TVSquad

FOX hasn't made an official announcement yet, but Paula Abdul has announced on her Twitter page that she is leaving American Idol.

She says that she's decided to leave the show "with sadness in my heart." She also says that she loves the fan support, especially in the past month. Now we have to all speculate on what the show will do about a fourth judge, hire someone to replace Abdul or perhaps just go back to being a three judge show, with Kara pretty much taking Abdul's slot.

Of course, this could be the ULTIMATE negotiating tactic, actually announcing that you are leaving the show. Though if I was FOX (and if humans could indeed be TV networks), I'd be ticked if that was the case.

Update: FOX has confirmed that Abdul will be leaving the show and while they are "saddened," they wish her the best, calling her a tremendous talent.

The latest from the land of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News:

1. Jeff Greenfield is leaving CNN. He's going over to CBS to become part of their Election 2008 (or whatever CBS is calling it) coverage. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz says that Greenfield hasn't been too happy with the way CNN has been using him lately.

2. Dan Abrams to lose his title at MSNBC. Last year he got a promotion from on-air host/analyst to general manager, but it looks like Abrams will lose that title when the cable network moves from New Jersey to 30 Rock in NYC. The move probably won't happen until the end of the year.

3. Nancy Grace and John Gibson news. Both of their shows (Grace on CNN Headline News and Gibson over on FOX News) had "Breaking News" reports that Michael Jackson was really ill in the hospital, when he actually is just a little sick and not in the hospital at all. Yet more evidence that the "Breaking News" and "This Just In" and "Developing News" graphics are waaaaay overused. Don't the networks use judgment anymore?

[via TV Newser]

Back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth TV news seemed much simpler. You had your normal noon, 6:00 and 11:00 pm newscasts (sometimes 5:00 pm as well, if you were lucky). If something major happened, like an airline crash, the local or national news would interrupt Match Game with a 'BREAKING NEWS' bulletin, say what needed to be said, and then return you back to normal programming to watch Richard Dawson say something randy.

That's not the way it happens anymore in this 24 by 7 world of information saturation. Now, the 'Breaking News' banner is thrown onto any type of news story that crops up, from a winter storm on the East Coast to the continuing battle over Anna Nicole Smith's body. Not only that, but they now throw in banners like 'Developing Story' and 'Just In' on these stories, which just confuses the hell out of me. Frankly, stories that feature these headers all seem like 'Breaking News' stories to me.

I've never used Pipeline, the news video service that CNN has incorporate into its web site. I think I went to the site one time to check it out, but you had to register or had to pay for it or something so I didn't do it. But it has received great reviews, and tomorrow we'll be able to see what the fuss is about.

Pipeline will be free to everyone tomorrow (though I'm not sure if you'll have to register first). And they'll have some big stories covered: the Academy Award nominations at 8:30 in the morning, coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, and President Bush's State of the Union Address at 9pm. Plus, I'm sure they'll be live coverage of breaking news and press conferences all day long, not to mention whatever Paris Hilton is up to.

[via TV Newser]

First they introduced that "Doc-Bloc" at 10pm every night (oh boy, more shows about prisons and teachers who rape kids!), then they changed their on-screen graphics, and now they've made it very easy for me to watch CNN in the afternoon.

Rita Cosby is anchoring at 1pm.

Now, nothing against Cosby personally. I'm sure she's a nice woman and newsperson. But...her voice. I'm sorry, but there's no possible way that I can listen to her Brenda Vacarro-meets-Grover-from-Sesame-Street voice for two, three, four hours a day. I don't know if this is a permanent move or if she's filling in for someone, but if she's on, I'm watching CNN.

It's getting more and more clear that the only reason to watch MSNBC at all is for Countdown With Keith Olbermann, which has quickly become Must-See television.

As expected, Katie Couric didn't drastically change how the networks do the nightly news, though there were a few interesting tweaks and one major scoop.

Couric has been saying that she wants to go deeper into the news headlines, and she seems to be doing that, by having more than one guest come on during a story about the war. At the same time, there seems to be less stories covered in the half hour than there used to be. And, of course, the web is going to play a big part in the program. The broadcast is the very first to be simulcast on the web live, and Couric is keeping a blog. Well, she started it. Looks like "CBS & Co." will be contributing, which probably means that Couric won't do much at all and other staff members and reporters will do most of the blogging.

Is this one of the improvements they're making to the cable network now that it's under new leadership? Not sure if you watch it during the day, but they have this really annoying new feature where you see and hear the producer in the control room telling the technicians what to do, telling the anchor what story is coming up next, telling viewers they're going to commercial. Why are they doing this? Doing it once or twice was a quirky and interesting, but now it's a regular thing? Who cares what the producers say and how the show runs? When I watch a 24 hour news channel (or many types of shows, actually), I don't want to see the inner workings of the machine. Do they think it's hip or revealing or innovative? It's not.

If they want to start putting cameras in the dressing rooms of the anchorwomen, then I might be interested. New slogan: "MSNB-See the hot anchorbabes like you've never seen them before!"

Looks like there are a lot of changes coming to MSNBC in the next few months, and that might mean some hosts might be out of a job.

The first big change - and a shocking one - was the hiring of Dan Abrams as the new head of the news network. He was the top legal correspondent and host of the daily Abrams Report, and now he's in charge of the whole network. He says changes are coming, and it looks like many of the nighttime talk shows might be scrapped in favor of more taped reports and shows. As for daytime coverage, Abrams wants more "breaking news" coverage.

Two shows that won't be going anywhere? Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews' Hardball.