A Little of the Old In and Out



Isn't he more compelling than Bob Schieffer? (image via cnn)

In: Anderson Cooper. Earlier in the week we spied the diminutive Cooper deep in conversation with a companion at Michael Wolff's old power table at Michael's, neither did we know he had scored a cool mil -- a piffle for a Vanderbilt, to be sure -- to do a book on his stint at CNN thus far. According to TheBookStandard:

"Basking in high praise for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina and having stolen the spotlight from many of his competitors, CNN reporter Anderson Cooper has officially landed a book contract with HarperCollins, agent Luke Janklow told The Book Standard today. The not-yet-written memoir was bought for $1 million by HarperCollins publisher Jonathan Burnham, who will be editing the book himself, Janklow said, adding that Cooper will not be working with a ghostwriter. The book will 'deal with the last year of [Cooper�?s] life as a journalist and human being in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana/Mississippi,' his agent said. Most of the proceeds will go to charity."

If the networks had an ounce of foresight, they would make this up-and-comer a news anchor (Andrew Heyward, this means you)



The Felliniesque freakshow called Jacko's family. (image via thisislondon via rex images)

Out: Jacko told to "Beat It." Freakshow! Although he visited a West End performance of "Billy Elliot" and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum unmolested, one-man-Nambla-convention Michael Jackson was a hard luck case at the Hard Rock in London. According to the 3AMGirls:

"The bizarre star was told to Beat It by the Hard Rock Cafe in London - after he turned up too late for its rammed re-opening party.

"... Jacko is staying in the capital to record a charity single for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. And when he heard about the Monday night party he sent his publicist to check out the Cafe - which closed in June after a fire.

"Our mole says: 'He approved it and sent a message back to Michael's entourage to start the next stage of the complicated process of getting him there.'

"'His security and his management arrived at the restaurant at 10.30 and also gave the thumbs up. They even found a secret back door for him.'

"They said their man would arrive at 11.15pm, but when the 47-year-old turned up a few minutes late, staff said the place was full and there was nothing they could do."

Oops. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)



(image via amazon)

In: The Network News Division Goes Entertainment. Who would have thought that this lumbering dinosaur had any life left in it? In its next act, information and entertainment merge as the news division and the entertainment divisions lines finally blur worse than Tara Reid's vision after some robust body-shots of Triple Sec (Did you see Chris Matthews on "The West Wing" last week?). Last week there was news that Les Moonves greenlighted failed blogger George Clooney's live homage to Paddy Chayevsky's "Network," which satirizes the network news. Today, Don Kaplan of the NYPost reports under the thoroughly amusing headline "Pimp My News," that:

"According toknowledgeablee sources, among the alternatives CBS boss Les Moonves is considering is moving MTV entertainment chief Brian Graden to head CBS News.

"Graden, 42, is considered one of the most imaginative executives in parent company Viacom, and has developed some of the most popular series on cable, including MTV's 'Laguna Beach,' 'The Osbournes,' 'Pimp My Ride,' 'Jackass' and 'Newlyweds.'"

That ... will probably go over like a fart at a funeral, what with the sober chaps at BlackRock (Please, Andrew Heyward -- please let Vaughn Ververs, that superlative example of TV News blogging, blog on this. Please.). But there's more News division gossip, this one involving that glorious can of hairspray, Ted Koppel. According to the venerable Page Six; like a cat ...:

"TED Koppel has landed on his feet, and he hasn't even jumped yet from ABC. Sources say the 'Nightline' host has reached agreement with HBO on a three-year deal that will net him many millions of dollars for 14 hours of programming a year. Koppel will bring four of his producers with him to HBO, a source said. But an ABC spokeswoman told us: 'He and ['Nightline' exec producer] Tom Bettag have made it very clear they won't sign any deals until they leave the network.' Koppel's last 'Nightline' is Nov. 22."

Charmed, we're sure. (Averted Gaze) If hard news is retreating to PBS and prestige cable like HBO, and "entertainment news" is on the rise at the networks, then Martin Bashir should have a leg up on Cynthia McFadden and the synthetic-looking Terry Moran to replace Koppel, no?



A society lion in Winter. (image via mccullagh.org)

Out: C Boyden Gray, Cockblocked. According to our favorite Dickensian villain, Robert Novak, the ultimate Washingtonian Insider C. Boyden Gray has been effectively cockblocked by the handpicked-by-Rove Senator Mel Martinez of Florida because he wouldn't support the Senator during his campaign. To wit:

"Senate confirmation of President Bush's choice to be U.S. ambassador to the European Union has been delayed for several weeks, and the nominee may not take his post until well into November. Bush's choice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is serving under a recess appointment and may never be confirmed. The reason: the individual whims of two Republican senators.

"Freshman Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida last week temporarily blocked the confirmation of longtime GOP stalwart C. Boyden Gray to the EU for petty political reasons."

Was it "Khan" who said, a propos of Kirk, Revenge is a dish best served cold. Find out those petty political reasons of Senator Mel here.



(image via Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

In: Rupert Murdoch and Wendy Deng. Why aren't there more stories on this uber-media power coupling? And not just for the "House of Murdoch" Shakespearean succession-of-kings drama, either (The Corsair pours himself a glass of Madeira) . We want to know what do they do on their downtime. Does Rupert just stay home all day, watch Scarface 50 times, and eat a turkey sandwich? That sort of thing.

The Old Gray Lady pulls off a coup, namely -- the most interesting interview of the infinitely interesting Rupert Murdoch and Wendy Deng to date (And all under the auspices of a chat about their real estate). A taste:

"After paying a record-breaking $44 million for a Fifth Avenue penthouse previously owned by Laurance S. Rockefeller - the most expensive residence ever sold above 14th Street - the couple is trying to sell their SoHo home at a time when the market for residential real estate in Manhattan appears to be slowing and properties are generally lingering in the listings longer.

".. when their broker, Deborah Grubman of the Corcoran Group, suggested they talk to The New York Times about their apartment, they agreed. But if the couple obtained the publicity they desired in their joint interview, they also wound up giving a rare glimpse into the married life of one of the world's richest and most powerful couples ...

"Over the course of two hours on a recent afternoon that threatened, but never quite delivered, rain, the couple took this reporter on a tour of their lavishly renovated home.

"Throughout the afternoon, Mr. Murdoch repeatedly dipped out of the interview to take several calls on one of the apartment's 20 telephones. When he returned from a call, Ms. Deng would urge him, 'Rupert, you talk,' but then quickly jump in to finish his sentences."

"... Ms. Deng said that Russell Crowe had attended a barbecue on the roof, while Mr. Murdoch noted that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, and Gordon Brown, the British chancellor of the exchequer, had had dinner at the custom-designed table set for 14 downstairs. Ms. Deng said the actor Hugh Jackman's children often came over for play dates with the Murdochs' preschool age daughters.

"Mr. Murdoch said that the couple paid about $7.4 million for the top two floors of the apartment in 1999. As he started to talk about the price paid for the other floor, which was purchased in a complicated swap deal with a downstairs neighbor, Ms. Deng waved at him to stop talking. Mr. Murdoch declined to say just how much the couple spent overhauling the apartment. All he would say was: 'Too much.'"

Not enough. More of the story here.