TVSquad

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Saturday Night Live now has a web site devoted to politics.
• Actually, maybe The CW is going to renew Reaper after all.
• Kathie Lee Gifford says she wants to be cremated.
• Ricky Gervais is filming a movie in Massachusetts with Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Jason Bateman, John Hodgman, and Louis C.K and blogging about it.
• Marion Ross answers questions from Entertainment Weekly readers.
• Jeff Zucker wouldn't mind Katie Couric coming back to NBC.
• A look at the new CBS series Swingtown.
• Not only is the season one DVD set for Mad Men coming on July 1, there will also be a CD of music from the show released on June 24.

Three weeks ago it was a hot rumor. Now it's a fact. NBC announced that Kathie Lee Gifford will co-host the fourth hour of Today beginning Monday, April 7th. She'll be teaming up with Hoda Kotb for an hour of chit-chat, info, interviews and what have you. I doubt she'll be singing, but then again, if Kathie Lee can cajole them into rolling a piano onto the set, watch out.

"I am truly honored to join the Today show family, many of whom have been friends and colleagues of mine for years," said Kathie Lee via release. "And I'm especially looking forward to working with Hoda, a bright and beautiful woman I admire very much. Together I hope we will bring a fresh and fun perspective to the topics that affect all of our daily lives."

Is Kathie Lee Gifford coming back to daytime? Does Regis know; does he care? Well, whatever the case with Reeg, there is talk that La Kathie Lee may be ready for a new talk show gig. In the Hollywood Reporter, Today executive producer Jim Bell said Kathie Lee Gifford is on the short list as a co-host for the fourth hour of the show. "I think she's a great talent," he said of KLG, while adding that other names are in the hopper as well.

Former Live with Regis & Kathie Lee star Kathie Lee Gifford is going to guest host the fourth hour of NBC's Today Show tomorrow.

As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of any morning show having a fourth hour. Even if they brought back Breakfast Time I'd say that two hours was enough. And just the fact they're now getting "guest hosts" proves how trivial the fourth hour really is. But isn't the third hour mostly cooking, celebs, and fashion tips too? What's the fourth hour, just all the ladies (Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, and Hoda Kotb) having pillow fights with each other while Al Roker watches? Let's just hope Kathie Lee doesn't sing.

NBC's press release is kind of odd. It says that this appearance "will mark the first time she has co-hosted the fourth hour of Today." Has she co-hosted any of the other three hours of the show?

Yesterday we told you about Kathie Lee Gifford making her first appearance on Live with Regis & Kelly next month, and now she is revealing for the first time why she left the show in the first place.

She left in 2000 because her dad was dying. Gifford says she had an "epiphany" while guest-hosting David Letterman's show when he had heart surgery. She realized that she wanted to be with her dad and be with family without having cameras in her face and having to talk about it on the show all the time.

Of course, that headline doesn't quite make sense, since she's never even been on Regis & Kelly, so she can't come back to it. But it's a lot snappier than saying "Kathie Lee coming back to the show that used to be called Live with Regis & Kathie Lee."

The singer/actress/Carnival Cruise promoter will return to the morning show on Sept. 14 to end the big celebration marking the show's 20 years in daytime syndication. Expect lots of clips, lots of laughter, some tears and a knock-down fight with Kelly Ripa as Gifford realizes she shouldn't have left seven years ago.

No word on whether Frank, Cody and Cassidy will make an appearance. Let's hope that Gifford doesn't sing some tribute to Reege.

Anna told you yesterday about Regis Philbin's surprise announcement that he will undergo a heart bypass procedure this week. Philbin's last day for at least five weeks was yesterday, and the show has announced who will fill in for him while he's recuperating.

Today and tomorrow, CNN's Anderson Cooper, who has guest-hosted the show before, will take over for Regis in the chair next to Kelly Ripa. Then on Thursday and Friday, MTV's Damien Fahey will fill in. Then there will be a rotating group of celebs who will take over, and that list includes Jeff Probst, Martin Short, Donald Trump, Neil Patrick Harris, Howie Mandel, and Pat Sajak.

Wait a sec...no women? I know they like to have that male/female dynamic on the show, but come, who wouldn't watch Kathie Lee Gifford sit next to Kelly Ripa for a few days?

According to Variety.com (registration required to read entire article), CBS and Panet Grande Productions are teaming to bring back the classic game show Name That Tune, with Donny Osmond returning to the TV landscape as host.

The format of the show, where contestants try to guess the names of songs after portions of them are played by the house band, will be slightly different this time around. This time, teams of two people will participate; the team members will be in different age groups. "It increases the variety of music we can do," Osmond told Variety. "We can go from Sinatra to hip-hop to everything in-between." In addition, the producers want to have surprise guests come out and sing if one of their songs is correctly identified by a contestant. Also, a final round will be added that will award the contestant $1 million if he or she can identify 15 songs in 60 seconds.

All I want to know is: who is going to be the house singer? Donny? I say they should bring Kathie Lee Gifford back (she used to be the house singer for the show in the Seventies). She's not doing anything these days.