President Obama is scheduled to comment on the disaster in Oklahoma at 10 AM and it is likely that all of the broadcast networks will break into regular programming to cover it.  ”CBS This Morning” went into the 9 AM hour to cover the fallout. We hear that “CTM” will stay live until 12 PM on the east coast covering the damage, and 10 AM pacific.

Update: “Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today,” Obama said. “Oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away.”

“If there is hope to hold onto, not just in Oklahoma but around the country, it is the knowledge that the good people there in Oklahoma are more prepared than most, and what they can be certain about is that Americans around the country will be right there with them,” he added.

Meanwhile, the news channels are sending their A-teams to Oklahoma to cover the fallout from the tornado.

As we noted yesterday, NBC has Brian Williams,  Lester Holt, Ann Curry, Harry Smith, Kate Snow, Anne Thompson and Dr. Nancy Snyderman in Oklahoma, as well as the Weather Channel team of Jim Cantore, Mike Bettes, and Mike Seidel.

ABC News has Sam Champion, Ginger Zee, David Muir and Alex Perez in Oklahoma. Byron Pitts, Mike Boettcher, and Cecilia Vega are also either in Moore or en route.

CBS has Norah O’Donnell anchoring from Moore, and Anna Werner on the ground, and Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” there this evening.
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CBS is delivering its upfront presentation to advertisers, media buyers and the press this afternoon, and CEO Les Moonves took aim squarely at NBC and “Today” in his opening statement.

“We believe that great drama belongs in primetime between 8-11 PM, not at 7 in the morning,” Moonves quipped, as a photo of Ann Curry and Matt Lauer from Curry’s departure from “Today” appeared on stage behind him (see the photo to the left).

Of course, “CBS This Morning” also had a talent change in the last year, as Erica Hill left (eventually joining NBC) and Norah O’Donnell came on board. That said, the transition was free of drama in front of the cameras.

CBS News was given prime placement at the upfront, with Moonves introducing the division. The CBS CEO said that “under the leadership of Jeff Fager and David Rhodes there is a renaissance going on,” before introducing a clip reel with news from the last year. Scott Pelley and O’Donnell then appeared on stage to talk about CBS News.

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“CBS This Morning” co-anchor Norah O’Donnell is profiled by the New York Post. Suffice it to say, hosting a morning show means that she has a very long and busy day. Yet the first place she checks for news when she wakes up is… Twitter?

Not surprisingly, O’Donnell is an early riser. Up by 3 a.m., she spends her first hours online, scanning Twitter to catch up on the latest news that broke overnight. She arrives at the office no later than 4:30 a.m. for hair and makeup, tapes the show’s intro and speaks with affiliates around the country starting at 6 a.m. until the show goes live at 7. After the show goes off the air at 9 a.m., she spends the next 45 minutes or so conducting affiliate interviews and report updates for Midwest and West Coast viewers. She spends the rest of the day formulating story ideas, conducting interviews and filming packages until she heads home in the afternoon. She tries to keep afternoons relatively free to be with her kids when they get out of school. “And by 5, I’m ready to have a glass of wine!” she laughs.

The cable news networks were a prime target for both President Obama and Conan O’Brien at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, held at the Washington D.C. Hilton.

Obama kicked off his remarks by acknowledging Fox News senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, the White House Correspondents’ Association president. “Ed, you’re doing an outstanding job,” Obama said. “We are grateful for the great work you’ve done.”

In his remarks, Obama poked fun at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. “I know CNN has taken some knocks lately, but I admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate,” he said. “David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace considering MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.” Obama joked that Fox News said it was “an insult to Satan” when an actor in the History Channel’s series “The Bible” was noticed for his resemblance to the President.

O’Brien also took aim at CNN and Fox News in his speech. “Speaking of dinner, tonight’s entrees were halibut and filet mignon. Or as John King reported it, lasagna and cous-cous,” he said. “If the President laughs, everyone laughs. And if the Fox News table laughs, a little girl just fell off her bike.”

O’Brien also made fun of NBC, saying the network has had a “rough go of it” of late. “The ‘Today’ show let go of Ann Curry. After being told, Ann Curry said, ‘let me get this straight: Al Roker tells the world that he crapped his pants at the White House, and I’m getting fired?’” O’Brien said.

Earlier in the day, Tammy Haddad hosted the 20th Annual Correspondents Garden Brunch. FishbowlDC has the details of the event, which was attended by Greta Van Susteren, Savannah Guthrie, Norah O’Donnell and Chris Matthews, among many others.

After the jump, watch the “House of Cards” spoof that opened the dinner, featuring Henry, Charlie Rose and Major Garrett. Read more

The “Today” show had a backstage pass for last night’s TIME 100 gala in New York. Matt Lauer conducted interviews with the honorees and a segment aired this morning. Joining Vice President Joe Biden, Marissa Mayer, Jimmy Fallon, Claire Danes, Jimmy Kimmel, Sen. Rand Paul, Lena Dunham and Daniel Day-Lewis a the event were tvnewsers including CNN honcho Jeff Zucker, MSNBC boss Phil Griffin, Barbara Walters, Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell, Alex Wagner, Willie Geist and Alina Cho. By next year’s TIME 100, the magazine will likely be part of a new company, spun off from Time Warner, which Managing Editor Rick Stengel acknowledged in his speech, “An independent Time Inc. will show the power of great journalism, the power of great content to pay for itself.”

Wall-to-wall coverage of the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon continues into the second day. ABC News, NBC News and CBS News all broadcast special reports for President Obama’s remarks from the White House press briefing room at 11:30amET. Lester Holt anchored from Boston on NBC, Anthony Mason anchored on CBS and Diane Sawyer anchored on ABC. The cable news networks also broadcast the President’s comments.

Faced with few overnight developments in the investigation of the bombings, the morning shows focused on the human impact of the explosions, interviewing eyewitnesses and victims that were at the marathon finish line.

On “Today,” Savannah Guthrie‘s interview with the President — which was taped before news of the bombings broke — was condensed due to NBC’s coverage from Boston. More of the interview will air later this week. In Boston, Matt Lauer did a number of interviews with victims of the attack, including one with a couple from a hospital room at Tufts Medical Center:

On “Good Morning America,” George Stephanopoulos anchored from Boston, joined by ABC’s Josh Elliott, Martha Raddatz and Brian Ross. Stephanopoulos interviewed a runner who crossed the finish line seconds before the first blast, and “GMA” used a spot-shadow to identify her in the video of the explosion: Read more

As we told you yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter is out with its annual “35 Most Powerful People in Media” list. The honorees were feted at a “power-soaked New York party” at the Four Seasons restaurant Wednesday night.

From CBS News, chairman Jeff Fager was there, along with “CBS This Morning” co-hosts Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell, “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer, “Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley and “Sunday Morning” correspondent Mo Rocca. CNN’s Piers Morgan was there, as was Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. The “Today” show’s Willie Geist and “Live!” co-hosts Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa attended, along with talk show hosts Wendy Williams and Katie Couric. And from ABC News, president Ben Sherwood, “The View” anchor Barbara Walters, senior VP for content and development James Goldston and “Good Morning America” anchors Lara Spencer and  George Stephanopoulos, who was with his wife, Ali Wentworth.

More pictures of the event in THR’s gallery.

With the Louisville Cardinals’ dramatic 82-76 win over the Michigan Wolverines, March Madness has come to an end. It also means that we need to declare a winner in the TVNewser March Madness Bracket Challenge.

Your 2013 TVNewser March Madness Bracket Challenge winner is…

CBS News VP of programming and “CBS This Morning” executive producer Chris Licht!

“This win takes a bit of the sting out of my beloved Orange going down to defeat,” Licht says. “That said, I didn’t pick them to win, so I guess everything worked out in the end.”

It was incredibly close this year, with CNN’s Tom Foreman only three points behind. his colleagues Janelle Rodriguez and Randi Kaye were also close. It was fitting that the winner represented CBS News this year, as the game was broadcast on The Eye network. Early numbers indicate huge ratings, up nearly +20% from 2012′s game. Licht also showed why he was boss by besting the anchors of his program, Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell.

As for your TVNewser editor’s experiment to let a computer pick the winners? It didn’t work out.

A big thank you to everyone who participated this year. The final standings are after the jump.
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NBC News special correspondent Chelsea Clinton was among the tvnewsers leading panels at today’s Women in the World conference. But it was her mother who got a thunderous applause and shouts of “2016!” when she took the stage at the fourth annual event. Hillary Clinton called women’s rights “a core imperative for every society.”

Clinton’s speech kicked off the day’s events, which featured an impressive roster of women from the television news industry: ABC’s Cynthia McFadden, Deborah Roberts and JuJu Chang and CBS’s Norah O’Donnell all moderated panel discussions on topics ranging from women in the tech industry to fostering female leaders.

Before moderating a spirited panel discussion about the epidemic of sexual abuse in India, McFadden (pictured above) talked with an Indian woman who was the victim of a rape. She sat with her back to the audience in order to conceal her identity. The woman, whose case is still pending in the Indian high court, described how she was raped by a male friend of hers four

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TVNewser editor Merrill Knox is at the Women in the World conference at Lincoln Center New York today where the likes of CBS’s Lesley Stahl and Norah O’Donnell, ABC’s Cynthia McFadden, and Campbell Brown are all taking part in moderating sessions on global women’s issues. Speakers include Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie.

Last night, mediabistro was at the opening session where ABC’s Barbara Walters, CNN/ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and CBS’s Charlie Rose took part. FishbowlNY has the details. And look for Merrill’s stories this afternoon.