CNN

There's been lots of discussion about what Lou Dobbs is up to right now, but what about the "Lou Dobbs Tonight" staff?

At the moment, they're producing the temporary Dobbs replacement, "CNN Tonight." That program is scheduled to run until John King's new show begins sometime until early 2010 -- from Washington, DC.

The NYPost reports the former Dobbs staffers, "were told that they could start applying for new jobs at the all-news network -- with the clear implication that their old jobs were going to end shortly."

A CNN spokesperson told TVNewser: "CNN is encouraging Lou Dobbs' staff to apply for positions at the 7pm program as well as for other openings within the network."

Insiders tell us that CNN management has been talking with the staff about the future since the day after Dobbs' departure.

As far as two of Dobbs' regular correspondents, Kitty Pilgrim and Bill Tucker, the CNN spokesperson could not comment on specific individuals.

CNN's Ed Henry has the backstory on covering Pres. Obama in Asia last week, specifically Wednesday morning when all the networks got sit-downs with the president in China:

Tonight on CNN, the premiere of Killings at the Canal: The Army Tapes. The one-hour documentary is a compilation of the reports from CNN investigative correspondent Abbie Boudreau which aired last week on AC360. The special premieres tonight 8pmET.

John King the CNN anchor and former White House correspondent tells Marketwatch.com's Jon Friedman what sets him apart from Lou Dobbs and how his show, debuting next year at 7pmET, will be different than Dobbs's.

"I had and have a great relationship with Lou and wish him the best. I have to be me here. Lou passionately believed in advocacy journalism. I passionately believe in steering conversations, not shaping them. That makes us different -- doesn't make one right and one wrong."

But most importantly, will we see the Magic Wall in King's new show? "Of course you will," King told Mediaite. "One of the things we think is very important is to use technology in ways to make information more accessible, understandable and interactive with our audience."

(Special thanks to @jonmediaweb for the headline inspiration)

Lou Dobbs, formerly of CNN, sat down with Jon Stewart last night for an interview on "The Daily Show." Stewart brought out a live Mexican mariachi band to play the introductory music for the segment.

"Jon Klein the president of CNN told me point blank that the network was going to move away from advocacy journalism that I practice and toward something he called 'middle of the road journalism,' which I tried," Dobbs told Stewart. "I'm not exactly neutral on a lot of issues and that wasn't working for me."

"I've seen the direction that they're going in," Stewart later told him. "I believe it's called 'down.'" Ouch.

A number of CNN regulars will be anchoring 7pmET broadcasts for CNN this fall as a part of a special rotation and TVNewser has learned some of the early plans.

Lou Dobbs' abrupt departure from CNN last week left an obvious hole in the network's 7pmET time slot. CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein quickly announced that Sunday "State of the Union" host John King would be moving into the slot with a new political show in early 2010.

But until then, CNN said it would air a program titled "CNN Tonight" hosted by a series of rotating anchors.

Last Thursday, the day after Dobbs announced his resignation, CNN went with the "Situation Room" fourth hour, and Friday, the networked aired a veterans special in the 7pmET slot.

Last evening (Monday), "CNN Tonight" debuted with lead-off anchor John Roberts, who also worked his "American Morning" gig earlier in the day.

Who's next? It seems a permanent rotation may not be set, but a CNN spokesperson tells us Roberts will be anchoring through Thursday evening and "AC360" correspondent Erica Hill will be in on Friday. Both Roberts and Hill are based out of New York.

The following week, Roberts, Hill, and D.C.-based reporter Tom Foreman will split anchor duties.

Lou Dobbs "would be delighted" to join Bill O'Reilly as a semi-regular contributor, Dobbs says.

Dobbs, who resigned from CNN on the air last week, was "surprised and very flattered" when O'Reilly made the offer on his Fox News show last night, Dobbs said in an interview today.

"Absolutely, I'm thinking about it," said Dobbs, on the fly after a "Today" show hit. "I have immense respect for Bill O'Reilly. He's an outstanding broadcaster."

Despite buzz that he will be the next hoss in Roger Ailes' stable, the partisan pontificator says he and his wife plan "to take a lot of time" mulling over numerous offers from "all forms of media and politics."

He won't discuss details, saying only that he feels "blessed and fortunate to have the choices that I do." His CNN contract, which was not set to expire until the end of 2011, does not include a non-compete clause.

"The first thing we're going to do is head to our house down south [West Palm Beach, Fla.] and do some thinking and relaxing and put some distance between us and the workaday world," Dobbs says.

Dobbs is under no deadline to decide, he says, adding that his three-hour syndicated radio show is high on his list of priorities.

"Obviously, my radio talk show is extremely important to me. I love doing it. It's a very gratifying medium and outlet. I love the immediacy of radio. It can be spellbinding."

Whatever his next gig, don't look for Dobbs to hold back the strong political views that got him in trouble at CNN, which is trying to position itself as the Switzerland of cable news.

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CNN has announced a list of celebrity attendees for its third "CNN Heroes" gala at the Kodak theatre in Los Angeles.

Carrie Underwood and Leona Lewis are set to perform and presenters include Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Neil Patrick Harris, Pierce Brosnan, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Eva Mendes and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

CNN tells us "Heroes" voting has topped 2 million votes so far, which is already double the total from last year. This year's Top 10 was chosen from over 9,000 nominations.

The special will be hosted by Anderson Cooper and will air on Thanksgiving night.

• Previously: CNN Heroes in the Parking Lot

More from Marisa Guthrie's B&C story on the Sunday shows. CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein says he is "extremely committed" to the network's four-hour Sunday show "State of the Union with John King," which includes the media criticism hour "Reliable Sources" at 10amET. King will be leaving the show in January as he fills the slot vacated last week by Lou Dobbs.

"We believe it's an important time period for any news organization to compete in," Klein tells Guthrie.

Klein would not discuss replacements for King, but in-house candidates under consideration include Candy Crowley and Suzanne Malveaux. King called the decision to leave "difficult." But he credited the performance of State of the Union for helping to launch him to primetime. "I'm fully confident that one of the reasons they came to me is because they like what we're doing on Sunday and they're proud of it," he says.

• Related: NYPost - Lou Dobbs' $8 million exit package

CNN Beijing correspondent Emily Chang was detained for two hours today by authorities in Shanghai for holding up a t-shirt that depicts Pres. Obama wearing a Red Army uniform.

Chang bought the t-shirt at a basement souvenir shop in Beijing and brought it with her to Shanghai as she covers Pres. Obama's visit to the city.

When Chang held up the shirt up for a live shot outside a Shanghai metro stop, she was approached by two security guards. "They scrambled towards us and tried to pry the shirt out of my cold, dead hands," Chang writes on the In the Field blog. "I didn't give in." Despite "a bit of yelling and quite a scuffle," the crew kept the shirt.

The front of the t-shirt says "Serve the People" in Chinese. On the back, it reads "Oba Mao" in English. The shirts have been seen in Chinese shops for months, but were "banned" ahead of Obama's trip.

• Related: What will the White House Correspondent do without Twitter in China?