Thursday Odds and Ends

Tonight I have a whole bunch of wonderful finds from our amazing research assistant Julie.




THR.com had a Q&A with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and during the conversation, Anderson Cooper is mentioned. I guess there were worse things Bill could have said so Anderson should be flattered.



Here is a great article about CNN reporter Nkepile Mabuse



Tony Harris was recently in South America and you can see a picture of Tony by checking out this blog.

D.L. Hughley talks about his show ending with the Daily News.

Christiane Amanpour on panel awarding grants for the stories of change program. You can about the event by clicking here and here.

Here are two articles about Christiane Amanpour’s new show and Executive Producer Kathy O’Hearn you can read them here and here.

Book Asylum came across a great pic of a portrait of Kiran Chetry and her son Christopher on the AMFIX blog and it is really amazingly well done. Check it out right here.

Kiran Chetry and Robin Meade were recently names by the television show Extra as some of the hottest women in morning television.

Congratulations to CNN on there Peabody Award win for Coverage of 2008 Presidential Primary Campaigns and Debates.

That's it for me. See you next week ~ Sapphire

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

News Around CNN: Thursday Edition

Former CNN correspondent Miles O'Brien will join the SpaceflightNow.com Webcast for the next shuttle launch. The five-hour live video broadcast will cover the March 11 launch of Discovery.

TVNewser is reporting that D.L Hughley is ending his show. Insiders tell us CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" will end its run at the end of the month, and we're told the decision was Hughleys.

From CNN: "D.L. approached CNN about being permanently based in Los Angeles, where his family lives. To accommodate this, we agreed upon a new role where he will be a contributor for the network based in Los Angeles. We are eager to continue our relationship with D.L., who is a tremendous talent and a valued colleague."

Insiders tell TVNewser it would have become cost-prohibitive to produce the show in Los Angeles. The one-hour, Saturday night news/comedy show had been drawing about 200,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo in recent weeks.It's not known what will happen to the staff of "Hughley" who were made aware of the news in a meeting this afternoon. The show debuted Oct. 25, 2008.

Looks like we will be seeing Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the CNN airwaves for a while longer. Gupta opts out of surgeon general consideration You can read the full story here.

CNN will be increasing its coverage on Africa. With Nkepile Mabuse, Isha Sesay, Robyn Curnow, David McKenzie and Christian Purefoy leading the coverage.

The Daily News had a great article with Campbell Brown where Campbell talks O’Reilly, Olbermann and mold. Interesting combination I know. To read more click here.

A group of Washington State and Toronto youth have started a campaign to get Anderson Cooper to cover the plight of those in Sri Lanka. I could not agree more and I would guess Anderson would love to get out into the field and cover these stories. To read more click here.

That is it for me this week. Another huge thank you to Julie for her terrific finds ~ Sapphire

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

News Around the Watercooler ~ CNN Style

On this upcoming Saturday's Early Show, a Manhattan couple will get married on the plaza for Valentine's Day. Anchor Erica Hill, who recently became an ordained minister online, will officiate

Here is a great article about David Gergen’s opinion about the passing of the stimulus package.


Here are two articles about D.L. Hughley being at Quinniplac University. You can read them here and here

Brianna Keilar was interviewed about CNN coverage in Taneytown

The Harvard Crimson wrote a terrific article about Soledad O’Brien

Here is an opinion piece on John King and “State of the Union and how the writer thinks it will beat “Meet the Press”

If anyone went to Ali Velshi’s book signing and have any pics or stories you would love to share, we would love to hear about it.

Programming Note: AC360: Special CNN Money Summit: Join Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi. This will air Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 11pm (ET). Also the CNN Money Summit will replay on Friday, February, 20. 2009 at 11pm (ET)

That is it for me this week……thanks again to Julie for her great finds. Until next Thursday ~ Sapphire

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Tears & Surprises

Newsday.com recently spoke with D.L. Hugley about his new program on CNN. Here's an excerpt from the article:

CNN has had a new weekend talk show host since October, and he's ... a stand-up comedian? "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" offers a take on the week's events in politics, entertainment, sports and pop culture. Hughley acknowledges the union may be "an unholy alliance," but sees it this way: "If CNN can have Nancy Grace, they can have me, too."

You and CNN - as if the line separating news and entertainment wasn't already murky enough?

The news has always informed what I talk about. My gig hasn't changed. News has been inundated with entertainment elements since O.J. So to even now pretend that news and entertainment haven't meshed is disingenuous.

You were taken by surprise when former White House rep Scott McClellan came on and endorsed Barack Obama. What else has caught you off guard?

Al Sharpton and I haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things, and I was shocked at how different he was than I always imagined he would be. I've misjudged his motives. I always thought he was just doing what he does because he wanted attention. The more I talk to him, the more I realize that - however sometimes misguided he can be - he does what he does because he wants to make things better.

The "Original Kings of Comedy" tour and subsequent film were career milestones. How were you influenced by Bernie Mac?

Bernie taught me that the hardest thing for a black man to do was to be an individual. I have to tell myself that often, and whenever I think it, I have to think about him. Comedically, he was uncompromising. Right before he passed, he was at a charity event for Obama and said something that involved color, and people got irritated. That's how he was - an individual.

There's been this exhalation since the elections, at least in New York. Is there a particular pressure not to pounce on Barack Obama?

He'll do things that people find ironic and funny, and when he does, they should attack. For me, those things happen organically. Sooner or later, he'll be a politician - he'll do something that I think is ironic, or very human - and when he does, I'll be there.

Have you met Anderson Cooper yet? He's spread kind of thin, no?

Anderson Cooper is CNN's Ryan Seacrest.

Candy Crowley interviewed the President in the Oval Office this week. What could the President do that would throw Candy off balance? She talked about the interview on No Bias, No Bull with Campbell Brown.

Part 1:

Part 2:

What could bring Christine Romans to tears on Your $$$$$? On Saturday's program Ryan Mack discussed investment options for 2009 and then things got personal. Luckily, Ali Velshi was there to keep the program going.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Comments from Amanpour, Hughley, & Gupta

Photo credit: Jemal Countess/WireImage

On November 19, 2008, CNN's Christiane Amanpour attended the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Bridge Dedication Gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piersin New York City. While there she spoke with US Magazine:

Jennifer Aniston isn't a fan of Angelina Jolie, but Christiane Amanpour sure is.

"Angelina does an amazing job in terms of her capacity to highlight issues and problems around the world and with her humanitarian and human rights work," Amanpour, who is the Chief International Correspondent for CNN, told Usmagazine.com at the Justice & Human Rights Bridge Dedication Gala on Wednesday in NYC. She said she has no plans to interview the celeb.

Neal Justin of the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) recently spoke with D.L. Hughley about his new program on CNN. Here are few snippets from the interview:

The newest member of the CNN family is also its unlikeliest. D.L. Hughley dropped out of high school, joined a Los Angeles gang, then turned his life around with a comedic career based on making audiences squirm.

Despite the nontraditional résumé -- and his unabashed support of Barack Obama -- he's the host of "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," a one-hour program jam-packed with skits, interviews and in-your-face observations, with many of the news network's tools and personalities at his disposal.

You spent election night interviewing folks in Times Square... What was Times Square like?

You always hear your parents talk about when such-and-such happened, like man landing on the moon, but my generation has always missed those things. I didn't have any context -- until Tuesday. I mean, people were crying, they were euphoric. It took an hour and a half to go 30 blocks. Of course, near the end of the evening, I tried to get a taxi and it just rolled on by. I had to get a doorman to get me one. So things haven't altogether changed.

On last weekend's episode, you talked to Jesse Jackson Jr. and you showed footage of his father crying in Grant Park. I thought that was one of the evening's most memorable moments.

I think for people like him, they couldn't believe it was happening. I mean, my generation hasn't been the most inspirational. Activism kind of skipped us. I couldn't stop crying myself because I was thinking of my father. He's still with us, but we're not very close. Still, that was a moment we could have shared. I missed him right then.

What kind of shows did you have prepared in case Obama had lost?

Well, I would have had to be honest, but that whole idea would have been so final for me. I mean, if it's not this guy, then who? I would have definitely concluded that a black man can't be president. But, yeah, I would have found some humor in it.

Where will you find humor in an Obama presidency? Isn't pessimism funnier than optimism?

Optimism can be funny. Anything you're earnest about can be funny. I've never found it particularly hard to go after people I'm fond of. I mean, when you were in school and you really liked a girl, you didn't pass her a note. You tripped her. Nobody gets a pass.

Do you think Obama has a good sense of humor?

He'd better get one.

This show could have just as easily played on Comedy Central, HBO or BET. Why CNN?

They made the best offer. We originally had offers from all those people you named, but CNN had never been involved in anything like this, and that makes me excited and nervous. We've got a lot of advantages and an abundant amount of information. I can talk to so many people around the world. Last week, I interviewed some comics in Kenya. For CNN, it's no big deal. They've got a lot of tools I can play with.

On the other hand, we don't have a writers' room. We work in the middle of a pit, surrounded by anchors and reporters. We don't get to rehearse anything. We've got no crafts services, no wardrobe, no PAs [personal assistants]. It's really stripped down.

Variety posted the following comment made by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta about growing up watching movies.

It isn't brain surgery. Yet, watching movies can mean a lot to a second-generation Indian American growing up in small-town America (Chelsea, Mich.), where the name Sanjay Gupta is about as exotic as it gets.

"I love the rah-rah movies like 'Rocky' and 'Remember the Titans.' They're the classic underdog stories," says the Atlanta-based neurosurgeon, who moonlights as a health correspondent for CNN. "In Philadelphia, I've run up the 'Rocky' stairs."

Some Oscar-winning movies get better over time. Gupta saw Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful" when it was released in 1998 and once again more recently. "I found it even more emotionally powerful now that I have two kids of my own," he says. In the film, "The father endangers his own life in the World War II concentration camp so that his son can survive. That's the ultimate for any parent."

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

SoFA update and more

Michael Ware appeared on D.L. Hughley's program this weekend to discuss what the president-elect faces in dealing with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran:

And today on American Morning, he delivered the "Memo to the President" on the current status in Iraq, including the weekend approval of the Status of Forces Agreement:

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Arwa Damon reports on the latest in the SoFA drama. Despite the headlines, like everything in Iraq, this is a lot less neat and tidy than the headlines indicate:

Meanwhile, Nic Robertson reports from Afghanistan, where the steeply uphill battle for "hearts and minds" continues:

Finally, in this very short clip, Afghan President Karzai says that if he chooses to grant Taliban leader Mullah Omar protection, he will. The Taliban declined the offer, part of his bid to get peace talks underway:

That's it for me today. Have a good week!

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

CNN=Politics...one more day!

Oh, yes... tomorrow the obsessed election-watchers get their last mainline dose and start withdrawal pains! How are they going to handle not having the constant updates, the polls, the pundits, the bar arguments? Will therapy be needed? Is there a 12-step program? Miles O'Brien takes a look:

Thursday, Miles did a piece about those big, old, clunky voting machines. I always voted on these babies until I moved to the Left Coast, and they were great. You really FELT your vote when you cast it. Thunk, thunk, thunk, and then pulling that lever to record them...KACHUNK! And they apparently could not be rigged, how reassuring would that be to have these days?

On his show this weekend, D.L. Hughley interviewed the professor seen in that piece, and as they spoke, ran a time-lapse clip of how he doctored one of those new machines. Less than seven minutes to rig it. Scary stuff:

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Tuesday, Jeffrey Toobin ran through the implications this election will have on the Supreme Court, possibly the longest-lasting impact the new president will have, since the people he names to the bench will be ruling on cases for decades to come:

Saturday night, Michael Ware paid a late-night call to the NewsRoom to discuss the political impact on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Finally, I'd like to end with Fareed Zakaria's final word from his Sunday show. What does it mean to be an American? General Colin Powell made some excellent points during his recent Meet the Press appearance:

If you're one of the lucky ones able to vote early and have already done so, sit back and enjoy tomorrow (once you've called everyone you know and made sure that THEY have voted!) If you will be voting tomorrow, make sure to go early, wear comfortable shoes, and enjoy yourself no matter how long the lines are. You are helping to make history -- we could have the largest voter turnout in decades, and it's about time we cared enough!

We'll be live-blogging on ATA tomorrow, so be sure to join us for the climax of the CNN=Politics party and -- all hyperbole aside -- the most important US presidential election any of us have witnessed!

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Who's The Fairest Of Them All?

Saturday is the premiere of DL Hugley's new program on CNN.

He’s an Original King of Comedy and he’s coming to CNN. On October 25th, CNN debuts a new weekend show hosted by renowned comedian D.L. Hughley. This self-professed news junkie is one of the most popular and highly recognized stand-up comedians performing today. His new weekend show will take a comedic look at the week’s events in the news. It’s a fact - some of the most popular shows on television are focused on the news but hosted by comedians. Now, the world’s news leader will take the lead in this extremely popular genre of programming based on news and current events. Our dedication to journalism is unequivocal, but sometimes we all need a laugh.

This is a bold, unconventional programming initiative for the CNN brand, but it’s an example of how CNN continues to explore new ways to connect to its audiences and build community, especially with the younger, more diverse audience that has recently been choosing CNN in significant numbers. There is nothing like D.L. Hughley on CNN and his presence to motivate new audiences to sample all of the networks in the CNN portfolio.

This new late-night-style weekend show will feature Hughley’s fresh take on the news of the week – and the world around him. Everything from politics and world affairs to entertainment, sports and pop culture will be fodder for comedy and commentary. Hughley’s curiosity will be paired with CNN’s global resources to create an unconventional broadcast of comedy, conversation and debate.

Performed in front of a live audience, the show will feature Hughley’s unique interpretation of some traditional late night television offerings, each with an added value only CNN can offer. The show will draw heavily on CNN’s video resources and will feature richly crafted video pieces. Interviews with newsmakers and panels of pundits, as well as real people and comedians are all likely to show up depending on the topics of the week. Live and pre-taped comedy segments in studio and on location will also be featured in the show. CNN’s own correspondents and reporters will be on hand to weigh-in on topics and potentially be seen occasionally as Hughley’s good-natured “straight men.”

The show will deliver information with an unusual perspective that taps into all of Hughley’s comedic instincts. The one-hour show will be taped on Fridays and air every Saturday and Sunday from CNN’s New York studios.

"D.L. HUGHLEY BREAKS THE NEWS" on CNN
Uploaded by thatsfunny

The program airs at 8PM ET on Saturday, October 25th and 8PM ET on Sunday, October 26th on CNN.

Thursday night's Anderson Cooper 360 showed a clip from the Thursday night edition of Saturday Night Live. SNL aired a skit concerning the magic map that we frequently see John King using.

Thanks to Phebe for the clip!

If you were watching Ellen earlier this week, you would have seen her talking about how much CNN she has been watching. She mentions The Situation Room, Larry King Live, Campbell Brown, John King, Anderson Cooper, and Wolf Blitzer.

Friday night, Richard Roth appeared on Jeopardy to provide the answers for the United Nations category. Friday was "United Nations Day."

All Things CNN is now on Twitter.

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John the Plumber & Fareed on Colbert

American Morning airs here at 3 AM, so seldom do I watch it live. To be honest, seldom do I even watch my recording of it anymore, life has just gotten too busy. The other morning I had to be up early to take my husband to the airport and I tuned in just in time to catch John Roberts talking about fixing a toilet at the White House. Here's the clip and I hope that one day JR shares the rest of the story!

One program I rarely miss is The Colbert Report. On Monday this week Stephen's guest was Fareed Zakaria. Lots of money talk and a few laughs also.

Don't forget to set the TIVO, DVR, or VCR for this weekend's premiere of D.L. Hughley Breaks The News. The program will be recorded before a live audience in the NYC studio and air on Saturday night at 10 PM (Eastern) with a repeat airing the same time on Sunday night. The program will feature Hughley’s comedic take on the week’s events in the news – everything from politics to entertainment, sports and pop culture, as well as one-on-one interviews with a wide range of newsmakers and the reporters who cover them.

The ladies of ATC would like to send birthday greetings to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Nancy Grace.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you back at ATC soon. ~Phebe

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.