Reader’s Digest just published a piece titled the “100 Most Trusted People in America” and Tom Hanks took the top spot. This is not surprising. Hanks is perhaps the most boring dude alive. You know those dreams you have where nothing significant happens and you wake up knowing you had a dream so you feel like you should tell someone about it but it’s so vague you end up not saying anything? That’s what hanging out with Hanks is like.

Anyway, Sandra Bullock was number two in the poll. Which uh, see above.

Other highlights:

• Jay Leno was more trusted than David Letterman (were people drunk when they voted?)
• Robin Roberts was the most trusted woman on TV
• Other highly trusted media people include Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Barbara Walters, Anderson Cooper, Oprah Winfrey, George Stephanopoulos, Scott Pelley, Kelly Ripa, Steve Harvey and Savannah Guthrie.
• Judge Judy is more trusted than Matt Lauer.

In the days following Hurricane Irene’s devastating march up the East Coast, David Letterman did a fitting Top 10 list on the Late Show.

You’ll recall, every local TV station went around-the-clock that weekend with Irene coverage. Of course, the Weather Channel also had all hands on deck, treating it like their Election Day, and in the process notching a large audience.

On Wednesday, August 31st, Letterman did a Top 10 list: How the Weather Channel Can Boost Its Ratings.

Among the list at number 10: More erotic-shaped clouds

7. Less weather; more Hillbilly Handfishin’

4. Three-words: 500-Day Forecast

Then, a nice surprise at number two: Hire Ernie Anastos.

Beyond that, Letterman added a six-second clip to prove his comedic point. However, it wasn’t from Anastos’ storm coverage on WNYW/Channel 5. Instead, viewers saw the infamous viral video of Anastos saying “Keep Plucking that Chicken!” to meteorologist Nick Gregory in September 2009.

Watch the clip after the jump.

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— DIANE CLEHANE

We missed Harvey Keitel (who, we hear, is a pretty nice guy) by a day, but the usual suspects kept things hopping in the dining room at Michael’s today. By now, we’ve grown used to seeing Richard Belzer with his dog Bebe (pronounced Bay-Bay en Francais, in case you were wondering) in tow for his 1 pm lunches every now and again. But we did perk up when Vernon Jordan came in. Talk about presence!

I had a chance to catch up with one of my favorite regulars, ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstong who, when I first started writing this column, made it his personal mission to introduce me to as many movers and shakers as possible. The native Texan with the heart of gold just can’t help himself when it comes to do-good deeds. This afternoon he was full of fire telling me about the upcoming benefit for The Hole in The Wall Gang Camp on October 21 at Lincoln Center. Joe spent seven years as a camp counselor during the summer at the original Connecticut camp — He now proudly bears the title of ‘Mr. Ambassador’ for the organization — and can’t say enough about the kids whose lives are forever changed thanks to Paul Newman. “They make you realize what is really important, ” says Joe.

So, if you want to help continue Newman’s good works and spend an evening rubbing shoulders with Alec Baldwin, Meryl Streep, Joanne Woodward and Renee Zellweger, get out those checkbooks and buy a ticket to the gala. Tell them Joe sent you …

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Self‘s Lucy Danziger and some leggy leather clad gals from L’Oreal talking ‘stress management’

2. Law & Order SVU’s Richard Belzer and David Letterman‘s band leader Paul Shaffer

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong and O’s book editor Sara Nelson.

4. Leonard Lauder and a casually elegant gal who, upon greeting the cosmetic king exclaimed, “This is the high point of my week!”

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One upside from the David Letterman extortion/sex scandal: a woman has been added to the late night comedian’s writing team.

The New York Times reports that longtime staff member and writers’ assistant Jill Goodwin has been hired as a staff writer on CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman.

Amid the Letterman scandal that emerged last fall, it became known that the writers’ rooms of late night comedy shows like Letterman’s, as well as those of Jay Leno‘s show and Conan O’Brien‘s Tonight Show, were occupied entirely by men. “At this moment, there are more females serving on the United States Supreme Court than there are writing for Late Show with David Letterman, The Jay Leno Show, and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien combined,” former Letterman writer Nell Scovell wrote for Vanity Fair in October. “Out of the 50 or so comedy writers working on these programs, exactly zero are women. It would be funny if it weren’t true.”

There seems to be a dearth of women in comedy writing in general, so the hiring of Goodwin is a huge coup for funny women everywhere. In December, we interviewed Onion editor Joe Randazzo, and he talked to us about why there are no women on his writing staff. “I wish that there were more active funny ladies out there,” he said. “There are more and more as time goes on, and more women do emerge in the comedy world. It’s definitely not true that women are not as funny as men are, but because that is the social perception, maybe women are more tentative. It’s a tough world to break into; everyone is very insecure and people can be tough and mean.”

Read more: Letterman Show Adds Female Staff Writer –New York Times

Related: Former Letterman Writer Reveals Late Night’s Dirty Secret: No Women Writers, So What Do You Do, Joe Randazzo, Editor of The Onion?

So the week of nail-biting is over, and Conan O’Brien is signing off as host of “The Tonight Show”… well, tonight. Fans are not the only ones sad to see CoCo go: both NBC and Jay Leno are doing major damage control to try and spin all the ill-will they’ve garnered lately for muscling Conan out of the 11:35 slot.

First stop on Jay’s “I’m sorry America” tour? “Oprah,” then the White House.

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Huffington Post: Ousted Editor & Publisher editor Greg Mitchell recounts his lay off. Since he was tossed out with senior editor Joe Strupp, “That meant that the magazine would lose the two staffers who had been responsible for roughly 80 percent of the magazine’s news-making and traffic-driving ‘scoops’ over the past 11 years — at a time when Web impact needs to be expanded,” Mitchell writes. “I wish my salary was so high that cost-cutting alone would explain it.”

New York Times: Negotiations over Conan O’Brien‘s buyout with NBC are being held up as the late night host tries to negotiate better severance deals for his soon-to-be-unemployed staff.

Folio: Entrepreneur magazine is planning to take on AARP magazine with the launch of a new Web site, SecondAct.com, this spring.

TVNewser: A judge has refused to dismiss the case against David Letterman‘s alleged extortionist, Joe Halderman.

Broadcasting & Cable: Broadcast TV channels are not planning to take a break over the summer by running reruns.

Can you believe it: this time last week we were going about our Friday afternoon business, completely unaware that the following week would see the dramatic exit of Conan O’Brien from NBC‘s “Tonight Show.”

After a week of insult-slinging from their respective shows, Jay Leno and O’Brien had seemingly hit an impasse in NBC’s resolution to reinstate Leno to the 11:35 slot and push O’Brien back till 12:05. But today brings some light at the end of the tunnel: The Daily Beast reports that O’Brien will be leaving NBC, (though there are conflicting reports about when he’ll actually be leaving). He’s also going to reportedly receive an undisclosed large lump sum to ease the pain of his departure.

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The best part about the Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien drama over at NBC is the great comedy that every late night host is getting out of the situation. Conan is getting particularly ballsy.

During his monologue last night, O’Brien went through a list of his “options” now that it seems like a foregone conclusion that Leno is moving back to 11:35 p.m. Among O’Brien’s options? “Star in a Lifetime original movie about a woman trapped in an abusive relationship with her network” and “leave television altogether, and work in a classier business with better people, like hardcore porn.” Ouch.

The controversy has such good comedic value, even the late night hosts on other networks are getting in to the fray. Last night, David Letterman spent a few minutes offering “advice” to NBC, the featured a Top Ten list: “Top Ten Signs There’s Trouble At NBC.”

More video after the jump.

Previously: NBC Officially Plans To Move Leno From Primetime

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Rumors swirled yesterday that NBC was considering moving Jay Leno from his convention-breaking primetime 10 p.m. slot back to his old home at 11:30 — effectively pushing current late-night host Conan O’Brien out.

In response to the rumors, which ranged from Leno’s 10 p.m. show being suspended or canceled to O’Brien getting the boot altogether, NBC issued statements in support of both hosts, but refused to deny the rumors. But as the night wore on, The New York Times‘ Bill Carter had the scoop: discussions are in the works to shuffle NBC’s late-night line up while the network tries to hold on to all its current hosts:

“The network has a plan in the works to restore Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 each weeknight for a half-hour, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O’Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m. Mr. O’Brien would then have a full hour.”

The change, which would take place after NBC’s Olympic coverage wraps up in February, comes in response to complaints from NBC’s local affiliates, who have seen local news ratings dip following Leno’s primetime debut in September, Carter added.

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Since it’s now December (eek) the year that was 2009 is coming to a close. And you know what that means: for the next few weeks, end of the year lists and “best of” retrospectives will be filling up all of the magazines and Web sites that we love to read.

In the last 24 hours, we’ve come across two polls seeking to name someone “Person of the Year,” and looking for the public’s helpful insight in order to do it. Whether the actual winner of these polls will be named Person of the Year — or if they are just a way to draw visitors and hits — remains to be seen.

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