Legendary Producer Dick Clark Dead At 82

Dick Clark, perhaps one of the greatest icons in TV and music production has died of a massive heart attack at the age of 82. Not only famous for his AMERICAN BANDSTAND television show, but for numerous other productions, Dick Clark was one of television's greatest production figures for decades. Dick Clark's AMERICAN BANDSTAND really helped to introduce rock and roll as mainstream entertainment to the American public, giving so many artists a showcase for their songs long before the music video and MTV took video images and music to new higher levels. Dick Clark was also the producer of other entertainment such as the game show PYRAMID and his DICK CLARK'S ROCKIN' NEW YEARS EVE as well, giving the rock and generation a hip alternate to the more conservative New Years programming on the other networks.

Dick Clark also was the host of some rock and roll countdown radio shows, and even filled in for Casey Kasem's AMERICAN TOP FORTY on occasion. Dick Clark still contributed some music profile segments to the syndicated oldies show, REWIND WITH GARY BRYAN, which is aired on many radio stations throughout the U.S., and offers some neat little interview segments each week.

One major feature of AMERICAN BANDSTAND each week was the top ten songs of the week list, which David Letterman has managed to turn into a long running comedy feature on his own television programs. Clark and Don Cornelius, the creator of SOUL TRAIN, were at times rivals, although they did manage some joint music productions.

Although the beloved producer and announcer always maintained a youthful appearance throughout his life, often appearing considerably younger than his actual age, Clark suffered a significant stroke back in 2004, yet worked hard to make a comeback and appeared on his own ROCKIN' NEW YEARS EVE shows as late as this past year's 2012 show. He had an immediately recognizable and famous voice that well loaned itself to advertising and promotions as well.

Dick Clark leaves us as one of the most influential television personalities of our generation.

Ted Nugent's Stupid Comments At St.Louis NRA Convention Under Investigation

Leave it up to raw meat rocker Ted Nugent to make some crazy statements at an NRA convention that would lead to him being put under federal investigation. But, speaking before thinking seems to come natural for Nugent, who's main popularity as a rock star has long since waned back by the late 70's. The last thing the NRA needs is for lunatics like Nugent to characterize their organization as a loose confederation of kooks with guns rather than sane and responsible persons in possession of potentially dangerous weapons.

The whole mess also reflected poorly on Mitt Romney as well, because Ted Nugent has publicly endorsed Romney. Romney, himself was speaking at the convention in St. Louis as well. But, Mitt Romney's connection to the NRA is also in question. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney once had a disparaging comment about the NRA, but then later joined the organization shortly before he ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008, losing to John McCain for the GOP nomination that year. Romney further claimed to like to hunt on one hand, but then also joked about not knowing which end of the gun to point because he claimed to know so little about firearms. There isn't really much evidence that Romney is any gun enthusiast at all, and that he simply joined the NRA in 2008 merely to advance his political credentials with gun issue voters who support the NRA. Given his contradictory views on the NRA, it is actually difficult to judge whether Romney is actually a dependable gun rights supporter or a gun control advocate. His views on that issue are just that convoluted. Then again, Nugent seems to be rather confused himself.

Ted Nugent's comments about President Obama also seemed rather surprising partly because the president hasn't really promoted any new legislation regarding firearms, and has publicly supported the Second Amendment as well, which indicates that he has many moderate positions in some areas compared to some Democrats who are at the forefront of gun control legislation.

In August 2010, Ted Nugent was arrested for hunting violations which included baiting a deer and then not having properly signing hunting tags. Further, during the filming of a TV show, Nugent was reportedly witnessed killing an immature buck according to another source. Nugent may like to hunt, but he hasn't always followed the rules and it cost him a $1750 fine when he was forced to plead no contest to the charges stemming from the hunting violations arrest.

Body Builder Porn Star Dies From Police Tasers

Popular porn star, Sledge Hammer(Marland Anderson), a 6 ft 4 inch body builder, died after police were forced to use tasers on him to subdue him after an extreme panic attack at his home. Apparently, his girlfriend called 911 for help after the body builder who appeared in over 800 adult films since the 1990's suffered what appeared to be a terrible panic attack. Paramedics attempted to put him in an ambulance, but he freaked out where 8 police officers attempted to subdue the strongman who broke his handcuffs and gurney in the ambulance, so police had to taser him, which apparently triggered some sort of heart attack.

Apparently, the actor and body builder had some sort of extreme panic attack that he was unable to deal with, and cut himself in an attempt to commit suicide. His girlfriend called for help, but with his extreme strength and fear from his panic reaction, he broke the handcuffs and ambulance gurney with his great strength, where only eight police and their tasers were able to finally get him under control enough to bring him to the hospital emergency room. But, he later lost consciousness at the hospital and died of a heart attack five days later that was suspected to be triggered from the use of the tasers meant to get him under control so he could be transported for emergency care at the hospital.

A police investigation will take place on how an event meant to get someone emergency medical care somehow went so badly.

Some evidence exists that the bodybuilder became a heavy user of marijuana in recent years, besides having a genetic disposition toward panic attacks, both of which factors likely played a large role in the tragic events that eventually took his life.

Think You Had A Bad Weekend? Movie Has $83 Gross Weekend

Unbelievable, but true. one movie actually had just a $83 gross opening weekend, while a few big movies grossed millions in box office receipts. THE BEAT HOTEL is actually a very serious and decent documentary movie that received a great write-up in THE NEW YORK TIMES, but that sure didn't help the film to gross anything more than just $83 this weekend. The average garage sale would have brought in bigger revenues than this did.

Filmmaker Alan Govenar put together an intriguing documentary about a low-rent Paris boarding house that became home to such avant garde counterculture figures like Alan Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Gregory Corso, yet it seemed like very few people even bothered to buy a ticket this past weekend to this very good film which, unfortunately played in just one theater nationwide in it's far less than underwhelming box office debut.

One might ask if the paltry $83 gross was even enough to pay for the rent, lights or pay scales to keep the projectionist employed to run this hour and a half film. probably not.

Unfortunately, THE BEAT HOTEL nows establishes a dubious record for perhaps the very worst national debut for a very good art-house film. And that's deeply sad.

Love Me Two Times?: Doors Guitarist Has To Return Gift Mercedes For Smaller Model

Robbie Krieger, the guitarist for the legendary Doors bought his wife of 40 years a nice new large Mercedes ML350 SUV as a gift. But, as nice as this wonderful gift was, it appears that he was sent back to exchange this pricey gift for a smaller GLK350 model. Not sure if she liked the better gas mileage of the smaller model or the easier parking ability, but the guitarist was very happy to make the major league gift exchange.

Love me two times? Visit the Mercedes dealer twice today?

Robin Gibb In Coma, Could Die Soon

Only last month, Robin Gibb, 62, from the legendary Bee Gees seemed like he had been making a miraculous health comeback and even made a guest singing appearance at a charity event. But, then he needed further intestinal surgery on March 25, and then his health problems started to deeply worsen from there. Now, the singer has reportedly fallen into a coma, with his family at his bedside where he could possibly die very soon. It's only the latest tragedy to strike the famous Gibb family who were once nearly second to The Beatles in popularity and record sales for many years.

Rather than a sustained popularity, The Bee Gees had two major periods of huge popularity and explosive record sales. In the later 60's and into around 1971, the band had a string of successful singles such as "I've Got To Get A Message To You", Lonely Days" and "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart". But, then the group re-invented itself as the kings of the disco sound starting in 1975 with the #1 single "Jive Talkin'', and a huge wave of sustained popularity with a string of ten ten or #1 singles such as "Nights On Broadway", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive" that lasted until the August 1981 #1 single, "Love You Inside Out". After that string of hits, many Bee Gees singles ands albums were far less successful, until the July 1989 single, "One" which hit at #7 on the U.S. charts. But, The Bee Gees managed to offer both new studio singles and albums until 2001, and some compilation albums after that time up until 2010.

The younger brother of the the elder Gibb brothers, Andy Gibb, also achieved something of a teen idol status for a time as a hot performer on his own. But, then just like their Bee Gees single, "Tragedy", a string of bad events started to hit the Gibb brothers. In 1988 at the age of 30, Andy Gibb died of a heart inflammation condition. In 2003, 53 year old brother Maurice died of a sudden heart attack, leaving only Robin and his young brother, Barry as surviving Gibb brothers. Now, Robin Gibb is facing life threatening health conditions, as a pneumonia complication is said to be a main cause for the coma that the famous singer has fallen into.

All we can do at this point is to offer Robin Gibb our best wishes and prayers accordingly. We certainly wish both him and his family the very best at this critical moment.

HUNGER GAMES Leads Friday Box Office Over Both THE THREE STOOGES and CABIN IN THE WOODS

Although, THE THREE STOOGES is posting strong Friday numbers, estimated around $5.6 million dollars opening night, THE HUNGER GAMES is still expected to remain the weekend's overall box office favorite. The film took in an estimated $6.4 million on Friday, besting those three crazy guys and the unusual horror flick, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, which took in an estimated $5.5 million.

The expected box office weekend win of THE HUNGER GAMES will give the film four weeks of box office top spot wins, and the film will top the $322 million it has already earned when this weekend's figures are expected to add another $20 million or so.

With the end of some teen-friendly franchise films like the HARRY POTTER series, THE HUNGER GAMES, will give younger audiences a new genre series to look forward to in coming years.

The Farrelly brothers had real difficulty making THE THREE STOOGES because actors such as Sean Penn and Jim Carrey kept leaving the troubled project, where the film looked to be dead on arrival several times since it's 1996 plans to be produced. It almost seemed like a miracle the film was ever made, yet actors Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulis have proved to be better than most critics expected, where many critics actually found the film to very funny.

Bob Dylan's A Huge Fan Of The Three Stooges

A funny and surprising little tidbit is that famed singer-song writer, Bob Dylan is a huge fan of The Three Stooges. In fact, when the Farrelly Brothers sought permission from Dylan to use one his legendary songs, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", Dylan was very gracious and excited to play a part in the film by providing this song. Dylan had an interesting perspective on The Three Stooges as well, where he tended to view Moe as the "smartest" on one hand, but considered himself a fan of Moe's brother, Shemp. In fact, Shemp seems to have some strong appeal among the very intelligent. Bob Costas, for example is a big lover of Shemp as well.

A person can almost imagine Bob Dylan saying something like, "Yeah, Curly Joe Derita, not so much. But, Shemp, whoaaa!".

Even though Bob Dylan is a fan of the Stooges, strangely, the older he gets, the more he looks a little like Vincent Price. The legendary singer-song writer turns 71 May 24.

Dennis Rodman And His Lawyer Need To Get On The Same Page

In order to defend Dennis Rodman in court for owing $808,935 in child support as well as an additional $51,441 in spousal support, Rodman's lawyer submitted court papers claiming that the controversial former NBA great player was both sick and broke. That would be clear enough of a defense, but Dennis Rodman decided that he needed to further complicate matters by appearing on NBC's TODAY SHOW to refute that he was neither broke nor ill. Now, you only have to wonder what his lawyer has to say. Having Dennis Rodman as your client takes the patience of a saint to stay sane.

You also may wonder what happens next when the judge in the ongoing child and spousal support case will be when the defendant says one thing in his official legal brief, but then goes on national TV to refute his own legal claims.

They say a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. They also say that a lawyer who represents Dennis Rodman in court, also has a fool for a client.

Mike Wallace Passed Up Press Secretary Role For Nixon Administration

Mike Wallace, the legend at 60 MINUTES died this past weekend. He was 93. But, many people don't realize that Mike Wallace was also a big fan of President Nixon and was even offered the press secretary position by the president. Wallace really wanted that job, but also had the opportunity at CBS to do the new 60 MINUTES news show. Wallace eventually chose to go with the CBS job. With so many perceived anti-Vietnam War stories that were run over on CBS News, some people believed that a liberal bias might have existed at the network, so Mike Wallace's love for the former president might come as a bit of a surprise to many persons.

Nixon was an interesting and controversial president even before he completely disgraced himself with his own involvement in the Watergate scandal mess. He was the former two-term vice president under the popular president and general, Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower was the first Republican to break a long rule of the Democrats at the White House that extended from the early days of cleaning up the mess of the Great Depression, to leading America through both WWII and the Korean War. Nixon was known for standing up to tough to cold war rivals like Nikita Khrushchev. But, some like Harry Truman didn't like Nixon much, whom he referred to as a "shifty-eyed Goddamn liar". But, outside of the late President John F. Kennedy, Nixon was viewed as one of the most skillful politicians of the 1960's, until Watergate ruined that reputation and Nixon resigned as one of the most hated politicians of all time. And, although he moved the Supreme Court in a direction not conducive to civil liberties or other things, he did promote open relations with China, where China is now one America's best trading partners and mostly a friend in the world now, and other notable achievements. Nixon was a real mixed bag of much progress on one hand, but other less good elements in abundance as well. Wallace probably was wise not to associate himself so closely with such an administration. Wallace made a worthy decision not to publicly proclaim his politics, and to appear to be more objective for his new story coverage. He was always one of the very best journalists ever.

Wallace also proved that a really well crafted prime time news program like 60 MINUTES could work as entertainment on the ratings hot Sunday night schedule. 60 MINUTES has had an enduring quality for decades now, although most original cast members have either moved on to retirement or even death.

It's hard to believe that Mike Wallace is gone. I don't think he wants to accept that either. My best guess is that his ghost still shows up for work at 60 MINUTES to do the show, refusing to accept death, because there's always that next big news story that only he can manage to cover so well. He was just that good. Evil doers would shake in their boots at the mere mention of the these words, "I'm Mike Wallace". Mike Wallace kept the evil doers honest, and righted wrongs with his blunt and honest journalism.

Mike Wallace did leave us with a very good newscaster son, Chris Wallace, who works for FOX. And Mike Wallace even wrote an inspirational article for the Christian magazine founded by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, GUIDEPOSTS, even though he himself was Jewish. Wallace did overcome a period of depression to make it to the ripe old age of 93, never really seeming to slow down with his workload until retirement from 60 MINUTES only a few years ago. No modern journalist can compare to Mike Wallace. He was the top of his field.

Lindsay Lohan Sells Her Designer Clothes To Pay Bills

As proof that Lindsay Lohan is now almost broke and suffering from huge legal bills and other debts, she was forced to sell a truck load of her designer clothes to a business that resells used clothing. Lindsay Lohan now joins a growing list of celebrities who have suffered such big financial setbacks that they are forced to sell their homes or other treasured personal belongings just to stay afloat financially.

Only days ago, some man attempted to seek six figures from the actress, claiming that he was a victim of a hit and run accident from Lohan. But, her car failed to show any body damage to prove his case. But, it had to be a new concern to the actress who appears to face a serious financial struggle right now, just as she is attempting to put her life back in order.

TMZ even claims that Lindsay Lohan was two months behind in her rent, but made a $23,000 payment recently, avoiding possible eviction as a further sign of her serious economic straits.

There is also some new, but disputed story that Lindsay Lohan may have involved in some nightclub altercation with some woman. But, given that recent attempt by some guy to claim a hit and run despite any physical evidence, this story deserves more investigation.

The Weird Story Behind " The Day The Music Died"

The fateful 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper is a far more strange story than most realize. Country Western legend Waylon Jennings also played a very big role in this terrible story, and nearly became a victim as well. Yet as a survivor, he had a lifetime regret because of something he said only moments before that crash. Reportedly, Waylon Jennings just never completely got over his own personal connection to this terrible accident.

Singer-song writer Don McLean once had a huge #1 epic single singing about this terrible event, yet few persons today know about the unfortunate chain of events that led up that February 3, 1959 plane crash that killed three of the greatest rock and roll pioneers of that time.

Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were all hot acts in the early rock and roll music scene. And wise promoters had the three taking part in a very grueling 24 city Winter Midwest concert tour, but the tour bus was being badly stressed due to traveling long distances in very cold weather, and at some point the heater core must have failed in the bus, making travel very cold through the frigid Midwest Winter weather. Eventually, the bus suffered some sort of mechanical failure and stopped running and broke down , where one of Buddy Holly's musicians needed to be hospitalized due to frostbite problems with his feet. The bus was repaired, however the heater core couldn't be immediately repaired for the 380 mile trip to the next concert tour spot in Minnesota, so arrangements were made to fly Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings and Richie Valens to the next concert tour city for $36 each on a charter plane while the other band members were forced to make the miserable 380 mile trip in the cold tour bus. But, as fate would have it, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson developed the flu and didn't feel very well and asked if Waylon Jennings, who played guitar for Buddy Holly, if he would mind giving up his seat on the small chartered aircraft.

All of these building problems with this ill-fated concert only led to some dark humor jokes between Buddy Holly and his friend, Waylon Jennings. Holly joked about something to the effect of, "I hope your bus breaks down", while Jennings joked that he "hoped" that the plane would "crash". It was a joke that Waylon Jennings would soon to regret. Jennings was unaware that the illness of "The Big Bopper" was something that was soon to save his own life, while his dark little joke about hoping for the plane to crash was now like a dark cloud curse hanging over the flight.

Shortly after the small charter plane left the air, with a 21 year old pilot who wasn't fully experienced must have encountered some weather related spatial disorientation and somehow ended slamming the small plane into the ground near clear Lake, Iowa at around 170mph where the bodies of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper were all thrown free from the small plane's wreckage. Only the body of the pilot was still in the wreckage, discovered a short time after the plane lost contact with the airport it took off from.

But, Waylon Jennings was forever marked with both sadness and regret about this terrible tragedy. His little joke about the hoping the plane would "crash" always haunted him for the rest of his life and became a great personal burden for him to carry around.

The Story Behind The Alan Parsons Project EVE Cover

One of the most mysterious album covers of all time is 1979's EVE album by The Alan Parson Project. At first what appears to breath-takingly beautiful models under veils is actually women suffering some horrible herpes sore deformities at a closer look. The women were actually prostitutes from Paris who were badly infected with a form of herpes virus. It is a shocking look at the high cost of low living.

The album itself is also a strange commentary about women as well, with one side of the album raising critical views some men hold about women, while the other side of the original vinyl album takes a sympathetic view toward women and some men's treatment of them. In the cd form, the album has been expanded with seven additional tracks, including demo and outtake versions of "Lucifer" among bother tracks.

The album made it to #13 on the Billboard charts at one time, and it spurred a couple of interesting singles. In the U.S., "Damned If I do" was a top 30 hit in the United States. In Europe, "Lucifer" was a big hit single and did very well, although The Alan Parsons Project

The Alan Parson Project were viewed as being a progressive rock act with a little musical similarity to spacey sounding and esoteric progressive rock acts like Pink Floyd. EVE certainly rated as a unique concept album.

Amanda Bynes Arrested For Early Morning DUI Crash With A Police Car

Another young star in legal trouble.? Hey, what can possibly wrong there you say? Well, move over Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, there's new bad ass mama on the scene! It seems that Amanda Bynes was arrested for DUI in West Hollywood early this morning after her BMW collided with a plainly marked black & white police car. Word has it that cops hate that sort of thing. Bynes was booked, but reportedly released on $5000 bail. But, what was most striking was her new outrageous hair color in her lovely booking photo.

Bynes had just celebrated her 26th birthday on April 3, but apparently decided to make things a week long event and got herself liquored up again last night before being involved in the crash.

Besides being a young actress that was a fixture for years at the Nickelodeon Network, Bynes had attended a comedy camp as a girl, and was also a pretty decent comic as well. But, she hardly looked to be in any laughing mood in her booking photo though.

Chevy Chase Could Quit COMMUNITY Soon

Having Referred to COMMUNITY creator Dan Harmon as "that bastard", comedy actor Chevy Chase is having a major league feud with his show's exec that has become public in the last few days. For their part, the producers of COMMUNITY are very sorry that any details of this difference of opinion has become public. And Chevy Chase would sooner like to forget about all of this as well. Harmon apparently leaked an obscenity-laden voice-mail from Chevy Chase left to him, which became public news, only worsening any internal strife between the two. Now, it looks likely that Chevy Chase could leave the show as a result of the conflict and not return next season if the show is renewed for season four, which at this point looks more likely than not despite soft NBC Thursday night ratings.

DVD Review: BREAKING WIND

Lionsgate has just released the absurd parody of the TWILIGHT series, BREAKING WIND. And, as can be expected, this movie is a sophomoric little ditty with plenty of crude and crass jokes. In the first few minutes alone, I counted several oral sex jokes alone. That's almost a new world record. With some silly casting as well as makeup and put-on hairstyles, BREAKING WIND, sort of works as an outrageous comedy. Yet, a movie like this would have been much better if someone like Leslie Nielsen were still alive and playing a lead role. This movie seems like the sort of humor you'd expect from a Leslie Nielsen-type production.

While being far from high art, BREAKING WIND does at least get the job done by acting as a TWILIGHT parody to hang a bunch of jokes on. Compared to a really good outrageous hardcore comedy films like AIRPLANE! or THE NAKED GUN series, BREAKING WIND really pales against those comedy classics. But, still there's some laughs here, and that's about all you can expect from a parody movie like this. BREAKING WIND is about what you'd expect, no more and no less

The Bottom Line: Far from being great, BREAKING WIND will still have an appeal to the young TWILIGHT crowd lovers and haters alike as a sometimes dead-on parody and satire of the series. **(Two stars, fair. Not a comedy gem, but still certainly better than that awful BUCKY LARSON DVD release from a few months ago, which dug in new subbasement among comedy movies).

THE RAVEN: The Dark Crime Thriller Based On Poe Due April 27

With an upcoming April 27 release date in the U.S., THE RAVEN looks to be a great crime thriller. Starring John Cusack, the fictionalized story involves author Edgar Allan Poe who joins forces a police detective to stop a serial killer who is basing his crimes on the struggling authors works. While little about this film is based in fact, this fictional drama should still provide plenty of thrills. So far the early critical response has been fairly strong for this film involving a deadly game of cat and mouse to stop the serial killer before he claims more victims.

Expect to a see a gripping and great great gothic thriller here, beautifully done with a dark background. Audiences want to see this upcoming new film.

John Cusack makes for a pretty good looking Edgar Allan Poe here, probably better than his sister Joan would look with a beard. But, all kidding aside, John's a great actor with an impressive number of films under his notch. But, don't expect a whole new Edgar Allan Poe crime fighter series to result from this one shot bit of fiction. As the raven might just say, "nevermore".

FOOEY Magazine: The Ernie Kovacs Influenced Humor Magazine From 1961

From 1950's until the 70's, some satire and magazines like CRAZY, CRACKED, SICK and some far less well known quickly failed magazines like FOOEY, sought to find a market as a humor competitor to MAD Magazine. Launched as part of the comic genius of H.M. Steele, FOOEY only issued just four magazines during 1961 starting with the first issue in February before folding. Unfortunately, many of the issues of the magazine went unsold and were returned back to distributors. While most were likely destroyed, a few unsold new old stock copies were recently discovered and now being sold on Ebay by a back issue magazine dealer.

FOOEY had an identity far different than MAD. The magazine seemed to rely on many funny ad parodies that seemed surreal and strange, much like the Ernie Kovacs humor of that era. You can easy see that strange "Percy Turtledove" look in some of the features in the ill-fated and short-lived MAD Magazine competitor from Chicago, Illinois. H. M. Steele had to be a fan of Ernie Kovacs for sure.

While other parody and satire magazines like CRACKED, which started in 1958, had much larger staffs and a more rounded approach to publishing, FOOEY still managed a good shot at a well-rounded magazine despite the very small staff which looked to be mostly just three persons.

The magazine even jokingly referred to itself as being the first magazine in history with letters to the editor before it's first issue was even published, which is pretty much to say that the three staffers wrote all of the letters.

In jest, the editor sits on the front cover of issue #1, deeply in debt, unable to pay his bills, which may be more than a joke, because after only a few issues this magazine sadly closed up shop.

FOOEY was great fun while it lasted.

Katie Couric Guest Hosts ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA, While Sarah Palin Gets Ready To Guest Host NBC's TODAY SHOW

You'd think that this was some sort of ratings sweeps week the way that ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA and NBC's TODAY SHOW are bringing out the big name talent. But, the truth is that ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA is slowly pulling close to the traditional morning TV ratings leader over at NBC. And with Robin Roberts on a one week vacation, ABC is sticking it's neck out to see if Katie Couric can bring in the numbers to finally fill the small ratings gap between the two shows.

Katie Couric might be a little bit of a controversial choice. The once popular morning co-host of THE TODAY SHOW was lured over to CBS to host their evening news, but the ratings quickly fizzled and it became a ratings bust for the network. And one taped interview with Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin seemed to be a damaging turning point during the 2008 election cycle in September 2008. The interview appeared to be a sort of mutually assured destruction for both Couric and Palin, where both suffered some damage from that interview.

Sarah Palin appears to have a cult appeal among some sorts of conservative voters as well as seems interesting to her critics which often find her amusing and dizzy.

Maybe, ABC and NBC both have it all wrong here, and neither Katie Couric or Sarah Palin will be the big ratings draw that neither network thinks. Both might just be damaged goods. If the TV public wanted to see Katie Couric, then she'd still be anchoring the CBS nightly news. And if people really loved Sarah Palin, she'd be a leading candidate for president right now, instead of becoming more irrelevant by the day.