Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via financialpost)

"Bank of America has just announced that Thain will leave the firm, less than a month after its merger with Merrill. In early 2008, just as Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was preparing to slash expenses, cut thousands of jobs and exit businesses to fix the ailing securities firm, he was also spending company money on himself, senior people at the firm say. According to documents reviewed by The Daily Beast, Thain spent $1.22 million of company money to refurbish his office at Merrill Lynch headquarters in lower Manhattan. The biggest piece of the spending spree: $800,000 to hire famed celebrity designer Michael Smith, who is currently redesigning the White House for the Obama family for just $100,000." (Charlie Gasparino/TheDailyBeast)

"Howard (Stern) started off the show saying he'd ran into Renee Zellweger a couple times over the years and she'd become an acquaintance. Renee even sent Howard and Beth a wedding gift ('a beautiful Bible' that they keep in their living room), but when Howard tried to send her a thank you note, her people sent word that they don't allow any kind of direct correspondence. Howard said he was instructed to send the note through them, so now he's unsure if she ever got the note: "I feel like if she got it, she would've responded, 'Hey, here's where to reach me if you ever want to send me something.'" (HowardStern/Rundown)



"La Toya Jackson was booted out of the Celebrity Big Brother house last night — and headed straight into the West End to see her older brother Tito. He was the guest of honour at the premiere of the new musical Thriller at the Lyric Theatre, which is based on the music of their brother Michael. There was no sign of Janet, though, despite the fact that she's in town. She snubbed the event at the last minute, saying she was ill. Something to do with her session at Mahiki the night before, perhaps?" (Thisislondon)



"They may play brother and sister in their day jobs, but by night, Dexter actor Michael C. Hall and new wife and costar Jennifer Carpenter are finally acting out some non-sibling PDAs. The couple, who eloped on New Year's Eve, enjoyed an intimate dinner at Hollywood's Pace restaurant with two friends Wednesday night. 'They were very intimate, but never over-the-top-affectionate,' one observer says of the quiet dinner.'" (People)



(image via adrants)

"Former LFO lead singer Rich Cronin stopped by to promote his new record, 'Billion Dollar Sound.' Rich laughed, as Howard played LFO's biggest hit, 'Summer Girls,' that Lou Pearlman (LFO's former manager) was one pervy dude .. Rich told the crew about auditioning for Lou: "He goes, 'You could be a star...take off your shirt'...then he's like, 'Turn around.' Later, Lou really poured it on: He's massaging my shoulders and he's like, 'You wanna watch Top Gun?' Howard asked if Lou ever rubbed Rich's privates, and Rich admitted that Lou tried: 'Eventually he did...some other dudes went for it. And if you did, he took care of you. He'd buy 'em cars...' .. Howard asked Rich about dating Jennifer Love Hewitt, so Rich replied that he met her at an awards show: 'I decided to talk to her and she kept talking to me and talking to me.' Rich eventually flew out to LA for their first date (at Universal Studios) and she asked him to stay with her that first night: 'She made me wear two condoms.' Rich laughed that Jennifer even gave him a ring: "She said, 'Listen, I wanna marry you. We're gonna be together forever.' Later, Rich found out she gave the same ring to other guys as well." (HowardStern/Rundown)

"AS the world's eye recorded history this week, I watched how The Eye itself, CBS-TV, recorded this his tory. CBS News President Sean McManus allowed access to his network the day America's 44th president took his Oath of Office. I left for their studio 5:45 a.m. It was night outside. The streets were filled with people. A double line already outside Starbucks .. The fifth floor had sausages, bacon, french toast, potatoes, eggs, fruit, muffins and lousy Washington bagels that taste like linen. 6:15 - Bob Schieffer, sipping coffee out of Styrofoam, grinned: 'Seeing me outside, the crowd shouted Dan Rather! My first inauguration was LBJ's, and my mother's excitement was seeing Walter Cronkite. So I know what that is, and I'd have signed 'Dan Rather' rather than ruin their day.' Co-anchors Maggie Rodriguez and Harry Smith were already in place. Outside the studio's glass windows, political Woodstock. Masses of humans hustling for position. Inside, easy camaraderie. Refluffing her hair with one finger, Maggie cut three promos in fast succession: 'Today we bring you . . .' . . . 'Tomorrow we bring you . . .' . . . 'Later we bring you . . .' Her makeup lady, in case, sat in back on a stool. Doffing his jacket, Harry raced for a quick john run two floors down and a turn to the left, hollering: 'I hope this isn't your story's lead.'" (CindyAdams)

"At an off-the-record gathering on Tuesday night at the Manhattan home of super flack Howard Rubenstein, the Attorney General of New York State, one Andrew Cuomo, seemed relaxed, humorous and full of ideas for how we get ourselves out of this mess. He pointed out that the new majority Democratic leaders in Albany are now in a position to solve the state's problems. The handsome, personable A.G. seemed at peace with whatever Gov. Paterson decides to do about the vacant Hillary Senate seat. He opined that he is happy to be back in New York after his own stint in Washington. Titans of industry were at this party, asking questions and getting answers. They seemed very impressed with Cuomo." (Liz Smith)

"Building on the momentum of its prime-time hours, MSNBC is developing a 10 p.m. program that would complement its left-leaning evening lineup, the cable news channel’s president said this week. A new program could increase the competition between MSNBC, a unit of NBC Universal, and its two chief competitors, Fox News Channel and CNN, for news viewers in the time slot. Unlike most major networks, MSNBC’s original programming ends at 10 each weeknight. The 8 p.m. program 'Countdown With Keith Olbermann' is rerun at 10 p.m., where it usually ranks third. But Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, is making 10 p.m. a priority now. In an interview on Tuesday in a studio on the Mall, hours after the inauguration of President Obama, Mr. Griffin said that the channel needed a third original show in its lineup. 'We can’t let this momentum stop,' he said ..While MSNBC remains in third place among total viewers, it has averaged more young viewers (412,000) than CNN (394,000) in prime time since Election Day. Fox News has averaged 501,000 in the same demographic. Besides bragging rights, higher ratings in the 25-to-54-year-old group let networks charge higher rates for ads." (NYTimes)

"Mark Whitaker, the 51-year-old Washington bureau chief for NBC News, was chuckling to himself. All this talk about celebrities invading the capital had made him jumpy, and he and a bunch of his fellow guests at a party at the British embassy here on Saturday night had just participated in a group head-swivel. Who had just entered? 'Oh my God,' one guest whispered. It was Peter Orszag, the new head of the Office of Management and Budget! Mr. Whitaker is new to D.C., and in New York, where he’d spent most of his adult life, Mr. Orszag would hardly have rated that whisper. Beyoncé maybe, or Tom Cruise. Not Mr. Orszag. 'I think it’s a grim time in New York,' Mr. Whitaker told the Observer when we found him a few days later in a conference room in an office building overlooking Union Station. 'You go up to New York and everyone is talking about how much money they lost and who invested with Bernie Madoff. Down here, there’s a great sense of excitement.'" (Observer)