TVSquad

I think we're going to start a new weekly feature here at TV Squad: "This Week In CNBC Crazy." We've had Dennis Kneale wondering if Steve Jobs has PMS, we've had Charlie Gasparino and the incredibly odd what have you got video, and now we have another weird moment. And, yes, it features both Kneale and Gasparino, going after each other.

This one has the comedy duo talking about Citigroup. At one point, Gasparino accuses Kneale of being a bad reporter, leading Kneale to say that one CNBC reporter shouldn't be saying something bad about another CNBC reporter. Anchor Larry Kudlow had to break it up. Thankfully, they weren't in the same studio (though a fist fight on CNBC might actually be kind of funny).

Isn't there a rule where you can't say something about yourself or it automatically makes it untrue? Like if you call yourself "hip" or "cool" then that means you're not hip or cool?

I thought of that when I read this piece (scroll down) about CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. Several years ago people gave her the nickname "Money Honey" because she talked about finance on the network and...well, look at her. It was revealed that Bartiromo herself had trademarked the "Money Honey" phrase last year, and now Hamptons mag tells us why. She's starting her own show titled Money Honey.

How is she going to be able to say "Hello and welcome to Money Honey" with a straight face? Will she wear bikinis and evening gowns for various stock segments? Will there be Money Honey Dancers to entertain viewers?

[via TV Newser]

I was kinda obsessed with CNBC in the mid to late 90s, when the stock and internet boom was in full throttle. The station was quite entertaining, even if I didn't really understand all the numbers. The personalities on the channel kept things lively and fun.

And one of my favorites was Maria Bartiromo, the really hot Wall Street babe financial expert who was dubbed the "Money Honey." I can't remember who dubbed her that, but it fit. And now you can still call her the "Money Honey," only this time it's official. Bartiromo has filed a trademark registration for the term, and it's been trademarked for many things, including coloring books, notepad, comic books, and coupon books.

Wow, a Maria Bartiromo coloring book. I would so buy that.

Bartiromo is in the news for other reasons lately as well.

There was about a year and a half when I was completely addicted to CNBC. It was the mid to late 90s, around 97 or 98, when I was starting to write more online and became fascinated by how technology was driving the economy and stock market to new heights. I remember having CNBC on all day along (along with CNN and MSNBC), and I loved seeing all the numbers fly by the bottom of the screen. Sure, I had no idea what any of it meant, but CNBC also had a lighter, pop culture bent to it that made it entertaining. I watched Power Lunch every afternoon, I waited for interviews with the CEOs of companies I was intererested in (like Steve Jobs from Apple - that was a big comeback story), and I even got to know the anchors and reporters (oh, Maria Bartiromo!).

Then the bubble burst and people didn't really enjoy watching CNBC anymore. And now it's really a shadow of what it used to be. But now two guys are trying to make it good again. Ex-Today producer Jonathan Wald and ex-60 Minutes producer Josh Howard have been brought on to pump new life into the business network. The duo plans more documentaries, as well as other big changes for the network.

What do you think needs to be done to CNBC to make it better? 

Remember when everyone in the world was watching CNBC, back in the internet hey day of, say, 1995-2000? Even people who weren't into business news and stocks would watch for the latest news of the internet. I used to like to see all the pretty numbers and colors fly by on the bottom of the screen. The shows and hosts gave the money info, but with a fun pop culture vibe, and even people with no interest in NASDAQ would watch.

Now? Not so much.

But CNBC's ratings are actually up, at least a couple of nights a week. The reason? Deal Or No Deal. Repeats of NBC's game show are actually doing better Nancy Grace and Countdown.

This was one of those situations where you hear that someone has died, and that they hosted a show that is no longer on the air, and you think, "I thought that show was still on the air?"

Louis Rukeyser hosted Wall Street Week on PBS from 1970 to 2002. He was also a writer and lecturer, and worked for years at ABC as a correspondent. He died yesterday of multiple myleloma,  a bone cancer.