TVSquad

Planet Green and Access Hollywood are rolling out the red, er, green carpet for Hollywood Green. The show, hosted by Access Hollywood and Today Show correspondent Maria Menounos will kick off tomorrow in a special timeslot at 6 p.m. The show will follow Menounos as she talks with her celebrity friends who are champions of environmentally-friendly living. The host will highlight green fashion trends, cover gala events, and put "fans and viewers in the know as to what she and the rest of Hollywood are doing to support the green movement."

Menounos is also a reporter for NBC Nightly News and can be seen in the summer comedy Tropic Thunder.

Planet Green is a property of Discovery Communications. It is a 24-hour eco-lifestyle network that focuses on conversation and meeting the challenge of protecting our earth.

Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos will air tomorrow at 6 p.m. on Planet Green then move to its regular time at 9 p.m. next week.

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• John McWethy: He was a veteran journalist who was the chief national security and Pentagon reporter for ABC News from 1979 to 2004. He reported on everything from foreign affairs, the military, and the Oklahoma bombing to 9/11. He died while skiing in Keystone, CO. He was 60. ABC News President David Westin released this statement.

From the Things I Don't Understand file: NBC is selling video of Matt Lauer's interview with Prince William and Prince Harry on iTunes, even though the entire interview is available on MSNBC.com for free.

Now, before you say "nobody would buy that," please note that the $1.99 video is the number two TV video on iTunes right now, right behind video of the recent Miss Universe Pageant. Just kidding. Actually, number one right now is the latest episode of Starter Wife. The rest of the top 10: recent eps of The Office, Lil' Bush, The Starter Wife, Kyle XY, The Starter Wife, Hannah Montana, Stargate: SG-1, and Studio 60.

I guess if you buy it from iTunes you can keep it forever and watch it over and over and over.

The more America watches Dancing With The Stars the more confirmation there is that athletes encompass infinite amounts of grace. At first glance, Laila Ali has a body meant to beat boxing competitors into a bloody pulp. Last night she also proved that she could knock people out with a mean mambo on last night's episode of Dancing With The Stars.

She floated effortlessly on the dance floor and made a mambo booty shake that caused an earthquake on the dance floor and took home the high score on last night's Dancing With the Stars. If you missed it, you can watch her shake it in this clip of TV's Top 5! moment.

However, some women are not so graceful...

There is a Chinese proverb that says, "If you sit by an inkwell, you'll get dirty." It certainly seems that even if you are slightly involved with the juggernaut that is Idol, you will achieve great fame overnight.

Ashley is the latest person to receive this kind of peripheral American Idol fame. The last person I can think of that enjoyed a similar amount of success is William Hung.

Yesterday, little Ashley made her national pop culture icon debut on The Today Show with Meredith Vieira and elaborates why being such a "Fanjaya" brings her to tears.

The best part of the interview is when Meredith attributes Sanjaya's survival on the show to her devotion to the contestant. The girl turns out to be way smarter than her deluded mother, and says she doesn't think so but is instantly refuted by her Mom.

I smell a stage mom. Sheesh. Get your own passion for your own Idol.

American Idol's Season Five runner-up, Katharine McPhee, is going to be sharing her very special McPheever all over the TV in the upcoming weeks while promoting the January 30th release of her self-titled debut album. So McPhee Phans, set your TIVOs:

January 29 -- Tonight Show With Jay Leno
January 31 -- The Today Show
February 1 -- Live With Regis & Kelly
February 1 -- A guest appearance on Ugly Betty
February 5 -- TRL
February 6 -- The Early Show
Februay 7 -- Jimmy Kimmel Live
February 8 -- Larry King Live

The end of sweeps last week marked Today's eleventh consecutive year as the number one morning news program in the nation. The big ratings all started in 1995, when Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric hosted together. The addition of Matt Lauer in 1997 only strengthened the show's ratings. And now, with Katie gone to CBS, the addition of Meredith Vieira seems to be fine with viewers. In fact, they seem to really like her since about 20,000 more people are watching Today than they were at this time last year.

Why is Today still number one? I think it's simply tradition. Today was the first of its kind. Good Morning America and The Early Show both are copycats of the successful format but neither show has ever been able to match Today. Even now, the anchors on Today all seem much more relaxed. The show seems to flow much smoother than Good Morning America, which is legendary for its awkward transitions, and The Early Show, which constantly seems to be fumbling. Also, NBC has 'hosts', while the other networks have 'anchors'. NBC gets that the morning programs stopped being about news a long time ago.

[Via TV Newser]

Now that her Good Morning, America coanchor Charles Gibson is going to be the anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, industry insiders are saying that Diane Sawyer might see this as an opportunity to go someplace else, and some are guessing CNN, which NY Times TV writer Bill Carter predicts will soon be going through some major changes.

It probably doesn't help that GMA's surge has sort of waned in the battle with NBC's The Today Show, and when Meredith Viera comes on board ...

Katie Couric announced this morning that she is indeed going to be leaving the Today show at the end of May; she'll be moving on to the news division at CBS (their Evening News and 60 Minutes primarily). It was an odd announcement, because as she said herself, she's not leaving right this moment, and it's pretty much the worst kept secret in America. Though this was a non-announcement, it was still a little emotional, and you can tell that no matter what's gone on behind the scenes throughout the years at NBC in the morning, they are a close-knit crew. There's going to be some fun stuff coming up as they look back over Katie's career.

So now the big question is "who will replace Katie?" The front runner in the rumor-mill is Meredith Vieira. I've never really seen her on anything besides Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (yes I know she's on The View, but honestly I've just never seen it.) What do you guys think? Would Meredith be any good? She certainly has some big shoes to fill from Katherine Katie Couric.

CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer knows that his job at the desk is just a temporary gig (though a lot of people would love to see him stay in the position permanently), and Schieffer says that he's enjoying himself but that the length of his stay "depends on Katie," adding, "I hope we get her here."

What do you think? Do you think Katie Couric should come over to CBS when her contract expires to be the new anchor for the show, or do you think she should stay at The Today Show? Or do you have a third option for Ms. Couric? 

You know what I mean. You're watching some national TV show, usually a morning show, and the national anchor or weatherperson, maybe Al Roker, will say something like, "that's the national weather, now here's the weather in your area," and they'll switch to the local weatherperson who says, "thanks Al! Yeah, it's gonna be cold today..."

Why do they do this? Do they think that TV viewers are idiots? That we think, "gee, everyone on TV is in the same place and knows each other! And they all live in my box in the living room!" Give me a break. I watch the syndicated Daily Buzz every morning (side note: I love you Andrea), and Mitch gives the national weather forecast, and then throws it to local affiliates, and Rich, the guy in Boston, always says, "thanks Mitch."

Rich, Mitch probably has no idea who you are, so can you stop thanking him? Thanks. Now I take you back to Katie Couric in New York...Katie?