TVSquad

Another feud is boiling, this one involving Jon Stewart and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. There have been things said lately (including The Daily Show taking on Starbucks' sponsorship of Morning Joe), and it continued this morning.

On behalf of short guys everywhere Joe, I take exception to your Napoleon remark.

[via TV Newser]

While NBC is committing all its ten o'clock hours next fall to Jay Leno, MSNBC is looking for a ten o'clock star. They want a show to secure stronger foothold on prime time by filling that hour with a new show.

Right now, it presents a rerun of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but that's not how it's going to remain. Phil Griffin, MSNBC prez, would like to develop a new hour to go along with Countdown and The Rachel Maddow Show, and presumably build on the audience Olbermann and Maddow are generating.

The other day, Bob mentioned the f-bomb Joe Scarborough accidentally dropped during an edition of Morning Joe on MSNBC (video after the jump). Oops! Apparently, Scarborough didn't even realize he dropped the word -- he thought he said "eff you" instead of the full phrase -- and spent the rest of the show alternately apologizing and having his balls busted by Mika Brzezinski and his guests. Since it was on cable, which is not subject to FCC content regulation, It seemed like the story was closed.

But in yet another "closing the barn door" move, MSNBC has decided to put a seven-second delay on the show, mainly in response to the f-bomb. And guess who was instrumental in influencing that decision? The fun folks at the Parents' Television Council, that's who! They wrote a note to NBCU chief executive Jeff Zucker calling for the delay, and voilà! Delay instituted. The next time I need to collect a check, I should ask the PTC to make the call for me. They seem to get pretty quick results.

MSNBC is perking along. Either they're getting better at the results or I'm getting more comfortable with all their bells and whistles and commentary.

8:48 David Gregory is good as a traffic cop. He's bouncing the focus around from Chuck to Chris to Ann to Lester really well. He's interviewing Obama's campaign chief strategist David Axelrod now. He doesn't look worried. He looks like Mr. Whipple, but he doesn't look worried.

8:55 Tom DeLay, former House Majority Leader -- is talking trash. He claims Nancy Pelosi is going to push President Obama around. Hmm...he sounds pretty bitter. Of course, he was forced to resign when he was indicted for election fraud.

If you're a regular watcher of MSNBC, the Election Night coverage feels like a suped-up version of the usual prime time line-up. They're calling it Election Plaza, overlooking Rockefeller Center, with giant screens, flags and -- my favorite -- the map of the United States on the ice skating rink.

6:30 The main desk is set with David Gregory center-most, Chris Matthews to his right, Keith Olbermann to his left. Yes, Keith is on the left. It some ways it looked like the last supper, only without the food.

6:45 My main problem with MSNBC is this framing device showing information on the right, the top and the bottom of the screen. This is what Lewis Black was screaming about at the Emmys in 2007. There's too much information on the screen. This reminds me of ESPN coverage of the NFL Draft.

Have you been wondering where Joe Scarborough has been on Morning Joe the past few weeks? The titular star of the show has been off the air, missing all the doings with Senator Hillary Clinton suspending her campaign for president and Senator Obama Barack becoming the presumptive Democratic candidate.

For months and months of the primaries, Joe and the Morning Joe team were in the thick of it every morning ... and then Joe was gone.

Well, the reason for Scarborough's absence is due to a family illness. In May, Joe's wife Susan gave birth to their son Jack. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't due to arrive until August. He was severely premature, weighing just 2 lbs., 3 oz. He had to be kept at the hospital in an incubator and fattened up. As of this Monday, his weight was up to 4 lbs., 10 oz. and the doctors declared he was ready to go home.

Morning Joe regulars Willie Geist and Mika Brzezinski went on the air Tuesday with the story and assured viewers that Joe will be back on camera soon. I wish the Scarboroughs well and hope baby Jack continues to thrive.

I'm sure a lot of you were scratching your heads over the weekend, wondering how Tim Russert's passing merited the all-encompassing, presidential-like coverage it got, especially on his home network of NBC. He's only a reporter, right? Why the wall-to-wall coverage? Well, first of all, it seems that by all accounts, Russert was one of the most well-liked people in the news business, so the outpouring might have been a function of people mourning a friend who was taken from them too soon. But, I have another, more off-beat theory as to why NBC did a broadcast version of sitting shiva for Russert: it was because they have no idea how to replace him.

Think about it: he wasn't only the longtime moderator of Meet The Press, where he took the venerable show and rejiggered its format, making him the face of the show. He was also NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the main political voice for the network. "It's going to take four or five people to replace Tim," CBS' Bob Schieffer told The New York Times.

For now, though, the immediate question is who will replace him on Meet The Press. Speculation is already underway.

MSNBC correspondent and anchor David Shuster finds himself in not one but two controversies today.

First, while filling in for Tucker Carlson yesterday, Shuster made the comment "Doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" referring to Chelsea Clinton's campaigning for her mother Hillary and making phone calls to superdelegates and The View. Well, Democratic officials (and MSNBC execs) aren't happy with the remark, and have threatened to pull out of the February 26 MSNBC debate. Shuster apologized this morning and also plans to go back on Carlson's show today to apologize again. (Update: Shuster has been suspended for his comment!)

But that's not the only controversy Shuster is in the middle of this week...

Should MSNBC keep Joe Scarborough in primetime instead of giving him the morning slot?

MSNBC is showing remarkable growth in primetime for the third straight quarter. Scarborough Country was up 36% in the 9pm slot. Hardball with Chris Matthews was up 9% at 7pm, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann was up 54%. The network is up 49% in the 25-54 demographic overall in primetime, and 34% for the day total.

It looks like the rumors are true: Joe Scarborough is getting the Don Imus spot on MSNBC.

Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post is reporting that Scarborough and MSNBC are in final negotiations to make his Morning Joe show the permanent show in the 6am to 9am slot on the network. Scarborough has been filling in (with other hosts, such as David Gregory) since Imus went bye-bye, and has been getting good buzz (though not ratings). Some CBS radio stations might pick up the show as well.

So now we're talking about people who refuse to talk about Paris Hilton.

MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski came really close to flipping out on air the other day when her producers kept placing the Paris Hilton story as her lead during the Morning Joe show. She was egged on/patronized by Joe Scarborough and his preppy-looking sidekick.

As you'll see in the video I placed after the jump, Mika starts out really pissed off and then starts to stage a coup on air.

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has some harsh words for the show and Katie Couric.

Rather was on MSNBC, talking to Joe Scarborough (he's in Imus' spot in the morning right now) via phone. Although he said that Couric is a nice person, he also said that the show has been "dumbing it down, tarting it up," and that they're really focusing too much on celebrity coverage now.

Ever since Don Imus made his little, um, faux pas a while back, viewers have been wondering who will eventually take over his morning slot on MSNBC. Right now they have a rotating group of hosts, including Joe Scarborough, David Gregory, and Jim Cramer, but several execs (including network GM Dan Abrams) have been impressed by Scarborough.

Right now Scarborough hosts a nightly show, Scarborough Country, at 9pm after Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Scarborough will again host the morning program next week, and a decision about a permanent host should be made very soon.

There are many swears that have started to make their way on to television, and I don't mean just HBO and Showtime. I've heard "shit" and "asshole" sprinkled here and there.

But there's still one word that's a no-no, and that's the famous four letter word that begins with the letter "F." It's banned on network television, and I think even on cable you can only get away with it so many times during one show. In the movies there are limits to the number of times it is used and the context (exclamation or verb?).

After the jump are the top ten videos of the word being used on live television. This Digg post lists the Richard Simmons clip as number one, but that's not accurate because they're outtakes, not live segments. Still funny though!