Jimmy Fallon Tees Off on CNN

CNN, the once proud cable NEWS operation has now become part of the monologue for the late night comedians.

Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon took a turn poking some fun at what CNN has become:

CoCo Inks Extension with TBS

Leno is gone, Letterman is leaving, but Conan is sticking around for a while. 

TBS announced on Wednesday that it had renewed the comedian's late-night show "Conan" through 2018.

The deal adds three more years to O'Brien's existing deal with the network, which was set to expire in November.

"Over the past four years, we have built a terrific relationship with Conan O'Brien and are thrilled to be extending his series for another three year," said TBS's head of programming Michael Wright in a statement.

"Conan has not only brought an incredibly young audience to TBS but has also created a digital presence that draws millions of fans to his unique brand of comedy," he continued. "We couldn't have asked for a better late-night host or a more enthusiastic ambassador for the TBS brand."

WTF! Now His Chair is Gone

Last week, FTVLive told you that how KTTV switched the on air seat of longtime Good Day LA Anchor Steve Edwards.

We told you that, each morning you could tune into GDLA and see Edwards sitting front and center on the anchor desk with his co-anchors on each side.

Suddenly, this week KTTV has move Edwards to the far right (camera right) side of the anchor desk and the two females are now sitting next to each other (picture to the right).

What does this mean? We have no idea, but at least one loyal KTTV viewer thinks the station is slowly pushing Edwards out the door.

Now the station has taken poor Steve's chair away altogether. While the young women get to sit down, poor Steve is left standing at the end of the desk.

WTF?!

Hmmmmmm?

Fox News is saying that Anchor Gregg Jarrett requested time off for personal reasons and the network obliged his request.

Of course no one is going into anymore details, but FTVLive has to wonder if the time off is related to this. 

Anchor Walks Off the Set Over Michael Sam Kiss

One of the hosts of a local Dallas morning show "The Broadcast" was so not happy after watching NFL draftee Michael Sam kiss his boyfriend and her co-anchors thinking it was OK, that she walked off the set during the broadcast.  

Amy Kushnir said that Sam kissed his boyfriend to make news and did not like that being "pushed in my face."  

Her co-anchors took to her to task and she got up and walked off saying that she was headed to Midland. Which is where we guess guys ain't kissing other guys.

Let's go to the video: 

No One Wants to Hang Out with David Gregory

Two days ago, FTVLive told you that an online auction that gave someone the chance to attend a taping of Meet the Press and hang out with David Gregory was not doing very well. 

The Charity Buzz website was offering up a chance to meet the Meet the Press host and hangout with him. The website said the prize was worth $1000 bucks, but when we posted the story the bid stood at only $450 with one day left to go.

The ending price was $500, or exactly half of what it was valued at. 

Gregory wasn't the only network news type to put himself on the auction block. Here are a few of the others and how much they raised for the good cause.

Sadly, even a coffee with Jenna Bush Hager brought in more dollars than Gregory. 

Gannett Buys 6 Texas Stations

Gannett took timeout from sending out cease and desist emails to buy 6 more stations.

Gannett says they purchased six of London Broadcasting television stations in Texas for $215 million in an all-cash transaction.

The stations: KCEN (NBC) Waco-Temple-Bryan; KYTX (CBS) Tyler-Longview; KIII (ABC) Corpus Christi, KBMT (ABC) and its digital subchannel KJAC (NBC) Beaumont-Port Arthur; KXVA (Fox) Abilene-Sweetwater; and KIDY (Fox) San Angelo.

All are small market stations but it adds to Gannett's recent purchase of the BELO stations.

The station buying spree has been going on in the industry for months. Gannett and Sinclair have been snatching up the most stations during the spree. 

Barbara Walters isn't going Cold Turkey

Barbara Walters said that when she retired from TV, that would be it. You would not see her on the tube anymore.

As Walters gets ready to wind up her career this week, she has already started to change her tune.

Page Six asked the icon Will you ever appear on “The View” once you leave?

"It’s possible. I may do things for ABC News and if there is a special reason, I will come on [the show]. I’m not walking into the sunset. I will be the show’s executive producer, but I will not be replaced. " Walters answered.

So much for the cold turkey. 

Cops Investigating Leaks to Former Tampa Reporter

Meredyth Censullo parted ways with WFTS in Tampa a few weeks ago, but she is making some waves as a freelance Reporter using Twitter. 

She is part of an investigation into leaks about details in a bizarre fire as part of a murder suicide.  

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, as well as the Sheriff's Office, wants to know how detailed information about the gruesome murder scene in Avila where the Campbell family was discovered, got onto the web before investigators got into the house.

As the fire in Avila burned, so did detectives' frustration.
 
WFLA reports that before detectives were allowed inside the Avila mansion, they read on the New York Post's web page and other internet sites about bodies, bullet holes, and gas cans. Detectives feared the release of such pertinent information might prove disastrous to their crime solving efforts.

"We didn't even know what crime we had, other than there were three bodies inside," Chief Deputy Jose Docobo said.

Censullo seemed to be the one getting the details and posting them to Twitter.

By 9:58 a.m. she tweeted, "3 dead, 4th suspected. Reportedly gunshots to head."

Two minutes later she tweeted, "...bodies found in burning mansion in Avila had heavy duty fireworks wrapped around their heads." 

"The types of details that were being released are extremely pertinent to conducting a homicide investigation," Docobo stated.

Detectives were not allowed into the building until 3 o'clock that afternoon.

"Many, if not all, of the details that were released were in fact accurate," Docobo observed.

Information that can give a bad guy a heads-up.  The question is how did that information get out before detectives had a chance to go in?

"It comes from individuals who have access to it. It's people at the scene, who have direct access, visual access," Docobo said.

Docobo informed Fire Rescue personnel at the scene that releasing crime scene information may make it more difficult if not impossible to find a killer.

"If you're out there irresponsibly and interfering with an active criminal investigation there might very well be appropriate charges," he said.

According to district chief Frank Fernandez, HCFR is conducting an internal investigation.

"There were a number of folks that were out there. There were Fire Rescue personnel. There were law enforcement and there were civilians that were extremely close to the actual incident scene that could have overheard anything, not to mention all of our radios, if anything was said over the radios," Fernandez said.

Fernandez states he isn't sure who provided crime scene information, but he is sure that it is a serious breach.

"My office is conducting the investigation and will be looking to the sheriff's department for some assistance as well," Fernandez said.

Cleveland Weatherman Had to be Rescued from Flood Waters

You know how the TV weather people warn you over and over again about driving your car into flood waters?

Not all of them practice what they preach.

Longtime WJW (Cleveland) Weatherman Dick Goddard had to be rescued from a flash flood on Monday night. 

Godard says he was headed home after work on Monday night, a night spent warning others about wild weather in our area, he found himself in trouble from a flash flood.

As he drove on the Interstate 71 exit ramp to State Route 3 in Medina Township, he was following a car and noticed a little water.

Before he knew it, water came rushing out of nowhere and began to enter his car. Goddard called for help.

The water kept rising in his car and shut down all the power. He could not even open a window. Rescue teams came and had to use a boat to reach the car and busted out his window to pull him out. Goddard said the water was up to his neck by this time.

Goddard said he drives this same route every day and has never seen anything like this.

Sergeant Timothy Dearmitt from the Ohio State Highway Patrol said, “He’s very lucky.  It was pretty much a flash flood. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he gets out of the car, as hard as the current was, he could get swept away and that would have been a lot worse situation. If he stays in the car, it starts filling up. I think we got to him just in the nick of time.”

Goddard was taken to the hospital for hypothermia and is doing well.

He wants everyone to know: “Don’t underestimate the power of water.”  If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

Let's go to the video:

Arsonist Dedicates Fires to TV Reporter

A serial arsonist is accused of setting multiple fires "dedicated to" a TV news reporter who upset him by asking him for an interview.

KSTU (Salt Lake City) FOX 13 reporter Scott McKane received an email last week from the arsonist’s address, claiming that McKane was "a bully" because he asked the arsonist for comment while the man was handcuffed in a police car and "suffering from my depression."

The Salt Lake Tribune says that the man had been convicted multiple times of arson for starting grass and brush fires, typically in and around Salt Lake City’s Memory Grove.

"Now it is my turn," the suspect wrote. "Each fire that I do tonight I dedicate to [McKane]. How many can I do?? No buildings or vehicles."

The man, 56, went on to start three fires near Memory Grove and at 300 N. State Street, investigators wrote in charges filed Monday.

The man was charged with three misdemeanor counts of arson and second-degree felony threat of terrorism.

The same suspect pleaded guilty to arson in 2012, 2010, 2007 and to reckless burn in 2011. In 2012, he used a page of City Weekly to set a fire in Memory Grove. In 2011, he started a fire in Memory Grove that spread uphill toward homes on Capitol Boulevard. In midsummer 2010, he admitted to starting a fire in City Creek Canyon, which burned dry grass and brush for several hours. In his confession, he said he set the fire in hopes of returning to prison.

Charges do not indicate when the man encountered McKane.

Raw Video of Suspect Smashing Truck into WMAR Studios

WMAR released the raw footage of the suspect crashing a large landscaping truck into the station's front lobby.

You can watch the video at this link. 

WMAR Anchors the News from Smashed Front Lobby

When a mentally ill man crashed a truck through the lobby at WMAR in Baltimore, it was a strange scene.

While the story was happening at WMAR, the station could not broadcast the breaking news that was going on in their own studio.

WMAR embedded the live stream from competitor WJZ on their website so viewers could watch what was going on.

When cops finally cuff the 27 year old suspect, WMAR made up for lost time by anchoring their newscast from the smashed and crashed front lobby.

Watch video of the newscast by clicking here. 

The Employee Who Didn't Get Out at WMAR

While the staff at WMAR got out of the building after a man rammed through the front lobby with a truck, one WMAR staffer did not make it out.

Newly-hired WMAR IT specialist Nic Hall didn't know a man claiming to be God had broken into the news station by ramming a truck through the front door. Hall's office is in the basement, after all and the mentally ill man had barricaded himself in a video editing suite on the second floor. 

It wasn't until Hall received a call from a fellow employee inquiring about his whereabouts as the entire station was evacuated and a nearby school locked down. 

But he didn't panic. 

"I've been to war, so I was cool, calm and collected," Hall, a U.S. Marine Corps reservist, said. 

A team of six tactical police officers escorted him out of the building and shuttled him into an armored truck and away from the building. 

Meanwhile, another WMAR IT specialist went back into the building with officers to go over surveillance camera footage.

Let's go to the video: