HBO has ordered a documentary chronicling the life and career of former President Bill Clinton, with Martin Scorsese serving as the film’s director.

The film is being “made with Clinton’s full cooperation,” the network says, and “will explore his perspectives on history, politics, culture and the world.”

HBO did not provide a timetable for when the documentary would debut. The pay-cable network remains one of the most prolific producers of TV documentary films in the U.S. Earlier this year it aired a documentary examining the life of Clinton’s predecessor, President George H.W. Bush. It also ordered a documentary about the difficult life of war photographers.

“I am pleased that legendary director Martin Scorsese and HBO have agreed to do this film,” said Clinton in a statement. “I look forward to sharing my perspective on my years as President, and my work in the years since, with HBO’s audience.”

“A towering figure who remains a major voice in world issues, President Clinton continues to shape the political dialogue both here and around the world,” said Scorsese in a statement. “Through intimate conversations, I hope to provide greater insight into this transcendent figure.”

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MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has been nominated for a Grammy Award.

Maddow is a nominee for the audio version of her book Drift in the “Spoken Word Field.” She is up against some steep competition, including President Bill Clinton and comedian Ellen Degeneres.

The awards will be handed out Sunday, February 10, 2013 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live on CBS. The full list of nominees is here.

• “Face the Nation” originates from New York Sunday as Bob Schieffer speaks with former Pres. Bill Clinton. The annual Clinton Global Initiative gets underway Sunday. Clinton is on “The Daily Show” tonight.

• CNBC has plucked Jake Novak from Fox Business Network. Starting Monday Novak, who was Stuart Varney‘s producer at FBN, will be Supervising Producer of CNBC’s “Street Signs.”

• Glenn Beck puts on another of his stages shows tonight. Originating from the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, Glenn Beck: Unelectable 2012 is being distributed by Fathom Events showing in theaters across the country.

GQ does a Q&A with MSNBC president Phil Griffin who doesn’t like when people says MSNBC is the liberal answer to Fox News.

GQ: Your network was beaten by Fox at the RNC but beat them at the DNC. Is MSNBC the liberal counterpart to Fox?

Griffin: …everybody tries to make an equivalence between us and Fox. You tell me when Fox praises the Democrats! Lawrence O’Donnell said it was one of the best speeches he heard by Romney. Ed Schultz talked about how a star was born with Ryan—even though he disagreed with everything he said. Steve Schmidt the former McCain manager in the ’08 election talked about strategy and helped us understand what they’re doing. We’re totally open to—we don’t have to agree with it but we totally understood it and tried to dissect it and appreciate it for what it is. You never see that at Fox—there’s no equivalency!

Of course, that’s not exactly accurate, and since Griffin asked, here are a few recent examples of Fox news praising democrats.

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On day two of the Democratic National Convention, which featured a 48-minute speech from former Pres. Bill Clinton, MSNBC was once again the top choice for cable news viewers, while ABC News was #1 at 10pm. NBC was the big winner of the night, however, as it broadcast the first game of the 2012 NFL season. In the 10pm hour, NBC averaged 20.2 million viewers watching the Giants-Cowboys, while the combined averages of ABC, CBS, MSNBC, FNC and CNN was 20.6 million.

While MSNBC led the cablers again, only Fox News grew its audience from Tuesday night, in both total viewers (+7%) and demo viewers (+14%).

• Cable News Primetime , Sept. 5, 8-11pm

MSNBC: 3,307,740 viewers (1,003,068 in 25-54)
CNN: 2,919,265 viewers (961,695 in 25-54)
FNC: 2,699,098 viewers (629,025 in 25-54)

ABC eked out a win over CBS at 10pm, by just +4%. MSNBC was third in Total Viewers while CNN grabbed third (a cable win) in the demo. All the networks gained viewers from Tuesday in the hour, not unusual since there was one less outlet to watch (NBC).

• DNC Day Two / Sept. 5, 10-11pm:

ABC: 4,587,224 viewers (1,728,724 in 25-54)
CBS: 4,410,140 viewers (1,723,928 in 25-54)
MSNBC: 4,387,567 viewers (1,419,115 in 25-54)
CNN: 4,134,662 viewers (1,543,771 in 25-54)
FNC: 3,102,606 viewers (813,816 in 25-54)

Compared to Day 2 of the DNC in 2008, ABC, CBS, MSNBC and FNC are up. The growth can be attributed to NBC passing on the DNC for the NFL, and the fact that CNN is down -23% in total viewers and down -33% in A25-54 viewers, vs. 2008.

And even with football on NBC, the 10pm hour of the DNC’s night two still topped night two of the RNC a week ago: 20,622,000 vs. 20,049,000

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• Brian Williams will anchor a DNC update during halftime of NBC’s broadcast of the first NFL game of the season tonight. Williams interviewed former president Bill Clinton, and because of the game, NBC will not be airing Clinton’s DNC speech.

• FNC’s Jesse Watters was spotted outside the CNN Grill in Charlotte this afternoon interviewing passersby and waiting for delegates, and others, to emerge.

• NBC’s “Meet the Press” is looking beyond the DNC and has booked GOP nominee Mitt Romney for Sunday’s show. It’s an exclusive.

• ABC’s Diane Sawyer talks with San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro for tonight’s “World News.” Castro is the DNC’s keynote speaker tonight.

• NBC’s Brian Williams interviews former President Bill Clinton for Wednesday’s “Nightly News,” a few hours before Clinton’s keynote address to the DNC.

• Also Wednesday, ABC’s David Muir speaks with Caroline Kennedy for “World News.” Kennedy addresses the DNC Thursday evening.

• Who is Janice Dean‘s role model? Her Fox News colleague Megyn Kelly, the meteorologist says. “If I was a young girl coming out of college, she’s someone I would aspire to be like; she’s very smart, doing great in her career, has kids and a great husband, and is beautiful inside and out,” Dean tells I Want Her Job.

• CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is hosting an online roundtable discussion tomorrow. Starting at NoonET, viewers can chat with Blitzer about the 2012 election at cnn.com/roundtable. The event will also be streamed on cnn.com.

• Former President Bill Clinton sits down with PBS Newshour senior correspondent Judy Woodruff tomorrow to talk about the Clinton Global Initiative and the current state of U.S. politics.

ABC went dancing with its star today, and she didn’t miss a step.

Katie Couric’s guest-hosting stint on ‘Good Morning America’ came off with nary a hiccup. Despite a six-year absence from the a.m. game, she seamlessly picked up where she left off at “Today,” displaying the goofy humor and warmth that made her a star.

She laughed. She danced. She cracked wise. What’s not to love?

Did we say love? Like a shark at a shipwreck, “GMA” is moving in for the kill against “Today.” With only 137,000 viewers separating them, according to the latest Nielsen ratings, “GMA” is counting on a week of Couric to end her alma mater’s 16-year dominance.

In response to ABC’s massive promotion, “Today” announced last week that Monday’s show would feature a “legend.” (I’m a big Meredith Vieria fan, but she hardly fits the category.) Sarah Palin guest hosts tomorrow; irony abounds. It was Couric, then with CBS, who derailed Palin in ’08 by asking the vice-presidential candidate what newspapers she read.

ABC made sure Couric’s visit was treated by her colleagues like a coronation. Her co-hosts were positively giddy, and every correspondent welcomed her. At 7:21 a.m., she told an adoring George Stephanopoulos that she was “starting to relax.”

Couric did several taped bits about her return to morning TV, beginning with one in which she ran around her apartment in her jammies and drank endless cups of coffee to stay awake for her debut. In another, her driver mistakenly took her to NBC before heading to ABC’s Times Square studio.

The most blatant, self-serving skit revolved around Couric’s love fest with ABC’s hit “DWTS,” now in Week 3. She camped around backstage with host Tom Bergeron. She lusted for mucho-macho

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Gupta, Couric, Gupta's father Subhash

Just how well-liked is CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta? So much so that his book release party, held at The Setai Hotel last night, had more boldface names in attendance than many TV premieres. Gupta’s first novel, Monday Mornings, was released this week.

Former President Bill Clinton, former CBS News anchor Katie Couric, daytime talk-show host Dr. Oz, “The Daily Show” correspondent Aasif Mandvi, Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer and former CNN anchor Kiran Chetry were all there. And that is before you get into the CNN contingent, which included Soledad O’Brien, Don Lemon, Ivan Watson, Jeffrey Toobin, Ashleigh Banfield and Christine Romans, among others.

Nearly every top CNN executive was there, including CNN Worldwide chief Jim Walton, CNN U.S. chief Ken Jautz, CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker, CNN International chief Tony Maddox and HLN chief Scot Safon. We also spotted CBS News president David Rhodes mingling with the crowd.

Clinton held court close to the entrance to the bar, with guests approaching him to chat throughout the night. Gupta worked through the crowd, saying hello to everyone, posing for photos and signing copied of his book. “Enjoy your stay in Chelsea General!” he wrote in one, referring to the fictional hospital in the book.

Gupta also said that the television adaptation of his novel for TNT continues to progress, and production started this month.

“Clearly Sanjay is a man of many many talents, he is possibly the busiest human being I have ever met,” said Walton during the reception, before quipping “Here is his book by the way.”

Many more pictures below.

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