NBC.com

When art meets idiocy, great things can happen.

Here's a video of William Shatner on The Tonight Show Wednesday, reading tweets from Levi Johnston's Twitter feed. Or at least his alleged Twitter feed: HuffPost reports Johnston's attorney has demanded NBC retract the skit (how do you "retract" a skit?), maintaining that those tweets were posted by a Johnston imposter trying to make Sarah Palin's beloved almost-son-in-law look bad. As if he needed the help. I hear that if NBC doesn't comply, Johnston has threatened to "whip it out." You've been warned.

NBC Local Media's 10 "Locals Only" websites have doubled their unique visitors and nearly quadrupled page views since relaunching last November, the division of NBC Universal reports.

Unique visitors went from 6 million a year ago to 12 million in October, while page views grew to 113 million from 29 million in the same time frame, the company says.

In a prepared statement, Brian Buchwald, executive vice president of Local Integrated Media, said, "We made the decision to take a more city-centric approach with the NBC 'Locals Only' sites, and we're encouraged by the tremendous response we've seen over the past year."

An increased focus on social media may have helped fuel growth. NBC Local Media reports that, on average, "10,000 votes are cast each day on the sites' 'mood rating' function, where consumers weigh in on how the content makes them feel - 'thrilled,' 'furious,' 'intrigued' or 'sad.'"

Also, since their launch four weeks ago, the sites' 10 iPhone applications have generated 75,000 downloads.

NBC Local Media relaunched the 10 sites one year ago, moving from traditional television station websites to broader, city-centric destinations. The Locals Only sites are:

WMAQ: nbcchicago.com
KNBC: nbclosangeles.com
KNSD: nbcsandiego.com
KNTV: nbcbayarea.com
KXAS: nbcdfw.com
WCAU: nbcphiladelphia.com
WRC: nbcwashington.com
WVIT: nbcconnecticut.com
WNBC: nbcnewyork.com

Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal brought his appetite for lifestyle content to NBC Local Media, where he is overseeing the category for NBC Universal's local-targeted sites, AllThingsD reported.

Leventhal said in a post on Eater:

Word has trickled out today that I've joined the NBC ranks, so we might as well be a bit more specific about it. As of yesterday, I'm the managing editor of lifestyle content across NBC Local Media's growing number of city sites, and I'll be focused on developing new brands and franchises for the company and fine-tuning existing offerings. As for the good ship, it's no secret that my role at Eater has changed significantly over the last 10 months, and you may note that in addition to founder, the masthead now has me listed as editor-at-large. Practically, this means I'll file periodically, with things like Tuesdays with Jeffrey and the Deathwatch. I'm also working closely with the current team—to the extent they tolerate me—on continued growth of our properties, new, old, and national, though not in an operational capacity.

Beet.TV will provide videos to NBCBayArea for its technology coverage, led by editorial director Owen Thomas, under terms of an agreement with NBC Local Media.

NBCBayArea has already offered Beet.TV videos featuring Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz and vice president of media Jimmy Pitaro, as well as World Wide Web Consortium Director Tim Berners-Lee. NBC Local Media said it will publish up to four Beet.TV clips weekly.

Beet.TV West Coast producer Daisy Whitney offers details on the arrangement with NBC Local Media:

Mother's Day either came very early or arrived very late at TODAYshow.com, as the site debuted TODAYMoms.com, which it describes as a new destination for mothers everywhere and a place for conversation and connections.

The site provides parenting news, advice and tips from NBC's Today, along with Web-exclusive content, and the site's community of mothers—hosts and guests—will now include the audience to discuss, share and connect via interactive tools. Feedback and insight from mothers will drive discussion on TODAYMoms.com, and the ongoing on-air and online content will reflect the community's input.

Mary Ann Zoellner and Alicia Ybarbo, co-authors of TODAY's Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby's First Year, are contributing editors to the TODAYMoms.com blog.

TODAYshow.com general manager Catherine Captain said:

There are literally millions of moms engaging with TODAYshow.com each and every day, but not with each other. We want to activate that existing universe with a vibrant place to converse and connect.

Today executive producer Jim Bell added:

Every day, millions of moms invite the Today anchors and correspondents into their homes. They feel like family. Now, Today's own moms will share thoughts about their own families and parenting in today's world with moms on TODAYMoms.com.

NBC Local Media, NBC's network of 10 regional Websites tied to its local television stations, launched an iPhone app that expands its SoMyCity blogging platform, which allows users to post photos and comments to the individual sites, as well as to Twitter and Facebook.

Beet.TV executive producer Andy Plesser spoke with NBC Universal vice president of operations, local integrated media Katherine Wu about the value of social media on the network and the new iPhone application.

NBC is using the blogosphere to promote upcoming episodes of Saturday Night Live, emailing the promo spots it usually airs Thursday nights, including the embed codes.

Below is the first promo set to air Thursday night, with this weekend's SNL host, Drew Barrymore, reciting her promo in the show's control room while Jason Sudeikis mixes it.

Custom-furniture company Walter E. Smithe might want to get a hold of someone at NBC Chicago and remind them that running banner ads themed "2016 Olympic City Countdown" seems pretty ineffective, unless Chicago is counting down until the 2016 Summer Olympic Games start in Rio de Janeiro.

As of mid-afternoon Monday, Olympics-themed banner ads for Walter E. Smithe were still appearing on the NBC Chicago site, despite the International Olympic Committee's vote Friday to deny Chicago the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, instead granting the privilege to Rio.

The banner ads were removed later Monday afternoon.

The premiere of "Saturday Night Live's" new spinoff show ("Weekend Update Thursday") debuted last night, opening with a pretty funny take on the inside story regarding U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst during President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress about health care reform.

The premise of the sketch was that Republicans were planning to yell the now infamous two-word denunciation in unison. But after Wilson excused himself to go to the bathroom, the GOP conspirators quickly abandoned the plan for fear of coming off badly. But no one told Joe! The rest, as they say, is history.

Kristen Wiig, playing Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, had a great line, suggesting that rather than simply yelling "You lie!" in unison, Republican lawmakers instead should shout, "You lie, you freedom-hating secret half-Muslim." (Not sure why she left out "socialist.") Video below:

TODAYshow.com will host an exclusive live Web chat Thursday from 10 a.m.-10:30 a.m. with a Baltimore public school teacher, a two-time New York Times best-selling author and a former president's daughter, and it's all the same person.

Jenna Bush Hager, a contributing correspondent on NBC's Today, will answer questions on all of her experiences during the chat. Her first monthly segment will also air on Thursday's installment of Today.