"Exiled MSNBC president Rick Kaplan met with ABC News suits Tuesday at the network's New York headquarters to discuss the vacant executive-producer slot at 'GMA,'" sources tell Gail Shister in Wednesday's Philadelphia Inquirer. She says Kaplan's "itching to get his hands on a show again after breathing bureaucratic fumes in the front office." Important note: He's tight with Diane Sawyer.

A tipster asserts that "Kaplan is now pitching himself hard for the GMA EP job, lobbying executives on the fifth floor and reportedly an anchor or two." The same tipster says Shelley Ross wants to make a comeback -- "and if not for herself, than for one of her two like-minded proteges -- Weekend GMA EP John Green who trained under her or Primetime senior producer Chris Vlasto who she promoted when she briefly ran the news mag. Both are in the running for the GMA job..."