How Will Les Moonves’ Exit Affect CBS?His fall after three decades in the showbiz stratosphere is unquestionably a milestone moment. But will it make much of a difference?
Right Now, Sean Avery Is Getting Anna Wintour StarbucksThe injured Ranger begins his tour of duty at ‘Vogue,’ Carl Icahn’s battle with Yahoo heats up, and Donald Trump is in another fight … in today’s roundup of media, finance, real-estate and law news.
The Couric Countdown Has Already BegunAs we learn more about the meetings and discussions behind yesterday’s report that Couric may leave CBS in 2009, it seems like she’s already planning life after the evening news.
loose threads
ASME Snubs Fashion Mags; Acne Jeans Opens in SohoVogue gets no noms for the National Magazine Awards, Acne Jeans opens its first New York store today, and Simon Doonan’s autobiography gets picked up for development as a television series.
intel
Anchor Dan Rather Left Out of ‘48 Hours’ Twentieth-Anniversary PartyEverybody who is anybody in television news — with one glaring omission — showed up for last week’s twentieth-anniversary blowout for 48 Hours, which, after 60 Minutes, is CBS News’ most durable magazine program. On hand for the party in the twentieth-floor lounge at 230 Fifth Avenue were CBS chairman Leslie Moonves, CBS News president Sean McManus, 48 Hours executive producer Susan Zirinsky, former CBS president Sir Howard Stringer, and former news president Andrew Heyward.
Missing was Dan Rather.
The original anchor of 48 Hours — who, along with Stringer, got the show off the ground in 1986 with a highly rated pilot, “48 Hours on Crack Street,” and pushed the network suits to put it on the weekly schedule — wasn’t invited. In an awkward phone call before the celebration, Zirinsky explained to Rather that he couldn’t come under the circumstances.
party lines
Fox Business Network: The Victory PartyLast night’s launch party for Fox Business Network had so many media and business moguls, you couldn’t throw a canapé without mussing up the rug of some very important dude. Seriously, our throats were burning from inhaling the perfume of wealth and success. In one corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, Liz Smith chatted with Mel Brooks and Harvey Weinstein. (Apparently, Harvey loves the channel. “I love Roger Ailes,” he said, though he would not tell us what he liked the best or whether he ate Money for Breakfast.) In another corner, Oscar and Annette de la Renta greeted Regis and Joy Philbin. And kingly in the middle of it all, like a pair of samurai and their husbands, were Rupert Murdoch, Les Moonves, Julie Chen, and Rupert’s wife, Wendi Deng. “Wendi, we love your bracelets!” we cried in unison, suddenly morphing into Blair’s sidekicks in Gossip Girl. “They were only twenty dollars,” she exclaimed. Wow, we thought. Wendi is so down-to-earth! “But this wasn’t,” she laugh-cackled, flashing us her index finger, which was adorned with what looked to be the actual Hope Diamond.
company town
Who’s the Real Heir to Sandy Weill?FINANCE
• Citigroup’s Chuck Prince and Chase’s Jamie Dimon are battling it out to see who’s the real heir to Sandy Weill. With Citi crashing and Chase eking out a gain despite the credit crunch, it looks like Dimon, long prodigal, may be the true son. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned that we may see as many as one million home foreclosures before the end of the year. [NYT]
• Want to be a hedger and a do-gooder, work a trading floor and enjoy the peace of mind of a nonprofit? Join the World Bank like former Goldman exec Robert Zoellick, and you can manage $55 billion in assets. [NYT]
in other news
Dan Rather: But I Don’t Hate Katie! (Just Les.)
Dan Rather insists it’s not about Katie Couric — it’s about Edward R. Murrow. After Les Moonves decried the ex–CBS anchor’s indictment of Katie-era CBS (specifically, his use of the words “dumbing it down” and “tarting it up”) as “sexist” yesterday, Rather issued a clarification through his new employer, HDNet. As nobody gets HDNet, here’s what he said: “This is not about Katie Couric. Never has been … This is not about gender, this is about leadership at the very top of CBS. Les Moonves talked about ‘blowing up’ CBS News and [de-emphasizing] the landmark journalistic work of Edward R. Murrow.” And so, in one fell swoop, Rather’s comment turned from beating up on a newbie to standing up for a mentor. Neat trick, if it works.
More From Rather [TV Newser]
gossipmonger
De Niro and Bowie, Kushner and Trump, Wenner and Nye Make NiceRobert De Niro and David Bowie were cordial at Vanity Fair’s party for the Tribeca Film Festival, despite reports that De Niro is mad that Bowie’s High Line Festival comes right after Tribeca. Also at the party: “Friends” Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump (as we told you yesterday). And Jann Wenner, with cuckolded boyfriend Matt Nye. Amy Sacco will open a hotel in the financial district. CBS’s Bob Schieffer and Lesley Stahl may have been behind a hit piece on Katie Couric in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Speaking of Couric, her cell phone ringtone is the Pussycat Dolls’s “Don’t Cha.” Bill Clinton is going to a party at Gabriel Byrne’s house to fundraise for Hillary. Les Moonves went to go see his son’s rock band play at the Plumm.
gossipmonger
Saddam Lives?An agent claims to have forensic evidence and government documents that allege Saddam Hussein is still alive and well. Former CBS News reporter turned professional CBS basher Bernard Goldberg takes shots at Les Moonves and Katie Couric in his newest book. The relationship between 77-year-old Barbara Walters and 80-year-old Robert N. Butler is heating up. Arianna Huffington broke her cheekbone and got stitches after fainting in her office from exhaustion. Taxi tycoon Andrew Murstein bought a suite at Madison Square Garden for $500,000. The man accused of shaking down Oprah Winfrey claims he was set up by her lawyer, according to Radar. Exes Tom Arnold and Roseanne Barr continue to dislike each another.
