The sleuths at The Atlantic Wire have uncovered a cable news conspiracy of massive proportions. Earlier today Ashleigh Banfield interviewed Nancy Grace about the rescued women in Cleveland. The video certainly appeared as though Banfield and Grace were in different locations–if not different cities entirely–during the conversation.

But all was not as it seemed. As Dashiell Bennett and Philip Bump discovered, Banfield and Grace were talking to one another from the same parking lot in Phoenix, mere feet away from each other. The proof is in the GIF:

The pair are there to cover the verdict in the Jodi Arias trial, which will happen when the jury decides her fate. We can only assume that some sort of obstacle (perhaps a parked car, or a row of shopping carts?) prevented Grace from joining Banfield on the same set.

One thing is certain: we will never view a liveshot the same way again.

Calling it a “huge part of what CNN is going to to be,” CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker welcomed hundreds of guests to Porter House at Time Warner Center for a launch event for the network’s newest show hosted by Anthony Bourdain. “Parts Unknown” debuts Sunday night at 9pmET/PT.

CNN is, in fact, venturing into parts unknown with what Bourdain is cooking up. Bringing in a well-known non-news talent for a weekly one-hour travel/food/cultural awareness show is a departure for the network. Still, Zucker calls “Parts Unknown,” “the true measure of what we want this network to be.”

“We have a true television star in our midst,” said Zucker, who was quickly reminded of the dozen other on air talent in the room. “Not that we don’t have great television stars at CNN …Brooke Baldwin,” said Zucker, noticing the daytime anchor in the crowd, “You’re a television star.” We also spotted Anderson Cooper, (who dropped in before his show) Piers Morgan, Ashleigh Banfield, A.J. Hammer, Christine Romans (above with Bourdain and Baldwin) and John Berman.

Zucker heaped praise on CNN’s SVP of talent and content development Amy Entellis and Vinnie Malhotra, SVP of development and acquisitions, who began courting Bourdain a year ago. Bourdain had hosted “No Reservations” on Travel Channel since 2005.

“I’m grateful to be with CNN,” Bourdain told the crowd. “I got my official CNN ID today so I guess the cavity searches are over.”

The first of 8 original episodes airs Sunday. A second season is set for the Fall. The network is also developing a show with documentarian Morgan Spurlock, and this week announced it would add a Friday night studio audience talk show with CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos.

More pictures from last night after the jump…

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“Bethenny,” an upcoming talk show starring former “Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel, is adding a veteran TV news producer and a former EP of “Anderson Live,” Telepictures has announced.

MSNBC senior EP of dayside programming Meghan Schaefer Spielberg is joining “Bethenny” as an EP, as is Terence Noonan, who served in that same capacity for “Anderson Cooper‘s daytime talk show “Anderson Live,” which will not be returning in the Fall.

Schaefer Spielberg has been with MSNBC for 17 years, and was there when the network launched back in 1996. During that time she served as EP for “Ashleigh Banfield On Location” and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” among other programs. Noonan was a producer for “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “The Dr. Oz Show,” among others.

As “Katie,” “Anderson Live” and now “Bethenny” clearly show, there is life after TV news, particularly during the day and in syndication.

More:
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So Nemo, is what we’re calling this? This storm will sound nothing like Ellen DeGeneres as a clownfish (oh wait, she was Dory). Anyway, maybe the Weather Channel can come up with more daunting names next year. Remember Snowpacalyse which hit three years this week? Also Snowmaggedon?

So, what are the networks planning? The Weather Channel had already blown out their reality shows in primetime last night with storm prep coverage. The news and business networks have reporters out in the field.

CNN is planning to be live overnight tonight and into Saturday covering the storm. Chad Myers and Jen Delgado will monitor the storm’s movement from the CNN Weather Center. Reporters and anchors including Jason Carroll, Susan Candiotti, Poppy Harlow, Ali Velshi, Ashleigh Banfield, Zain Asher, Alison Kosik, Mary Snow (appropriately), Gary Tuchman and Brian Todd will be out and about.

Brooke Baldwin anchors overnight coverage from balmy Atlanta. “This is when you know there’s a serious breaking news story,” said Baldwin during 2pmET coverage, “Look at all the pizza boxes at CNN.”

On Fox News, Anna Kooiman and Molly Lyon will report live. The storm has pushed the Saturday morning business block to the afternoon, from 2-4pmET. Kelly Wright and Jamie Colby will continue with live coverage from 10-Noon.

The day he was announced as CNN’s new worldwide president, Jeff Zucker and his new boss Turner Broadcasting chairman Phil Kent held a conference call with reporters.

Kent, never one to mince words, said that one of the reasons Time Warner hired Zucker was his experience in morning news.

“It is not lost on any of us that occasionally HLN’s morning show beats CNN’s morning show,” Kent said. “One of the hundred other reasons I wanted [Zucker] was because of his experience in the morning.”

Now, barely a week into his new job, Zucker is planning to shake up the mornings, replacing “Starting Point” with a new program anchored by Chris Cuomo, and possibly another anchor such as Erin Burnett. It is far too soon to speculate about what the new program will look like, but it is worth noting that Cuomo and Burnett have extensive experience in the mornings, although not exactly on the most-watched programs.

Zucker, of course, changed the morning show game when he rose to the top of “Today” in 1992, at the age of 26.

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Credit: Shannon Hicks, The Newtown Bee

With the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, CT, the broadcast networks and cable news channels are changing up their plans tonight.

All three of the evening news anchors, Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Scott Pelley, will be anchoring from Connecticut tonight.

“The CBS Evening News” will expand to one-hour, and CBS will air a one-hour special report at 10 PM ET. “ABC World News” will also be one-hour, and ABC will be pre-empting Barbara Walters‘ interview with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a special on the shooting, with Sawyer and Chris Cuomo anchoring from CT. There will also be a special edition of “Nightline” with Cynthia McFadden anchoring from CT. “NBC Nightly News” will also be an hour, and “Dateline” will be pre-empting its holiday special for a report on the shooting at 10 PM.

On cable news tonight, the shooting will be the big story, if not the exclusive one.

MSNBC will be sticking with its normal lineup of hosts, with the shooting expected to be the primary story. Chris Jansing will host the 10pmET hour live from Newtown.

CNN will also be staying with its normal lineup, though the 10 PM edition of “AC360″ will be live instead of taped. With Erin Burnett in Afghanistan, Ashleigh Banfield will fill-in at 7 PM.  ”Piers Morgan Tonight” will be discussing the latest regarding the shooting, as well as gun control. Banfield will also anchor at 11 PM.

Fox News is pre-empting “The Five,” instead having Jon Scott anchor the hour. Bill Hemmer will anchor at 7 PM from CT.  ”The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity” will be live instead of on tape, and will be talking about the shooting, and “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” will originate from Connecticut and air from 10PM-midnight. In addition tonight’s edition of “Red Eye” is being pre-empted.

We will update this item as we get more information on coverage.

Original story posted at 11:11 AM: The second mass shooting in a week is rocking the country, this time at an elementary school in suburban Connecticut. The cable news channel quickly pivoted from politics to the shooting this morning, as word spread.

According to TVEyes, Fox News reported news of the shooting at 10:23, CNN at 10:35 and MSNBC at 10:37. As of 11 AM, all of the networks were citing local “reports” of the shooting. MSNBC eventually handed over its coverage to a local NBC affiliate, which was all over the story.

Shortly after 11 AM, Fox News returned to coverage of Susan Rice’s withdrawal yesterday as a nominee for Secretary of State, while MSNBC and CNN stayed on the school shooting. At 11:15 FNC returned to the shooting, throwing its coverage to a local affiliate in Connecticut.

Update: The broadcast nets have broken in with special reports, as the situation gets more dire. Reports of more than a dozen people, including multiple children, killed.

CBS News says Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” from Connecticut this evening. FNC’s Bill Hemmer will also anchor from CT.

As of 1 PM Fox news has Rick Leventhal in Newtown, CT. CNN has Susan Candiotti in Newtown, and Ashleigh Banfield and Jason Carroll on the story. Fox, CNN and the other networks have correspondents en route.

Update 2: CNN IDed the shooter as Ryan Lanza at 2:15 PM, FNC followed suit at 2:21 and MSNBC at 2:25. Important Update: At 3:30 reports are that Ryan Lanza was not the shooter, but that his brother Adam Lanza was.

Update 3: At 3:15, president Obama gave an emotional statement on the shooting. Every news network picked it up:
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Jeff Zucker‘s return to the ranks of TV network executive will put him in charge of many people he worked with at NBC over the years. It will also put him in direct competition with one of his closest friends. Phil Griffin — now the president of MSNBC — worked at CNN early in his career. Griffin joined NBC’s “Today” first in 1983. And it was during his second stint on the show that he would meet Zucker, who would later become EP of the show. Years later, Zucker would name Griffin president of MSNBC.

Griffin is excited for his old friend, and the battle ahead, telling the New York Times: “[Roger] Ailes on one side, Zucker on the other: Game on.”

At CNN, Zucker will be working with several of his former employees including Soledad O’Brien who was an MSNBC original before moving to NBC and rising to “Weekend Today” co-anchor during the years that Zucker ran the show. Erin Burnett, a former CNBC star who’d been positioned for a greater role at NBC, is now a CNN host. Ashleigh Banfield made a name for herself on MSNBC after the 9/11 attacks and subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now she anchors a daytime CNN show.

And it was Zucker who, as CEO of NBCU, allowed Piers Morgan to continue judging “America’s Got Talent” on NBC while taking an offer to host his own primetime CNN show. Morgan has since given up “AGT.”

And Jonathan Wald, EP of Morgan’s show, followed Zucker as executive producer of both “NBC Nightly News” and “Today” in the early 2000s. Wald’s ironic Tweet of the day:

CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield interviewed her mother during “CNN Newsroom” today. Banfield’s mother was on a cruise ship that diverted due to Hurricane Sandy, taking a very similar path to the ill-fated tall ship HMS Bounty, which sank, killing at least one crew member.

The cruise ship eventually made it to Bermuda, after enduring 20 to 30 foot waves. Banfield hadn’t spoken to her mother until she heard her voice on-air.

“I’ll talk to you after the show, I love you,” Banfied said.

WATCH:

CNN will be keeping its usual primetime lineup on tonight to cover Sandy, and will be live until the worst of the storm passes, whenever that may be. Anchors Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett will be reporting in the field tonight across primetime. CNN International will be simulcasting CNN/U.S. from 11AM-2PM and again starting at 4 PM.

The list of correspondents in the field for CNN is after the jump.

Update: HLN is blowing up its primetime lineup to provide hurricane coverage. Those details are also after the jump.
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