FNC’s Rick Leventhal uses his stint in the chair last weekend on The Big Story Weekend Edition to give readers a behind the scenes of some of what went on during the show…

If you were watching Sunday, and didn’t get up to make popcorn at 10:30 pm ET, you probably saw me lose my place in the “D” block. The first story of the segment was an alert updating the search for a phony firefighter sex-assault suspect in New York City. The story was supposed to include an interview with a New York Post reporter who broke exclusive details on the perp, but there were technical problems. The guest was in the newsroom studio but couldn’t hear me, and our engineers couldn’t correct the issue in time… so as I’m introducing him, I hear a producer in my ear telling me to move on to the next guest.

New York Giants running back Tiki Barber has joined FNC as a general contributor and beginning next week will be appearing Tuesdays on Fox and Friends First….(via FTVLive)

It was announced on Imus In The Morning this morning that Amy Robach is expecting….

Miles O’Brien conducted an interview with Mike Wallace yesterday which aired this morning on CNN’s American Morning. Among the subjects discussed was Wallace’s most gut wrenching interview. Transcript follows…

MILES O’BRIEN, Anchor CNN American Morning: What an amazing career Mike
Wallace has had, the “60 Minutes” veteran. Actually he was there on day one when that clock started ticking. He’s interviewed just about anyone you can imagine over the past 30-40 years.
(more…)

In a move that should surprise nobody, NBC named Steve Capus as the President of NBC News. Capus had been acting as temporary President in the wake of Neal Shapiro’s resignation in September….

Capus has served as Acting President of NBC News since September. In June 2005, he was named Senior Vice President, NBC News. In that capacity, Capus served as the Division’s No. 2 executive and had executive oversight of “NBC Nightly News,” Specials programming, newsgathering and breaking news. He served as the arbiter of issues involving ethics, style, standards, safety and other matters that affected the Division’s journalistic bearing.

During Your World Today, CNN will air an exclusive interview with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin that was conducted by Christianne Amanpour. Among the topics discussed were the aftermath of the French riots and Iraq. Full transcript follows…

Christiane Amanpour, CNN Chief International Correspondent: Firstly, thank you very much for joining us Mr. Prime Minister, would you accept that France has a very serious social malaise, a very serious social problem that requires dramatic solutions, actions?
(more…)

Bob Sassone at TV Squad looks at the pro-Aaron Brown comments one of his blog entries received and pens a defense of Anderson Cooper…

When, exactly, did Aaron Brown do anything that would make him a better reporter or journalist than Cooper? I’m not talking about being the host of a show or an anchor (Brown seems perfectly amiable). I’m talking about actual reporting. Cooper has been in the trenches, whether its been in the Middle East, in Africa, or down in New Orleans confronting politicians about the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Jill Vejnoska has an article on FNC’s Shepard Smith…

Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity long have been the big names at cable news’ No. 1 network, but increasingly, Smith is the big-gun anchor viewers expect to see when a big story breaks.

“If you’re talking about a major story, major news — certainly Shep is the face of Fox News,” says Bill Shine, the network’s senior vice president of programming. “He has that rare combination of being very smart and also very talented. You can put him out there, and if the prompter goes down, you’re not going to be in trouble. If news breaks unexpectedly, you’re not going to be in trouble.”

CNN announced that Dr. Sanjay Gupta will report in depth on the Bird Flu situation in a one hour special “Killer Flu: A Breath Away”… (via WHAC)

“If the virus mutates, even a single infected traveler to the United States could unknowingly spark an outbreak of the virus here,” Gupta said. “We went to Southeast Asia – where the bird flu is already infecting people – to see how close we might be to that nightmare scenario. In many ways, this is a detective story.”

The current deadly strain of bird flu or avian flu is also known by its technical name, “H5N1.” Gupta explains the science behind those letters and how researchers are racing to find a cure

The special airs Sunday, December 11th at 10pm ET…

Well not really…but Lloyd Grove does dish today that CNBC’s Liz Clayman got to sing on stage with The Boss the other night….

That was CNBC dollar diva Liz Claman being summoned to the stage by Bruce Springsteen as a “special friend” for his encore at Trenton’s Sovereign Bank Arena the other night. Yesterday an awestruck Claman - who belted out backup vocals for the Boss’ rendition of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” - explained to Lowdown: “My sister and her husband have been friends with Bruce and [wife] Patti for a long time. I felt bad - I think people thought it was gonna be Clarence Clemons! I said to myself, ‘Remember this, you can actually see your audience this time.’ I never get to see my audience, it’s just me and the cameras. Who knew that such exciting things could happen in Trenton?”

Blogger Larry Johnson at TPM Cafe relates a behind the scenes anecdote pertaining to tonight’s Scarborough Country. This kind of booking showdown stuff goes on all the time on cable news but we don’t hear about it much….

Apparently, Mr. Bozell is a coward. He told MSNBC he would not appear if I was on the show, even if they scheduled me before or after him. He couldn’t handle a man-to-man debate. Typical conservative coward. I think the term is “Girly Man”. Tough talker when he is alone but unable to handle an informed debate. What is really sad is the MSNBC is caving into Bozell, rather than insisting that its audience hear both sides of an issue. Shocked, anyone?

UPDATE: MSNBC put Tucker Carlson on in Johnson’s place according to the MSNBC MSN board….