Valentine’s Day isn’t the only time of year that you need a great idea for a date, or a recommendation for the city’s most romantic restaurant. So, this week, we’re unveiling best-of lists you can use all year, with where to find the city’s best desserts , the bars and restaurants to hit for a fail-proof first date , and because we like a good kiss as much as anyone, the best places to lock lips . Read full article > >

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Where to get in the mood for Valentine’s Day

More than you wanted to know? A new book shares explicit details about a 50-year-old presidential sex scandal between JFK and a White House intern. “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath,” by Mimi Beardsley Alford , chronicles the 18-month relationship that ended when Kennedy died in 1963. The memoir is getting a lot of advance buzz — including a prime-time NBC interview Wednesday with Meredith Vieira — because of Alford’s credibility and her graphic descriptions of encounters with the dazzling Womanizer-in-Chief, whom she always called “Mr. President” and never kissed on the lips. Read full article > >

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JFK intern Mimi Alford shares story of her affair with Kennedy in new book. Relevant? Historian Robert Dallek says yes

The channel would combine resources from ABC News and Univision’s news division to take on established players like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

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Media Decoder Blog: Univision and Disney In Talks For An English-Language News Channel

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of Russians embraced the numbing cold and marched to a frozen river bank near the Kremlin Saturday, demonstrating their determination to keep up the pressure on Vladimir V. Putin for fair elections and honest government. Read full article > >

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Russians in thousands give Putin the cold shoulder

Yea, though NBC walks through the valley of the shadow of death, all hope is not lost. “Smash,” the network’s easily engaging new Monday night drama about the making of a Broadway musical, turns out to be quite the little sunbeam. It has some endearing characters, an instinct for backstage meows and a firm grip on its own sense of camp control, which, if nothing else, sets it apart from Ryan Murphy’s now fully atrocious “Glee.” Read full article > >

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‘Smash’ review: All that jazz is sometimes worth it

“I’m concerned about the poor in this country,” Mitt Romney said the other day. “We have to make sure the safety net is strong and able to help those who can’t help themselves.” I perked up at those words, because they were something of a departure from his usual stump speech and because they happened to come on a day when I had written about the dire implications of Romney’s proposals for the social safety net . Read full article > >

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Mitt Romney’s miserly concern for the poor

To: Ricky Gervais From: Celebritology, on behalf of awards show junkies everywhere Re: Your Golden Globes hosting gig CC: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association; NBC Read full article > >

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A Golden Globes memo to Ricky Gervais re: this year’s hosting gig

Suze Orman, who offers guidance on personal finance through her books and CNBC show, is bringing out her own prepaid debit card, promising low fees and access to credit reports.

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Your Money: Suze Orman to Offer Her Own Prepaid Debit Card

Despite the roots of the new NBC series “The Firm,” based on John Grisham’s 1991 best-selling novel , it’s not solely a legal show. Nor is it exactly a procedural, a mystery or a character drama. A mix of all those elements exists within the series, which will either add intriguing layers as the show continues or be its ultimate downfall as it spins in too many directions. Read full article > >

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TV review: ‘The Firm’ tries to make its case

It’s been a long, strange trip for Mitt Romney in Iowa, but with just days left before the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, the former Massachusetts governor is the odds-on bet to claim victory in the Hawkeye State. That Romney sits atop the Iowa field — and two new polls ( here and here ) confirm that status — heading into the final weekend speaks to just how odd a race this has been so far. Read full article > >

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Mitt Romney, Iowa frontrunner

It’s no surprise whatsoever that Chelsea Clinton didn’t electrify broadcast journalism with her debut Monday night on NBC’s “Rock Center With Brian Williams,” because she has no experience in broadcast journalism. She didn’t cut her teeth with live coverage of strip-mall blazes in Sacramento. She never did weekend weather in Wichita Falls. She didn’t blow the lid off mail-order ham scams in Des Moines. (Who — besides everyone working in TV news who did each and every one of those things — says you have to do all that?) Read full article > >

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Chelsea Clinton makes broadcast debut on NBC’s ‘Rock Center’

Just one in five Republican primary voters described the 2012 presidential field as “strong”in a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll , the latest piece of evidence that the current crop of GOP candidates aren’t lighting their own party on fire just yet. In the NBC-WSJ survey, 51 percent of respondents said their field was “average” (roughly equal to their candidate choices in past elections) while 27 percent said it was “weaker” than past GOP slates. Read full article > >

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Republicans blah on GOP presidential field

Chelsea Clinton gave an utterly unsatisfying explanation on Monday for why she made her debut as a special correspondent on NBC’s magazine show, “Rock Center with Brian Williams.”

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The TV Watch: Chelsea Clinton Finally Embraces Her Celebrity

The reality show “Fear Factor” returns to NBC on Monday night, and its producers have upped the ante for viewers who want “badder and grosser.”

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‘Fear Factor’ Returns to NBC on Monday Night

The Reporters Who Cover Television — settling in for the long winter’s nap that starts shortly after the November sweeps and generally lasts until the start of Winter TV Press Tour in January — were rudely jolted out of their slumber and into action Thursday when actual news erupted: NBC News suits had been seen dining with Ryan Seacrest. In Los Angeles. Read full article > >

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Spotted: Ryan Seacrest with NBC News execs: Is ‘Today’ in his future?