After becoming the first woman to helm a U.S. network TV newscast, a CBS executive told the Associated Press that Katie Couric is leaving her post as anchor of the CBS Evening News when her contract ends in June. According to The New York Post, the 54-year-old Couric continued to hint at her possible return to TV as the host of a syndicated daytime talk show. Asked what would distinguish her daytime talk show from all the others, Couric answered: “Hopefully for smart conversation.”
While Couric made U.S. TV history five years ago, she continued to occupy third place behind Brian Williams at NBC’s Nightly News and Diane Sawyer at ABC’s World News.
Fans of serious-minded cinema woke to solemn news today when Universal Pictures confirmed it’s pulling out of financing and distributing Paul Greengrass’ planned film about Martin Luther King and his last days before his assassination on April 4, 1968. According to London’s Guardian, Greengrass’ heavily anticipated drama was scheduled to start filming in June with a planned release date of Martin Luther King weekend 2012. Universal did grant Greengrass the chance to take the project elsewhere for funding.
Controversy continued at Rutgers University as school administrators defended their decision to pay Jersey Shore reality show star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi $32K for an on-campus speaking engagement – $2K more than Nobel-winning novelist Toni Morrison negotiated for the upcoming commencement address in May.
“We have more than 200 events on our campus during the course of the year, everything from scholarly presentations to entertainment,” Rutgers spokesman Steve Manas told The New York Daily News. “The students canvassed for who they wanted here and had the funds available.”
Snooki ended her on-stage talks with these inspiring words: “Study hard but party harder!”
Filmmaker Joe Wright used an interview promoting his upcoming teen girl assassin thriller Hanna to slam Zack Snyder’s girls-with-guns fantasy Sucker Punch. According to Blastr, Wright made it clear that he did not buy Snyder’s argument that his scantily clad Sucker Punch girls were strong feminist role models.
“I have a kind of immediate knee-jerk reaction to such iconography,” Wright told a Movieline reporter. “I remember when the Spice Girls came out in the mid-‘90s and it was all about girl power. That isn’t feminism that’s marketing bullshit!”
Snyder, who’s nervously watching the poor box office returns of Sucker Punch, did not respond to Wright’s criticisms.