CBS's $15-million-a-year contract with Katie Couric—arguably the Rodney Dangerfield of the current crop of news anchors—expires June 4. So naturally the speculation that she'll be giving up her post is making a comeback (we feel like we've been kicking the tires of this story for ages now). The AP is reporting today that, according to a network executive, Couric will be leaving the anchor desk when her contract is up. more ›

Tonight is Diane Sawyer's first night at the anchor of ABC's World News Tonight—and she's offering an exclusive interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. more ›

Animal's Bucky Turco has talked about his 9/11 story before, and today he's also posted video to go along with it. He recalls, "it was 8:45 p.m. or so, the night of 9/11, and Diane Sawyer taps me on the shoulder. I’m standing in front of Pace University, and I guess she saw the shitty camcorder I’m holding. Diane asks me to join her film crew; there’s evidently a 'media blackout' around Ground Zero, and they need some guerrilla camera work. They give me a paper towel roll to conceal the camera, and I tuck it under my arm and basically shoot from the hip." She tells her unofficial cameraman: “Do your best. I’m walking away to distract attention from you. Just keep shooting everything you can shoot.” more ›

ABC has announced that Charlie Gibson will retire in January, to be replaced by Diane Sawyer as anchor of the ABC World News evening broadcast. The two had worked together closely since reviving Good Morning America in 1998; Gibson left that program in 2006 to take over ABC World News after Bob Woodruff was injured in Iraq and the network decided to replace his co-anchor, Elizabeth Vargas. Sawyer has long sought the anchor chair, so this must be exciting for her, though ABC now has some big shoes to fill at GMA. In email to his staff, Gibson wrote, "I love this news department, and all who work in it, to the depths of my soul... I have received much comment, and quite a few emails and letters referring to the signoff Eddie Pinder convinced me to use—wishing that everyone has had a good day. But the proudest part for me has been saying '...for all of us at ABC News...', since those words signify in my mind that I have been in a position to speak for an entire news department that I consider second to none." And, after the jump, video of a very giddy Sawyer the day after President Obama's inauguration: more ›

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been bringing his case—and his head of thick hair—to NYC media outlets. He hit up Good Morning America, where he told Diane Sawyer that he considered appointing to the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. The impeached governor whose trial begins at noon (no, he won't be there) explained that he realized "she probably wouldn't take it, and then if you offered it to her, how would you do it in a way that wasn't a gimmick to embarrass her." He also quoted Kipling again. Blago is also appeared on the Today Show and will head to The View (!!!!) and Larry King today. It's unclear how Blago's trial will go, consider his lead defense attorney dropped out, but senior Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin was not amused by the governor's NYC media blitz: "That’s the governor’s choice as to what he does with his time, but Barbara Walters is not on his jury." more ›

Jeremy Piven sat down for his first interview since his sudden departure from Broadway play Speed-the-Plow last month, and despite widespread snickering that his "exhaustion" was really brought on by too much plowing-the-snow, the Entourage star is sticking to his mercury poisoning story. In the exclusive chat with Diane Sawyer, Piven maintains that illness caused by excessive seafood consumption brought him to his knees, and the condition deteriorated to the point where "that final Sunday, um, I had problems spatially, I was losing my balance and my memory. The lights were too bright, I couldn't get enough oxygen, I ended up passing out in my place when I got home... I'm a very clean person, I kind of grew up macropsychotic—macrobiotic, I call it macropsychotic." After brushing off rumors about his hard partying lifestyle ("If I had a glass of wine, it was too much"), Piven declares he hasn't had fish in five months, and wraps with a plug for ocean preservation website Blue Voice. more ›

Ever since it was revealed Eliot Spitzer was caught planning a rendez-vous with a hooker named Kristen, which eventually led to his resignation, there's been massive curiosity about Kristen--aka Ashley Alexandra Dupre. Last week, it was reported that Diane Sawyer would have the first interview with Dupre, for this Friday's 20/20. And now it seems that Dupre was also interviewed by People for this week's issue. more ›

Only six days are left until America gets its first TV interview with Ashley Dupre, the call girl who famously answered the call to Client #9. Next week's 20/20 will feature two segments dedicated to Diane Sawyer interviewing the woman who made headlines for her role in bringing down the short-lived governorship of Eliot Spitzer back in March. Sawyer has already taped the interview with Dupre and sources say that it is more focused on Sawyer's ongoing and extensive investigation of prostitution than it is in digging for salacious details of Hookergate. The "insider" told the Daily News, "People who think this is all about Eliot Spitzer are going to be disappointed. Diane has done extensive reporting on prostitution. This is another chapter in that reporting." more ›

...and a thousand Photoshop files were launched! Diane Sawyer may be a veteran journalist and may seem totally unflappable, but even she has totally embarrassing moments. This morning, during a segment unveiling Good Morning America's new holiday windows from the New York Botanical Gardens, she called Mayor Bloomberg a "munchkin." Really: “As a little munchkin, did you come to New York?” To be fair, she was asking Bloomberg whether he visited New York during... more ›

Sometime before 8 this morning, Patrick Moberg and Camille Hayton introduced themselves to Good Morning America viewers, Diane Sawyer and hopeless romantics everywhere. The Subway Cyrano met up with his mystery lady last night for dinner, where they said they "clicked." Hayton suggests the subway moment was serendipitous because she wouldn't have been on it (going to a friend's place) if her house hadn't just burned down. Moberg is compared to a Hollywood leading man,... more ›

Hopefully Monday's season opener of Sesame Street will help in sweepin' these clouds away! The new season will begin how it always does, by determining the educational needs of their tv-watching tot demographic. more ›

These days, the most famous Staten Islander we know is Staten Island Chuck (sorry, Molinari!), the Staten Island Zoo's groundhog. Groundhog Day is just three weeks away, and the NY Times looks at the preparation the zoo and Chuck are doing in the run-up. Cue the montage sequence of Staten Island Chuck in training! more ›

If you tuned into Good Morning America this morning, you may have noticed Diane Sawyer extracting something from a safe. And, yes, that red and furry object was the new Tickle Me Elmo T.M.X. - T.M.X. for Tickle Me eXtreme. Not only the the doll talk in the third person and giggle, Elmo basically has a crazy laughing fit - slapping his knee, falling on his back and convulsing, getting back up, falling on his side, rolling to his front, slapping the floor, getting back up. Forget getting this for kids - this is totally what we're getting everyone for their birthdays. Or we're just going to buy a lot and sell them on eBay, most likely at a loss. more ›

There's a hilarious item in Ben Widdicombe's Gatecrasher about Mariah Carey turning down the chance to perform on the Today show, opting instead to promote her upcoming album, The Emancipation of Mimi, on Good Morning America. Widdicombe writes, "The source laughs, 'They think the album will be so huge that the 3,000 people Rockefeller Plaza holds won't be enough. Times Square can hold 10,000.'" Gothamist is laughing also, unless Carey's record label is hiring 7,000 extras. At her wedding to Tommy Mottola, Gothamist's friend's younger sister was recruited by a friend's mother/Sony executive to be a flower girl for the wedding, so Mariah could have tons of little flower girls surrounding her, so you never know. Gothamist would pick the Today show over Good Morning, America, if only because the Today staff can more convincingly act like they like some pop artist's music; we're still not buying Diane Sawyer's act. more ›

Boycott RIAA has a NY Times article about Joe Simpson's master plan. And maybe Defamer is right - maybe we should be working on a telethon for Ashlee. Acid reflux is serious. more ›

There have been smaller robots (Robosapiens) on street corners as well. However, this Sky Captain promotion pales in comparison to panda invasion of February.
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Whitney, dear Whitney! As if the interview with Diane Sawyer weren't enough, Whitney is visiting Israel to meet her brothers and sisters in Israel, the "Black Hebrews" (or their full, official name, "The Original African Hebrew Nation of Jerusalem"). Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon is going to meet with the Diva herself later this week. There goes any chance of calm in that country! more ›

Entertainment Weekly went from Gothamist's must-read entertainment bible (in pre-Gothamist days) to being "Entertain Me Weakly" (as Mad magazine spoofed them) with a string of boring, predictable so-called features, annoying reviews (Lisa Schwarzbaum, we're talking to you) and poorly art-directed (is it even art-directed anymore?) and falling off our radar. more ›

I did see J. Lo perform on the Today Show, I missed Mariah's interview with Matt Lauer. . I didn't watch the Diane Sawyer interview with Whitney Houston, but I did glean from Saturday Night Live (Robert DeNiro sucked, by the way, or at least the skits did) Weekend Update when Maya Rudolph and Tracey Morgan spoofed Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, that Whitney: 1) called Diane Sawyer, "Diane Swyer"; 2)Bobby Brown was profusely sweating; and 3) Whtiney doesn't smoke crack because it's cheap. more ›

Not so shocking that Whitney Houston admitted drug use in her interview with Diane Sawyer. But her explanations are pretty funny. Yeah, Bobby Brown, people have tried that "I'm bipolar" excuse before! more ›