• CNN host Piers Morgan is becoming a producer. Morgan, alongside manager John Ferriter, will EP a drama series about life at a tabloid on Fleet Street in the 1970s for Starz. “A street full of the most ruthless and amoral people in the world existed, and it was called Fleet Street.”

• Morgan was also the recipient of the ” Sarah Brady Visionary Award” from The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Morgan and fellow honoree Laura Wasser were feted in Los Angeles.

• A conservative group is organizing a protest for Comcast’s annual shareholders meeting. The protest is tied to the partisan perception of MSNBC. Shareholder meetings are pretty popular places for protests.

CNN’s Piers Morgan gets the Vanity Fair profile treatment. The piece does a good job going into Morgan’s life and career, and it even has some juicy bits from his current tenure at CNN.

“We are the leper with the most fingers,” someone who works on Morgan’s program told me. That sort of attitude doesn’t endear Morgan and his team to veterans at the network. There is palpable tension between Morgan and Anderson Cooper, according to people who work with them. Anderson Cooper 360 airs just before and just after Piers Morgan Tonight. Larry King’s show was in the same slot, and there always used to be a bit of televised banter between Anderson and King as the handoffs were made. There’s no banter now. As far as viewers are concerned, Cooper and Morgan simply don’t speak.

Morgan’s show is number one in total viewers, while Cooper’s show is tops in the demo. Of course, Cooper’s program airs at 8 and 10 PM, and there likely aren’t many people watching both editions.

There is also an interesting anecdote from Morgan’s agent, John Ferriter, in which he explains how Morgan got the gig at CNN in the first place:
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Former CNBC anchor Trish Regan is joining Bloomberg Television as co-anchor of “Street Smart” which will air from 3-5pmET weekdays beginning January 9. She will also anchor a number of primetime specials and help lead anchor coverage of the 2012 Presidential election campaign.

Regan, who left CNBC in March, has been doing freelance work for ABC News, including as recently as last night when she was on “World News” talking about holiday shopping and the economy.

“Trish is an accomplished broadcast journalist and skilled reporter who has covered some of the most important global economic stories of our time,” said Bloomberg TV’s Andrew Morse. “She’ll play a key role on our Bloomberg team as we move forward with our goal of becoming the most influential business and financial news network.”

Regan is represented by John Ferriter and George Arquilla at Octagon, the same agency that represents CNN’s Piers Morgan and Erin Burnett.

More in the news release after the jump…

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Mark Whitaker, Jim Walton, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, Piers Morgan and Ken Jautz

Last night CNN feted its newest anchor, Erin Burnett, at Robert restaurant at The Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle, just a few hundred feet from CNN’s NYC headquarters. Overlooking Columbus Circle and the southwest corner of Central Park, guests watched the city fade into night, while clips of Burnett preparing for her show played on a loop on TV sets spread throughout the space.

Just after 7:30 PM, CNN/U.S. executive VP Ken Jautz and CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker made some brief remarks. Jautz commented that Burnett is extremely passionate about news, and that anyone expecting a curt reply when asking her what she is working on is in for a long conversation.

Burnett then addressed the crowd and thanked them for their support. Her manager John Ferriter was in attendance, as was her fiancee David Rubulotta. Jautz and Whitaker got shout-outs, as did CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton and CNN ad sales chief Greg D’alba, both of whom were working the room.

The party also drew a packed room of boldface names:

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The man behind Piers Morgan‘s move to CNN–his U.S. manager John Ferriter–gets profiled by The Daily Beast.

It is a fascinating read, both for the interesting facts about Ferriter (he was technically dead when his heart stopped for three minutes last year) and for the juicy info about how he landed Morgan the CNN gig.

Talks began with CNN in April before it was clear that King was looking to wind down after 25 years with the network. “Looked at in the grand scheme of things,” says Ferriter, “it was totally impossible and should never have been attempted. There were a million obstacles, but we kept figuring it out.” In the end, it took six months before lawyers could negotiate the final terms.

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The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter writes about “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric and CNN’s apparent 9 p.m. host Piers Morgan.

At the heart of Stelter’s story is that Couric was long considered a favorite to take over for Larry King, but when the timetable for King’s departure was accelerated, Morgan was in the right place at the right time.

Still, when her current deal expires next year, Couric could very well find her way onto CNN. Stelter reports seeing Couric dining with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes at the swanky New York restaurant Marea last week.

And of course there is always the possibility that the long-rumored deal between CBS News and CNN could finally happen:

It is possible that CNN and CBS – always rumored to be weighing a news-sharing pact – could share Ms. Couric; already the CNN stars Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta contribute to the CBS program “60 Minutes.” The two companies continue to talk about a broader merger or content-sharing arrangement.

Her hiring would reinforce CNN’s hard news brand. Some people at CNN think Ms. Couric would work well at 7 p.m., a spot now taken up by “John King, USA,” an underperforming show that is starting to come under scrutiny.

Stelter also reports that Morgan was talking to CNN executives a full nine weeks before King announced his retirement:

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