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Patriots-Giants Game Now on NBC and CBS (NYT)
The Patriots-Giants game, which was to be broadcast Saturday night to less than half the country by the NFL Network, will be available to fans throughout the nation under an agreement reached Wednesday by NBC and CBS to simulcast it. The 15-0 Patriots are attempting to become the first NFL team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to finish the regular season unbeaten.

Thomas Morgan, a Journalist and Activist, Dies at 56 (NYT)
Thomas Morgan III, a former reporter and editor at The New York Times who was a president of the National Association of Black Journalists, died on Monday in Southampton, Mass. He was 56 and lived in Brooklyn. The cause was complications of AIDS, his partner, Tom Ciano, said.

Hillary Clinton Is First to 'Guest Blog' on Glamour Site (WWD)
It's no coincidence Clinton is the first to appear on the site: Her campaign officials contacted Glamour when they heard about Glamocracy, its blog featuring daily posts from five women on different points of the political spectrum — presumably as part of Clinton's effort to appeal to women voters. John McCain is the only other candidate confirmed so far.

Gavel Drops on Original Production of Judge Hatchett (B&C)
Sony Pictures Television's Judge Hatchett is going out of original production after this year, the company confirmed Wednesday. That said, Sony hopes to keep the show on the air. The studio is pitching TV stations "theme weeks" — around such topics as divorce or interventions — comprised of repeats. The show is in its eighth season, giving the studio plenty of episodes to choose from.

Despite Woes, McClatchy Banks on Newspapers (WSJ)
Since the beginning of 2006, Gary Pruitt's company has lost $1.46 billion and seen its stock price plunge 78 percent, exceeding the carnage at most newspaper companies. Still, when members of the board and the controlling family privately discussed Pruitt's future last month, they unanimously supported the man who brought McClatchy to this juncture.

Longtime Cable Exec Fred Dressler Dies at 66 (TV Week)
Time Warner Cable's former top programming buyer Fred Dressler died December 24 at the age of 66. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. Dressler retired in 2006 as executive VP of programming at Time Warner Cable. He'd been with the company, and its predecessor, American Television & Communications, for 30 years.

Writers Strike Fails to Rock Stocks (Variety)
Cutting costs. Getting tough with talent. Reinventing business models. Wall Street loves that kind of talk from Hollywood, so it should come as no surprise that the eight-week-old writers strike hasn't rattled the share prices of major showbiz congloms. In fact, they've barely budged since the day the strike began Nov. 5. Variety: The Writers Guild of America has retained veteran Democratic political consultants Bill Carrick and Kam Kuwata to provide assistance on the strategic and PR fronts of the eight-week-old strike.

UN joins forces with Marvel Comics (FT)
In a move reminiscent of storylines developed during the Second World War, the UN is joining forces with Marvel Comics, creators of Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, to create a comic book showing the international body working with superheroes to solve bloody conflicts and rid the world of disease.

NBC Agency Restructures Divisions (Variety)
The NBC Agency has restructured its East Coast operations, promoting several execs and absorbing MSNBC's creative services department. Under the reorganization, David Lipsius has been named VP of operations at NBC Agency East Coast, while Val Nicholas is now VP of business development at NBC Agency East Coast.

New York Heresy: Editor Heads South (NYT)
Until the moment when Sid Evans abruptly decided to leave town, he seemed like the sort of person who had stepped straight out of a Dawn Powell novel about a young, ambitious newcomer to New York. But in late October, Evans announced that he was moving to Charleston, S.C., to edit a fledgling Southern-lifestyle magazine called Garden & Gun.

In a Time of Posturing, Joan Didion Dared Slouching (WaPo)
Jonathan Yardley: Though all of her nonfiction stands the test of time — the essays in Political Fictions, for example, are to my way of thinking the best and most durable political journalism that has been done in this country in the past two decades — Slouching Towards Bethlehem even now is, in the minds of many readers, the book of hers that they know best and admire most.

An American Idol Kind of Year (AdAge)
John Rash: Nielsen has kept score all year. But unlike the publishing industry, the ratings firm hasn't released a special issue, content to let the specials and sports — and some regular programming — tell the stories of TV 2007. Accordingly, in lieu of the week's top 10 list of network prime-time programs in the ad-centric adult 18-49 demographic, the Rash Report reports on the year's top 10.

2007 Is the Year That Media-Savvy Lunatics Took Over the Asylum (Salon)
Heather Havrilesky: In 2007 more than ever before, newspapers and Web sites and innocent bystanders with camera phones were hungry for a full-blown spectacle, and sensing that the world was their stage, a gaggle of maniacs and attention-seeking outsiders delivered their best performances.

Wolf Blitzer, I Have News for You (ArtVoice)
Murray Levine: I used to believe that it was only the radio talk show hosts who contributed to the debasement of the level of public discourse. After watching the debates allegedly moderated by distinguished print and television journalists, I have now come to the conclusion that establishment commentators such as Wolf Blitzer are as much to blame.

Will Online Video Make it Into the Living Room in 2008? (NeeTeeVee)
George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer, NBC Universal: "It will definitely get there. For me, the interesting issues are how it will get there, who controls the food chain and how long it will take until it is pervasive." Henry Jenkins, director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program: "Some consumers are going to want ways to watch YouTube and other online media content via their living room flatscreen televisions."