Kathie Lee Gifford Joins Today's Fourth Hour

Like so many TV programming changes, news about Kathie Lee Gifford's return to morning TV leaked a while ago.

Still, NBC made Gifford's move to join its venerated Today show franchise official this morning, setting an April 7 debut for the former Regis and Kathie Lee co-host. This isn't the first time NBC's tried bringing an experienced showbiz woman to its morning franchise; Florence Henderson was a game co-host with Jodi Applegate when the Peacock Network first tried a Today show extension in 1999, the ill-fated Later Today.

But Gifford has an advantage, because Today's fourth hour is already up and running, even if critics haven't given it much love. (Locally, it airs at noon after WFLA-Ch. 8's 10 a.m. show Daytime and the station's 11 a.m. midday newscast. The standard airtime is 10 a.m.)

Her other advantage: She's undisputably the big name here. When she left Regis in 2000 after 15 years, rumors bubbled that the two couldn't get along, though they maintained a happy face in public. On Today's fourth hour, backed NBC News anchor/reporter Hoda Kotb, she'll be the Barbara Walters of the pack -- bringing a connection to daytime TV's older female viewers and loads of showbiz experience.

We'll see if she can rein in the big showbiz ego -- and get used to working on a show which is still considered an extension of NBC News.

Here's the announcement, aired on the Today show at 7:30 a.m. this morning:

Click below to read the press release:   

Can Linda Bloodworth Embarrass HBO Into Airing 12 Miles of Bad Road?

  It's got to be one of the oddest packages I've ever received as a TV critic.

Non-descript and sent overnight, the envelope contained seven DVDs and a plea from producers Linda Bloodworth (left) and Harry Thomason, creators of the classic sitcoms Designing Women and Evening Shade.

Seems HBO had spent more than $20-million creating 12 Miles of Bad Road, a sprawling comedy poking fun at the Bush-era, Enron-style Republicans, and now the premium cable channel had decided not to air it -- basically, spending the most money it ever has to NOT air a TV series.

I have a story in today's Floridian detailing the showbiz Hara-Kiri Bloodworth and Thomason seem to be committing, embarrassing one of Hollywood's major players by sending critics copies of six completed episodes in hopes our stories can accomplish what their negotiations did not.

Charging forward like a character from one of her Southern-baked sitcoms, Bloodworth assured me that she'd go on the Home Shopping Network to sell this show, which offers inspired performances from Lily Tomlin, Mary Kay Place, Gary Cole and blue collar comic Ron White. See more about the show here.

Obviously, HBO believed in the show at one time, because it's listed here at the back of an old promo reel from 2007. Check it out -- this brief glimpse may be all you'll see of the best (or, at least, the most expensive) show HBO never aired.

Deggans PunditWatch: NPR's Barbershop and Florida This Week

As if bloviating on CNN weren't enough, I'm flapping my gums in two more places this week, which you can enjoy at the comfort of your own computer screen through the magic of the Internet (sounds like some late '90s instructional film, I know).

Click here to check out my first-ever participation in The Barbershop, a regular feature on former ABC News reporter Michel Martin's National Public Radio show Tell Me More. Every Friday, a group of brothers gets together to razz each other and talk about the week's events. I was a last-minute addition, but I had been wanting to join this crew for a while, so this was fun (for those of you who know, it's one step below the hang late night in the hotel lounge at an NABJ convention. Nuff said).

As Michel describes it: "The guys in this week's Barbershop — Arsalan Iftikhar, Nick Charles (VP of BET.com), Roy S. Johnson (Editor-in-Chief of Mens Fitness magazine) and Eric Deggans (Media Critic for St. Petersburg Times) — have a lot to say about Sen. Hillary Clinton's conflicted account of a trip to Bosnia, Chelsea Clinton's snappy response to a question about Monica Lewinsky during a recent campaign stop, the latest song release by the "Obama Girl" and the NCAA's March Madness.

If THAT weren't enough, you can also catch me on Rob Lorei's public affairs show for WEDU, Florida This Week. This time, I'm appearing with former Florida Senate president Tom Lee, Democratic consultant Vic DiMaio and leadership director at USF Sarasota, David Klement. What do I know about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the state's apology for slavery and the teaching of intelligent design in the state's schools? Tune in at 8 p.m. tonight or 12:30 p.m. Sunday to find out!

Hillary Clinton Can Make Insensitive Racial Remarks, Too

I almost hate to put this up, because I really don't want to contribute to the sound bite culture that has gotten a stranglehold on our political process these days.

But I was rooting around on a different story today, and stumbled on this YouTube clip of Hillary Clinton making a joke four years ago, comparing noted east Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandi to a gas station owner. This a remark for which Senator Clinton has already apologized.

This wasn't something said by a pastor or a friend. This was a scripted joke she delivered while introducing someone at a public event. I don't think it's evidence of some closet racism on her part. But I do think it's evidence that anyone can say something racially insensitive in public, and the sensible thing to do is find out whether it reflects their consistent feelings about these issues or if they are just errors in judgement.

And its also evidence that we all should be careful about judging people too harshly on these issues.

Why Did It Take Sinbad to Expose Hillary Clinton's Bosnia "Misstatement"?

As I've been watching coverage of Hillary Clinton's attempt to explain why she characterized a visit to Bosnia years ago as much more dangerous than it actually was, I've been struck by network reporters' attempts to insert themselves into the story.

Both CBS's Sharyl Attkisson and NBC's Andrea Mitchell have pointed out during their reports that they were actually with Clinton on that Bosnia trip and recalled no sniper fire, rushing crowds or exagerrated danger. Since headlines have been filled with the news, other journalists who took that trip 12 years ago -- including former MTV News reporter Tabitha Soren -- have weighed in.

So why did it take comic Sinbad to blow the lid on the whole deal?

The idea that Clinton may have been fudging the truth about her Bosnia story first came from a March 11 interview Sinbad gave to The Sleuth, a behind-the-scenes Washington blog produced by WashingtonPost.com writer Mary Ann Akers. The former Jingle All the Way co-star, last in the news denying widespread rumors he was dead (just the career folks, rimshot!) accompanied Clinton on the 1996 trip with singer Sheryl Crow and said it wasn't so dangerous.

His best line: "What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.'"

Unfortunately, Sinbad also declared himself an Obama supporter during the interview, which probably   cost him credibility. And Akers basically presented the story as a he said, she said, with a Clinton spokesman providing quotes from stories published at the time noting the danger. Journalists acknowledge Clinton has told the Bosnia story at least since December on the stump; relating it so many times, reporters who regularly cover her had begun to joke about how often she'd drag out this old chestnut.

The Post ran a snarky blog item on Clinton's use of the story Dec. 29 and the conservative media watchdog site Newsbusters noted March 18 that no reporter covering the Bosnia trip in 1996 mentioned sniper fire.

But the truth of the Bosnia visit didn't resonate in the mainstream press until Attkisson's story this week (what's funny, is that Attkisson's original report plays up the danger of the visit a lot more than her latest story).

But shouldn't Mitchell and Attkisson, who have filed more than a few election stories this year, have remembered the truth before now?

Lunsford Lawsuit Questions Remain: Was Agreement with Bubba the Love Sponge a Publicity Stunt?

I knew last week there might be trouble in the effort to resolve Mark Lunsford's intent to file a lawsuit against the Citrus County Sheriff.

First, Lunsford's lawyer last Thursday went to the lair of his biggest critic, shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, to announce an agreement. But the lawyer for the sheriff's office wasn't there, and afterwards lawyers for Lunsford and Clem didn't seem to agree on what they'd agreed to.

Clem's lawyer Stephen Diaco said this on air: "We were able to come up with a tentative agreement and that's the big announcement...They're going to iron out an understanding where all sides release each other, the notice is withdrawn, the case is dismissed with prejudice, but with the understanding that Sheriff Dawsy has agreed to sit down with Mark Lunsford...and go over Jessica Lunsford's case with a critical eye."

But when I called Lunsford's lawyer Eric Block after the radio appearance was done, he said this: "It’s nothing new here. We said from day one, that if the sheriff (Jeff Dawsy) admitted he made mistakes, there won’t be a lawsuit. If you take his words to mean that we have settled and agreed to do anything, then that’s inaccurate."

But if there was nothing new here, why did both lawyers go on the radio and say there had been a agreement, however tentative?

I spent 12 hours working this story last week, shuttling back and forth between Diaco and Block, sometimes on the same conference call, trying to understand why they were insisting that a deal was imminent when they also admitted they hadn't resolved the biggest question.

Namely, Block insists the sheriff admit someone made a mistake while investigating the 2005 disappearance of Lunsford's mudered 9-year-old daughter Jessica before he will withdraw his notice to file a lawsuit. But the sheriff insists the notice be withdrawn before he will sit down with Lunsford (no one who knows this case really expects Dawsy to admit he or his office made any mistakes). And because Clem decided to insert himself into this soap opera by repeatedly attacking Lunsford on his show, now he's become part of this sad display.

Last week, Clem promsed to "crank it up so f***ing hard" against Lunsford if the deal fell through,insisting "Mr. Block said X on my show and then got out of my studio and said Y....maybe he bamboozled me."

Clem is on vacation this week, and was hoping to wrap up the Lunsford agreement before he left. That might explain why Clem and Lunsford's lawyers went on the air last Thursday, when the attorney for the sheriff's office was out of the country on his own vacation. (Curiously, when I begged public relations people from the sheriff's office to call their lawyer on his cellphone and verify that this tentative agreement was valid, they refused. So I was never able to determine whether he cut a deal the sheriff's office wasn't aware of.)

Clem's also worried about overexposure in the media. The lawsuit filed by his rival MJ came out of the blue, garnering more headlines, and Clem is smart enough to know that the public will soon tire of seeing his name attached to bizarre media food fights, if he doesn't resolve some of them.

So big question left: What will Bubba say on air, now that a resolution of this lawsuit seems unlikely? And do Lunsford's lawyers really have the gumption to pursue a lawsuit against Dawsy's office and Clem's Cox Radio employers at the same time?

American Idol's Anti-R&B Attitude Claims Chikezie

Up until Ryan Seacrest called his name, I don't think Chikezie believed he was going home tonight.

But I worried about it. Because last night he took the easy way out and sang the soul ballad he'd been dying to belt out since the show started -- placing himself square in the crosshairs of American Idol's severe anti R&B bias.

Over its history, the most successful artists to emerge from Fox's blockbuster talent show have been in country (Carrie Underwood) power pop (Kelly Clarkson) and rock (Chris Daughtry). R&B tinged winners such as Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Taylor Hicks and Jordin Sparks have had a tougher time, with quick success that fades quickly (Studdard and Hicks for example, have already lost their record deals, and Studdard was always overshadowed by the success of the guy he beat, Clay Aiken).

But R&B singers on Idol always had an edge: They were usually also the BEST singers. Not so this year. Idol's 2008 edition is the first in recent memory where R&B-influenced singers -- and, indeed, singers of color -- are not among the best singers or performers. And the show's only real judge, record label owner Simon Cowell, is clearly jonesing to work with the rockers onstage, especially Michael Johns.

So this is the first Idol where straight-up R&B singing is a clear ticket to ejection-ville. I hope Syesha takes the hint; the only way she's going to stay in the hunt is to stay away from the soul stuff and seriously re-invent herself.

Kind of odd that a competition which has two R&B and dance artists among its three judges and a host of R&B players in its backing band, is working so hard to keep an artist like that from actually winning. 

Now it Can Be Told: Cheney Would Rather Spread Democracy Than Practice It

Jon Stewart said it best on The Daily Show, when he lampooned Dick Cheney as a "dealer, not a user" of democracy. But it is interesting to see how the Bush administration is dropping many of its past pretenses as its lame duck status advances.

In this interview, with ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Cheney admits he couldn't care less about the nation's opinion of his five-years-and-counting war...

Stumbles By American Idol Frontrunners Place My Predictions in Doubt

The easiest way for me to ensure someone fails on a reality show, is to predict their victory.

At least it seems that way after last night's American Idol episode, in which the two singers I gave the best odds of winning gave the some of shakiest performances of their time on the show.

Already, you're on cheesy ground when the theme is songs from the year of your birth (does it hurt that the oldest contestant was born during my freshman year of high school -- yes it does!) And who told David Archuleta to choose a hit by some guy from Australia we've never heard of? Did Carly Smithson really think she was going to win with a Bonnie Tyler song?

And how long did it take you to figure out that David Cook was singing a Michael Jackson tune?

So far, there's Cook and then there's everybody else in this competition. Listening to his take on MJ's Billie Jean, redone as a slow, grungy rock ballad, actually brought a few goosebumps. He raises the bar every week with daring musical chances, and every week he manages a new way to top himself. Regardless of how the votes go, Simon Cowell better have a contract waiting for this dude when the dust clears.

And I'm still having trouble understanding the phenomenon that is Michael Johns. Chikezie does a faithful rendition of a Luther Vandross hit and he gets disrespected in the worst way; Johns basically offers a faithful version of Queen's We are the Champions, and he's the second coming of the Lizard King?

Basically, I'm assuming Paula and Simon both want to sleep with him. It's the only sensible explanation.

ON ABC's Dancing with the Stars, executives are probably just hoping somebody clicked over during Idol's commercial breaks. I was surprised to see illusionist big mouth Penn Jillete get his walking papers so early -- I must have underestimated the leverage a radio personality like Adam Carolla, who deserved the walk of shame last night, can generate (or the animosity a relentless motormouth like Jillette produces). The failure of Monica Seles, a neophyte dancer with no personality or fan base, was no surprise.

Considering that I picked footballer Jason Taylor to win, I'm expecting him to actually break a leg by next week's competition. One way or another, my predictions are going to come true....

Chris Rock on Why a Black Woman Can't Be President, Among Other Things

Leave it to Chris Rock to jam his fist down the throat of America's zeitgeist and pull its beating heart forth, still pulsating. Rolling Stone was smart enough to send celebrity profiler extraordinaire Bill Zehme out to capture Rock in the middle of a stand up tour he's taking while a white woman and black man are fighting for a serious chance to be the next President.

It sounds an awful lot like one of Rock's last starring movies, Head of State, and he knows it. Here's an amazing excerpt from that profile, courtesy of Rolling Stone Online:

"Bush has f%**ed up so bad," (Rock) will posit to any and all congregants in braying loops of oratory, "that he's made it hard for a white man to run for president. 'Gimme anything but another white man, please! Black man, white woman, giraffe, anything!' A white man's had that job for hundreds of years — and one guy f****ed it up for all of ya!"

And: "Each candidate tells you how humble they are. No, you're not humble! Do you know how big your ego has to be to say you wanna be president of the United States? Do you know how much Puff Daddy juice you have to drink? How many Kanye injections you have to take?"

And: "I actually think America is ready for a woman president. But does it have to be that woman? . . . She's gonna work in the office where her husband got blow jobs?! There ain't enough redecorating in the world she can do to change that! . . . There's one thing Hillary Clinton's better at than everybody else, and one thing only — and that's forgiveness! Hillary Clinton is the greatest forgiver in the history of the world. Even Jesus knows: 'You really good at fo'giveness. I mean, I talk the talk, but you walk the walk!'"

And: "Barack Obama — he's a black man with two black names! Barack. Obama. He doesn't let his blackness sneak up on you. As soon as you hear Barack Obama you wonder, 'Does he have a spear?' . . . He's so cool, too, man. I don't think he realizes he's a black candidate! When you're the only black guy doing something, people expect you to take it up a notch. If you're the only black playing basketball with a bunch of white guys — they expect you to dunk! . . . Barack has a handicap the other candidates don't have: Barack Obama has a black wife. And I don't think a black woman can be first lady of the United States. Yeah, I said it! A black woman can be president, no problem. First lady? Can't do it. You know why? Because a black woman cannot play the  background of a relationship. Just imagine telling your black wife that you're president? 'Honey, I did it! I won! I'm the president.' 'No, we the president! And I want my girlfriends in the Cabinet! I want Kiki to be secretary of state! She can fight!' "

Think I can guess what magazine I'll be hunting down at Barnes & Noble tomorrow morning....Here's another cool Rock interview