TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman weighs in on Al Jazeera America, which is currently on the lookout for a chief executive to run the new channel, which will take over the channel space of Current TV later this year.

Waxman has a list of names that she says are in consideration, and there are many familiar faces. Current TV chief David Bohrman is said not to be in the running, while Steve Capus is said to be “skeptical.”

One of the leading candidates, according to Waxman, is former CNN/U.S. chief Jonathan Klein:

Klein, who was fired in 2010, has the news experience and is believed to want the job. According to an individual with knowledge of his thinking, Klein believes there is a ripe opportunity for a news network to occupy the niche that CNN used to — in other words, hard-core reporting with serious journalists.

Others on the list include former CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker, former ABC News president David Westin and former CBS News president Andrew Heyward.

The launch of Al Jazeera America may not happen until late Summer, the New York Post reports. The channel, which will take over Current TV, had hoped to be on the air in June but a source tells the post: “June is not going to happen. The best guess is August or September.” The Post also reports that finding a news chief is the top priority. Names in the mix include former NBC News president Steve Capus and former CNN president Jon Klein, as well as former NBC and CNN executives David Bohrman and David Doss. Bohrman had also been president of Current TV, which Al Jazeera acquired in January.

Current TV knows that it is an underdog when it comes to convention coverage. ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS and C-SPAN will all be going big in Tampa and Charlotte, so why bother following the pack?

Instead, Current will produce its coverage from New York, where Al Gore and a number of Current TV hosts will anchor for the network.

“If we can’t be down on the floor swimming in it, which is big, huge and expensive, we can do it just fine from here,” Current TV president David Bohrman told me in Current’s New York studio. “Layer in the fact that coverage is being led by Al Gore; I can’t necessarily have him be on the floor at a democratic convention hall, he is a former nominee of the party after all, and then if you look forward to Tampa, I certainly can’t have him on the floor at the Republican convention.”

Instead, Current is betting that with much of the TV coverage going to look the same (with the same pool cameras and the same people giving the same speeches), there is a chance to do something different.

So, Current will be dedicating half of the real estate on its screen to a live stream of tweets (see photo above), featuring various groups, including “Team Obama,” “Team Romney,” “Tea Party Voters” and even “Mainstream Media,” which includes tweets from competitors on cable news.

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The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, died yesterday at the age of 61. Before she was ever an astronaut, Ride was a teaching assistant at Stanford University. One of her students was a man named David Bohrman, now the president of Current TV, and formerly an executive at CNN, ABC News and NBC News.

Bohrman produced the first interview with Ride at ABC News before she ever launched. He appeared on “The War Room” last night to talk about his experiences with Ride.

WATCH:

File this story under “weird.” Former CNN political director and CNN Headline News president Bob Furnad was busted by a local CBS affiliate in Atlanta placing dog poop in his neighbor’s mailbox. Apparently there was some sort of ongoing feud between Furnad and his neighbors, who caught him, er, brown-handed on surveillance footage.

WATCH:

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After his appearance on the ”Late Show with David Letterman” this evening, Keith Olbermann Tweeted: “Lots of fun w/the best interviewer in the business – including when it gets serious.” Presumably this means Olbermann opens up his departure from Current TV last week. Interestingly, also on Letterman tonight, Allison Williams, the daughter of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who is staring in the new HBO show “Girls.” (Allison, not Brian).

Back to Olbermann. Earlier today, the New York Post published parts of internal emails between Current TV president David Bohrman Olbermann’s manager, Michael Price, in the weeks leading up to Olbermann’s dismissal from the network.

[T]he final straw came … when the “Countdown” anchor threatened to take off the day before the all-important Super Tuesday primaries on March 6. Price was so adamant about getting his boss his precious vacation day that Bohrman was reduced to begging. “The night before Super Tuesday is a BIG night for us … I would hate to have our main anchor off on such a night. Can we slip this please?” Bohrman pleaded. Price then nagged the former CNN executive, asking him why it was so important for an anchor with a $50 million contract to broadcast during a major political event. “Please indicate, with specificity, why Keith is essential to that day,” Price taunted Bohrman.

More of Olbermann’s side of it tonight on “Late Show.” Speaking of which, it was also announced today that Letterman and “Late, Late Show” host Craig Ferguson have extended their CBS contracts for another two years – through 2014. Both series are produced by Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, Inc.

Current TV is finally getting into the morning TV game, adding simulcasts of radio programs “The Bill Press Show” and The Stephanie Miller Show.”

The shows will start simulcasting in the Spring, with Press airing from 6-9AM and Miller from 9AM-12PM. The new shows will add six hours of original programming to Current’s lineup, effectively doubling it. At the moment the network has original programming from 7-10PM.

Press regularly fills in as a guest host on “Countdown,” and Miller appears on Current with some regularity.

In a statement, both Press and Current TV president David Bohrman took aim squarely at MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which has been a centerpiece of Current TV’s criticism of that network:

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CNN has long featured technological gadgetry in its programming, but none has been as successful as its “Magic Wall,” popularized by John King during the 2008 primaries. The multi-touch display has been so successful that essentially every other live TV news outlet–from ESPN to CNBC–followed in CNN’s footsteps and has one or two, and use them with regularity.

Now, however, it appears that the channel wants to make sure that the “Magic Wall” is for CNN use only. Earlier this month the channel applied for a trademark on the term “Magic Wall” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to filings obtained by TVNewser.

The filing is particularly ironic, as the name “Magic Wall” was originally a placeholder.

“We talked a bit about what to call it, the ‘Touch Wall,’  ‘White Board,’ and thinking back to the old Captain Kangaroo Show, the ‘Magic Chalkboard,’” Current TV president and former CNN DC bureau chief David Bohrman told us. “Me and Wolf [Blitzer] ended up giving up and calling it ‘Magic Wall,’ we decided it was just the easiest thing to do for now.”

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While NBC celebrates 60 years of “Today” next week, today ABC is marking 20 years of “World News Now.” ABC News president Ben Sherwood calls the overnight news show, “the unsung hero of our news division.” And to the production team, “You all have the confidence and creativity to take risks and reap the rewards.”

The show, created by David Bohrman, who went on to CNN and is now president of Current TV, debuted January 6, 1992.

“We never imagined that our little overnight effort would last so long, inform and entertain so many people, and launch so many careers,” Bohrman tells TVNewser. Bohrman says he still has the audition tapes from original anchors Aaron Brown and Lisa McRee. Over the years, other anchors have included Anderson Cooper, Alison Stewart, Kevin Newman, Thalia Assuras,  Juju Chang, Jeremy Hubbard, David Muir and more.

Bohrman has one bit of advice for the current producers: “They should bring back the World News Now Temperature Index.” Here’s a best-of video, shown this morning on the show:

And this wasn’t the only TV news morning marker Today.

Sherwood’s note, after the jump…

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It was just under a year ago that Keith Olbermann left MSNBC in dramatic fashion. Now the primetime host is once again having issues with his employer, this time in the form of Current TV.

The latest developments: Olbermann’s lawyer, Hollywood power attorney Patty Glaser (who repped Conan O’Brien during his battle with NBC) is negotiating with Current TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Exactly what those negotiations entail is a mystery for now.

The New York Times reports that the issue at hand is one of control. When Olbermann joined Current, he was given equity in the channel, as well as the title of chief news officer. Since then Current added a president in David Bohrman, and Joel Hyatt took over as CEO. In addition, Olbermann’s “Countdown” has suffered from technical snafus, issues beyond the control of him or his staff.

Next week is the New Hampshire primary, and unlike Iowa, Olbermann may be at the center of Current’s coverage:

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