TVSquad

Whatever your political opinions are and however your cable news tastes run, you have to admit that this Daily Show examination of how Fox News works is pretty smart. Not just as an explanation at how the news side works with the non-news side of the network, but as an explanation of how any organization can spin things their way.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
For Fox Sake!
www.thedailyshow.com

[Watch clips and episodes of The Daily Show and other shows at SlashControl.]

Dear Larry,

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP WITH THE SHOWS ABOUT MICHAEL JACKSON?!

Honestly, what else can you possibly say? You've already interviewed every Jackson lawyer (past and present), interviewed his dermatologist, talked to his friends, talked to Jermaine Jackson, given a live tour of Neverland Ranch (complete with ghosts), had Marlon Brando's son on almost every night, interviewed Jackson's former nurse, and you actually went to the memorial service itself and reported from there. What else can you possibly do? Are you going to have an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson's nose? Talk to his mailman?

Like a large number of Americans, I watched last night's vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden with great interest. And, like most Americans, I was interested in the debate for reasons other than finding out about each ticket's policy views. I wanted to see Palin and Biden screw up. Big time.

Unfortunately (heh), both did fine. Palin spoke in complete sentences that more or less made sense, even if they didn't answer any of Gwen Ifill's questions; Biden didn't ramble on or say that FDR was the president during the stock market crash of 1929. But I don't know if you can attribute this debate's gaffelessness on the poise of the candidates alone. The format of the debate was so restrictive, it didn't give either of them time to go off on screwy tangents.

Wouldn't it have been better if both could just sit in a couple of chairs and speak freely? You know, like on a talk show?

Now that the confetti has been swept away, all the balloons popped, and the St. Paul cops are stowing their riot gear, it's time to recall the surprisingly eventful Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Is it really only one week ago today that Senator John McCain pulled a rabbit out of his hat and introduced little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate? She's not little-known anymore. In fact, the 2008 Republican Convention is forever more to be remembered for her ascent, whatever her future portends.

Here's some other thoughts from the TV coverage of the RNC:

Media matters
Having the two political conventions back to back was a plus for the TV pros. All the mistakes from Denver were rectified in St. Paul. The MSNBC set ups avoided train stations and noise interruptions. Splitting up Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews worked better, with Olbermann as the point man throwing the coverage to the other news pros. And there was less bickering and fighting, at least compared to the week before.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb:

• Campbell Brown's new CNN show is going to premiere in February, not November.
• Former TV Newser editor Brian Stelter has a new TV blog at the NY Times site, TV Decoder.
• George Clooney had to go to the ER the other day.
• Jaime Weinman has some interesting trivia about Phyllis (and video from the show too).
• Cracked picks the 10 most deranged sidekicks, including Smithers from The Simpsons and Tattoo from Fantasy Island.
• Will Maya Rudolph return to Saturday Night Live when the new season starts next weekend?
• Buddy TV has an interview with Chicken from Survivor: China.

From the "we all saw this coming" department: Paula Zahn has resigned from CNN.

It can't be a coincidence that it comes just one day after it was announced that Campbell Brown was leaving NBC and coming over to CNN (she's also pregnant, though the two events are probably unrelated). Zahn joined CNN in September 2001, and her first major story was 9/11.

I couldn't watch Zahn for some reason. She was always smiling or semi-smiling through all of her reports, this weird look on her face, whether she was reporting a bombing in the Middle East that killed 100 or a story about new puppies up for adoption. But I'm sure she'll land on her feet some place else (though not FOX News - been there, done that).

NBC News anchor Campbell Brown is moving to CNN. She has been co-anchoring Weekend Today since 2003, but her contract is up at the end of this month and she is not re-signing with the network. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that she didn't get the Today anchor gig when Katie Couric left for CBS. Brown was reportedly one of the Top 5 contenders for the job, but it went to Meredith Vieira.

While a newsperson's jump from NBC to CNN isn't that exciting, Campbell's move may signal a shake-up at CNN. TV Newser is reporting that she may be getting her own show... in place of Paula Zahn's 8 pm NOW broadcast, which has had dwindling ratings.

I knew that Chris Matthews hadn't been on Hardball for a couple of weeks, but I didn't know the reason: he was hospitalized due to complications from diabetes.

Matthews will be back on the MSNBC show tonight at 7pm, where he will interview former Vice President candidate and probable future Presidential candidate John Edwards at one of those "College Tour" stops, this one at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Various hosts have been filling in for Matthews while he was in the hospital. Andrea Mitchell went in his spot during a panel discussion at the Castle at the Smithsonian at the end of November, and then Campbell Brown filled in on the college tour. For the past several days, columnist Mike Barnicle has filled in for Matthews on Hardball.

On the heels of news that Rene Syler will be leaving CBS' The Early Show on December 22 (it has since been reported that Syler will also undergo surgery in January) comes news that Russ Mitchell will be joining the show as the newsanchor. The show hasn't had a real newsanchor for a while now. The news duties are usually split between the hosts (Harry Smith, Syler, Hannah Storm, and Julie Chen). Mitchell will continue as anchor of The CBS Evening News on Sundays.

Looks like they're really starting to change things up at the show. It's my guess that in January or February we'll see a major overhaul to the show, meaning new hosts and a tweaked format. Rumors continue to swirl that everyone from Anderson Cooper to Campbell Brown might be the new hosts.

I didn't even know that Syler was a host of The Early Show. How could he be the host of a daily morning talk show on CBS and go around the country, cutting open people's heads and stealing their superpowers?

Actually, it's Rene Syler, one of the 34 co-hosts they have over at The Early Show (last time checked it was Syler, Harry Smith, Hannah Storm, and Julie Chen) is leaving the show to pursue other projects, including a book that will be released this spring. Her last day on the show will be December 22.

I don't buy the Sunday New York Times every week; at $3.50, it's far too expensive, especially when most of the articles can be found online. But when I know that one of my dopey little blurbs about some greasy spoon in the wilds of New Jersey will be in the paper that week, I break down and buy it (hey, need to maintain the clip portfolio, know what I mean?).

Which is why I'm surprised that I missed this article about my girl Campbell Brown's wedding in the April 9 Sunday Styles section. I had the dead-trees version of the paper in my grubby little hands that day; I even scanned the Styles section -- love that Modern Love column! -- but for some reason, I missed this. It describes how Brown and her new husband, Fox analyst and White House press secretary candidate Dan Senor, met and fell in love over discussions about Iraq, current affairs, and politics.

Some interesting tidbits about Campbell: she's three years older than Senor, has been married and divorced already, wears suits on NBC Nightly News that still have the price tags on them, and has an ankle tattoo of a banana. Hmm... looks like Senor's one lucky guy there, doesn't it?

Oh, and what did I learn about Dan Senor? Well... uh... I don't really remember... he's bald?

[via Rachel Sklar on Huffingtonpost.com]

TVNewser has some quotes from a TV Guide article describing NBC's efforts to groom a possible replacement for Katie Couric. The pertinent detail: MSNBC's Natalie Morales is close to signing on as a full-time correspondent on Today, which will get her more airtime.

But the best quote is about NBC's choices if Couric happens to bolt to CBS: "While the charming Morales is a favorite within NBC News, Weekend Today co-anchor Campbell Brown has more experience in hard-news reporting and would also be a serious candidate to join Matt Lauer on the weekday show. Says one person familiar with the talks, 'I think they would like to morph Natalie and Campbell together.'"

Well, why wouldn't they? With Campbell's hard-news chops and sparkling personality, and Morales' engaging style and eyes you could get lost in, NBC would be able to create an über-anchor that even the iconic Couric would have difficulty beating.

Alas, the technology to create the Borales (or should it be called the Nampbell?) hasn't quite been perfected, so we'll just have to see which of these standouts wins the position next to Lauer. That's if Couric leaves, which as the daily updates we're given testify, isn't a done deal by any means.