Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock‘s upcoming CNN series has been delayed until later this year, TVNewser hears. The show, “Inside Man,” has Spurlock sharing “an insider’s view into rarely-seen sectors of American life that include gun lovers, marijuana growers, migrant farm workers, and end-of-life caregivers.” We also hear that the format may have been tweaked slightly, resulting in the delay.

Spurlock’s “Inside Man” was announced in August, 2012 to much fanfare, as it was the second original series acquisition for the cable news channel. It was supposed to debut this month on the channel, paired with Anthony Bourdain‘s travel show “Parts Unknown.”

Rather than pair the show with Bourdain’s program, CNN may replace “Parts Unknown” with “Inside Man” once this season of “Parts” ends in a few months. With other unscripted projects still having a way to go in development, it will allow CNN to have some continuity in programming on Sunday nights.  A second season of “Parts” is slated for the Fall.

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Calling it a “huge part of what CNN is going to to be,” CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker welcomed hundreds of guests to Porter House at Time Warner Center for a launch event for the network’s newest show hosted by Anthony Bourdain. “Parts Unknown” debuts Sunday night at 9pmET/PT.

CNN is, in fact, venturing into parts unknown with what Bourdain is cooking up. Bringing in a well-known non-news talent for a weekly one-hour travel/food/cultural awareness show is a departure for the network. Still, Zucker calls “Parts Unknown,” “the true measure of what we want this network to be.”

“We have a true television star in our midst,” said Zucker, who was quickly reminded of the dozen other on air talent in the room. “Not that we don’t have great television stars at CNN …Brooke Baldwin,” said Zucker, noticing the daytime anchor in the crowd, “You’re a television star.” We also spotted Anderson Cooper, (who dropped in before his show) Piers Morgan, Ashleigh Banfield, A.J. Hammer, Christine Romans (above with Bourdain and Baldwin) and John Berman.

Zucker heaped praise on CNN’s SVP of talent and content development Amy Entellis and Vinnie Malhotra, SVP of development and acquisitions, who began courting Bourdain a year ago. Bourdain had hosted “No Reservations” on Travel Channel since 2005.

“I’m grateful to be with CNN,” Bourdain told the crowd. “I got my official CNN ID today so I guess the cavity searches are over.”

The first of 8 original episodes airs Sunday. A second season is set for the Fall. The network is also developing a show with documentarian Morgan Spurlock, and this week announced it would add a Friday night studio audience talk show with CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos.

More pictures from last night after the jump…

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Soon-to-be CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker and his new boss, Turner Broadcasting chairman Phil Kent, held a conference call with reporters this morning to talk about Zucker’s hire. There were plenty of talking points, but reading between the lines, it was clear that Zucker had a vision–at least a general one–of what he thought CNN has to do to remain relevant in a competitive, multi-platform news environment.

“I think our competition today is anybody that competes for eyeballs and attention and produces non-fiction programming,” Zucker said. “News is about more than politics and war, we need to broaden that definition of what news is, while maintaining the standards of CNN’s journalistic excellence.”

“We have had shows about sports, fashion and technology, and some of that is going to be revisited,” Kent said. “It is all news that people need and are interested about. There is a lot of subject matter that we probably don’t give enough attention to.”

CNN is beginning to expand to other forms of non-fiction programming on the weekends with new shows next year hosted by Anthony Bourdain and Morgan Spurlock. Zucker said that “it wouldn’t be fair” to any current hosts or shows to discuss what he had planned for them.

That said, it seemed clear that two areas Zucker wanted to focus on are CNN’s primetime lineup and its morning program, where he has real-world experience having taken NBC’s “Today” show to #1 in the ’90s, where it stayed for 16 years.

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CNN is adding director Morgan Spurlock to the family. The “Super Size Me” star and director will host and produce a new unscripted series called “Inside Man” for CNN starting in early 2013. “Inside Man” will air alongside the new travel program hosted by Anthony Bourdain, which will also debut around that time.

As with Bourdain’s show, “Inside Man” will not be produced by CNN, but will be licensed to the network by Spurlock’s production company Warrior Poets. The logline for the new show:

“Each week Spurlock will provide an insider’s view into rarely-seen sectors of American life that include gun lovers, marijuana growers, migrant farm workers, and end-of-life caregivers.”

It will be a return to TV for Spurlock, who previously hosted and produced “30 Days” for FX.

“Morgan Spurlock’s name has become synonymous with creative and thought-provoking documentary story-telling,” said CNN executive VP Mark Whitaker in a statement. “Like Anthony Bourdain’s new CNN series, Inside Man will carry the distinctive stamp of its host while taking viewers on colorful and informative journeys into fascinating corners of American society.”

More information below. And check out Spurluck’s video and filmmaking tips for journalists, which he shared with MediabistroTV in a Media Beat interview, also after the jump.

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Awful Announcing‘s tournament to determine who will replace former Sunday Night Baseball commentator Joe Morgan on AA‘s Mt. Rushmore of bad announcers has been narrowed down to two — ESPN college football commentator Craig James and Fox announcer Joe Buck.

As Matt Yoder of AA explains, James’ presence in the finals is due largely to the groundswell of negative publicity that the former SMU running back has generated in regards to the Mike Leach controversy at Texas Tech. To summarize, ESPN college football reporter Bruce Feldman was temporarily relieved of his duties — but NOT suspended — by ESPN for assisting Leach in his book, Swing the Sword, which was highly critical of ESPN in its handling of Leach’s departure from the Red Raiders – in particular, allegations that Leach mistreated Adam James, son of Craig James.

When we started this tournament July 5th, few people would have predicted ESPN college football analyst Craig James for one final slot. However, a month of horrible PR came from nowhere for the Senator thanks to stunning revelations in the new Mike Leach book combined with the #FreeBruce saga. Those stories lifted James to unprecedented heights of unlikability. In the final he meets Fox play by play man Joe Buck, who in spite of winning some sympathy through battling a vocal cord virus, has rode a wave of years of discontent from sports fans through to the final. Let’s hope the final will be just as dramatic as the Colin Cowherd-Joe Buck semifinal, where Buck passed Cowherd in the final two minutes before the clock struck midnight and won by 33 votes out of 12,635.

Either James or Buck will join Pam Ward, Dick Vitale or Tim McCarver on AA’s Mt. Rushmore. Good luck to the contestants.

Our mediabistro.com Media Beat interview series launched in December and we’ve had great interviews with some big names in media every week since.

You can see the full list of interviews here. But we’ve highlighted a few of our favorites for you to check out:

	HDNET’s Dan Rather discusses how journalism has changed and talks about his CBS lawsuit. Part 1, 2, 3
	MSNBC’s Willie Geist describes how he ended up at MSNBC and how “Way Too Early” takes a very different approach to television and the internet. Part 1, 2, 3
	Ken Auletta discusses his book “Googled” and Conde Nast entering the digital realm. Part 1, 2, 3
	Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock provides video/filmmaking tips to journalists and explains why working on “The Simpsons” documentary was his “best…gig…ever.” Part 1, 2, 3
	Kelly Cutrone discusses launching a reality show and talks about paying your dues in fashion PR. Part 1, 2, 3

And we’ve got some really good ones coming up soon, so keep an eye out.

You might have noticed your local Fox newscast anchors wearing yellow neckties this week. It was part of a network-wide promotion for “The Simpsons” 20-year anniversary that started on January 3rd. Tonight, Fox will broadcast the 450th episode of the show at 8pm, followed by a special documentary directed by Morgan Spurlock, who also directed “Super Size Me.”

Spurlock was just interviewed for our Media Beat interview series and he discussed his work on the doc. Video after the jump.

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