TVSquad

I haven't watched MSNBC since my cable company took it off the basic digital package I have, and between the bizarre Keith Olbermann/Chris Matthews feuds and stuff like the video below, I might have to upgrade. It's from yesterday, when David Shuster and Tamron Hall were interviewed by a New York reporter about a story she wrote. It gets very odd. If she couldn't hear them, how did she answer so quickly? And if she was reading the screen and answering some questions, why not answer the others?

[via TV Newser]

I can't help but feel really sorry for Rachel Dratch. The comedian left Saturday Night Live two years ago for a role on 30 Rock. She played the original 'Jenna', but the network replaced her with Jane Krakowski, who made the role a lot ditzier than Rachel played it. After that, Dratch had a few guest parts on 30 Rock but we haven't seen her at all this season.

Evidently, she's not doing much these days. She told New York magazine that she's getting bored and, "I'm starting to go crazy. I'm ready for a job." The reporter for the magazine must've caught her on a bad day because she says she'd take a job in a "black-box theater company" at this point.

OK, now this might be the grossest "save our show" mail campaign yet.

The folks over at New York mag's Vulture Culture are urging readers to send hair to ABC to save the in-trouble sitcom Cavemen. They're upset that the show wasn't on ABC's list of shows renewed for the 2008-09 season, and they want people to start mailing envelopes filled with their hair to ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. And they're suggesting you even shave your head completely. They want you to include the note "Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow." No word yet on whether or not the stuff will be sent Hair-Mail (ha!).

When Rachael Ray signed on to promote Dunkin' Donuts, it always seemed like the pairing was a curious one. Whatever you may think of her shows or her recipes, almost everything she endorsed up until that time was of reasonable quality. Don't get me wrong, I like DD's coffee -- if I make it at home. But whenever I get it at a store, it tastes like crap most of the time. I don't know if they skimp on grounds, use too much water, or don't clean their coffee machines, but the result is almost always the same weak, bitter brew no matter which store I go to (at least the ones here in New Jersey).

So it didn't surprise me to read this piece on New York magazine's website that speculates that Ray Ray doesn't think much of DD's coffee, either.

Interesting piece in New York mag about what happens to reality show stars after they appear on TV. Top Chef winner Ilan Hall split with his girlfriend. Project Runway finalist Wendy Pepper changed her look and left her husband. And Project Runway winner Jay McCarroll is homeless.

For some reason, McCarroll blames this on fame and the show.

McCarroll had a hard time after winning the competition. He found out that The Weinstein Company owned 10% of whatever he created if he took the $100,000 prize. He didn't take the money, and now he's broke and doesn't really do anything for the network anymore, which hurts his images and brand (the clause is no longer in the show's contract). McCarroll doesn't even have a permanent home: "I haven't been living anywhere for two years...I sleep at other people's houses. I sleep here [a studio] if I'm drunk."

I think Katie Couric giving that interview to New York has pushed this whole "will Katie leave CBS?" talk to a whole new level.

Intrade.com, a web site where you can trade event futures on political, current, financial, weather, and unique events, has listed a new market on whether or not Katie will leave The CBS Evening News by the end of the year. There are a lot of different rules (it has to be announced on or before December 31, etc) so read carefully.

Just so you know, I have absolutely no idea what any of the above means. The stock market and anything to do with finances just confuses me. It's just a little less comprehensible than Klingon to me, but it certainly sounds exciting!

After the jump, give us your opinion on when Ms. Couric will leave CBS.

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.

Everyone knows that Debra Messing has small breasts, including Messing herself. But NBC execs wanted her to have bigger ones.

At a panel discussion during the Tribeca Film Festival, the Will & Grace star disclosed that she wore "chicken cutlets," a form of silicone breast enhancer, when she shot the pilot of the show. But when the show was picked up by NBC, she didn't want to wear them anymore. After seeing the next couple of episodes, the president of NBC called the producers, wanting to know where her breasts went. They wanted her breasts back, but she refused to wear them.

"Bush-bashing accidental liberal hero." "Keith the Impaler."

Those phrases were used to describe MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in a New York magazine profile of the cable talker who first earned fame as the wise cracking sports guy on ESPN's SportsCenter, which later inspired Aaron Sorkin's SportsNight.

The article -- which describes Olbermann as a "world class agitator" and "sworn enemy" of Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly -- says Olbermann appeals to liberals like radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh appeals to conservatives.

New York Magazine -- which has been running a weekly 24 "Absurd-O-Meter" to mock scenes the writers find ridiculous -- interviewed actress Reiko Aylesworth whose character, Michelle Dessler, was killed at the beginning on the fifth season, shocking many fans.

When asked whether she'd ever read an unrealistic "What the hell?" type of script for a 24 episode, Aylesworth said yes, pointing to a season when her character was supposed to become suicidal in a single day. She added that a lot of proposed material that she and others found absurd didn't wind up in the episodes.

"The entire show is a series of, 'Oh come on!'s," Aylesworth said. "It's really James Bond on crack. They do have a lot of realistic elements, but the show is complete fantasy."

Apparently, back in the day, Tim Gunn expressed disappointment that season one Project Runway winner Jay McCarroll hadn't debuted a collection by the age of 29. Well, Jay would like you to know that he's "not bitter" about that comment, but it was "hurtful." In the February 4th issue of New York Magazine, McCarroll goes on at length about Tim Gunn, and it's not pretty, Runway fans. (If you're offended by profanity, you may want to close your eyes for this next part.)

"I just hate that because middle America looks at him like, 'He's so nice, he's like a father to them.' On [Project Runway] he was, sure ... At one point he said I was an embarrassment because I didn't show yet. And it's like, f**kin'-A, man ... I don't think [Gunn is] an authority on any designer's life. He went to school for sculpture or something. I don't think he's ever, to my knowledge, started a fashion line and therefore should not be the adviser or the f**kin' creative director." Oops ... too late. Liz Claiborne just made him their creative director. They hadn't gotten the memo from Jay yet, I guess.

It is tough being a model in the kitchen. Your taut bare midriff is a cooking oil accident waiting to happen. Your chainmail bikini plus all those flying knives equals nothing good, and don't even get me started on the whole stiletto/non-slip mat combination. Ex-model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi has bravely faced down the hottest of kitchens all season, and for what? She's getting nothing but guff from the ousted Top Chef competitors.

Reporting to New York Magazine, cooks Ilan Hall, Cliff Crooks and Sam Talbot have all turned tight-lipped and a wee bit sour at mention of Padma's name. When asked about her culinary taste, Hall turned to the Bravo publicist at his side and asked, "Um, are we allowed to say disparaging things about Padma? No. She's beautiful. Mostly, she just explained things, and she did a good job at that." Commenting on her attire, Crooks suggested that around a working kitchen, poor Padma would either be a "fire hazard" or "get hurt." Somebody's got to be the face of this competition, people. Give Ms. Salman Rushdie a break.

That's the news from Joe Hagen at New York magazine, in this long (but worth reading) piece. Before ABC tapped Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas to be co-anchors on World News Tonight, they approached Charles Gibson, asking him to "keep the seat warm" until the 2008 election and then they would find a permanent anchor. But Gibson said he didn't want to just fill the seat (and he also didn't want to continue doing Good Morning, America), and that if he didn't get the anchor position for good - and without Vargas - then he was going to walk.

Vargas is said to have been surprised by her ouster from the show.

[via Romenesko]

New ABC World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson took the helm on Monday and already he's in a bit of hot water. In a question-and-answer style interview printed in New York magazine, Gibson appears to suggest that issues in Africa are not worth covering. When asked whether he'll be traveling as much as his rival, Brian Williams, who reported from Africa late last month on the issues of poverty and AIDS, Gibson answered, "Now he's in Africa. I don't know why you do that. Why the hell do you go to Africa? It's certainly an interesting choice. We'll do travel, when it warrants."

Gibson says he was quoting an e-mail he sent to a friend who works as a producer for NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. In an interview with the Associated Press today, Gibson clarifies that he was questioning why Brian Williams had to go to Africa with a rock star (U2's Bono).

According to New York mag anyway. Their list of The Most Influential People In Media includes Daily Show host Jon Stewart, Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert (along with Daily Show producer/writer Ben Karlin), and FOX News Channel Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. Katie Couric is on the list too, as she prepares to take over the CBS Evening News in September.

So, who's missing from this list? There's no one from TV Squad on the list, which I'm sure is just a typo.

[via TV Newser]