Dan Rather, Still FightingThe former CBS News anchor, never shy with an opinion, opens up about Les Moonves, the state of TV news, and Trump’s war on the press.
RIP, IsabellaThe death of Isabella Blow by either cancer or suicide dominated conversation at the Costume Institute Gala last night. (We’ve got a Costume Institute slideshow and a tribute to Blow by Harriet Mays Powell and Amy Larocca.) Tom Brokaw won’t return to the anchor’s seat at NBC News despite the network’s slip in the ratings. While out shopping, Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson had difficulty getting into Tom Ford’s new store. The widow of Dr. Robert Atkins is embroiled in a legal battle for her late husband’s $100 million trust. Rosie O’Donnell is angling for the host slot on The Price Is Right. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett upgraded their West Village digs. Dan Abrams broke some cuff links, so he had to use dental floss to fasten plastic clips on his shirt. Like every other actor in New York, Cynthia Nixon will appear on an episode of Law & Order.
party lines
Larry King Celebrates 50 Years on Air With Bad Jokes, Old Celebrities
Like all Peggy Siegal–run caviar-and-Champagne parties at the Four Seasons, last night’s celebration of Larry King’s 50 Years of Broadcasting was meant to be an enormous schmoozefest. But then the entire TV-news firmament was called away to Virginia, and so the planned red carpet was canceled, video crews were turned away, and reporters, or at least Party Lines reporters, were instructed to keep the questions “appropriate.” But, still, King wasn’t going to give up on the chance to wring a few laughs from the three remaining (aged) newspeople in town: Barbara Walters, Andy Rooney, Walter Cronkite. Longtime King friends Sid Young and Neil Simon were there, too, as well as many of his interviewees, including Ron Howard, Sandra Bernhard, and Mario Cuomo. “I’m honored that so many people are here, especially because I get to break news to you,” King joked from a podium. “Donald Trump bought the building. He was here 22 minutes, and if Donald is here 22 minutes, he buys the building.” Can’t imagine why people didn’t stay in town for material like that. —Miriam Datskovsky
intel
New CNN Morning Anchor Was Fox News RebelLast week’s shake-up at CNN, in which not-related American Morning anchors Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien were “reassigned” within the network, marked a happy turn of events for Fox News Channel refugee Kiran Chetry, who’s becoming a co-anchor of the show. In February, Fox News accused Chetry, who’d been in talks with CNN, of demanding it fire her Fox & Friends co-anchor Gretchen Carlson. Chetry says that didn’t happen, but Fox had her escorted from the building, and her husband, Fox weatherman Chris Knowles, had to raid her office to recover her personal belongings. Knowles was released from his Fox News contract the following day. CNN president Jonathan Klein says that Chetry’s adjusting well. “I was blown away by her almost encyclopedic knowledge of CNN,” he says. “I was amazed that she was even getting reception behind the iron curtain.” Watching CNN at Fox News? That alone was probably enough to get her fired. —Emma Rosenblum
in other news
To Catch a Rodent
In a disturbing twist on the current wave of the rats-in-restaurants panic, television and city agencies now almost seem to be working in concert. The Health Department rushed to close the East 86th Street Papaya King the very day after Inside Edition gave the joint the familiar critter-footage treatment. There’s something equally unseemly about the department’s scramble to prove its worth and TV acting as if it had just invented a new genre, so it occurred to us that perhaps the two should take a cue from another bizarre intersection of entertainment and enforcement. Why not just join forces and let camera crews trail inspectors? Quick, someone call Chris Hansen.
Rats Shut Down Fabled ‘Dog Joint [NYP]
the follow-up
It’s 10 a.m.: Do You Know Where Your Children Are?Omigod! It’s finally here! As you’ve no doubt heard in countless promos aired during American Idol, 24, Seinfeld reruns, and whatever else you might happen to watch on Channel 5, this year is the 40th anniversary of the station’s ten o’clock news, the first newscast at that hour in New York. And today, dear readers, is the actual birthday. Yup, 40 years ago tonight, Bill Jorgenson — whom Tim Murphy interviewed for the current issue of New York — anchored that very first broadcast, and to mark the occasion, Tim dug up some great YouTube clips. They’re funky, they’re pompadoured, and they’re after the jump. Enjoy.
in other news
See, CBS’s Strategy Is for Katie’s Ratings to Suck
With yesterday’s news about Charlie Gibson’s recent ratings victories over Brian Williams, we wondered what the folks at CBS think about the whole thing. After all, they’re spending $15 million a year on their new anchor. Then we remembered: They don’t care! They’ve never cared! Why would you care about a $15 million investment?
September 2006: “Where we were last week or even in the weeks to come is not as important as where we are next year and even the year after that.” —CBS News President Sean McManus to the AP
October 2006: “It takes months and years to change viewer habits.” —McManus to USA Today
November 2006: “”Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will the CBS Evening News.” —Katie Couric to USA Today
February 2007: “As we’ve said all along, this is a very long process that takes many months, if not years. We’re not losing any patience.” —McManus to the New York Times
Earlier: Good News for ABC, or Just Bad News for NBC?
it just happened
Grown-Up Tiki Barber Signs With NBC
And now it’s official: Tiki Barber will become a television broadcaster. The Times is reporting that Barber, the Giants running back who retired from football at the top of his game, will join NBC, serving as a news correspondent for the Today show and a commentator for football broadcasts. Last month, David Amsden profiled Barber for New York, looking at why he wanted to leave football and why he wanted to go to TV. The answer? Because he realized it was time to grow up.
Tiki Barber to Join NBC’s ‘Today’ Show [NYT]
Tiki Barber: The Exit Interview [NYM]