TVSquad

Interesting (and very long) article in The New Yorker about Keith Olbermann. Mostly it's about Olbermann's career, his take on the news, his battles against various politicians, his special comments, and what others at MSNBC think of him (they even interviewed Tim Russert for the story), but there's a very intriguing morsel halfway through the piece that got my attention.

Olbermann was interviewed twice to take over for Dan Rather on The CBS Evening News.

Making an appearance at the daily noon CBS Evening News staff meeting today, CBS CEO Les Moonves said that despite what you've heard recently, Katie is their anchor today, tomorrow, next week, and long into the future.

Now, let's take that phrase word by word...

The Writers Guild of America is going to hold an informal meeting with studios this week in what looks like a first step in getting back to the bargaining table with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (I'm sure that the deal the Director's Guild of America made on Thursday is what generated these talks.)

I haven't Googled it, but I'm just going to assume that this is the first time a major TV network has opened a restaurant with a major sports franchise.

CBS and The New England Patriots (that's football for those readers who don't watch sports) have announced that they are joining together to open a new restaurant/bar called CBS Scene, and it will be one of the major attractions at the new Patriot Place entertainment and shopping complex in Foxboro, MA. The place will be 15,000 square feet and have tons of televisions, all showing CBS programming.

"No offense to those over 60, but that's not a demo we want."

That's a quote from Les Moonves at a press conference yesterday, talking about statistics that say the average age for a viewer of the nightly network news programs is 61.

Looks like all of the younger people in the country are getting their news from the web and cable.

There are so many articles and blogs about the writers strike that it's really hard to keep track of them all. But I'm really enjoying the first person accounts from writers and other industry people on what's going on at the picket lines in Los Angeles and New York City.

One of the funniest parts of the strike (and there are funny parts) is what the people on the picket lines are saying. If you're on a picket line, you have to also say something. You can't just walk around the whole day carrying a sign, completely silent. So the writers have come up with several chants they've been saying. After the jump, a few of my favorites. Many of them are about Desperate Housewives.

What, Eddie Haskell suing someone isn't enough for you today? OK, how about this: former CBS anchor Dan Rather is suing CBS for $70 million. Also named in the suit are CBS CEO Les Moonves, Sumner Redstone, and former CBS news chief Andrew Heyward.

The lawsuit claims that the network forced him to step down from The CBS Evening News and did not give him enough time on 60 Minutes. He also claims that because of all this, the network aired a "biased" and "incomplete" investigation into the National Guard story and seriously hurt his reputation. New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg broke the story earlier this afternoon. Rather is currently an anchor on HDNet.

Now let's see if Katie Couric (or Harry Smith, if he's still filling in) reports this story on tonight's show.

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric says that she's not sure she would have made the move from NBC if she knew she'd be doing the type of show she is doing right now.

In a New York interview, Couric says that understands that viewers hate change and that they tried to change too many things in the first couple of months that she was there, but that she's not sure she would have taken the gig if she knew it would end up as the same traditional network news show. She says there are days she wishes she hadn't taken it. She even hints that if it doesn't turn out to be the job for her, "I'll do something else that's really exciting and fulfilling for me."

I bet her CBS bosses are thrilled with those type of comments.

Those of you who have been diligently sending Mars candy bars to Dawn Ostroff, head of CW programming to save Veronica Mars from permanent cancellation may want to hold off on the next shipment when you hear what creator Rob Thomas has to say. In a recent newspaper interview Thomas pretty much said that VM is over for good as a television series.

Oh, he's not upset with the fans for trying. In fact, according to the interview, he loves that the fans have been making this all-out effort to renew the show. It's just that the CW's Ostroff doesn't get to make the final call if the show stays or not. That call is made by sister company CBS. Thomas believes that head honcho Les Moonves doesn't want to continue the show.