TVSquad

One notably close figurehead in David Letterman-gate seems to have gone overlooked, a shiny bald one.

Letterman's longtime sidekick and band leader Paul Shaffer has just released a new memoir called We'll Be Here the Rest of Our Lives about his rise to late night music infamy. He talked more than a few ears off about his own life in music, but he's kept very hush-hush on the whole Letterman brewhaha.

"You know, I just can't talk about it," Shaffer told a Time reporter in a recent interview. "There is a legal proceeding going on. I've been advised that I can't comment on that stuff."

He couldn't even tell Harry Smith on CBS' Early Show on his own network just what the mood is like around Late Show central. However, the rest of both interviews offer a very interesting peak into a life in music that has spanned just about every end of the TV dial and a very funny diversion from Smith's persistent reporter powers to get something out of him about the whole scandal. Something tells me Shaffer would have made one hell of a good press secretary.

This morning, for some reason, I had the CBS Early Show on. I wasn't watching it per se, until I started noticing a somewhat disturbing trend. I'd picked up on it during my local news broadcasts as well, but this was the first national news program I'd seen it on (no I don't watch Katie Couric or Brian Williams, that's what the internets are for). Every single story or topic they covered involved some mention of the bad economy and the recession.

It started with a segment about singles finding love. Harmless enough. "In these tough economic times, is it possible to find love without spending a lot of money?" "Oh yes" blah blah blah. That went on for way too long talking about budget dating and how you can't judge a person for being unemployed and it's about their heart not their wallet. Okay, fair enough. But then we lead to the next segment. Cooking with Chef Boy-R-Dee or whatever and it's how to make meatballs on a budget. Because in these tough economic times who can possibly afford meat and pasta sauce?

Last night Adam won $500,000 on Big Brother 9. Now, I know I heard Julie Chen tell them she'd be giving Adam his check and Ryan his winnings of $50,000 on The Early Show as is the standard practice. So, I turned on TV as I was heading out the door to my day job only to hear them say that Julie Chen has the day off today. Huh? I didn't bother recording as they didn't mention BB9 at all.

But there they were -- taped after the finale last night. I found the video of the interview on the CBS website. It's not embeddable, but if you follow me after the jump, I'll bring up some of the main points ... or, at least the ones I found interesting!

Game over. The NFL Network has made a change in the broadcast booth and Bryant Gumbel will not be back calling games. The veteran broadcaster, one-time host of NBC's Today show and CBS's Early Show and currently the host of HBO's Real Sports, has been doing play by play on the NFL Network's eight-game schedule alongside color commentator Cris Collinsworth for the past two seasons. He's now the ex-play by play man.

The NFL Network didn't say who would be replacing Bryant, and the way it was presented it appears that the decision to separate at this time was a mutual decision. Still, it was Gumbel who tendered his resignation, perhaps avoiding the embarrassment of being dumped.

After Hannah Storm said she was leaving last week, and after I pulled myself out of the bathroom where I'd been weeping and wailing "Why, God? Why?" over and over again, speculation began as to who would replace her. Rosie O'Donnell came immediately to mind so I went to see if she'd blogged about it.

On The Early Show
They have to get up early
That's f****** b*******

Guess, she's not doing it. The Hollywood Reporter put my mind to rest today, reporting that Maggie Rodriguez, current host on The Saturday Early Show is moving up to the daily edition to co-host alongside Harry Smith and Julie Chen. CBS said they were thrilled to have her because she's good looking (okay, not in so many words but I'm reading between the lines).

Now, this is an interesting turn of events. Did you happen to notice that Amber Siyavus (also listed as Amber Tomcavage elsewhere), evicted from Big Brother 8 last night, was nowhere to be seen on The Early Show?

After all, it's as traditional as blocked feeds each season that the evicted houseguest gets an interview and some personal camera time with Julie Chen.

So, what's happening? Starting with Amber, there will be no more exit interviews of those going into the jury house this season.