Oprah Winfrey managed to score the first big interview with Olympic wonderboy Shaun White? That's because her awesome Oprah powers allowed her to scoop the entire mainstream media.

Actually, CBS' 'Early Show' had plans to do a remote interview with the snowboarder, but Oprah's people snatched it away from them in the zero hour.

One of the network's news producers wrote on her blog that she had everything from flights to remote broadcasts set up to interview White following his medal ceremony, but "it's tough to compete with Oprah and a private plane."

Glenn Beck hates the mainstream media, but not enough to ignore it when he has a new book coming out like he does this week. He's the first guest tonight on Katie Couric's new web show, which will debut at 7 PM. In this preview, Beck reveals who he would have liked to have seen in the White House (and who would have been worse).

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Newsman and producer Don Hewitt has died at the age of 86.

Hewitt is probably best known for creating 60 Minutes and ushering in the genre of the TV news magazine show. He also produced The CBS Television News in the late 40s and later The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. He also directed various TV shows and specials, including See It Now (Grant Heslov played Hewitt in the 2005 movie Good Night, and Good Luck), Presidential Timber, and One Plane, One Bomb, and even produced the first Presidential debate on TV, Nixon vs. Kennedy.

Andy Rooney is 90 years old, and has spent the greater half of the twentieth century (and well into the twenty-first) providing political and cultural insight to the masses through op-eds in both print and on CBS newsmagazine staple 60 Minutes. Despite remaining America's favorite most recognizable curmudgeon, Rooney's weekly diatribes have grown increasingly stale, and significantly more bizarre with each episode.

Any semblance of lucidity Rooney may have employed in ... I guess (?) what was once considered clever or funny or - at the very least - entertaining material has most assuredly fallen to the wayside. The scraps with which we've been left are, indeed, entertaining, but not for the reasons Rooney (or the producers of 60 Minutes) probably intended.

Pew Research Center's biannual survey on how Americans get their news revealed significant shifts underway from print to new media, and even from television to the internet. But it looks like that idiot box remains our number one source for just what's going on in the world around us. The article shows the demographics to be pretty much where you'd expect them to be as far as who goes where for their news. The younger, more affluent and/or more educated you are the more likely you are to go online for your news. The older, poorer and less educated you are the more likely you are to rely on the TV.

I live in a pretty small town that's chock full of poor, uneducated people and I can assure you that most of those citizens still think of computers as that fancy technology they use in them colleges and whatnot. And the Internets, well that's where you go for sin! But the young people, who have grown up with computers and the web are more savvy than their parents and if they can afford a computer, then they're online. Most are playing World of Warcraft, but they're still on there.

Long before ESPN was the worldwide leader in sports, ABC sportscaster and newsman Jim McKay was the voice of American sports. ABC sports legend Jim McKay died today at the age of 86; the cause of death was not revealed. In the annals of television history, Jim McKay is among the giants in sports broadcasting: a twelve-time Emmy winner, an iconic presence on The Wide World of Sports, the man who said the words, "the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat." He was the moderator of twelve Olympics and a broadcaster who gave the best he had in every television show in which he was involved, be it the Kentucky Derby, the British Open, or any of the other hundreds of events he covered.

If Jim McKay had just done that, he'd have a great legacy. However, when he was confronted with the task of anchoring the events that unfolded at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when the Israeli athletes were taken hostage by terrorist and killed in a commando raid, Jim McKay rose to the occasion.

For once the info coming from CBS News is not about whether Katie Couric's job is in jeopardy. Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer has decided not to retire after all; he's staying with CBS News indefinitely.

The veteran newsman, who'll be 72 this year, had announced his retirement. He was going to leave the Black Rock as of the January presidential inauguration. Now he's decided to postpone the rocking chair. According to TV Week, the network didn't have to twist his arm; the deal was easily and simply done. All Schieffer had to do was get his wife Pat's approval and he was able to tell CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus asked him not to step down as planned with the inauguration of a new president that he would remain.

They most prestigious award for excellence in broadcasting -- next to the Emmys -- were announced today. The 67th Annual Peabody Awards honored Mad Men, 30 Rock, Dexter, Project Runway, The Colbert Report -- all favorites here at TV Squad -- among others. To the Peabody Award voters, I say, "Good job."

The winners, chosen by the Peabody board -- which is part of the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication -- will receive the awards on June 16 at a luncheon at New York's Waldorf Astoria. NBC News anchorman Brian Williams will be the emcee.

Quick answer: no.

Long answer: probably not.

It's always hard to make predictions when it comes to television. A show you think is going to bomb becomes a giant hit that produces several spinoffs (*cough* CSI *cough*). It's even harder with television news, since the landscape is changing so fast these days, with the web playing a bigger and bigger role. But that doesn't stop The Boston Herald from predicting that in five years, Fox and Friends anchor Alisyn Camerota will be asked to take over for Katie Couric on The CBS Evening News.

Mike Wallace, the semi-retired 60 Minutes correspondent, underwent triple-bypass heart surgery over the weekend at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.

The 89-year-old Wallace, the oldest of the 60 Minutes correspondents, is recovering nicely, according to a CBS News spokesperson. The spokesperson added that the Correspondent Emeritus was already taking his first steps just two days after undergoing the procedure. Man, this guy is tough! It is unknown at this time if the surgery was planned or done after a checkup revealed an issue.

We've entered Week Two of the WGA Strike, and although we're not getting any closer to a resolution, there's still plenty of WGA Strike news to report:

• The WGA-East declares that "Ellen DeGeneres Not Welcome in NY."
• Lost's co-creator Damon Lindelof announces, "Television is dying" in the New York Times.
• Some soap writers are crossing the picket line to resume work.
• Today (Tuesday) was dubbed "Picketing with the Stars" as 100 actors from 30 TV shows joined the picket line at Universal Studios in a show of solidarity.
• Seventeen entertainment blogs went dark for a day in support of the writer's strike.
• Peter Chernin (president of Fox's parent company, News Corp) bragged that the strike is "probably a positive" for the company as it will most likely save them money.
• CBS News is preparing for a possible strike by 500 of their news writers.
• The Simpson's Mr. Burns tells striking writers they can't have the internet: "It's Mine!"

I think Katie Couric giving that interview to New York has pushed this whole "will Katie leave CBS?" talk to a whole new level.

Intrade.com, a web site where you can trade event futures on political, current, financial, weather, and unique events, has listed a new market on whether or not Katie will leave The CBS Evening News by the end of the year. There are a lot of different rules (it has to be announced on or before December 31, etc) so read carefully.

Just so you know, I have absolutely no idea what any of the above means. The stock market and anything to do with finances just confuses me. It's just a little less comprehensible than Klingon to me, but it certainly sounds exciting!

After the jump, give us your opinion on when Ms. Couric will leave CBS.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Dan Rather said the word "tart," and suddenly everybody's talking about the evening news.
  
• Donald Trump's has a new reality show in the works, Lady or a Tramp.
  
• Are we being punished? Veronica Mars fans won't get a new season, but they might get a comic book instead.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

That's Dirty Sexy Money, an upcoming drama on ABC, just to clarify. I didn't want you to think the U.S. Mint was printing up a new type of currency with Dan Rather on the bill in place of one of the presidents.

Although, that would be interesting. "Give me seven quaraters and two pennies for a Rather," you would say. The Rather would be worth $1.77 for some reason.

So why have the ratings for the CBS Evening News fallen to historic lows? The New York Times asks that question today and suggests two theories: Either viewers don't like Katie Couric, or they're just uncomfortable getting their network news from a woman (the fact that there are female anchors in the cable news world isn't mentioned).

While the newspaper noted that Couric has received criticism for everything from her makeup (too much or too little) to her interview style (too soft or too hard), Sean McManus, CBS News president told the Times, "There is a percentage of people out there that probably prefers not to get their news from a woman." (Remember how much flak she endured from people who obsessed over her debut outfit?)