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?

Here's what's on TV tomorrow. Lots of marathons, movies, and bowl games.

• Sci-Fi's Twilight Zone marathon continues from last night.
• AMC is showing classic westerns all day.
• Cartoon Network has Looney Tunes all day.
• Hallmark has Christmas movies all day.
• At 6am, USA has a Monk marathon.
• At 7, NBC's Today, ABC's Good Morning, America, and CBS' The Early Show will all have New Year's tips, predictions, advice, and recipes.
• At 8, TNT has a Bones marathon.
• History Channel has Ice Road Truckers episodes all day starting at 8.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Ed McMahon tells Larry King about his financial problems.
• CBS' Early Show gets a new look next week. Here's a sneak peek.
• Nikki Finke has new info on the SAG vs. AFTRA mess.
• Michael Ian Black isn't happy about Doritos.
• Mary McCormack's In Plain Sight character will make an appearance on Law and Order: CI.
• This Late Night with Conan O'Brien researcher isn't happy with NBC's A-List Award ads.
• Sharon Osbourne quits The X Factor.

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.

Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts will return to the ABC show on Monday.

Roberts underwent surgery last week after discovering she had breast cancer. The surgery went well and Roberts is now awaiting test results to figure out what her next step should be. ABC spokesperson Bridgett Maney says that Roberts is feeling great and is looking forward to getting back to work.

Roberts will be returning at an interesting time, as the newest Nielsen numbers indicate that the ratings for the 18-49 demographic are down 10% for all morning shows (GMA, Today, and The Early Show) compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, the cable news morning shows have seen increased ratings.

The FCC has dismissed indecency charges against ABC's NYPD Blue and CBS' Early Show, but has upheld charges against - oh, delicious irony - Fox.

Back in April, the networks sued the FCC and asked an appeals court to invalidate the Commission's charges of indecency against NYPD, Early Show and Fox's broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and 2003 on the grounds that the charges were unconstitutional.

ABC got off easy. The NYPD Blue episodes that used the words "dickhead" and "bullshit" were let off the hook because they aired several years ago - before the FCC upped its fines 10x, post-Janet wardrobe malfunction.