LAWRENCE, Kan. – Here are portions of the June 12 episode of “Smokey and the Bear,” when I weighed in on the David Letterman-Sarah Palin fiasco:

This whole thing about David Letterman and Sarah Palin. Basically, my opinion is this.

David Letterman made a few jokes the other night about Sarah Palin and Sarah Palin’s daughter. He was intending the jokes to be about the 18-year-old who had a baby that, by the way, Sarah Palin’s husband on an interview on the Today show referred to–with his daughter and baby in hand. He’s sitting next to his 18-year-old daughter, who’s holding her baby, and he refers to the baby as “a mistake.” Right there. I’m like, Jesus, what an awful grandfather! My grandparents have had their moments over the years, but I don’t think they ever called me a mistake–at least, not that I knew of. Same with my parents. But either way, it’s just like. What a jackass!

Filed under:
Music/Variety, Television by Scott A. Winer

LAWRENCE, Kan. – For as long as I’ve been writing about the world of live television, I don’t think I’ve ever actually put forth a list of who I think is the best for on-air and production.

Here are a couple of rules: 1) individuals must still be active in their respective roles (network changes are okay); 2) there is no limit on how many people working for a particular network can be chosen (if the network happens to be that good, it wouldn’t make sense for me to suggest otherwise); 3) for sports, when I feel it is warranted, I may select multiple people holding the same position but for different sports.

Filed under:
Music/Variety, Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV by Scott A. Winer

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Chalk another one up to Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports. McManus, whose 9-year term at the helm of the network’s sports division has been marked by over a dozen high-profile on-air additions, can now add Katie Couric to that list. This morning, the 15-year veteran of NBC News’ Today Show officially announced that she will leave NBC in May to assume the roles of anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News. The highly-anticipated announcement comes after a year of speculation regarding Couric’s future, and McManus was the perfect person to seal the deal. While the Today show has lost ground in the morning ratings game, CBS Evening News has been on the way up under the leadership of interim anchor Bob Schieffer. The two networks’ news divisions seem to be heading in opposite directions. With people like McManus and Couric revamping CBS News, the eyes have it. As for NBC News, the peacock is for the birds.

Filed under:
Opinion/Editorial, Television by Scott A. Winer

ROSWELL, Ga. – In the last six weeks NBC has been scrambling to fix a leak in one of it’s most successful programs: the Today show. NBC News’ three-hour morning show has led its original two-hour time slot (7:00 – 9:00 a.m.) for the better part of a decade, but the show, which expanded to three hours soon after the turn of the century, has recently seen a decline in its margin of victory. For the first time in a long time, “America’s First Family” has been struggling to stay on top.

Word first spread in a late-April edition of the New York Times, announcing the firing of the show’s executive producer Tom Touchet and the “hiring” of Jim Bell, a thirtysomething Harvard alum who was the Coordinating Producer for NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. The announcement was made by Jeff Zucker, another youthful success story out of Harvard who currently heads NBC Universal Television and who was Today’s executive producer when it first took the lead in the morning ratings game.

Filed under:
Opinion/Editorial, Television by Scott A. Winer