NBC

NBC will televise Michael Jackson's memorial service on Tuesday. Details are not finalized about who will anchor. As we mentioned yesterday on Twitter, NBC New LA correspondent Chris Jansing will anchor MSNBC's live coverage of the memorial service.

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The Today show's Matt Lauer will broadcast live from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch tomorrow morning.

NBC says Lauer will take viewers on "an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the home where Jackson lived for 15 years, getting a rare look inside the private world of the King of Pop."

> More: PRNewser reports on the high-powered help the Jackson family is getting...

As viewers for two of the three network newscasts drop off, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams has grown in viewership over the last year, and had its best Q2 in three years. The broadcast added 86,000 viewers in the second quarter of 2009 vs. Q2 '08. Not huge growth, but growth nonetheless.

By contrast, ABC World News lost 407,000 viewers compared to Q2 '08. The CBS Evening News shed 48,000 viewers compared to last year. Q2 '09 was the lowest Total Viewer delivery in Nielsen history (since the start of People Meters) for the ABC and CBS broadcasts.

For the quarter, NBC topped ABC by 797K Total Viewers and topped CBS by more than 2.5M Total Viewers.

"Nightly" EP Bob Epstein, who's been at the helm since December, tells TVNewser, "The ratings surge is a tribute to the hard work from our outstanding team, led by Brian Williams. We've stayed focused on producing in-depth coverage of the issues that matter most to our audience. I'm also extremely proud of our reports on Iran led by Richard Engel and Ali Arouzi."

In addition to re-broadcasting "Farrah's Story" tonight at 8pmET/PT, NBC is producing another new Jackson special called "Michael Jackson - The King of Pop" at 10pmET/PT. Ann Curry anchors.

And over on MSNBC, they've pulled out a Michael Jackson "Headliners & Legends" to air in place of The Rachel Maddow Show. The 2-hour H&L will include updates and his anchored by Lester Holt.

Gail Shister
TVNewser Columnist

Former CBS News chief Andrew Heyward says his new gig as an NBC News consultant has nothing to do with his alma mater.

"I have wonderful relationships at CBS," says Heyward, 58, head of the news division from 1996 to 2005. "It's just easier to come in and do a project at a place where you haven't worked before. It's totally non-threatening and positive."

Heyward, who left CBS in the aftermath of Memogate, says he gets together regularly with his successor, Sean McManus.

He also chats with former colleague Alexandra Wallace, now an NBC News executive. During a recent conversation, "she said they had a project they wanted me to look into."

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After the news of her death, NBC scheduled a "Dateline NBC" special on Farrah Fawcett, called "The Life and Death of an Angel."

The hour-long tribute at 10pmET/PT will share recent interviews with Ryan O'Neal, Alana Stewart, her dad, sister, fellow "Charlie's Angel" Kate Jackson, and never before aired parts of a 1997 interview with Stone Phillips.

Tomorrow night at 9pmET/PT NBC News will re-broadcast "Farrah's Story," the two-hour documentary about Fawcett's battle with cancer which first aired in May.

> Earlier: ABC Rushes Barbara Walters Farrah Fawcett Special to Air

MSNBC sent along a press release about the two new shows which premiere Monday - "Morning Meeting" with Dylan Ratigan and "Dr. Nancy" anchored by NBC's chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

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Entertainment Weekly's current issue is the Summer Must List: "The 115 stars, styles, and supercool things we're excited about right now." Co-host Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb are listed as the "must awesomely crazy morning-TV personalities."

As The View slipped into a more snoozy cadence, a funny thing happened: The fourth hour of NBC's Today show swooped in as the go-to place for morning-TV insanity. We'd call sparring, madcap hosts Gifford and Kotb a guilty pleasure, but we don't even feel guilty about it.

If it's Thursday, it's Little Rock for Al Roker.

Tomorrow the "Today" show weatherman will be live from the Arkansas capital as part of his 8th annual "Lend a Hand Today." During today's stop in still hurricane-ravaged Galveston, TX, the show raised $540,652 in goods, services and cash - the biggest one-day total yet. That's a far cry from the $50,000 raised during the series' first go-'round eight years ago. And this year's total will far surpass last year's $1M haul. And Roker tells TVNewser tomorrow's Little Rock stop working with a "food related charity" will top even today's tally.

"We're so thrilled at the idea that we could do this in this kind of economy," said Roker after landing in Little Rock this afternoon. "It is really mind boggling."

It's been eight months since Roker last reported from Galveston, which was torn apart by Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008. "They've made a lot of progress, but there are still 13,000 people not in their homes," he says.

Roker was in Los Angeles Monday; Portland Tuesday and will be in Charlotte, NC on Friday. He hopes the "Today" show stops lead to a greater goal. "We want there to be an uptick of people going to their local charities and giving where they can," he says.

"We do all these different projects 'Where in the World...' 'Today Takes a Vacation,' but this is one that just doesn't get old. We always find new ways to keep it fresh and help a community along the way."

The Today show's Natalie Morales and Tiki Barber host this year's "Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular."

In addition to the fireworks, there will be performances by Rob Thomas, Jewel and the cast of the revival of "West Side Story."

The "Spectacular" airs live on NBC July 4 at 9pmET.