Meredith Corporation bolstered its Parents TV brand with the hire of René Syler. She'll host a long-form show beginning next month that will "air" on Comcast VOD, Sprint TV phones and parents.tv.

The former co-anchor of CBS' The Early Show was unceremoniously dumped from the program in late 2006.

As always, TNVewser has more.

Nope, this isn't some scheme to get on Last Comic Standing. It's the cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad, according to The Wall Street Journal. Despite a struggling economy, the price is up more than 10 percent from last year's figure of $2.7 million, in part due to record ratings for Super Bowl XLII, which drew the largest television viewing audience — 97.4 million people — of any sporting event in the United States.

If you're feeling nostalgic (or, more likely, extremely bored), here are videos of every commercial that aired last year. Also, the 10 worst commercials of all time are here. Don't say we can't help you waste away the day.

In this week's New York magazine feature story Sarah Jessica Parker strolls around Greenwich Village with writer Emily Nussbaum bemoaning the ever disappearing New York of the seventies.

Her take on the show that introduced the world to questionable fashion choices, unbearable lines at Magnolia, as well as (as Nussbaum puts it) "the way [women's] bodies function as currency...the marriage hunt as negotiation disguised as romance. The value of a single woman."

It's like a Jeff Koons piece...He takes a diamond ring, and he just blows it up. That's what the show did. It highlighted the best angle of the Chrysler Building, the shiniest part of it — and those parts of the city seemed like they were for the rarefied few. A life that isn't really how anybody lives. Even people who do love shoes, they don't have the time like that to be with their friends. That was the thing that struck me more than anything about the show as the most unrealistic, the time they all had.

This morning, three of BBC America's most popular shows, Robin Hood, Torchwood and Little Britain, became available. It's the first time programs from the network can be downloaded to own.

Beth Clearfield, vice president of digital media and business development, BBC Worldwide America, who said she "was excited at 6 a.m. this morning," was kind enough to answer some questions about the initiative.

Because of Britain's complex usership laws, "There were a lot of clearance obstacles, specifically around music," she told us when we asked whether getting the programs to iTunes was easy. "We've been talking to Apple for over a year to make this happen."

"We wanted to launch with the right mix and the right titles," she continued. "Robin Hood season 1 was a big hit and season 2 is just starting."

In the future, she hopes to get more titles in the mix. "Apple's gone out of their way to help make this happen and we have the same ideas about what we'd like to see next," she said. Stay tuned... for the release after the jump.

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Did I miss something?

A CBS photographer who has been held hostage in Iraq for two months is now safe. Richard Butler was rescued by Iraqi forces during a military operation in Basra on Sunday. Butler, a British citizen, was found during a sweep of the Jibiliya neighborhood.

According to Iraqi military spokesperson Mohammed al-Askari:

"An army patrol conducting a search came under fire from the house where Butler was being held. One of the gunmen was wounded in an exchange of fire and another captured while two men managed to escape."

Over at the Times, Erica Goode and Graham Bowley have more info.

In a statement, CBS News president Sean McManus said "so many people, both inside CBS News and outside, have been working tirelessly on Richard's behalf [...] We are deeply grateful to all who have worked so hard to make this day a reality."

FBNY frenemy Stephen Colbert loves talking about the "Colbert Bump" — the supposed boost in popularity and book sales that an appearance on his show brings.

Now it turns out the Colbert Bump is real.

University of California at San Diego political science professor James Fowler just wrote an article [PDF] for Political Science & Politics that analyzed campaign donations to politicians pre- and post-Colbert.

Democratic candidates who appeared on Colbert saw their campaign donations jump by a staggering 44 percent.

According to Fowler:

"In this article I use "facts" (sorry, Stephen) provided by the Federal Election Commission to create a matched control group of candidates who have never appeared on The Colbert Report. I then compare the personal campaign donations they receive to those received by candidates who have appeared on the program's segment "Better Know a District." The results show that Democratic candidates who appear on the Report receive a statistically significant "Colbert bump" in campaign donations, raising 44 percent more money in a 30-day period after appearing on a show. However, there is no evidence of a similar boost for Republicans. These results constitute the first scientific evidence of Stephen Colbert's influence on political campaigns.

Hmm. Maybe Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should be considering Colbert appearances right now...

With 48 nominations, NYC TV had to win at least a couple New York Emmy Awards. When the dust cleared, Arick Wierson and his team walked away 12, more than WCBS-TV, WABC-TV and WNBC-TV. Highlights include Jennifer Emens' victory for On-Camera Talent: Performer/Narrator, George Schifini's win for Editor: Program, and the combination of Rick Mello and Wierson who won Writer: Program. (Our own Daily Angle was shut out, but we love it anyway.)

You can watch the ceremony on NYC TV on Tuesday, April 15 beginning at 9:00 p.m.

After the jump, pics from last Monday's event celebrating all the net's nominations.

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NBC unveiled its 2008-2009 TV schedule to advertisers today. The slate is the first full year with Ben Silverman at the helm and features his trademark taste.

The co-chair of NBC Entertainment, who made his name at his production company, Reveille, by successfully bringing shows from overseas to the United States, will try his luck again with Kath & Kim. The comedy is based on an Australian program and stars Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. Other highlights include a spin-off of The Office (which debuts after the Super Bowl), Knight Rider, SNL Thursday Night Live and My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater.

Friday Night Lights, saved from a Jericho-esque fate by an 11th-hour partnership with DirectTV, returns in February on, what else, Friday nights. It's also the 15th and final season of ER. Sad.

Full (very long) release after the jump

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Two WCBS-TV reporters have been laid off.

FishbowlNY has learned that Scott Weinberger (pictured) and Andrew Kurtzman are no longer with the local CBS affiliate.

According to Weinberger's bio (which has now been taken offline):

While at WCBS-TV Weinberger scored exclusives with some of the most talked about cases in NY, including the only interview with Darryl Littlejohn, the man charged with the murder of John Jay graduate student Imette St. Guillen. In 2007, Weinberger scored an exclusive interview with David Berkowitz, best known as the Son of Sam, for the 30th anniversary of his terrorizing serial murders in NY. He also broke exclusive information on cases relating to some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Weinberger was the first to report that investigators found a large amount of prescription drugs in Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room, and was also the first to report that dozens of employees were suspended at Palisades Medical Center for leaking medical information about George Clooney.

Sounds to us like he won't have much trouble finding a new job.