Julie Chen Admits to Plastic Surgery

Julie Chen confessed on CBS's show "The Talk" about having to get plastic surgery on her eyes so she could achieve her dream of being a network news anchor. 

Chen was working as a 25-year-old local news reporter in Dayton, Ohio back in 1995 when she realized that she was at risk of not ever landing the anchor's desk because of her Chinese ethnicity.

She recalled how her news director at that time told her that standing in the way of her dreams was her "Asian eyes" and how she looked "disinterested and bored" in front of the camera because of them. 

After recounting her childhood in Queens where she experienced racism to recording her daily newscast and meeting with a big-time agent who recommended she get plastic surgery on her eyes to make them look better, the "Big Brother" host revealed how she eventually got the courage to discuss the matter with her parents. Sadly, the issue divided her brood, with the physical changes to her eyes being interpreted as her denying her heritage. 

But with very supportive parents who went as far as paying for her plastic surgery and standing by her side through the ordeal, Chen went through with procedure, saying that after she did it, that's when "the ball did roll for me." 

H/T AceShowbiz

Carson Daly Moving up at Today? (Updated)

It appears that NBC is quietly pulling the plug on the late night show "Last Call with Carson Daly." 

But, Daly's days at NBC might just be moving from nights to mornings.  

TV Guide says that NBC is looking to give Daly a much larger presence on the Today Show.

Daly has been popping up on Today more often in the 9AM hour. But, he also filled in for Matt Lauer on a day Lauer was off. 

Daly has no experience as a Journalist, something in the past that has been a prerequisite for hosts of Today.

David Brinkley just flipped over one more time.  

Update: Matt Lauer sent this tweet out shortly after we posted this story. Looks like it is now confirmed that Daly is getting a much bigger role at Today: 

Chicago Anchor Sells Home for Big Profit

Yesterday, FTVLive FIRST told you that WFLD had hired a new morning anchor at the Fox O&O. 

The Evening Anchor, Robin Robinson is also making a move. But her move is not at the station (yet) but she's moving out of her house. 

On Monday Robinson sold her five-bedroom house in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood for $1.175 million.

The anchor had lived in the home since 1997, when she bought it for $520,000. Nota bad profit there.  

On Tuesday, Robinson told Elite Street that with her youngest child in high school, she has wanted to downsize.  She said she is renting while evaluating her next move.

"It’s kind of refreshing," she said. "You feel a little lighter, with a lot less stuff.  A lot of my friends are doing the same thing.  But change is always hard.  My daughter's been there since she was born, and she doesn't like change.

H/T Chicago Tribune  

Preaching to The Choir

After a decade of being yelled at by those left wing bitty's on 'The View', the mothership has finally called Elisabeth Hasselbeck home.

Starting Monday, Hasselbeck will debut on Fox and Friends where she will be able to pick on President Obama and other Democrats without getting yelled at. 

Hasselbeck takes over for Gretchen Carlson who will be moving to a show later in the day.  

The perky blonde sat down with TV Guide and talked about her new gig at F&F: 

TV Guide Magazine: Even viewers who didn't agree with you politically liked your feistiness on The View. How are we going to get that spark out of you when you're sitting with a couple of like-minded co-hosts?

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: There is understandably the big misconception that controversy is what people enjoyed about [The View]. But there are numbers and focus groups and viewers who say they enjoyed the conversation. I'm a person who believes that if you are who you say who you are, it doesn't matter where you are or you're with — you can be full of spark. I have incredible co-hosts who have already been doing a phenomenal job. It's the least of my concerns.

TV Guide Magazine: The Daily Show picks on Fox & Friends a lot and there's a pretty rough parody of it on Saturday Night Live. Are you ready for that?

Hasselbeck: It's never easy being No. 1 [among cable news morning shows] as Fox & Friendsand has been for a long time. So there will be people in jest with satirical comments or with bad intent looking to chomp at the heels of the frontrunner. You can spend your time focused on that or just working hard with good attitude and ethic. The latter has been the rule for me.

TV Guide Magazine: Have you seen the SNL bit?

Hasselbeck: No I haven't. I think I would get a kick out of it. That's just what they do so I don't think that bothers anybody.

Why is Howie Kurtz Smiling?

If you run into Fox News TV critic Howard "I'm not Reliable" Kurtz and he has a big smile on his face...here's why.

Word is that Tina Brown, the woman that fired Howard Kurtz is about to have the tables turned on her. 

Buzzfeed is reporting that Brown's contract will not be renewed. The website writes "according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, The Daily Beast parent company IAC owned by media mogul Barry Diller does not plan to renew Brown’s contract when it expires in January."

Back in early August Brown and Kurtz got into a bit of a Twitter pissing match. 

Today, it's a day of sweet redemption for Howie.  

Chicago Station Hires Houston Anchor

FTVLive has learned FIRST that WFLD the Fox O&O in Chicago has hired Natalie Bomke as the new morning anchor.

Bomke comes from KRIV in Houston where she spent the past 3 years anchoring the station's morning newscast.

Bomke has ties to Illinois, she's from Springfield and her parents still live there.

This reunites her with her News Director Tom Doerr, when came from WFLD from KRIV. 

NBC Remembers 9/11.....This Time

This is Matt Lauer on the Today Show breaking the news on September 11, 2001.

This is what the Today Show was showing last year at 8:46AM, the time when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. 

The Today Show and NBC took a lot of heat for blowing off the remembrance on 9/11 to talk to Kris Kardashian. 

This is the Today Show this morning.  

It appears that the Today Show has learned their lesson of last year. NBC produced a 4+ minute piece remembering the attacks of 9/11. 

A lot has changed in a year at NBC. A new Network President, a new Today Show EP and a number of other changes. But, give the Peacock credit for not dropping the ball this time. Maybe, just maybe...NBC is moving the Today Show back in the right direction. 

This Poor Kid is in for a Rude Awakening

You have to feel for this college student. Oh to be so young and naive. 

Big Apple Stations Tune to 9/11 Ceremony

Learning lesson from the past, all the New York stations will cover the events taking place around the 9/11 day of remembrance.  

All station's will cover the city’s most somber annual ceremony: the reading of the names of Sept. 11 victims in downtown Manhattan.

The NY Daily News says that New York 1 and Ch. 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 will cover much or all of the ceremony, in which families read the names.

The event starts with a moment of silence at 8:46, when the first tower was hit, and include three more moments of silence for the attack on the second tower and the two collapses.

Coverage will begin between 8 and 8:45 a.m., depending on the station, and run until around noon. Some channels intersperse other memorial coverage with the name reading.

National and cable news outlets also plan memorial coverage, though usually in shorter form. NBC’s “Today” took some flak last year for staying with a Kris Jenner interview rather than covering the start of ceremonies.

We're betting they won't make that mistake again this year. 

Anthony Weiner's Last Message to the Media

Weiner maybe down, but his middle finger was up.  

As of Today, Anthony Weiner AKA Carlos Danger can start back up his sexting career. He did have one last message for the media as he drove away.  

The guy showed what little class he has.  Let's hope we never hear from this jerk again.  

CNN's Crossfire Loses to MSNBC

CNN rushed to get their new look Crossfire on the air because things were heating up in Syria.  

The show had a awkward debut and CNN would have been wise to wait until the pundits  turned anchors could learn how to host a show.

But the question is, how did Crossfire do in their first night of ratings? 

They lost to Al Sharpton on MSNBC. 

Ouch...that has to hurt.  

Here's the numbers: 

FOXNEWS BAIER 2,402,000
MSNBC SHARPTON 617,000
CNN CROSSFIRE 581,000

Making News

WINK-TV in Fort Myers ended up making some news while going to cover some news. 

The crew was in station's live truck on the way to cover a fire.

Their van crashed on I-75 rolling over and stopping traffic. 

Florida Highway Patrol said the van lost control after a tire blew out, causing the van to flip.

Reporter Vanessa Ruffes and Photographer Lucas Bogg, were treated at Naples Community Hospital for minor injuries and have been released.

H/T WINK

O-Town Anchor Back After Delivering Triplets

Anchor Martha Sugalski has returned to WESH in Orlando.

The anchor left the air (but never stopped Tweeting) to give birth to triplets. 

"The last time people saw you on TV you were as big as a house," Sugalski's co-anchor Jim Payne cracked..

"A birdhouse," Sugalski said, laughing.

"Enormous," Payne said. "Not only have you transformed yourself back again, but you have these three new lives that you're in charge of. It's remarkable."

Sugalski said the family had a hard time telling the identical boys apart and that her daughter, who weighed 2 pounds 6 ounces at birth, is now 7 pounds.

"She's doing really, really well, and they're all healthy. They're my three little miracles," Sugalski said.

In a taped segment, Sugalski said she loved being a mom and working in the news business. "I've got the best of both worlds," she said. "I'm really looking forward to coming back and seeing all my great co-workers and ... getting back on the anchor desk."

H/T Orlando Sentinel  

Lauer has Loved 18 of his 20 Years at Today

Matt Lauer still thinks he got a raw deal when NBC sacked Ann Curry from the Today Show (although we should point out, not as raw of a deal as Curry herself).

Lauer spoke with Esquire and says that out of his 20 years at Today, 18 have been great. The 2 bad years he blames on the media coverage of him screwing over Ann Curry.

Lauer says "the way the media treated what happened with Ann Curry was a disappointing learning experience. I was disappointed by the laziness of the media, the willingness to read a rumor, repeat that rumor, and treat it as a fact. And yet, what were my options? Does anyone want to see a person who’s making the money that the newspapers say I’m making complaining, “Woe is me, my life is terrible, and people are being unfair”? No one would’ve had any patience for that. I wouldn’t have any patience for that. So you just shut up and go about doing your job and hope that people who know you well — your friends and your family — know what’s true.

If I were to write a contract and put it in front of a group of young broadcasters and journalists, and on this piece of paper it said, “You’re going to have twenty years as host of the Today show, and eighteen of those years are going to be so unbelievably fantastic that you’re going to think you’re living in a fantasy world. And one or two of those years is going to be incredibly frustrating and challenging,” don’t you think every single one of those young broadcasters and journalists would grab that paper out of my hand and sign on the dotted line? 

More at Esquire.com