TVSquad

Even though everyone knew he had been battling cancer for quite some time, this is still very sad news.

Tony Snow, the newsman who became White House press secretary and then returned to the world of journalism, died early this morning. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer years ago and had beaten it the first time, but then it came back and he had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the time of his death.

Snow joined FOX News Channel in 1996 and hosted FOX News Sunday and was a political analyst for the network. He also hosted his own radio show and used to fill in for Rush Limbaugh on the radio (and later Bill O'Reilly). Snow replaced Scott McClellan as press secretary at the White House in 2006 and left the position in September 2007, saying he wasn't leaving because of his health but because of financial concerns. He became a political analyst for CNN earlier this year.

Snow had a wife and three kids.

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Now that we're past the rumors of Ryan Seacrest replacing Larry King as host of King's CNN show, Bill Zwecker has another rumor to report: it's Jay Leno who might replace the veteran talk show host.

It's no secret that several networks are interested in Leno after he leaves his NBC show in 2009. Both ABC and FOX have shown interest in offering him a late night spot, and there's even been talk of NBC keeping him in-house to do some sort of new show with them. But Zwecker is reporting that CNN might actually want to grab Leno, give him a show on the network (perhaps even late night), and then when King finally does retire in a few years Leno will be already on the network and ready to take over in the 9pm slot.

Sometimes I wonder if Leno is sitting at home, laughing at all of the rumors and speculation because he really has no intention of doing anything but stand-up and working on his collection of cars.

[via TV Tattle]

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Who would have thought that there would be on television this category, this trend of personality known as the "money honey?" They're the beautiful girls who give us the financial news and stock numbers on the cable news networks.

It all started with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo (who actually trademarked the "money honey" title a while back) and now it has extended to others as well. There's ABC's Bianna Golodryga (that's her in the pic), who is being touted as the big new money gal, MSNBC's Erin Burnett, Fox Business Network's Alexis Glick, and...well...the entire on-air staff at the Fox Business Network, actually.

If you're a regular viewer of CNN's Larry King Live, you know that's not an Onion headline. Seacrest has filled in for Larry King several times over the past few years, usually on pop culture-oriented shows, and now it looks like Seacrest wants the gig permanently.

MSNBC "The Scoop" column is reporting that the American Idol host is in secret negotiations to take over for King, and the change could take place as early as the end of this year. Of course, this goes against the recent news that King had signed a contract extension through 2011, but that contract doesn't necessarily guarantee him the 9 pm slot, just that he'll stick with CNN in general.

There have been approximately 400 stories written about CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric in the past few weeks: she's thinking about leaving, she's getting her lowest ratings ever, etc, etc. And now TV viewers are weighing in on what Katie should do.

A Gallup Poll asked 1,016 adults (I'd love to hear why they come up with such numbers, why they didn't keep calling until it was 1100 or at least stop calling at 1000) what Katie should do. And you know what? 46% of respondents say she should stay as anchor of the show! Where are those viewers when she needs them?

Here are some other results from the poll:

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Aaron Brown is ready to return to television. After a two-year hiatus the 59-year-old journalist and ex-CNN anchor will be joining the PBS series Wide Angle as an anchor, producer and part-time field reporter.

Brown left CNN in November of 2005 after a network shake-up that gave his coveted 10:00 PM time slot to up-and-comer Anderson Cooper. He remained off of television due to contractual regulations and instead filled his time with teaching at Arizona State University as its first Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism. According to an interview with the Associated Press, Brown said he decided to work at Wide Angle instead of another cable news channel in order to "work in an environment where people just think about making good TV and good journalism." He added that cable news networks could be pushed into focusing on sensational, tabloid-like stories.

Wide Angle will begin its seventh season on PBS starting on July 1st. Topics that will be covered this season will be the crisis in the Sudan and the changing role of the military in Japan. Brown hopes to do some field work in Venezuela or the Middle East for future Angle stories.

Jack Cafferty, aka CNN's Grumpy Old Man, has been known to spout off from time to time and go on rants, but they were nothing more harmful than the news equivalent of "damn kids and their rock music these days." But it looks like one of his ramblings ticked off a couple of people enough that they found some creative lawyers and sued the heck out of Cafferty and his bosses.

According to Reuters, a beautician and a Beijing-based primary schoolteacher are suing Cafferty and CNN $1.3 billion for, the article says, "violating the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people." The lawsuit is being filed in New York. According to one of the suit's lawyers,"The $1.3 billion averages out to $1 per Chinese person, so it isn't much." He apparently said that with a completely straight face.

Doesn't it seem like Larry King is aging at about five times the normal rate? I keep thinking he must be in his 90s, but in reality, he's only 74. And it looks like he'll be around a while.

According to a TVNewser report, CNN and King have agreed on a contract that will keep the suspender-clad one with the network through June 2011. For the record, he'll be 77 -- but he'll probably seem like he's 153.

A recent New York Times story speculated that ratings-challenged CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric might be eyeing King's CNN slot. "Couric discussed several things she might do if she left the anchor post, according to the executives, including a daily talk show to be syndicated by CBS, or replacing Larry King in a prime-time position on CNN," notes the Times story. Not so, a CNN spokesperson told TVNewser. "Larry is the best there is. He'll be here for a long time."

OK, so maybe a MILF Island t-shirt isn't quite your style, but you're looking for something a little bit different than the usual Lost t-shirt or Office mug. How about a t-shirt that has headlines from CNN printed on the front?

Yup, CNN.com is selling the shirts for $15.00 (plus tax and shipping). The American Apparel shirts come in black, grey, or white,and come with a little timestamp printed on the shirt that tells you the date and time the headline was created (and for you tech geek wiseasses out there, you can alter what the shirts say, but CNN won't let you order it that way). The shirts aren't exactly getting rave reviews from other sites and journalists.

Former White House press secretary and FOX News commentator Tony Snow is joining CNN. He'll be a conservative commentator for the news network. He was actually on the network before, as a fill-in host on Crossfire. But then he went to FOX News, where he hosted FOX News Sunday from 1996 to 2003. He was also a speech writer for the first President Bush.

Anchors and pundits change networks all of the time, but one of the reasons that this is a little surprising is that Snow is currently a substitute host on Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor radio show on the FOX Radio Network. I would have to assume that he will no longer have that role (O'Reilly once warned him about going to CNN).

Snow was treated for cancer twice, once for colon cancer in 2005 and then again last year, when he had surgery to remove a growth. He left his position as White House press secretary in 2007 not because of the cancer but because he wasn't making enough money. He is also reportedly working on a book.

I've always enjoyed Richard Quest's reporting on CNN (if you don't know the name, the face and voice will remind you who he is). He was the wacky Brit who always had a funny take on politics, current events and pop culture. I thought he was just some crazy, comical Brit reporter. Now we find out that he's a crazy, comical Brit reporter/meth fan.

The New York Times is reporting that Quest was arrested in Central Park at 3:40 this morning. He was originally arrested because the park is closed between the hours of 1am and 6am and he was trespassing, but as he was being taken out of the park by police, he disclosed that he had meth in his pocket. In fact, his exact words were "I have meth in my pocket." At least you have to give him points for honesty and accuracy.

No official reaction from CNN yet, but stay tuned.

[via The Huffington Post]

Slate magazine is running an article regarding how weak most of what passes as political satire on television is. They quote heavily from Russell L. Peterson's new book Strange Bedfellows: How Late Night Comedy Turns Democracy into a Joke and also take some time to body-slam CNN's new comedy show, Not Just Another Cable News Show (Wait. What? CNN has a new comedy show on it? I thought that was the thing Wolf Blitzer hosted every day. Are you telling me that's not a comedy?)

Peterson's book, at first blush, seems to be another overly-alarmist, semi-academic attack on pop-culture -- Darrell Hammond is destroying democracy? Really? -- that I usually just ignore. Well, maybe it's the Tylenol PM I took to ease the pain of being in Utica tonight, but after reading Slate's discussion of it, I started to come around to Peterson's way of thinking...