TV Guide‘s Stephen Battaglio writes about Matt Lauer‘s new deal with NBC, and scoops that there is more to it than just “Today.” According to Battaglio, Lauer’s contract includes a program development deal, as well as a stake in syndicated programs he may develop outside of the NBC morning show.

One idea already being kicked around is spinning off Lauer’s regular segment “Today‘s Professionals,” in which he spars over hot-button issues with a panel that includes Star Jones, Donny Deutsch and Dr. Nancy Snyderman. The segment could also be developed into a fifth hour of Today.

CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” is following in the footsteps of its predecessor “Larry King Live,” and having guest-hosts for all of next week while Morgan is in London filming “Life Stories.”

Among those filling in for Morgan: Wolf Blitzer, Glee’s Jane Lynch, Ad exec and NBC regular Donny Deutsch, Rosie O’Donnell and Arsenio Hall. Blitzer will anchor a politically-focused show on Tuesday, with the other hosts covering a wide swath of topics, from entertainment to politics. Blitzer previously filled in for Morgan the evening that Steve Jobs passed away, though the show has never gone a full week with guest-hosts.

“Piers Morgan Tonight” has been tweaking its format recently, including a new segment called ‘Only in America,” where Morgan gives his take on the news of the day.

Star Jones returned to ABC’s “The View” Wednesday. Jones had been a panelist on the ABC daytime show for years, before abruptly quitting the show in 2006. Jones found out that her contract would not be renewed, and decided to announce that she would be leaving, surprising her fellow panelists, including “View” creator Barbara Walters, who said she felt “betrayed.”

Jones, Walters and the panelists discussed the contentious exit, and the conversation had some tense moments:

On “Today” this morning, Donny Deutsch argued that “The View” owed Jones an apology for the “cruel” conversation they had:

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On MSNBC this morning, frequent “Morning Joe” contributor Donny Deutsch said that the Occupy Wall Street movement needs a climactic Kent State-like moment. Deutsch prefaced his comments with “I don’t want this to come out the wrong way” and pinned his theory on the thesis that America is a “visual society.”

“If you think back to the late ’60s, what is the most stirring image of all of the rebellion that happened? What do we remember? Kent State,” he said. Co-anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski immediately jumped in to try to clarify. Watch below:

TVNewser has learned Wilson (Wil) Surratt is returning to CNN and will be named EP of Erin Burnett‘s new program. Since 2009, Surratt has been with WPIX in New York. In 2006, he began a 2-year run at CNBC where he oversaw “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” and worked with Burnett on “Street Signs.”

From 2002-2006 Surratt worked at CNN as Senior EP of “American Morning” and “Newsnight with Aaron Brown” and was with CNN at the launch of “Anderson Cooper 360.” Surratt may be best known in TV news circles for overseeing the “KTLA Morning News” in Los Angeles in the late 1990s, a format which has been replicated at stations across the country.

The final deal with CNN is being worked out. An announcement is expected soon.

> Related, TVSpy: Wil Surratt Leaves WPIX, May Return to CNN

Ad executive Donny Deutsch has long been a regular on NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC.

He used to host “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch” on CNBC, and even filled in as an anchor on MSNBC last April… before being pulled after he criticized Keith Olbermann.

Now Deutsch has landed a new gig with another NBCU network… as a dating expert. Deutsch will host “Love Calling” on Bravo January 27 at 11 PM ET.

Deutsch will respond to questions posed by viewers via Twitter, Facebook, videochat and phone calls about love and dating.

“Women make the mistake of going to other women when they need advice about the men in their life,” said Deutsch in a statement. “They really need to go to a guy. I’m going to take women inside the mind of a man and give them the honest, tough but loving relationship advice they really need.”

Alrighty then. More information after the jump.
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The Huffington Post ran a story last night suggesting that New York City Mayor and Bloomberg TV founder Mike Bloomberg and MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough are considering running on an independent presidential ticket in 2012.

On this morning’s “Morning Joe,” Scarborough dumped a bucket of cold water on the story. This was despite “Morning Joe” regular and marketing guru Donny Deutsch having already come up with a slogan and campaign sign for the ticket (pictured).

I am starting to get a little irritated, because I said, we haven’t talked directly about this, indirectly about this, there is nothing to this. And then they said somebody very close to the mayor says, I want to be Vice President. That’s a joke!

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Add Keith Olbermann to the list of MSNBC hosts suspended for things they’ve said, done, or in Olbermann’s case, not done. He failed to tell his boss he was planning to donate money to the campaigns of three democratic congressmen.

The question many are asking: Will Olbermann return?

Olbermann’s colleague David Shuster, once “Countdown’s” primary fill-in, was suspended in April for taping a pilot at CNN. A few weeks after that, Donny Deutsch was suspended after a segment on a show he was guest-hosting seemed to criticize Olbermann.

Olbermann, who signed a four-year, $30 million contract extension in Nov. 2008, has left MSNBC once before.

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TVNewser dropped in on Hoda Kotb‘s book party at Donny Deutsch‘s townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side last night.

The longtime NBC News correspondent and co-host of the 4th hour of “Today” has written Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee, out today.

Spotted at the soiree: “Today” anchor Matt Lauer, who joked with us: “This is your place, right?” and MSNBC’s “Way to Early” host Willie Geist who joked about Deutsch’s pad: “This place is taking longer to remodel than Yankee stadium.”

Kotb says she was “blown away by Donny’s generosity” and thanked Kathie Lee Gifford for “lending her name for the book.” The 12-year NBC vet took everybody’s advice when “they said, ‘you better hurry up and write that book before your show gets canceled.’”

“I’m extremely happy about my book,” Kotb told TVNewser, “I’m thrilled about everybody who came out on a Monday night in New York City.” Including Frank Gifford who missed the Vikings-Jets Monday Night Football game to attend.

Even Kotb’s mom made it to the party. “My mom got pictures with everybody. She got pictures with Joan Rivers; she got one with Kathie Lee and Frank, and Al Roker. I have my mom here, my high school friends, my college friends. I feel so blessed.” (Video: after the jump)

NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, who is leaving NBCU once the Comcast deal closes, also came out to support Kotb. About his future, Zucker told us he’s going to “relax and wait for the next endeavor.” When asked if he’s writing a book, he told TVNewser, “you never know.”

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In a couple weeks you’re going to see a new TVNewser — just the design, we’re not changing the content. And with Kevin’s departure last week, we are in the process of hiring a new co-editor. I think you’ll like who we’ve selected.

The new TVNewser will mirror the design of our new site SportsNewser. Why? Well, we’re moving to a new blogging platform or CMS called Word Press from something we currently use called Moveable Type. Riveting stuff, I know.

And as part of the transition I went into the CMS archives of TVNewser — the never before published archives. The stories left in “draft.” The stories that never saw the light of day, because, well, the story fell through, never germinated into a full post or was simply a bad idea.

TVNewser has been around for almost 7 years, known first as CableNewser and founded by New York Times reporter Brian Stelter. Brian left a lot of his stories in “draft,” so did Steve Krakauer and Kevin Allocca and Alex and so have I. So I went digging.

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