Reader’s Digest

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.

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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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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?

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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.

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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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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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The Wrap: Nielsen‘s sale of various publications, including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard to James Finkelstein, whose family’s company News Communications Inc. owns the “Who’s Who” series, may be completed by Friday.

The Awl: A graph of magazine revenue over the last 10 years.

Gawker: David Letterman makes fun of NY1 reporters Roger Clark and Pat Kiernan.

Journal-isms: Newsday was picketed by people protesting the publication of a comic that mocked the idea of hate crimes.

Huffington Post: The Huffington Post‘s <a href="top game changers including top media game changer Sue Gardner of the Wikimedia Foundation.

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Where has the bulk of Jay Leno‘s young audience gone? Today on the mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast, host Jason Boog of GalleyCat reported that 1.82 million young viewers have fled from the 10 p.m. hour on NBC that’s now home to the new primetime “Jay Leno Show.”

“It’s not news that his show’s not doing well, people have been talking about that for weeks,” Jason told co-host AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven. “But the really funny thing is that CBS and ABC haven’t managed to pick up these viewers.”

Instead, the viewers are going to cable, watching taped shows on their DVRs or (gasp!) simply turning off their TVs. Asked Matt: is it possible that this demographic might not return to TV? Jason thinks so. “There’s just so many options available to people so you can get what you want rather than surfing around to get what you want,” he said.

Also discussed: Are people watching more news video online than on cable news networks? And a recap of what happened yesterday when David Letterman‘s alleged extorter Robert Joel Halderman appeared in court.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

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BayNewser: The first Spot.Us funded article published in The New York Times — about the Pacific garbage patch — ran this week.

WWD: It has been a tough year for Conde Nast health magazine Self, but things are looking up for 2010: the January issue will carry more than 70 ad pages, the most for a January issue in 20 years.

New York Times: In court today, alleged David Letterman extorter Robert Joel Halderman claims he was only trying to sell Letterman the rights to his story before he sold a book or screenplay proposal to the highest bidder.

Variety: Over 100 people have been laid off at A&E and Lifetime, stemming from the nets’ consolidation.

Huffington Post: Director Barry Levinson blasts New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley.

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“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. 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.”

Scovell is not shy about equating this dearth of the fairer sex to the scandal that erupted earlier this month that revealed Letterman’s proclivity for hooking up with female staffers. But what’s unique about her perspective is that it’s one that has been lacking from the whole Letterman debacle: the view of a woman on the inside. While we may not yet have heard the story from Letterman’s former assistant and reported lover Stephanie Birkitt (we’re waiting for exclusive primetime interview with her for sure) or any of the other women Letterman is said to have bedded, we at least have Scovell’s take:

“Did Dave hit on me? No. Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Was I aware that other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Did these female staffers have access to information and wield power disproportionate to their job titles? Yes. Did that create a hostile work environment? Yes. Did I believe these female staffers were benefiting professionally from their personal relationships? Yes. Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely. Did I say anything at the time? Sadly, no.”

Would more women on writing staffs have curbed Letterman’s actions? Maybe, maybe not. But Scovell does make a case for including more women on the writing teams, and offers some good ways to do it, too. Now head writers and producers: what are you going to do about it?

Letterman and Me –Vanity Fair

Related: CBS Tries To Remove Unauthorized Videos Of Letterman’s Extortion Explanation

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WebNewser: ASBPE anoouned its digital Azbee Web Site of the Year finalists today, a list that included BusinessWeek, CIO, InfoWorld and TechRepublic.

AdAge: New York Magazine is not for sale, New York Media CEO Anup Bagaria told staff in an internal memo today.

Wall Street Journal: Fortune planning to publish one-quarter fewer issues per year, a change that will also result in staff cuts.

National Enquirer: There’s a David Letterman sex tape?!?!?

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