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Why Ryan Seacrest Is A Terrible Choice To Replace Matt Lauer On The 'Today' Show

Posted 12/8/11 10:16 am EST by John Mitchell in Television

News broke today that Ryan Seacrest is the top choice to replace Matt Lauer on the "Today" show. This is a terrible idea for a variety of reasons.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Seacrest met with NBC executives, including "Today" show executive producer Jim Bell, NBC News President Steve Capus and Lauren Kapp, NBC's senior vice president for marketing and communications, Tuesday evening to discuss replacing Lauer on the top-rated morning news program if the veteran anchor decides to retire from his morning post when his contract is up next year. Lauer first appeared on "Today" in 1992, filling in for former newsreader Margaret Larson when needed. He joined the program full-time as a news anchor/reporter in 1994, while also still anchoring "Today in New York" and "Live at Five," and officially assumed the co-anchor chair opposite Katie Couric in January 1997, replacing Bryant Gumble.

While Lauer said earlier this year that he has no plans to leave NBC, more recent reports have suggested he may be interested in reuniting with Couric when her ABC talk show launches in the fall of 2012. Insiders report that he has been indicating to NBC execs privately that he may leave the show.

We mean no offense to Seacrest when we say he would be a misguided replacement for Lauer. He is a charming interviewer and a dynamic host. But he is not a hard-news journalist. To successfully anchor the "Today" show you have to be all three of these things. Read More...

Tags Matt Lauer, Ryan-Seacrest, Today Show

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If Justin Bieber Loves 'Beavis & Butt-Head,' He Should Watch More Great MTV Animation

Posted 2/3/11 4:30 pm EST by Kyle Anderson in Television

On Wednesday afternoon (February 2), two amazing worlds collided. Following the announcement (care of the cast of "Skins") that legendary animated duo "Beavis and Butt-head" would be returning to the MTV airwaves some time this summer, Justin Bieber took to his Twitter feed to share his excitement with the rest of the world.

"Solid day in NYC," he wrote. "Played hoops and just went to the MTV Upfronts ... BEAVIS and BUTTHEAD are coming back!!!" (The tweet was something of an understatement, as Bieber also unveiled his new film "Never Say Never" and watched the New York Knicks fall to the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden.)

Bieber's enthusiasm for the duo is a little strange, especially considering that it began airing on MTV a full year before the 16-year-old Canadian singer was born. But his excitement shown through on the red carpet for the premiere of "Never Say Never."

Back in the middle of the 1990s when "Beavis and Butt-head" first ruled the airwaves, MTV had loads of animation on its schedule. So if Bieber wants to indulge in even more awesomely strange animation, he should check out the following shows, all of which aired on MTV.

"Daria"
Though Daria Morgendorffer first showed up in the "Beavis and Butt-head" universe, "Daria" wasn't really a spin-off (for one thing, "B&B" creator Mike Judge wasn't really involved in the development of the show). The show wasn't just about the trials and tribulations of high school, but it also took on psychology, art, feminism and whatever else found its way into the perpetually-bored Daria's weary worldview.

"The Head"
Once upon a time, MTV carved out a place for freaky animation and presented twisted cartoons under the header of "Oddities." The first of these series was "The Head," a manic show about a student whose cranium inflates to massive size because an alien has taken up a residence there (later, he joins up with a group of fellow "human anomalies," a sort of low-fi X-Men). Equal parts horrifying, funny and often sweet (the main character's relationship with his put-upon girlfriend is especially intriguing), "The Head" was a strange, intense experiment.

"The Maxx"
The other half of "Oddities" was another psychologically intense (but infinitely darker) show called "The Maxx," which was based on a comic book of the same name. Read More...

Tags Beavis and Butt-head, Justin Bieber, video

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Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev And Six Other Unusual Grammy Winners

Posted 1/29/10 2:18 pm EST by Kyle Anderson in Grammys, Music

This Sunday, the Grammy Awards will be given out for the 52nd time. Over their lifespan, nearly 8,000 tiny Victrolas have been given out to all manner of artists. This weekend's show is one of the more youth-driven and star-studded in recent memory, with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Dave Matthews Band and the Black Eyed Peas among others performing and competing for awards.

No awards show gets it right every single time, and considering the number of awards they hand out every year, Grammy Awards history is littered with bizarre winners and strange victors. Take a look below at some of the more unusual names with Grammys on their shelves (some of whom have multiple victories). And this list doesn't even count the head-scratching upsets (like Steely Dan winning Album of the Year in 2001).

Barack Obama: Yes, in addition to being President of the United States and a Nobel Peace Prize, Obama also has two Grammy Awards (one each for Best Spoken Word Album for the audio versions of his two books).

Tia Carrere: She may have been a metalhead in "Wayne's World," but Tia Carrere has actually been nominated twice for Best Hawaiian Music Album (with one victory in 2009).

Hillary Clinton: She can't sing, but Clinton certainly can read, and her performance of her book "It Takes a Village" got her an award in 1997 for Best Spoken Word Album. Husband Bill caught up with her a few years later, when he won back-to-back Spoken Word awards in 2004 and 2005.
Read More...

Tags Barack-Obama, bill-clinton, Grammy Awards, Grammys, Tia Carrere, Zach Braff

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Muse Aren't First Band To Tell A Conservative To Back Off

Posted 10/5/09 12:15 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in Music

Muse really, really want to make it big in America. I mean, this a group whose singer/guitarist Matthew Bellamy recently told Spin magazine, "We'd like to be remembered amongst the best bands in the history of rock. It's necessary to have sustained success in this country for that to happen."

But the British band doesn't want it bad enough to cozy up to an endorsement from Fox News weeping head Glenn Beck, who was singing Muse's praises last month for what he saw as their apocalyptic, one-world order warning on their new album, The Resistance. No sooner had Beck big-upped his paranoid android buddies in the prog trio than he reported that their people called him and asked that he rescind his endorsement. Or did they? On Monday, we found out that Beck was just kidding when he claimed that Muse had put the kibosh on his kudos.

While a Beck endorsement might not put them over the top, popularity-wise, in the U.S., if their retraction request had been real, it would have put them in some impressive company in terms of bands who've asked conservative powerhouses to lay off using or praising their music. There was a flood of these no-thank-yous in last year's presidential election, most of them aimed at failed Republican nominee Senator John McCain.

The Vietnam war hero got pwned by no less than half a dozen acts during his presidential bid, from the Foo Fighters, Van Halen and Heart to John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne.

Classic rockers Boston also fired off an angry missive to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, asking the former Baptist minister to stop using their 1975 hit "More Than a Feeling" during his rallies.

Then again, maybe if Hillary Clinton had gotten the smackdown from Celine Dion, things would have been different.

Tags glenn beck, muse

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Perez Hilton's True Genius: Self-Promotion

Posted 4/21/09 1:51 pm EST by Jim Cantiello in Perez-Hilton

By now we've all seen the clip. Perez Hilton asks Miss California if more states should follow Vermont's lead and legalize gay marriage at Sunday night’s Miss USA Pageant, and she responds with something about "opposite marriage" and thinking that marriage should be between a man and a woman, alienating every gay person out there ... including two of the pageant judges.

And by now we've seen Perez Hilton on countless news chat shows explaining how he personally helped take Miss California down by denying her the crown for an answer he (and a lot of viewers) found offensive.

Typically, a televised beauty pageant doesn't achieve this kind of media attention, unless a contestant falls on her skinny ass, either literally or figuratively. And all the other questions posed to the pageant contestants were just as politically charged: Kelly Monaco asked about the bailout, that "Deal or No Deal" model asked about Hillary Clinton's request for a boatload of moolah for Afghanistan, Brian Graden asked about the Chris Brown/ Rihanna situation.

We're Live-Blogging Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration!

Posted 1/20/09 11:13 am EST by MTV News in Barack-Obama, inauguration

By Erica Anderson, Gil Kaufman and Sarah Maslin Nir

Inauguration Ceremony Admission Ticket Washington, D.C., has seen many inaugurations, but Barack Obama's is by far the biggest to date. The city is expecting 1 to 2 million people for the swearing-in ceremony for the 44th president (head here for the day's schedule), and we've got reporters on the ground, jockeying for position. (You can watch the inauguration live streaming on MTV.com, and of course Barack and Michelle Obama will be at the Youth Inaugural Ball and other events throughout the evening.) Here's what our team is seeing and hearing (wireless reception permitting, of course!) ...

Gil 9:44 a.m. There's not a single car on the streets of Washington, D.C., but the avenues are teeming with people, all flowing in the same direction, all walking with a brisk purpose in their step. Yes, it's frigid and they're trying to stay warm, but they're also in a race to secure a spot for The Moment. The Secret Service has cordoned off an area more than 20 blocks in either direction, with clusters of Marines in humvees manning every corner.

Gil 9:48 a.m. As you approach the National Mall, the energy rises, with hawkers peddling everything from Obama buttons, coins, T-shirts, scarves, plaques and stickers to a guy selling tissues for a dollar — as in a dollar for a single tissue.

Sarah 9:55 a.m. My amazing friend Jenny works for a senator and has just put her staffer ticket into my hand! We are stuffed with layers of clothing and heading into the fray! Read More...

Tags Barack-Obama, inauguration, Live Blog

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Meghan McCain 'Won't Comment' On Sarah Palin

Posted 1/13/09 3:43 pm EST by MTV News in Hillary Clinton, John-McCain

By Garth Bardsley Meghan McCain

Meghan McCain has always been one to speak her mind. While her dad was running for president, the 24-year-old daughter of Senator John McCain kept her own blog, McCainblogette.com, complete with personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes photos.

On the day before her dad's major comeback victory in the New Hampshire primary, she told MTV News that she thinks Obama is "cute." She even told a GQ reporter about her affection for Marilyn Manson's ex-wife, burlesque star Dita Von Teese, and how a guy once dumped her when he found out who her father was.

But in an interview Tuesday morning on the Monday Morning Clacker, a blog written by a friend of hers, she refused to take the bait on her dad's running mate, Governor Sarah Palin.

"Sarah Palin is the only part of the campaign that I won't comment on publicly," Meghan says.
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Tags Barack-Obama, Hillary Clinton, John-McCain, Meghan McCain, sarah palin

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We Get A Tour Of CNN's Pimped-Out Election Express Bus

Posted 11/4/08 5:43 pm EST by Gil Kaufman in election 2008

Sway Calloway The massive stage, with its two dozen American flags waving in the breeze, two fat slabs of bulletproof glass and the sun-splashed Chicago skyline in the distance, is impressive. The gigantic white tents full of thousands of journalists jabbering in hundreds of languages and the miles of fencing and intense security are kind of intimidating. The infectious excitement of the dozens of teens and college kids lined up since daybreak for their chance to attend the rally is inspiring.

But nothing I've seen so far today on the site of Senator Barack Obama's election-night speech compares to the traveling media spaceship known as the CNN Election Express.

Imagine, if you will, a fully tricked-out high-definition TV studio. Then put it on wheels and schlep it around the country for 18 months and 60,000 miles, including more than 2,300 miles in Ohio alone. This afternoon Sway bumped into CNN anchor Don Lemon, who graciously invited us into the bus for a tour.

Once inside, we peeped CNN political reporter Jessica Yellin getting some inside scoop on her phone and ran into Josh Rubin, the lead producer on the Express, who gave us the "Cribs" tour of his cramped, high-tech home away from home. Hitting a button to make a giant HD screen drop down from the ceiling — it was tuned to MTV, of course — Rubin pointed out the 10 other high-def screens along the left side of the bus, tuned to CNN, as well as its competitors. "Everything you can do in one of our bureaus you can do right here on our election bus," said Rubin. "I would rather be here than just about anywhere else."
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Tags cnn, Election

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Shepard Fairey And Other Street Artists Go Mainstream For Barack Obama

Posted 10/3/08 10:12 am EST by MTV News in Barack-Obama

Jay-Z By Joseph Patel

Whether you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent, there's no denying that one of the most ubiquitous images to emerge from the 2008 presidential campaign is the red, white and blue Barack Obama "Hope" poster. Created by one-time street artist Shepard Fairey, the poster features an austere portrait of Obama, manifest in a screen print that looks like one of those funny 3-D magazine pictures, with one of the primary slogans of his campaign written boldly underneath: hope.

For supporters of the Illinois senator, the poster has become a symbol of the potential of an Obama presidency as it adorns windows, billboards and the sides of buildings all around the country. For supporters of John McCain or Hillary Clinton, the portrait has sometimes earned derision for being emblematic of Obama's "celebrity" status.

Obama/McCain Is The Most Fun Election Ever, Thanks To YouTube ...

Posted 10/2/08 6:20 pm EST by MTV News in election 2008

By Dave Romanski

John McCain and Barack Obama It's October, and if we're being perfectly honest, despite the economy collapsing, despite the mortgage crisis and the war and all the issues facing the country right now, we have to admit this is the most fun election ever. And one source is responsible for a lot of that fun: YouTube.

Remember when a candidate used to say something stupid on the campaign trail? We used to be satisfied with a healthy run on the 24-hour cable news cycle, where a few pundits would dissect said statement and either shake their heads in righteous outrage or nervously try to appease whatever constituency was offended.

Even with cable news, you started to get the impression that politicians only said stupid, self-destructive things occasionally. And then YouTube happened.
Read More...

Tags Barack-Obama, debate, Election, Joe Biden, John-McCain, sarah palin, vice president

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