Ahead of its premiere at two New York City theaters next week, FishbowlNY attended a screening of Citizen Hearst Monday at the SoHo House. The documentary, directed by Academy Award nominee Leslie Iwerks and narrated by William H. Macy, celebrates the 125th anniversary of the company, interviewing current and former executives for an inside look at the company.

The documentary traces William Randolph Hearst‘s career trajectory from college-dropout publisher of the San Francisco Examiner to the founder of a media empire that boasts 51 newspapers, 300 magazines and 29 television stations. In an interview for the documentary, Dan Rather calls Hearst a “reformist journalist” who just “wanted to make a difference.”

Citizen Hearst features interviews with editors of some of the company’s top magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Town & Country and Esquire. Several generations of Hearsts were interviewed, along with several major media personalities including Oprah Winfrey, Bob Iger, Leonard Maltin and Heidi Klum. The film also investigates how major events like the San Francisco earthquake in 1989 and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have impacted the company.

The documentary will be shown at two NYC locations — the Chelsea Theatre and the 1st & 62nd Theatre — on March 14.

Citizen Hearst also featured an interview with the architect of the Hearst Tower in Manhattan, which MediabistroTV got a tour of last year. Watch it after the jump. Read more

TVNewser: CBS and Dan Rather are feeling the love.

SocialTimes: Looking for a quick and easy way to ruin Valentine’s Day? If you tweet to Stouffer’s, they’ll deliver their terrible mac n’ cheese to you. Done!

FishbowlDC: BuzzFeed’s political reporting is the best.

FishbowlLA: Dan Rather discussed the end of the world and goats today; why haven’t you?

TVNewser: Chris Cuomo is making his CNN debut anchor tonight. It will likely involve 100 percent blizzard talk, so watch at your own risk.

TVSpy: A scandal is afoot in Fargo! No, seriously! Okay, it’s really not that exciting. We tried.

The Library of American Broadcasting is marking its 10th year of immortalizing industry greats. The 2012 edition of the Giants of Broadcasting include two career radio executives, pioneering television newsmen, a man who made a weekly commentary “must see TV,” and a man who helped launched the 24-hour news cycle.

That man is Ted Turner. He turned an upstart CNN into a worldwide cable news powerhouse. Within six years, CNN was in the black. There were the Atlanta Braves, eventually broadcast on his new station TBS. Turner also added the Atlanta Hawks to his prospectus.

Turner, who spoke briefly in his acceptance speech, talked about his proudest moment professionally in 1990 as the Gulf War began.

“I took a nap. When I woke up, I knew the war was coming, and I knew we had our people there. I turned on the television and clicked it over to NBC and there was Tom Brokaw talking. I switched over to CBS and there was Dan Rather talking in the studio. I switched it over to ABC and there was Peter Jennings talking in the studio,” Turner boasts. “Then I flashed it over to CNN, and there was the war. As a journalist, as a television news person, wasn’t that the greatest scoop of all time?”

Another major TV executive was recognized for his body of work. Sir Howard Stringer (above) had a 30-year association with CBS. The Wales-born Stringer, after earning his B.A. and M.A. degrees at the prestigious Oxford University, arrived in New York. His first job at the Tiffany Network was an entry level clerk logging commercial times at WCBS-TV/Channel 2.

• Related, TVNewser: Howard Stringer on His Days Running CBS News
• Related, FishbowlLA: Howard Stringer Still Treasures the Memory of His Lunches with Johnny Carson

Stringer is chairman of the board at Sony Corporation. FishbowlNY spoke to Stringer at the Giants of Broadcasting event. Watch the video clip after the jump.

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• TVSpy: “Dude he’s on fire” is not a sequel to Dude Where’s My Car?, even if it sounds like it should be.

• GalleyCat: Here’s one that our large Bronie readership will appreciate — My Little Pony eBooks are available on the Nook.

• FishbowlDC: An unexpected Dan Rather appearance at the Republican National Convention.

I got several emails last week when I was on vacation alerting me to John Legend‘s presence in the dining room. “You’re missing him!” texted one faithful “Lunch” reader. “Oh well,” I thought, “next time.” Imagine my surprise when the singer magically appeared in the dining room today and even shot me a big smile on the way to his corner table. How thoughtful of him to schedule a return engagement on a Wednesday!

I was joined today by uber publicist Judy Twersky and her agency’s account supervisor, Jennifer Bristol, who I met in this very dining room through our mutual friend, Diane Dimond. A little birdie told me that Judy knows just about everybody and has represented a very interesting mix of famous folks so I knew lunch would be fun. I wasn’t disappointed.

Judy, who once toiled as media director for Ogilvy & Mather, started her own firm in 1992 and has had an impressive roster of clients, including Maury Povich, Dr. Andrew Weil and none other than actor James Earl Jones. (No word on how he felt being banished to the bleachers at the Oscars while Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy took to the stage). Judy, who tells me she gets most of her clients through word of mouth, specializes in authors but also handles her fair share of celebrities. Her current client list includes former CIA agent-turned-photographer Hank O’Neal, who has traveled the world chronicling street art. His new book, aptly titled XCIA’s Street Art Project (Siman Media Works), will debut in March along with a mobile app. None other than Tony Bennett praises Hank’s work as “one of the greatest contemporary works of art I have ever experienced.”

Judy also reps pianist Richard Glazier, whose PBS special, “From Ragtime to Reel Time: Richard Glazier in Concert” premieres on stations around the country next week. Judy first met Richard on a TCM cruise and was enthralled by his skills as a raconteur as he regaled the audience (who stayed up way past their bedtimes) with the stories behind the “Great American Songbook” and tales of his childhood friendship with Ira Gershwin. Richard is coming to New York next month to be feted by violinist Joshua Bell.

Speaking of great parties, Judy’s 60th birthday bash made “Page Six” recently with the news that Paul Shaffer wrote a song especially for her to mark the occasion. (Paul’s wife Cathy is Judy’s best friend, and Judy is now managing the couple’s 19-year-old daughter Victoria Shaffer who has aspirations to host her own talk show). Her good pals also arranged for The Naked Cowboy to come in and sweep her off her feet (literally). “You can book him for 15-minute sessions,” Judy told me with a laugh. “I couldn’t believe it.” Who needs birthday cake when you can be serenaded by a man in his underwear?

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Dan Rather and another important looking gent we didn’t recognize

2. Peter Brown

3. 60 Minutes‘ Steve Kroft and  journo Jackie Leo, engrossed in some important looking papers

4. John Legend (in jeans) and Warner Music Group CEO  Lyor Cohen

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The Reagan Revolution still had two more years, Platoon was Oscar’s choice for Best Picture, and the New York Mets staged one of the most dramatic comebacks in World Series history.

Also in 1986, meteorologist Nick Gregory arrived at WNYW/Channel 5.

“It was so exciting for me because I grew up in [New Rochelle] New York,” Gregory tells FishbowlNY. “From childhood really, and into my teens, I was also thinking that maybe one day I could do this.”

On December 26, Gregory commemorates his 25^th anniversary at the station. A quarter-century earlier, it began with the answer to the trivia question—who were the anchors on his first night?  Barbara Laskin and Steve Powers.

“I just had this rush of excitement and adrenaline and saying, ‘I’m actually back home in New York, on New York television, living the dream,” Gregory recalls.

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Liz Dribben was a pioneering journalist who had ties to New York City. After working at a TV station in her hometown of Buffalo, Dribben made the move to the Big Apple in 1969.

Eventually, she was hired by CBS News for their radio division, where she would spend the next 21 years. Dribben was a senior producer and writer, working closely with some of the network’s biggest names—Ed Bradley, Charles Osgood, Dan Rather, and Mike Wallace among them.

Dribben left CBS in 1993 but kept a busy schedule with numerous jobs, including as a talk show host at WEVD-AM (now 1050 WEPN). She also taught radio reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

The Buffalo News reports Dribben died yesterday in a Manhattan nursing home after a long illness. She was 73.

— DIANE CLEHANE

They were lined up into the street to get into Michael’s today for that last gasp of revelry before heading out of town for the holidays. (We were impressed by how patient Eliot Spitzer seemed on the coat check line.) The red wine was flowing as VIPs cooled their heels in the lounge waiting for their dates to arrive. “Can’t anyone get anywhere on time in this city?” groused one well-heeled gent as he sipped his pinot noir while compulsively checking his iPhone. Apparently not. By the time Jonathan Wald, Becca Thrash and Harold Ford, Jr. strolled in, the place was going at full tilt — just the way the regulars like it.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Dan Rather, Eliot Spitzer, Tom Tuggle and another ‘suit’ we didn’t recognize. For the record, it looked like ‘The Steamroller’ did most of the talking …

2. Today show’s Marc Victor, frequent morning show guest security expert Bill Stanton and Men’s Health honcho David Zinczenko. Did you happen to catch the cover story in the Style section of this Sunday’s New York Times chronicling Dave’s relationship with BFF Mediaite founder Dan Abrams? All we can say is: Gentlemen, give your publicists a raise.

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong and money man George Farias.

4.  Departing NBC Uni honcho Jeff Zucker, who we spied listening intently to the whisperings of  CNBC Squawk Box anchor Joe Kernen. Stock tips, perhaps?

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FishbowlNY was fortunate enough to be invited as one of Marie Claire magazine’s guests to this year’s Front Page Awards, presented by The Newswomen’s Club of New York, honoring female journalists across a variety of media. The title’s editor at large, Abigail Pesta, was among the evening’s honorees for her piece “An American Tragedy,” which provided a harrowing, in-depth glimpse into honor killings in the U.S.

This year’s dinner was held at the Down Town Club in the Financial District and hosted by Toni Reinhold, president of the Newswomen’s Club and a reporter for Reuters.

Among the bold names at the event was anchor Dan Rather, who attended in support of his colleagues at “Dan Rather Reports,” several of whom won awards last night.

For a full list of the evening’s winners, click through.

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