It was not exactly the snazziest 22 months of former Page Six scoop-meister Richard Johnson’s career. And with today’s announcement that News Corp’s iPad endeavor The Daily will officially fade to touch-screen black December 15, his tenure as west coast bureau chief is set to end with a whimper.

Adding insult to injury, Nikki Finke in her write-up this morning pours some more cold water on his biggest initial Flash splash:

In a memo to staff today, The Daily’s Jesse Angelo and Greg Clayman ridiculously boasted that despite “great original reporting, excellent design and custom interactivity… Unfortunately we have not been able to build a big enough audience fast enough to make our business model work.” (Great reporting? They posted a photo of me that was somebody else.*)

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With controversy continuing to swirl around accusations by a pair of contestants that the 2012 Miss USA pageant might have been rigged, The Daily’s west coast bureau chief Richard Johnson has decided to chime in about his related Trump-tastic experiences.

Granted, Johnson’s stints as a judge were some time ago, and for a sister franchise. Nevertheless, he writes that he saw no signs of meddling at the Miss Universe pageants in Hawaii (1998), Puerto Rico (2001) and Panama (2003). NBC had a monitor present (as it did again at the 2012 Miss USA contest); judges were housed at a separate hotel; and though Trump was omnipresent during the broadcast, that was about the extent of it:

Just in case a judge was indecisive, Trump was sitting right behind us in the front row, close enough to chat with us during commercial breaks, letting us know his preferences. Was he just making small talk, or trying to influence our votes? Did his voice carry more weight than any other fan who was applauding and shouting for their favorite? Probably.

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When we recently interviewed The Daily’s west coast editor Richard Johnson, he indicated that plans were afoot to add an additional staffer in LA. Today, that intention has been officially carried through.

Joining The Daily as entertainment writer is Lauren Schutte (pictured), previously a staff editor with the Hollywood Reporter. What’s interesting about Schutte is that she was closely aligned with THR editorial director Janice Min.

In 2007, Schutte joined US as Min’s assistant and moved up to assistant editor in May of 2008. She continued in that position until the fall of 2010, following her former boss over to the revamped Hollywood trade.

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If nothing else, former New York Post Page Six gatekeeper Richard Johnson (pictured) has a great sense of timing. A year into his new job as west coast editor of The Daily, he finally got around to checking out a Clippers game.

“I went to my first game Monday night,” he tells FishbowlLA via email. “They killed the Thunder, and Blake Griffin had a monster dunk that has already been re-played a hundred times. Being a lifelong Knicks fan, I have a hard time liking the Lakers. So I am a Clippers fan… I just wish it was easier to get to downtown.”

Today marks the official one-year anniversary of The Daily. The west coast bureau is made up of Johnson and one other reporter, with plans underway to add a third staffer shortly in the wake of Hunter Walker‘s departure last fall for the New York Observer.

We were curious how the A-lister culture of LA compares to that of Manhattan. Johnson says there are some key differences. “The flow of celebrity “gossip” is more tightly managed in Los Angeles,” he notes. “There are more controlled red carpets, more junkets where stars give Q&As, more conference calls. Stars often don’t even stop to talk to the press on the red carpet, whereas in New York you see them out at parties–it’s more open.”

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On this morning’s edition of Good Day LA, co-host Steve Edwards jokingly welcomed The Daily’s Richard Johnson as “Flash Johnson,” in honor of his new column name. This despite the fact that there’s nothing about the personal make-up of the former Page Six-er that suggests lightning speed.

The main topic of conversation was a controversial remark made by Susan Sarandon over the weekend to panel moderator Bob Balaban at the Hamptons International Film Festival. In the misguided spirit of Hank Williams Jr. and Lars von Trier, she attached the dreaded Nazi word to a pontiff!:

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Looks like a mediabistro.com reunion of sorts will soon be in order at the offices of the New York Observer.

The paper’s editor-in-chief Elizabeth Spiers, who at one time was editor of our blogs, has hired subsequent FishbowlNY contributor Hunter Walker away from The Daily. Walker, currently based in LA and working closely with former New York Post gossip king Richard Johnson, will relocate to the east coast in October. Per the announcement:

“I’m excited to bring Hunter back to New York to cover politics for NYO,” Ms. Spiers said. “He’s a fantastically versatile reporter and I know he’ll do great things.”

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Today’s gossip item by Richard Johnson at The Daily quotes only an unnamed “insider.” And it does not specify what realm of the Hollywood media or business firmament that insider toils in.

Still, the idea of Variety being acquired by Nikki Finke‘s boss, 30-year-old wunderkind Jay Penske, is enough to make former grand poobah Peter Bart lose his Hillcrest Country Club lunch. To The Daily‘s credit, they actually ran this one by the folks on Wilshire Blvd.:

“He is working on a deal, and the numbers seem consistent based on online and print and profits,” one insider told Flash yesterday. But Variety Group president Neil Stiles (pictured) said, “Nonsense, and you can quote me.”

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Where’s the first big scoop? That’s our question after keeping an eye on the initial efforts of former Page Six grand poobah Richard Johnson for Rupert Murdoch‘s The Daily.

With Johnson sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the west coast with the likes of TMZ and Radar Online, it’s going to take more than tired rehashes of the Kim Kardashian-Prince stage dance story and bad Spider-Man Broadway reviews to make a mark. Another “Flash” item today about Adam Sandler snubbing print reporters at the red carpet premiere of Just Go with It is a real reach (it’s not unusual for A-listers to do only TV promo-ing), and like the other two tidbits, is anchored in New York.

Earlier this week, Johnson had a bit more luck when he looked at how estate lawyers are getting rich over bogus Michael Jackson lawsuits and shared the directorial aspirations of GEICO caveman commercial actor Ben Weber. Weber wants to make Heirloom, a personally relevant drama about Huntington’s disease

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Yet another prominent old media icon is heading online. Feared New York Post gossip columnist Richard Johnson, who has edited the Post’s “Page Six”for the past 25 years, is leaving the Post and heading to Los Angeles. Johnson is moving west to head up a new digital venture for News Corp., the Post’s parent company run by Rupert Murdoch.

As Politico’s Ben Smith notes: “Johnson’s departure from the tabloid is a huge blow to the Post, and suggests that the company is willing to poach from its vibrant, money-losing tabloid for the new digital site.”

In the same piece, Smith also reminds us Johnson “has the dubious distinction of having essentially created Paris Hilton.”

Hooray! Just imagine the fame-hungry socialites he can dig up in LA! Pseudo-celebrity sex tapes here we come! Welcome Mr. Johnson…er…Richard Johnson that is.