Leno back to late night, Conan and Fallon, who knows

In what should be described as one of the biggest cluster messes in a long time, NBC has left themselves in a big pile of mess, with the announcement that Jay Leno is going back to late night. It has been widely reported last week that NBC was looking to shakeup things by moving Mr. Leno back to his original 11:30 slot, while moving current "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien to 12:00, and moving "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon to 1:00. Today such a move was announced by the peacock network.

"The Jay Leno Show" will end on February 11th, just before the Winter Olympics start. This will give two weeks for the Leno team to pull together his new/old 11:30 time slot. It will also give Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon time to put together their shows as well.

The big question in all of this is one thing. Out of the three talents, who is going to be sticking around? During a press event in Los Angeles Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television and Entertainment acknowledged that none of the three host had signed onto the proposed idea. Mr. Gaspin stated, “My goal right now is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as part of our late-night lineup. As much as I’d like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that’s not true.”

"Talks are ongoing," Gaspin added.

Gaspin said that talks with the three host will continue on Monday.

The main reason for this move was dude to the fact that the Leno show was a very poor lead-in for local affilates, which in turn was a poor lead-in for the current "Tonight Show" with Conan O'Brien.

Related: Jay Leno makes light of impending cancellation

Mcdonalds customers are an interesting bunch

In what can be considered not an isolated incident, a woman at a Kansas City, Missouri Mcdonalds was upset about her meal order not being correct, according to NBC News 2, out of Florida.

The woman became irate and began throwing dirty mop water, knocking over computers, and other wild actions. Fortunately there were no reported injuries to customers or the Mcdonalds employees. The reported damage by the woman was around $3,000. It's not clear what the woman ordered, what was messed up on her order, or if it was a case of her not getting enough of something she requested. The video is below from MSNBC.com:

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This however is not an isolated incident. Back in December the Salt Lake Tribute reported that a Salt Lake City, Utah Mcdonalds a customer shot up a drive-through, after the customer wanted to order from the lunch menu at 2am. The customer was told that they had shifted from lunch/dinner menu to breakfast. The customer who was described as a 6 feet 1 inch Polynesian man, was with another man. The polynesian man was said to be the shooter, who pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and fired off several shots at the drive-through window. There were no reported injuries to the workers, the police were still looking for the suspects.

The first of many to drop

In what will surely be one of the many to come, global consulting firm Accenture has dropped golfer Tiger Woods has a spokesman for their company. The move comes after Woods announced on his website late Friday that he was taking an "indefinite break from professional golf." The announcement comes after two weeks of what can be described as a parade of women all coming out and saying they had extramarital affairs with the golfer.

The statement from the company said that Woods is, "no longer the right representative" after the "circumstances of the last two weeks." The relationship between the golfer and the company were very lucrative. Accenture wasn't a well known firm, but in 2003, when they began to sponsor Woods, it brought the company out of obscurity, and boosted their name.

Along with Accenture parting ways with Mr. Woods. This weekend men's grooming company Gillette announced they wouldn't air ads or include him in public appearances for an unspecified amount of time. The companies slogan of "The best a man can get", used him in ads since 2007 for their Gillette Power razors, along with other professional athletics.

It's not clear what company will be the next to drop Woods, but it is clear Nike and video game maker Electronic Arts, and their EA Sports division will not be. Today (Sunday) they said, "We respect that this is a very difficult, and private, situation for Tiger and his family. At this time, the strategy for our Tiger Woods PGA TOUR business remains unchanged."

Nike Inc. on late Friday said they supported Woods' time off decision.

We are coming back, with a major boom!

Well, its been about 11 months, since I last wrote on this blog, and a lot has gone on. In any case, one thing is still true, someone has to report the things that others may have missed. This time, our focus will be across a lot of different spectrums. Not only will you be able to find reports on the news of the day, but on industry news, and whatever else we feel is necessary for you all to know.

Keep an eye out, because we have a lot of good news to report.

2009 keeps on rockin, Mayor Sheila Dixon indicted

2009 is definitely getting off to a great start for politicians.  If Roland Burris and Gov. Rod weren't keeping newsers busy.  Well, at least in the state of Maryland, and more locally the city of Baltimore, there is real news happening for journalist to keep up with.  Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted today on 12-counts.  The 12-count indictment includes; 4 counts of perjury and 2 counts of theft over $500.  Dixon who was a city council member before being appointed as mayor post by now Governor Martin O'Malley, has been under investigation for the last 3 years.  Video link from WBAL-TV in Baltimore is below with Jayne Miller and David Collins, who go over the indictment, as well as what it means to the city of Baltimore.

This of course is not the first mayoral indictment in recent months.  Former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit, Michigan, was indicted and now servicing time for being part of a scandal that rocked the city of Detroit.  It is not clear how this indictment will effect the city of Baltimore, but as it can be seen in the state of Illinois, any scandal is not good for a government.

Continued

Gregory to Moderate "Meet the Press"

Breaking News:  NBC News Chief White House correspondent David Gregory will be the new moderator of NBC's Meet the Press.  The announcement was made this morning by the departing interim-moderator Tom Brokaw, who took over the job as moderator after the untimely death of NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and long time moderator Tim Russert.  

Mr. Gregory will have a high standard to live up to in the coming months, if not years.  Russerts style and his ability to reinvent the Sunday morning public affairs show made him one of the true power players in Washington, DC.  Gregory who came to NBC News in 2000, currently is NBC's Chief White House correspondent, and host of MSNBC's daily show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Gregory while Brokaw was interim-moderator was the only other guest moderator.  Earlier reports said NBC was looking NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd, there Chief Foreign affairs policy correspondent Andrea Mitchell, and PBS's Gwen Ifill, but Gregory was tapped.  The announcement was made by Mr. Brokaw and is in the clip below.

Truly living without a heart

Yahoo News reported on the story of soon to be 15 year old D'Zhana Simmons, who lived 4 months without a real beating heart.  The article describes the advances in medicine for children.  Simmons underwent two heart transplants, with the most recent one being in October.  She will have to continue take heart medicine for the rest of her life.  Her doctors do believe that she may need another transplant before she turns 30.  A great read.  Click continued below to read the full article.

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Watching a lot of TV, you probably are unhappy

A study by the University of Maryland has found that unhappy people watch more TV than normal.  It describes those unhappy people as being able to find some comfort with watching TV, as they are not very social, nor willing to find other activities.  While happier people go out and socialize more.  The article goes on to say while the economy is getting worser, more people will probably continue to watch more television.  Click continued to read the full article via yahoo news:

Continued

Pirates are still around, and they are stealing oil

A developing story in the news today is about how Somali Pirates have hijacked a Saudi Arabian-Owned Oil Tanker.  This story not only is a wild headline to read or even hear about, especially when you hear the word pirates in 2008, but it is true and extremely important.  This story has already affected the oil markets today, when the news came out, crude oil went up over a dollar.  Now crude is down over a dollar.  Stay here for updates on this story.  Click continued below to read an update from Bloomberg:

Continued

Watch what you say about a mother

This weekend the advertising people for Motrin made a big error.  They put out an ad geared towards new mom, who wear around there babies on there website.  A site that as of right now can't be assessed.  These mothers can usually be seen carrying around there newborns in slings or some other different types of ways.  The Motrin ad mentioned all of these ways, but the ad crossed a line, that sent mothers to the Internets, and all of the various mother blogging communities.  The ad implied that mothers were wearing around there newborns as a way to be fashionable.  The ad is below with the written transcript is below:

Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion. I mean, in theory it’s a great idea. There’s the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch. And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free. Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience. They say that babies carried close to the body tend to cry less than others. But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t. I sure do! These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back? I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid. Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom. And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why.

As mentioned it sent out a shock wave, as you can read on the New York Times blog "Motherlode", that wrote about it today, executives at Motrin and Taxi New York City (the agency responsible for the ad), are trying fix the mistakes they made.  This story will be something to keep an eye on in the coming days.

"Did I just say...."

On MSNBC's Morning Joe, the host Joe Scarborough, dropped a nice F* bomb on live TV around 8 a.m. this morning.  Was it on purpose?  No, it was clearly an accident, this is evident because as you will see in the clip below.  Scarborough was attempting at telling a story, he meant to say F*, but used the entire word instead.  A few seconds later Mr. Scarborough had to ask what he had just done, because he just realized he hadn't said what he thought he said.  This was probably due to his producers probably screaming in his ear.  He did apologize for his actions.  

When justice doesn't get justice

In an article on the New York Times web site, that will be in tomorrows print edition, Erik Eckholm writes about a very disturbing trend. The trend is the lack of public defenders for the growing amount of cases in the country. Mr. Eckholm writes about how in Florida's Miami-Dade county there is a lawsuit that has been filed by lawyers to cut back on there workload. A workload that has increased over the last few years from somewhere around 210,000 clients/cases to over 225,000. The article goes on to describe how Florida is not the only place hard hit by this trend. It is happening all over the nation, along with a growing case load, budgets are also being cut. In Florida a budget cut of somewhere around 12%. The article also tells antidotes of lawyers who because they had such big caseloads they missed out on providing all of there clients with proper legal service. In one case a man who would've gotten 1-year in jail, did not because his lawyer could not get to him in enough time, he ended up receiving 5-years in jail. A very interesting article, that is linked below:

New York Times

"A beautiful thing to behold"

Last nights election of now President-Elect Barack Obama left many commentators with feelings of euphoria.  This was very evident in comments made by African American commentators.  One that really hit home were the comments made by PBS's Tavis Smiley on NBC last night.  Mr. Smiley is an African American from the state of Indiana.  A state that he was shocked to see still "in play" for Obama late into the night, a state that later on has gone for Obama.  The 5 minute video is below:

GO VOTE!!

Very simple message today to anyone who reads this blog.  

It doesn't matter who you vote for, just go out and vote.  It is your civic right and responsibility.  GO DO IT!!

The interview that will make her or break her

MSNBC's newest host Rachel Maddow had an interview tonight on her self named program that was very interesting.  The interview was with former Bush speech writer David Frum, and to say there was tension between Frum and Maddow, would be an understatement.  Mr. Frum took Ms. Maddow to task about the tone of her program, calling out her use of sarcasm, and in some cases making fun of important issues.  Now something that I have generally found to be an NBC News trait, with the exception of Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews.  It was not a shouting match, but a calm, tension filled conversation.  However, compared to her 8 p.m. lead-in Countdown with Keith Olbermann, seeing a liberal having a guest on who disagrees with there views only helps ratings.  The 10 minute segment is below:

What matters to other states

In the USA Todays 50 states in 50 days series, in a story that will be printed in tomorrows paper Charisse Jones profiles the state of Rhode Island and there concerns about energy.  Like many in the nation Rhode Islanders want to see an end of the countries dependence on foreign oil.  The state is one that many see as a poster child  for using wind and water as an energy source.  The article also talks about the makeup of the state as far as voting in the presidential election.  Right now the state is leaning towards Obama.  In a poll done at the end of September Obama was ahead of McCain 48% to 26%.  

The link is below to the article, where you can also find other articles from the 50 states in 50 days series.

Rhode Island

Katie and Sarah, with some Joe on the side

The CBS Evening News is really kicking out the hits over the last two weeks.  Tonight anchor and managing editor Katie Couric had a segment called VP Question.  The point behind these questions was to ask questions of the candidates to get there thoughts on certain issues.  In this case Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were asked the same questions about the Supreme Court.  The first question dealt Roe v. Wade, followed by what court decision they do not agree with.  As many of us know lately it has been the Katie and Sarah show, but this time Senator Biden gets to joy in the fun.  The video segment is below:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Is my money safe?

That's the question millions of Americans are supposed to be asking.  Is my money safe?  Well CNBC's Erin Burnett tried to answer that on tonight's NBC Nightly News.  She did a 3 minute segment on all the things Americans need to know about keeping there money safe.  It is pretty much everything all business anchors have been hammering in our heads over the last few weeks and months, but in these troubled times, why not hear it a few more times.  The clip from tonight's program is below:

Sarah Palin and Katie Couric, part what, 10?

It seems over the last week or so CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Katie Couric has been interviewing vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin everyday.  Her interviews have given fodder to Saturday Night Live, along with numerous other media outlets.  However, the clip below a Couric interview aired tonight, will have many talking before Thursday nights vice presidential debate.  The question asked by Couric is a very simple one, "What magazines or newspapers did you read regularly before being picked for VP?"  Palin's answer will leave many wondering aloud about the McCain campaign.

SNL at it again, with a little Palin, McCain, and Obama

Saturday Night Live last night did two wonderful political sketches.  The first one, which is below, is a spoof of the Sarah Palin/Katie Couric interview.  The interview has raised the eyebrows of many, so it is no surprise that SNL decided to go at it again.  In the role of Gov. Sarah Palin is Tina Fey returned again, with Katie Couric being played by Amy Poehler.  The chemistry between the two women is always great.  Even though Poehler's Couric was not as good as her Hilary Clinton, it played well enough to Fey's Palin.

SNL also touched on the Presidential debate that occurred the night before.  This sketch allowed Chris Parnell to return and be the moderator Jim Lehrer, while Fred Armisen played Barack Obama and Darryl Hammond portrayed John McCain.  This was a long wide ranging sketch for sure.  Something that is really worth watching.  It also includes a cameo by Amy Poehler's Hilary Clinton.