Oprah Winfrey is in Sydney, Australia today taping several shows as part of her three-week Ultimate Australian Adventure. One of her guests, Australian actor Hugh Jackman made quite an entrance during the taping at the Sydney Oprah House — getting a bloody eye in the process.

Here’s how the news was reported on “The 7PM Project” an “infotainment” show on Australia’s TEN Network:

This morning on “The View” Barbara Walters announced that his year’s Oscar special would be her last for ABC.

“ABC has asked me to keep doing these specials as they have been so successful — and I’m thrilled we have such great stars and have such a wonderful show — but to be honest, I feel like I’ve ‘been there, done that,’” Walters said.

Walters has been hosting the Oscar night interview shows for 29 years. “I will always remember when Hugh Jackman gave me a private lap dance or sitting down with the legendary Bette Davis or being taught to tango by Al Pacino,” she said. “It’s those priceless moments that have made this special the Oscar tradition that it has become, but I truly feel enough is enough.”

Walters’s guests this year include best actress nominee Sandra Bullock and best supporting actress nominee Mo’Nique.

Exclusive: TVNewser has learned Katie Couric brought a special guest to the morning meeting of the CBS Evening News – actor Hugh Jackman.

Jackman was at CBS Broadcast Center to take part in an interview for the Web show @katiecouric. Insiders tell us Jackman said “The Evening News” is doing “great work.” Couric added, “He does watch it every night.”

And after the arrest of CBS News employee Robert Halderman on charges of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman, Couric commented, “I thought I’d bring a Friday surprise because it’s been a hard day around here.”

Update: Photos from the visit

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The NYTimes’ Brian Stelter catches up with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric and news executives Sean McManus and Rick Kaplan as the chorus of “when will Katie leave CBS” is nearly silenced. Couric reiterates that she’ll stay with the network at least until her contract expires in 2011.

On April 9, 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported that Couric’s bosses were planning for a future without Couric in the anchor chair. Stelter reveals what a much-rumored meeting was all about:

“It was to try to figure out how to better utilize Katie’s talents,” said Sean McManus, the president of CBS News. With the election looming, they agreed to revisit the subject after the inauguration.

Ms. Couric says that she never considered a post-inauguration departure from the “Evening News,” and Mr. McManus denies that the executives discussed a timetable for Ms. Couric’s exit. Both said the topic was not revisited after the inauguration. Asked why it didn’t come up again, her executive producer, Rick Kaplan, was blunt. “Her really superb work is what swept those questions away,” he said.

And while the changes brought to the CBS Evening News when Couric took over three years ago this month were quickly done away with, look for more tweaks in the near future.

“We’ve talked a lot about modifying the show,” Mr. McManus said. In a meeting last week, Ms. Couric and her producers made plans to nurture some existing franchises, including the financial investigation series “Follow the Money.” Ms. Couric also wants to add more upbeat stories to the newscast, “since the news can be so depressing now.”

More significantly, Ms. Couric continues to seek to diversify her role beyond the evening broadcast. “I’ve tried to utilize all the existing platforms at CBS, and when they don’t exist, create them myself,” she said.

Apart from CBS, she will conduct monthly interviews with notable women for Glamour magazine, beginning in the December issue.

Couric will also begin hosting a weekly, one-hour interview program on CBSNews.com. Her first guest: cable’s man of the moment:

Taped against a black background, her new interview Web show may remind some of “Charlie Rose,” the PBS interview program. Her first guest is the popular and controversial Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck. Interviews with former Vice President Al Gore and the actor Hugh Jackman are to follow.

> Tonight BBC World News America looks at how diverse cultural communities of modern America celebrate this centuries old tradition. Three Americans — a recently naturalized U.S. citizen from India, a first generation Mexican-American, and a woman whose American roots date back to the 15th century, explain what Thanksgiving means to them. BBC World News America airs at 7pmET on BBC America.

> CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosts CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute tonight at 9pmET on CNN. The show was taped before an audience of more than 2,000 at the Kodak Theatre last Saturday. The star-studded event features performances by Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys and John Legend, with awards presented by Jessica Biel, Cameron Diaz, Salma Hayek, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, and Forest Whitaker.

> Before you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner think about this quote from Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps about his eating habits: “I have to always just constantly shovel food in because I can lose anywhere from five to 10 pounds in a week.” Nice. Phelps talks with the aforementioned Cooper this Sunday on 60 Minutes. By the way, that rumored 12,000-calorie a day diet is more like 8-10,000 calories a day. We feel better now.