For the first time in seven years, the Grammy Awards will have a host — singer LL Cool J has officially signed on to host the ceremony on CBS, the network announced Wednesday. Of course, LL Cool J also happens to be the star of the network’s drama “NCIS: Los Angeles.” For the past few years, he’s hosted the “Grammy Nominations Concert Live!” which reveals the major nominees for the show. Read full article > >

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LL Cool J to host the Grammy Awards

Betty White ’s 90th birthday was celebrated in a manner befitting America’s nonagenarian sweetheart: with a TV special. “A Tribute to America’s Golden Girl,” taped in early January, aired Monday on NBC and — surprise, surprise — featured many of the network’s stars, like Amy Poehler, Joel McHale and the dude from “Chuck.” They were joined by celebrities of yore including Ed Asner, Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore for a night of jokes about age, glowing speeches and clips from White’s six plus decade long career. Read full article > >

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Betty White’s 90th birthday celebrated by Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett and other stars

To no one’s surprise, Charlie Rose is no alarm clock, and “CBS This Morning,” the network’s umpteenth approach to the morning show format, is a gentle nudge. Lots of news in its first hour and remedial pop-culture chitchat, courtesy of Gayle King, in its second hour. And a third co-anchor, Erica Hill, bridging a gap labeled “etc.” Read full article > >

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‘CBS This Morning’: A snooze button for those of us who roll out slowly

Jane Curtin has joined the cast of the freshman CBS drama “Unforgettable” as a series regular, the network announced Monday. Yes, it’s unusual for a series to announce a new “regular” cast member halfway into its first season. Often it’s seen as some kind of course correction for a struggling show. When CBS moved “The Good Wife” out of the Tuesday-at-10-p.m. time slot and replaced it with “Unforgettable” in September, the network hoped that the new crime drama would do a better job than “Good Wife” of hanging on to male fans who were watching the lead-ins, “NCIS” and “NCIS: Los Angeles.” These are guys who are apparently constitutionally incapable of watching a show with the word “Wife” in it — unless maybe it’s called “To Kill a Wife,” or “NCIS: Wife Victims Unit.” Read full article > >

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Jane Curtin joins cast of CBS’s ‘Unforgettable’

A new ESPN Spanish-language show called “El Diez” is unique for the network not only because it will be scripted, but also because it will also feature branded integration.

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Advertising: New Show Steps Up Product Placement

WASHINGTON — NPR host Michele Norris is temporarily stepping down from the afternoon news show “All Things Considered” because her husband has taken a senior role in President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. In a note sent to NPR staff Monday and posted on the network’s website, Norris says her husband’s new role could make it difficult to continue hosting the show. She says she is temporarily stepping away until after the 2012 elections. Read full article > >

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Michele Norris leaves NPR host chair as husband joins Obama campaign, will report other news

Rosie O’Donnell’s new talk show, which began this week on OWN, sticks out on the network because it is colorful and spontaneous.

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The TV Watch: ‘The Rosie Show’ and ‘Oprah’s Lifeclass’ on OWN

Users and privacy advocates have reservations about Facebook’s planned redesign , the way the change will affect third-party apps and the network’s general approach to privacy. Third-party apps will be fully integrated into a user’s profile page, with updates about activity on each app. That means that users won’t actively click to share updates from apps — the apps will add that information to a user’s page automatically. Read full article > >

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Privacy advocates oppose Facebook changes

Disclosures from WikiLeaks indicated that Al Jazeera’s top news director, Wadah Khanfar, had modified the network’s coverage of the Iraq war in response to pressure from the United States.

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After Disclosures by WikiLeaks, Al Jazeera Replaces Its Top News Director

Facebook announced Friday that it will end its Deals program, the network’s answer to Groupon and other daily deals sites. The program is being dropped after four months of testing in select markets in Texas, California and Georgia. The network will discontinue the program in the “coming weeks.” “We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses,” Facebook said in a statement to the Associated Press. “We’ve learned a lot from our test and we’ll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses.” Read full article > >

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Facebook ends Deals in a move that bolsters Groupon’s lead

The MTV Video Music Awards — to be broadcast live Sunday night from Los Angeles, presumably with the usual array of scantily clad celebrities, intentionally controversial moments and, oh yeah, awards for music videos — has been an annual occasion for 27 years. And as those years continue to slide by, taking us further from the network’s target demographic, the antics at the VMAs seem to grow increasingly tasteless. But is that actually true, or is this just what happens when we grow older and less charmed by the sight of celebrities gratuitously making out onstage to generate buzz? Read full article > >

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The MTV Video Music Awards: A history of its tastelessness

30 Rock producer Tina Fey and NBC have both issued apologies for Tracy Morgan’s homophobic standup routine in Nashville. NBC’s entertainment chief called Morgan’s act “reckless” and said the network has “made it clear to him that this kind of thing…

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Tina Fey on Tracy Morgan’s Rant

“Celebrity Apprentice” will stay on the NBC prime-time schedule even if Donald Trump hits the presidential campaign trial, the network’s entertainment chairman said Sunday.

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NBC: Show would go on without Trump

Things are amiss in Oprahland: The Oprah Winfrey Network has fired its chief, Christina Norman, just four months after the network debuted. The move comes after the chief executive of Discovery Communications admitted OWN had a “slower start” than…

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Oprah Fires Network Chief

A rough few days ahead for AOL: Sources say the company will begin laying off several hundred employees on Thursday. The staffers will most likely work in editorial and other product groups, and not in the network group or advertising unit. According…

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Sources: AOL to Lay Off Hundreds