video First it was Glenn Beck - now it's Justin Bieber. The teen hip-pop star sat down for an interview with CBS' Katie Couric for her in-depth @KatieCouric web show, and the audience of likely non-Bieber fans learned why they should be (or confirmed why they aren't). (more...)

video After collaborating in the Jay Leno-bashing during the NBC late night wars, David Letterman and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel reminisced on the experience during Kimmel's guest spot on the CBS late show last night. Both described it as "fun," but only Kimmel was armed with a few more jabs. (more...)

video Before former Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich begins his run on NBC's reality show Celebrity Apprentice, he stopped by CBS' Late Show with David Letterman for some cross-network promotion. Blago got his shot at Letterman's top 10 list - "questions asked himself before appearing on Celebrity Apprentice." (more...)

Remember how the storyline when Conan O'Brien hosted the Tonight Show was that he could win in the younger demographics but would lose in total viewers? Well, after a first week back of big ratings and victories over CBS, Jay Leno and the new old Tonight Show lost to David Letterman in the demos Monday night. (more...)

In a 180 degree reversal from when his lawyer made the media rounds last year, the CBS producer accused of attempted extortion of David Letterman will plead guilty today and serve six months in jail. Robert Halderman and his lawyer had previously maintained his innocence, but now he'll take a plea deal. (more...)

video While most of you were cheating on your flame-haired imaginary boyfriend with the two biggest victims of the Gotcha Media, soon-to-be perennial presidential candidate Mitt Romney was all business in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman last night. On the table were such recent highlights in his career as the constant speculation surrounding his presidential run and his mile-high scuffle with a member of obnoxious Jersey Shore house band LMFAO. (more...)

video Well the CBS Early Show bookers got what they hoped for when they booked radio icon Howard Stern to critique Jay Leno's first night back at 11:35. It wasn't so much of a specific review as a pass to unleash his hatred of the longtime NBC star. (more...)

video Former CBS correspondent Bernie Goldberg was on The Factor tonight promoting his new book "A Slobbering Love Affair" (not the good kind), and helping Bill O'Reilly lament the fall of network news. "These guys who run the three networks think their title is President of the News Division," said the man who once wrote a book called 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (90 percent liberals, apparently), "their real title is "funeral director." (more...)

In a lengthy New York Times article about the changing business of network news, one sentence has drawn the most attention, about CBS' Katie Couric and CNN's Anderson Cooper. And in a follow-up Media Decoder blog post, Brian Stelter expands on the topic - that Cooper had met with CBS News about a possible anchor job. Let the speculation begin. (more...)

video Craig Ferguson of CBS' Late Late Show isn't shy about experimenting with the late-night format, with his pre-monologue monologues (which often include puppets), and lack of a band. The show he did last night, however, was a radical departure even for him. Inspired by Tom Snyder, the first Late Late Show host, Ferguson did a show with no audience, instead talking to Stephen Fry for the full hour. (more...)

video Morning Joe, the most laid-back cable news program this side of Red Eye, may not be the first place to look for a call to arms against beer-and-chips gag ads on the Super Bowl, but guest Donny Deutsch took the opportunity to remind companies that football fans are not as dumb as they might think. (more...)

WTF Polls Did you ever wonder how many Americans want to replace Uncle Sam with an older version of New York Yankees star and former steroid-user Alex Rodriguez? I mean, of course you did, because you smoke marijuana. Anyway, CBS News decided to take the best ideas you probably thought up while you were high and ask a bunch of Americans in the latest 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll. Click through for the results to that question and more! (more...)

ratings The overnight ratings are in for Pres. Obama's first State of the Union, and the broadcast networks combined for 30.2 million total viewers during the 9-10:30pm speech. The winner for the night - surprisingly it was FOX, which surely benefited from its American Idol lead-in. (more...)

Yesterday, we carried a story about CBS’s precedent-upending decision to run a “pro-life” advocacy ad by Focus on the Family during the Super Bowl. The ad is to feature Tim Tebow – the Heisman award-winning QB renowned, among other things, for his habit of quoting Hebrews with his eye-black.  In it, Tim and his mother recount, allegedly without visible embarrassment, the saga of Tim’s conception, career as a fetus, and birth. You will be slightly less than astounded to learn that news of the ad has gone over very well with some, and very badly with others. (more...)

video Clear your mind, for now, of the coup de grace Senator-elect Scott Brown is poised to deliver to major health care reform.  Bracket, for just a sec, the fact that Brown took Ted Kennedy’s senate seat back for the GOP – a feat approximately as unlikely as the mesh tank top’s being remarketed, in some alternate future, as a garment for rugged hetero males.  No matter what he does on Capitol Hill, Mr. Brown has already done enough never to be forgotten, as he's discovered a new species of political scandal: daughter-pimping.  Or should that be daughter-pimping-gate? Fresh off his upset victory, Brown announced that both his daughters – wait, no, sorry, ahem, just one – were available.  For about five minutes, it seemed like maybe no one had noticed.  Like maybe things would be, you know, OK.  Then Brown sat back, a newly minted senator, and watched his glory disappear in a monsoon of horny jeering . . . Watch below as Ayla, the daughter in question, does damage control.  Looking weightily prepped, Ayla, a former American Idol contestant, expresses a fond tolerance for Dad’s silly habit of encouraging huge crowds to make a go at her.  “He does that to Arianna and myself often,” Ayla confides.  She wisely declines to comment on whether the scandal will affect sales of her just-released CD.

video Friday night's Hope For Haiti special aired across nearly 100 networks around the world - and raised more than $50 million. The initial broadcast network numbers are in, and the ratings are looking very strong. (more...)

The conventional wisdom about American news audiences is they don't care nearly as much about international news as the rest of the world. There have been studies that aimed to prove this point. But the disaster coverage in Haiti has shown in this particular case, the conventional wisdom doesn't apply. American audiences, on broadcast and cable news, are tuning in in large numbers. (more...)

video While the NBC infighting continues, the jokes are still coming in from around the late night spectrum - and specifically from the most vocal late night host so far, David Letterman. Letterman previewed a promo of the "new" old Tonight Show, and knocked Jay Leno's "State of the Network" speech from Monday. (more...)

video There have been so many powerful, heartbreaking moments in the four days of since the mainstream media converged on Haiti to cover the tragic earthquake that hit last week. We've highlighted a few from last week: Anderson Cooper, Campbell Brown, Steve Harrigan (we spoke with Harrigan today - more from him later). Here are videos from this weekend, one from each news network, that show the various sides of the incredibly sad story - and the fantastic work being done by journalists in the region. (more...)

“Hey, NBC said they wanted drama at 10 – Now they got it.”

"Hosting ‘The Tonight Show’ has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me, and I just want to say to the kids out there watching – You can do anything you want in life. Unless if Jay Leno wants to do it too.”

breaking Not since Hurricane Katrina have we seen this sort of united support within the broadcast television community, and perhaps only now do we start to see the scale of this disaster. MTV has just announced plans for George Clooney to host a telethon next week to raise funds for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Thus far reports include ABC, NBC, HBO and CNN to simulcast the event. (more...)

video If you are a watcher of the nightly network newscasts you probably noticed that the all the networks had got their teams on the ground in Haiti in order to be able to broadcast live from there last night. NBC not only sent Brian Williams but also Ann Curry and Al Roker from the Today Show team (video below) who took turns reporting back to Lester Holt last night from a scavenged satellite phone a television camera (via the generosity of Reuters) that did not sync up (there is something weirdly affecting in this day and age to see even the most advanced media outlets struggle with technology). Obviously up until sometime yesterday afternoon CNN owned the coverage, primarily because reporting breaking news is what they do best and they were able to get on the ground before anyone else. (more...)

video As he has all week, David Letterman took obvious delight in ripping NBC and its late night situation on his CBS Late Show. But last night he went specific - taking aim at NBCU President Jeff Zucker and other "idiot" NBC executives. (more...)

video David Letterman didn't hold back, again, in bashing NBC and its late night woes on his Late Show tonight. But in a move that combined new media savvy, playful ribbing and the acknowledgment many viewers would be tuning into the potential impending seminal late night moment when Conan O'Brien post-letter Tonight Show airs, CBS released all portions of Letterman's NBC jabs early on YouTube. (more...)

video NBC's late night shake-up (that, at this present time still sits mid-shake-up) has provided tremendous fodder for all late night comedians, including those at the peacock network. But last night David Letterman seemed to relish pounding his former network more than others who had taken on the subject before - complete with a Jay Leno impression and a Top 10 list. (more...)

Last night CBS ran their celeb prank show, "I Get That A Lot," where celebrities pretend to be normal people with average jobs who just look like celebrities. In the case of CBS's Julie Chen, that meant wearing a garish orange T-shirt as she served up some fro-yo and harassed some poor woman about gummi bears. She also made fun of herself on Big Brother, where she's nicknamed 'The Chenbot' for a less than animated delivery; Chen as her doppelganger made fun of Chen (who would have been the doppelganger's doppelganger). Ergo, "I Get That A Lot." She also seemed to be having a lot of fun. Also, I want her serving me yogurt, those portions are huge! (more...)

Which reporter logged the most minutes of air time during from 2000-2009? The honor goes to Andrea Mitchell of NBC, according to the invaluable resource that is Andrew Tyndall's TyndallReport.com. Here's a full breakdown. (more...)

video Glenn Beck was back from vacation today, on TV, radio and Twitter. At the beginning of his radio show, Beck talked about his vacation, which he shared with another major news star - CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric. But Beck didn't get an invite to her New Year's party, and he wasn't happy. (more...)

The year 2009 had many media bright spots, break-out stars, dominating networks and game-changing technologies.  The Mediaite 50 collects the finest, most exemplary innovators and influencers of the year, defining a media moment in time and setting the agenda as we move forward. (more...)

video Wow. What an age we live in. On one network, Adam Lambert is banned for being lewd and lascivious; on another, "Frosty the Snowman" is celebrated for it. Yes that's right: CBS has taken that favorite holiday classic and defiled it with porn, boobs and a pretty clear reference to crabs. (more...)

video The results from the December 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll is in, and Rush Limbaugh wins again. The talk radio host was the top pick, by far, by respondents when asked who was the most influential conservative in America. Here's more on the results of that question, and others. (more...)

video After complaints about his racy performance at Sunday night's American Music Awards, ABC's Good Morning America canceled Adam Lambert's planned appearance today, and CBS' The Early Show quickly scooped up the interview and performance. Lambert addressed the backlash, but offered no apology. And CBS didn't seem completely comfortable with it either. (more...)

This is interesting. In a column mostly devoted to detailing the similarities she shares with Sarah Palin (tongue firmly planted in cheek), Maureen Dowd appears to side with Palin on the events surrounding her problems with McCain campaign adviser Nicolle Wallace and the disastrous Katie Couric interviews: (more...)

I suppose it was just a matter of time. A few years back the publishing world experienced the blog to book phenomenon (with varying degrees of success) and now it looks like we might be about to enter the twitter to sitcom phase courtesy of Shit My Dad Says. Lessons to be learned from this news: everyone is desperate for good content! Moving back home with your parents can not only be profitable; it's possible to make money on Twitter. (more...)

Shortly after news of the Letterman scandal broke (you may recall that it was broken by intrepid reporter David Letterman), Nikki Finke theorized that CBS wouldn't investigate Letterman's "single man sex with staffers at his independent production company Worldwide Pants." CBS boss Les Moonves and his boss, Sumner Redstone, had both had adulterous affairs, she argued, and so they wouldn't be too keen on digging into Letterman. But as the New York Observer's Felix Gilette reports, CBS will be looking into the sex-and-extortion saga the way they know best: with a crack investigative reporter. (more...)

Is the journalism industry so down-at-the-mouth these days that David Letterman is the only thing standing between it an utter irrelevance? Probably not, but you'd be forgiven for drawing that conclusion based on how much ink the Late Show host's love life continues to generate. Two of the country's top media columnists devoted inches to Dave and his (apparently) consensual, unmarried, behind-closed-doors activities. (more...)

Read This A "Talk of the Town" item in this week's New Yorker uses the extortion case involving Dave Letterman and CBS producer Robert Halderman — which keeps getting weirder and weirder, and doesn't look like it's going away any time soon — as a jumping-off point for a broader discussion about blackmail. (more...)

It was never about money for Robert Halderman. It was about revenge and jealousy. It was about David Letterman hugging his girlfriend. (more...)

video The CBS Evening News closed the show last night with a moving package featuring CBS News reporters and producers, sharing their remembrances of covering the war in Afghanistan. Yesterday marked the eight year anniversary of the battle overseas. Pairing comments from the CBSers in front of a stark black backdrop with images and video of the war provided a touching and powerful tribute. (more...)

Here's another by-product of the Letterman ratings bump: More attention on Craig Ferguson equals more web-surfing his site for clips equals stumbling into this clip: Neil Patrick Harris Reads Craig's Book. Insta-click, obvs. (more...)