TVSquad

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• The first chapter of the Burn Notice novel The Fix, by Tod Goldberg, is up at the publisher's site.
• Michael Ian Black has a new book coming out, and a really funny blog.
• Nancy Grace makes an appearance in Hancock?!
• Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra plays the full-length version of the Late Show theme.
• Rush Limbaugh vs. Bill O'Reilly.
• TV Guide has a short Q&A with former CNN newsman Aaron Brown.
• What is (or was) The Oaks?

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.

• Aaron Brown's contract with CNN ended last week, and now he can talk. Here's part one of his interview with TV Newser, and here's part two (parts three and four coming this week).
• Gordon Ramsay says the parents of fat kids should be hauled off to court and fined.
• A woman has filed a paternity suit against ER's Goran Visnjic.
• Fans are mounting a bring back The Black Donnellys campaign, a la Jericho fans.
• Catherine Crier might be gone from Court TV, but she's blogging over at The Huffington Post.
• In the middle of a summer of reruns, Martha Stewart suddenly has new shows starting July 16.
• What is The Dynamite Action Squad?

(Part 3 of 5)

Everyone said that the news anchor was dead. That they were going to be replaced by pundits, scrolling, bite-sized news, and blogs. So it's pretty amazing how much news news anchors made in 2005.

Anderson Cooper made waves this year (no pun intended). Not only did he get the spot that Aaron Brown used to have, he showed he had some serious newsman chops by confronting Senator Mary Landrieu about the lack of local and federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Cooper has been a good, serious reporter for years, but this year he really hit the big time and became the most talked about anchor on TV.

Dan Rather left under a fog of controversy (the Bush memos), but replacement Bob Schieffer has been a solid, calming prescence. If there is one single argument why the big network, dinnertime newscast should stay around, it's his show. CBS is reportedly testing various anchors and various formats for their news show. Let's hope Schieffer sticks around in some big way.

Brian Williams took over for Tom Brokaw, and I think he surprised some people with his steady, professional work (though I'm not quite sure why everyone is so surprised - he's been doing the job for years).

Keith Olbermann's Countdown continues to be one of the bright spots on MSNBC's schedule. He's a talented, smart guy, and his takedowns of people like Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and others were some of the great moments in 2005 news.

Of course, we lost one of the big three network anchors when Peter Jennings died of lung cancer. His death (along with Brokaw and Rather leaving) was said to have signaled the end of the network newscast. But with Brian Williams still getting good ratings, ABC's World News Tonight getting revamped, and Bob Schieffer getting many kudos for his solid work over at CBS, I don't think that 2006 will see the end of the network anchor either.