The buzz about exiled ABC producer Shelley Ross taking over CBS's Early Show appears to be more than buzz. Odds are 50-50 that Ross, EP of No. 2 Good Morning America for more than five years, will join the legions who have attempted to fix the perpetually third-rated CBS morning show, according to sources close to the situation.

The bigger question: Would Ross replace EP Michael Bass or his boss, Steve Friedman? Smart money is on door No. 2. Though she's never said so publicly, Ross holds no love for ABC. In 2004, after weeks of rumors she was out at GMA, she was re-assigned to Primetime Live, where she had toiled for nine years.

By the time Ross left ABC on January 1, she had been reduced to producing entertainment specials about magician David Blaine. (Did he make her career disappear?) Still, it may take more than magic for anybody to catch NBC's Today. It's been No. 1 since Jeff Zucker's Bar Mitzvah.

When contacted by TVNewser, Ross and Friedman had no comment. But a CBS news spokesperson says, "We are happy with the progress we've made with The Early Show and we have no announcements."