Will Conan Move from NBC to Fox?

The Fox network is apparently pouring cold water on NBC’s plans to keep Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon on its late night slate.

Fox execs have leaked to media sources that the network would be interested in a Conan-led late night franchise.

A Fox source indicated that there was interest in O’Brien but acknowledged a legal impediment, that being O’Brien’s contract with NBC.

NBC and O’Brien continue in their efforts to, in essence, renegotiate O’Brien’s deal.

And entertainment contracts are notorious for not necessarily being ironclad.

A major late night offering would make sense for Fox. Excerpt CLICK HERE for more…

Barbara Walters to Eject Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Seat Miss California

Despite her public denials, Barbara Walters reigns supreme on ABC’s “The View.”

The media Jill of all trades calls the shots when is comes to co-hosts.

Walters shoved Rosie O’Donnell off the show a while back, and she’s about to do the same to Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

The reason for Hasselbeck’s ejection? Walters has apparently had enough of her so-called “shrilly-silly views” and “looney-toon responses,” according to the National Enquirer.

Removal of the former “Survivor” star would leave an empty chair on the hosting panel, and it’s the only slot with a conservative vantage point.

Barbara is considering Carrie Prejean, the now famous Miss California, to take Elisabeth’s place.

Prejean has displayed grace under pressure in her unwavering expression about her beliefs on marriage.

Similar to the manner in which the media treated Governor Sarah Palin, attacks on the Miss USA runner-up have been unfair and unceasing.

Walters will likely get a lot of heat for even considering bringing on Prejean especially since the beauty contest winner is now a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage.

Here’s a thought: If she really wants to show independence, and maybe a smidgeon of balance, Walters ought to leave Hasselbeck on the panel and give Miss California Joy Behar’s spot.

James Hirsen is a New York Times bestselling author media law professor.

Stephen Colbert Out of the Conservative Closet?

After a parody of the National Organization for Marriage’s “Gathering Storm” ad was featured on his show, a new theory emerged about cable satirist Stephen Colbert.

Could the Comedy Central star’s bits really contain right-of-center messages, making him a genuine closet conservative?

NOM released a statement to the press in which the group’s president, Maggie Gallagher, posited, “I’ve always thought Stephen Colbert was a double-agent, pretending to pretend to be a conservative, to pull one over on Hollywood. Now I’m sure.”

Colbert’s cable character, who is a loosely modeled caricature of Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, began the segment by showing the original NOM video in its entirety.

The comic shared that he “loved” the footage because it was “like watching The 700 Club and The Weather Channel at the same time.”

“Thank you Stephen for playing our ad in full on national television-for free. HRC eat your heart out. Plus we all had a great chuckle, too!” NOM Executive Director Brian Brown said.

Colbert pointed out that New York Governor David Paterson had introduced a bill to legalize gay marriage and cracked that he “thought Massachusetts would be a gay promised land, a ‘Gaysreal’ if you will, but then the same-sex chickens came home to gentrify their roost.”

He also snapped that gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed in New York because “it’s hard enough as it is to get a wedding announcement in the Times.”

James Hirsen is a N.Y. Times best selling author, commentator and news analyst

Don’t Miss Gary Sinise on Fox!

Veteran critically acclaimed CSI actor Gary Sinise’s special will be on the Fox News Channel Saturday January 10 at 9 pm ET.

“With the help of the USO, my brother-in-law Jack, and my friend Jonathan Flora who used a handheld camera, you will see what happened on a seven day trip I took to Iraq last summer which will air this Saturday night on the FOX News Channel,” Sinuse said.

“It was my fourth trip there with the USO. My goal, as always, was to cover as many miles as possible and to take pictures, sign autographs and shake hands with as many troops as I could in the time I had. Stops included bases in Kuwait and in Iraq – Al Asad, Al Qaim, Ramadi , Habbaniyah, TQ airbase and Baghdad.”

“It was the first time I have let a camera follow me around on one of these trips. Over the last six years, I have traveled around the world and all over the United States to visit and perform for our troops with the USO. I have supported many grass roots efforts as well and visited our wounded in the hospitals several times. I could not be more honored to play a small part in helping our troops and their families. We can never do enough for our veterans who have sacrificed so much to keep this nation free.”

Rosie O’Donnell and Barbara Walters Duke It Out

The rumors were true after all.

Rosie O’Donnell will be the executive producer and host of a variety-special pilot for NBC called “Rosie Live.”

Could it be that O’Donnell is craftily promoting her show by picking a fight with former “View” boss Barbara Walters?

If so, Walters has played right into O’Donnell’s hands.

Through her Rosie.com Web site, press statements and appearances, O’Donnell has been pushing her new project hard.

She recently told the press, “I didn’t want to be paid to fight. When I started and took that job it was with the idea of speaking for the millions of mothers whose voices weren’t heard on television.”

She added that after leaving “The View” in 2007, Walters “wanted everyone to believe and think and act” as if everyone on the show got along with one another and were “really good friends. And you know, that’s just not the reality.”

In an apparent attempt to counter Rosie, shortly after the O’Donnell comment Walters took co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to a highly visible dinner at Le Cirque. She also used the opening of “The View” to grumble about “some people who have done this show” and then have disparaged it after they leave.

“I resent it,” Walters said, referring to O’Donnell’s comments. “So if the shoe fits, lady, get on with your life.”

Rosie responded to Barbara with a new video on her blog titled “Lady,” which opens with a photo of O’Donnell posing with Walters. “I do not know what Star Jones and Debbie Matenopoulos did, but oooooh, lady… she is pissed off!” Rosie says in the video post.

O’Donnell went on to appear on “Late Night” with Conan O’Brien where she said that she experienced “post-traumatic stress disorder” from her time co-hosting on “The View.”

The end result of all the fuss has been gobs of free publicity for O’Donnell and her new TV program.

Coincidentally, the debut of her new variety show just happens to be right around the corner.

James Hirsen, J.D., M.A. in Media Psychology, is a media analyst, teacher of mass media and entertainment law at Biola University and professor at Trinity Law School.

Probable Actors’ Strike Creates Movie Boom

It’s not a sequel anyone wants to see—another lengthy strike like the writers’ one that caused losses galore for the entertainment industry and the So Cal economy.

Unfortunately, the Screen Actors Guild and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers seem to be light-years away from any agreement, even though the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have stepped out of the picture to allow labor talks.

When it comes to labor negotiations in Hollywood, Tinseltown is the land of acronyms.

SAG, AMPTP, AFTRA…the list goes on.

AFTRA has delayed its talks with AMPTP for a week to give SAG a head start. But the AMPTP studio heads will probably make deals in separate negotiations with AFTRA long before they settle with SAG.

The sticky issue in the actors’ union haggle is the same as it was for the writers—new technology. Workers want in on the cash for films streamed and sold on the Internet, cell phones and portable devices.

SAG sent a mailing to members explaining the importance of the digital battle. The document noted that by 2010, the largest 100 media companies would be bringing in a projected $20.7 billion annually from the Net.

Studios and production companies aren’t waiting around to see what happens. They’re rushing ahead to beat a possible strike.

Feature film shoots in the L.A. area are up 11% for 2008’s first quarter.

And ASAP, PDQ and LHU have become the buzz du jour.

Simon Cowell’s TV Fights For Real

“American Idol”’s famed Brit judge Simon Cowell has been trading barbs with host Ryan Seacrest, and each week the rhetoric seems to rise a notch.

Things have gotten so bad even Oprah Winfrey has taken note.

Cowell recently appeared on Oprah’s daytime talk show, and she asked him about the on-air squabbling with Seacrest.

Cowell explained that over the years his relationship with members of the show has changed.

“They used to be more groveling towards me,” he said, adding, “As the show has gotten more successful, they got more confidence . . . and they probably dislike me more than seven years ago.”

The “Idol” maker told Winfrey that there is no time to prepare a simulated fight prior to the show. “I see Paula maybe two seconds before the show starts. Ryan, it’s the same thing,” Cowell said.

He then went on to compare Seacrest to an annoying bug.

“Ryan has developed this – he’s like a mosquito in your face,” Cowell said. “It’s like he’s flying around, and you want to swat him but he can’t be bothered. That’s my relationship now with Ryan.”

No one knows more about bugging people than the master mosquito himself.

In more Oprah news, lawsuits involving daytime’s reigning queen are starting to clog up the courts.

One woman has brought legal action against Oprah’s production company and daytime talk show, claiming that in their mad dash to be in the studio audience, overly excited fans of the show pushed her down the stairs. And another female plaintiff from Boston alleges that it was she who years ago came up with a television reality show almost identical to “Oprah’s Big Give.”

In the first case, Orit Greenberg filed papers in an Illinois state court, which claimed that she went to Harpo Studios in December 2006 to be an audience member for Oprah’s TV show; however, when audience members were purportedly told to go sit where they wished in the studio, a stampede resulted. Greenberg alleges that she was pushed down a flight of stairs by the rushing crowd. She says she has suffered “severe and permanent injuries” from the incident and is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.

In the second suit, Darlene Tracy, a mother of four who is representing herself, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Boston, seeking to stop “Oprah’s Big Give” from airing. Tracy claims that she created a reality show titled “The Philanthropist” in February 2005. The show purportedly featured contestants who were challenged to help the needy.

According to Tracy, she submitted the idea to the executive producer of Oprah’s show, Ellen Rakieten, and claims that Rakieten and another producer wrote and requested additional details. After Tracy purportedly responded in early 2005 with a more complete package, she was allegedly informed that Oprah’s company, Harpo Productions, was going to pass on the project. In December 2006, ABC announced a new show, “Oprah’s Big Give,” which Tracy claims came from her idea.

A trial judge has dismissed the suit without explanation and Tracy has hired an attorney and filed an appeal.

We’ll have to stay tuned to see if after the big appeal the “Big Give” will be forced to shell out the big bucks.

James Hirsen is a media analyst, Trinity Law School professor and teacher of mass media law at Biola University.

Disney Disses Striking Writers

Using a contract provision known as a “force majeure clause,” ABC Studios notified nearly two dozen writers and non-writing producers that it was terminating their overall deals as a result of the strike.

Force majeure is a common provision contained in entertainment contracts, which allows a party to terminate without liability due to the occurrence of an extraordinary event or, as even Hollywood contracts call it, an “act of God.”

The Disney/ABC Studios action is the biggest move yet by a studio to up the pressure on striking writers.

“The ongoing strike has had a significant detrimental impact on development and production so we are forced to make the difficult decision to release a number of talented, respected individuals from their development deals,” ABC Studios said in a statement.

Meanwhile a new Pew Poll claims television viewers don’t care about the strike.

According to the poll, 49% responded that the strike had not affected their shows at all while 35% said the shows they watched were now airing repeats because of the strike.

54% didn’t know whether the strike had affected the late night shows, and 70% of participants didn’t think they had been missing out on any campaign news.

In a non-scripted drama, Dr. Phil McGraw has responded to some of his critics.

Lately Dr. Phil has been catching a lot of flack on the Britney Spears matter.

He’s been criticized for making public statements about his hospital visit to the troubled Britney.

After the Spears session, McGraw announced that a special episode of his TV show would focus on how to deal with the pop star’s problems. The episode has since been cancelled.

Britney’s parents have let it be known that they are not happy with Dr. Phil. They accused the famed psychologist of violating their trust.

Lou Taylor, a Spears family spokesperson, told NBC’s “Today” show that “the family basically extended an invitation of trust for him [Dr. Phil] to come in as a resource to support them, not to go out and make public statements.”

In a battle of the TV docs, Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of the reality show “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” also took a swipe at McGraw through use of a question and did so on an entertainment news show, incidentally.

“My concern was, I don’t know that Dr. Phil has a license in California,” Pinsky told “Access Hollywood.” “He’s not on staff at Cedars. Is he interfering with the care of another doctor’s patient? I don’t know.”

McGraw responded to critics on a competing entertainment news program. He told “Entertainment Tonight,” “There’s been no betrayal of Britney; I have all the respect in the world for her.”

“I may be the one person in the media that’s never said a negative word about that girl, or her family for that matter. My visit to her was private. It was intended to be private from the beginning,” McGraw said.

He added, “There’s some spokesperson that’s been out there talking to the contrary, and I’m just sitting here saying I know the truth and so does everybody in the Spears camp. Right now people need to be focusing on Britney, not on me.”

David Letterman Makes Deal to Cross Picket Lines

David Letterman is one happy guy.

“I am grateful to the WGA for granting us this agreement,” Letterman said in a recent statement to the press.

A few weeks back Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, went public with its plan to seek a separate deal with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA). The comedian got what he wanted.

As a result, the Letterman show and Craig Ferguson’s “Late Late Show,” also produced by Letterman’s company, get to go back on the air with help from their writers pumping out jokes.

Unlike their competitors who have no similar agreements, which includes Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, Letterman and Ferguson are now going to be able to get the big-name celebs on their shows.

Two important facts explain Letterman’s huge score.

The first fact has to do with history. Back in 1988 when the writers last struck, the late-night shows affected were the “Tonight” show, then-hosted by Johnny Carson, and “Late Night” hosted by Letterman. Both shows were on NBC at the time.

Carson was able to cut a separate agreement with the Writer’s Guild while Letterman had no agreement and consequently had to host his show for weeks minus the writers. That kind of experience can leave an indelible mark in a late-night comic’s memory bank.

The second fact has to do with business. Sometimes it really does matter who owns the show.

Unlike his competitors, Letterman was able to negotiate directly with the union because his company owns his program as well as Ferguson’s.

With shows like NBC’s Leno and O’Brien, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert going back on the air without having made deals with the union, writers intend to exert heavy pressure.

In a joint letter to their members, the WGA East and WGA West said, “In the case of late-night shows, our strike pressure will be intense and essential in directing political and SAG-member guests to Letterman and Ferguson rather than to struck talk shows.”

Also included in the letter was the following: “At this time, picket lines at venues such as NBC (both Burbank and Rockefeller Center), The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and the Golden Globes are essential.”

What does it mean?

“Struck talk shows” is a reference to those of Leno, Conan, etc., who will obviously find it a lot more difficult to book guests. In addition, the shows will most likely serve as targets of intensified picket activity.

All of which means the funny business doesn’t seem so funny right now.

Hollywood Writers’ Strike Draws Politicians’ Attention

Maybe it’s because if Los Angeles were a state it would be the 4th largest economy in the nation.

Or maybe it’s because the entertainment business generates more than $30 billion annually.

Anyway here they come, politicians to the rescue of Hollywood’s writers’ strike.

Former movie star and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former labor negotiator and current L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and former president and current Hillary stumper Bill Clinton have all offered their services as mediators. Even Jesse Jackson is here cheerleading the picketers and posing for the press.

The governor seems poised to jump in like an action hero, the mayor has already met with reps from both sides, rumors are rampant that Hillary would like Bill to take a trip to the Left Coast and Jesse has the pompoms at the ready.

The problem is that the writers don’t trust Arnold because he’s been chummy with studio execs, the execs don’t trust Villaraigosa because he used to work for unions, no one believes Clinton is going to leave the Hillary campaign when it’s in trouble and Jesse just continues to float from one activist photo-op to another.

One exec described the writers’ decision to strike as having “declared war.” The writers want a bigger share of DVDs and a piece of the Internet and cell phones. The studios say that the revenue from new technology is an unknown speculative projection, and therefore they can’t lock in on a percentage.

A simple solution would be to give the writers a share when the revenue reaches a specified level. If both sides could conceptually agree, it would be the start of talks that could lead to a resolution, and thankfully, more to watch than reruns and reality shows.

Come to think of it, Hollywood really needs someone to settle the strike who’s apolitical, able to communicate in monosyllables and is experienced in bringing emotionally charged sides together. Sounds like a job for Dr. Phil.