Rahm Emanuel will give his first national TV interview since taking office to ABC “Good Morning America” co-anchor George Stephanopoulos. The interview will air on “GMA” and the other ABC News programs and platforms on Wednesday, June 1.

The 2011 Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United earned a 1.8 overnight rating on Fox Soccer Channel.

Those numbers were up 64 percent over 2010′s numbers according to a Fox Sports representative.

The preliminary household ratings show that Washington DC, Seattle, New York, Providence, Los Angeles and Austin generated the best local numbers.

The 2009 Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United (on a Wednesday afternoon) earned a 1.0 rating on ESPN.

Last Friday’s Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning was the most-viewed conference final game since 2002, according to ratings released by Nielsen. The series clincher won by Boston garnered 2.55 million viewers, making it the most-viewed conference final game on cable since the Avalanche played the Red Wings on ESPN in 2002.

The broadcast was also the most-watched conference-final game in Versus network history, and good for sixth-best overall, with only the Stanley Cup Finals posting larger numbers.

With the long Memorial Day weekend, it was inevitable that a few “holiday weekend” stories would trickle over to Monday. One of those stories was a doozy: due to an outbreak of horse herpes, young women participating in a rodeo pageant were forced to ride stick ponies instead of the real thing.

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough had a question, one that many in the audience were probably wondering:

(h/t Huffpost Media)

In other horse-related news, “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade attempted to play polo in front of the News Corp. building this morning:

Read more

In the wake of George Dohrmann‘s Sports Illustrated story about the downfall of Jim Tressel at Ohio State, writers including Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports, Chris Jones of Esquire and Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated weighed in on Twitter, with Whitlock saying, “Sounds like SI Ohio State story is same-old same-old…Typical slave-catcher investigation. Stop the presses.”

Slave-catcher? Who exactly are the slaves here? The mediocre wide receivers like Ray Small who get free educations at Ohio State and trade memorabilia for cash and favors? And who are the slave-catchers? The reporters investigating these players? Eesh. It’s not exactly likening Tiki Barber to Anne Frank, but….

Whitlock wasn’t done, writing, “This is laughable watching SI pretend it brought down Jim Tressel and unearthed something shocking.”

I don’t know, a media outlet marketing its own timely story? Ca-razy?

Esquire‘s Chris Jones took exception to Whitlock’s ranting, saying, “Hilarious that @whitlockjason is shitting on the Tressel story. Man wouldn’t know breaking news if it was asleep on the couch next to him.”

Business Insider has a rundown of the entertaining volleys.

Jones, you might remember, said this about Whitlock back in January on his personal blog: “Well, here’s the stone-cold truth, kids: Jason Whitlock has no soul. He’s neither a good reporter nor a good writer. He’s a bloviator who’s somehow carved out a niche for himself as a kind of anti-establishment figure by making references to The Wire and pretending he’s the second coming of Ralph Wiley, when Ralph Wiley would be fucking mortified to be associated with Whitlock’s brand of self-serving buffoonery.”

In short, Whitlock and Jones do not go bowling together.

Skip Bayless apologized Tuesday on ESPN’s First Take for accusing Chris Broussard of selling his “journalistic soul” to get close to LeBron James:

“In the heat of that debate, Chris said a couple things about me that I found offensive. I thought Chris questioned my integrity. And yesterday, in the heat of the debate, I questioned Chris’s integrity. I deeply regret that. I went too far. We spoke for about an hour last night, and I told him I was sorry for doing that. I have the utmost regard for Chris Broussard as a reporter. No finer reporter do I know … I have high regard for Chris as a human being. If nothing else, I hope this deepens or friendship.”

Anyone else think Skip got a call from management and was told to apologize?

[H/T SportsGrid]

Former MSNBC host and soon-to-be Current TV host Keith Olbermann has announced the production team for “Countdown.”

The show will be helmed by new executive producer David Sarosi. Sarosi had been a producer on the MSNBC edition of “Countdown,” where he produced the program open and the show’s infamous “Worst Persons in the World” segments.

“Countdown” is also adding a handful of other producers, as well as a director. The new additions come from his old MSNBC show, CNN and MLB Network, among other places.

More information on those hires in the official announcement, after the jump.

Read more

Following his defeat of Matt Hamill at UFC 130 on Saturday night, Rampage Jackson did an interview with MMA Heat reporter Karyn Bryant, a discussion that ended with him mimicking the act of “motorboating” and joking about humping her.

Yeah, if LeBron James or Tom Brady did this, it’d be a big deal. But it’s B.A. Baracus, who spends his life punching other men in the face, so people basically shrug it off. Don’t believe me? Check out the additional videos that The Big Lead has compiled of Jackson’s past antics with female reporters. BTW, great question from Bryant, asking Jackson how “homeboys” feel about him.

Warning: Video may be NSFW

Cris Collinsworth, a former Pro Bowl wide receiver with the Cincinnati Bengals and now an analyst on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, is spending the lockout working as an assistant football coach at his son’s high school in northern Kentucky. At the invitation of head coach Dale Mueller, Collinsworth is coaching receivers for Highlands High School.

Collinsworth wrote on FootballPros.com,

I am going to get my football fix this fall even if the lockout cancels the NFL season. Highlands High School’s head coach Dale Mueller (winner of 4 straight state championships) called to ask if I would be interested in coaching wide receivers. I laughed. He said he was serious. The pay wasn’t much (zero), but he promised I would have fun. My son Jac is one of the receivers on the team, and I had already polluted his brain with most of my receiving advice. But what the heck, the NFL will probably miss at least half of their season anyway, I agreed. Today (May 31) is my first day. I just got the playbook and I feel like a first year rookie all over again. The plays are scrambled eggs in my brain, and I feel a little anxious. But, I love coaching. I coached many of these kids in the junior football league, and they always kept me entertained.

I have a theory on coaching. Today’s kids missed the fun part of sports. We all grew up playing sports in the yard or on the street. We created our own rules and settled our own disputes. We fought and cussed for the first times in our lives with our best friends. By the time we put on a uniform, we had already fallen in love with the game. Today, these kids are being coached by adults and put on select teams by the time they learn their ABC’s. They miss all the fun stuff. They almost look at sports as a job. Too bad. One of the reasons I took this job is that Dale Mueller brings the fun back to football. He makes everything a game. The kids giggle and laugh all day at his toilet paper stories and games of tag.

I had a Xavier Soccer coach tell me that at least once a week he rolls the ball out on the field and steps aside. He lets the kids play so that he can learn from them. He said they have a creative imagination that no adult could understand. I hope I can bring some of that imagination to Highlands HS. After four straight state football championships, there is only one way for the Highlands Bluebirds to go with me. Maybe the NFL will save me and actually play football, but if not, you will know where to find me on Friday nights. Go Birds!

Your Friday nights may be covered, but what about your Sundays?

There’s a lot of rehash in the 10,000 word hash about Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in next week’s issue of Rolling Stone, especially if you read this blog every day. While many outlets are focusing on this, there are a couple takeaways for TVNewser readers, including this about “Fox & Friends”

…the morning happy-talk show that Ailes uses as one of his primary vehicles to inject his venom into the media bloodstream. According to insiders, the morning show’s anchors, who appear to be chatting ad-lib, are actually working from daily, structured talking points that come straight from the top. “Prior to broadcast, Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson – that gang – they meet with Roger,” says a former Fox deputy. “And Roger gives them the spin.”

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “This was one of the many inaccuracies in the article – Roger does not meet with the Fox & Friends hosts before the show and anyone who works here knows this.”

FNC did not comment or cooperate in any way with the Rolling Stone piece.

There’s also this bit, about the sincerest form of flattery, and Ailes’ response:

Read more