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Spotted at the Grand Central Apple Store: Tim Cook and Brian Williams

A TVNewser fan was at the Apple store at Grand Central Terminal in New York this afternoon and snapped — with his iPhone 5 — Apple CEO Tim Cook in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams. ‘Tis the season. No word on when or where the interview airs. We’re pretty sure the NBC crew used Google maps to find their way to Grand Central.

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Fox News Takes on Touré: ‘If Anybody Had Said ‘An Old Black Guy’ Could You Imagine What the Outcry Would Have Been?’

Judith Miller and Kirsten Powers were on Fox News this morning during a weekly media segment on “Happening Now.” The hot topic: MSNBC’s Toure describing Sen. John McCain this week as a member of an “old, white, establishment,” who “wrongly and repeatedly attacked a much younger black woman [U.N. Amb. Susan Rice.]”

Powers, a democratic strategist, talked about her Twitter fight with Touré over the comment this morning. Miller suggested, “If anybody had said, ‘an old black guy’ can you imagine what the outcry would have been? I mean this is just inappropriate. It is completely unworthy of informed criticism.”

Sunday Show Ratings: November 25

It was a split decision for the Sunday public affairs shows on November 25: CBS’ “Face the Nation” wins in Total Viewers, but NBC’s “Meet the Press” takes the top spot in the key news demographic of A25-54 viewers.

ABC’s “This Week” was third. Univision’s “Al Punto” was fourth in the demo and fifth in Total Viewers and “Fox News Sunday” was fifth in the demo and fourth in Total Viewers.

All five shows are up in Total Viewers compared to the same week last year, with Univision up the most (+48%). NBC, CBS, Fox and Univision are also up in the A25-54 demographic, with NBC up the most (+34%).

Cable replays of “Fox News Sunday” averaged a combined 1,625,000 Total Viewers and 248,000 A25-54 viewers.

“Face the Nation” is based on the first half-hour only, as the full contiguous hour aired in just 45% of the country.

The numbers for November 25:

Network Program Total Viewers A25-54
CBS
“Face the Nation” 3.26M 953K
NBC
“Meet the Press” 2.94M 983K
ABC “This Week” 2.30M 673K
FOX “Fox News Sunday” 1.12M 386K
Univision “Al Punto” 946K 435K

The Ticker: Rock Center, Claman, Stein

  • NBC’s primetime newsmagazine “Rock Center” is once again moving to a new timeslot. Starting January 31, 2013, “Rock Center” will vacate Thursdays at 10 PM to make room for drama “Do No Harm,” and will move to Fridays at 10 PM February 8.
  • Fox Business anchor Liz Claman is being honored as a “woman to watch” by Jewish Women International. Her colleagues, including Bret Baier, are expected to attend the ceremony Monday in Washington.

Morning Show Ratings: Week of November 19 & November Sweeps

“Good Morning America” has won its first November sweeps in more than 18 years ranking as the #1 morning show in total viewers (first since Nov. 1995) and A25-54 viewers (first since July 1994).

“GMA” led “Today” by +467,000 total viewers and +28,000 younger viewers for the month. Compared to the previous sweeps month, July (which “GMA” took in Total Viewers and “Today” won in younger viewers), “GMA” was up +17.

“GMA” had its largest November audience in 8 years.

The averages for the 2012 November Sweep:

  • Total Viewers: ABC: 5.314M / NBC: 4.847M / CBS: 2.773M
  • A25-54 viewers: ABC: 2.023M / NBC: 1.995M / CBS: 1.048M

For the week of November 19, Jim Bell‘s penultimate week as executive producer of “Today,” the NBC show notched a win in younger viewers. Bell moves to NBC Sports while senior broadcast producer Don Nash starts Monday as the show’s EP. “GMA” still wins the week in Total Viewers and compared to the same week last year is up +4% in total viewers and up +5 in younger viewers. “Today” is down -16% / -15% while “CBS This Morning” is +9% / -5%

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, ABC’s and NBC’s weekly averages are based on three days (Mon-Wed), while CBS’ average is based on two days (Mon and Tues).

The averages for the week of November 19, 2012:

  • Total Viewers: ABC: 5.174M / NBC: 4.688M / CBS: 2.672M
  • A25-54 viewers: ABC: 1.976M / NBC: 2.005M / CBS: 925K

Jeff Zucker’s First Email to CNN Employees

He won’t officially join the network until late January, but new CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker has already reached out to the entire staff of CNN and CNN International. TVNewser obtained his first email to the global staff of 4,000 , in which Zucker writes, “I see endless potential for CNN across all of its platforms… we are committed to maintaining CNN’s core mission. In fact, in my mind, CNN’s values are more distinct and more important than ever in today’s media landscape.”

At the same time, we will have to continue to evolve. I don’t have all the answers. No one does. But I hope that we can challenge each other to think even more broadly about what CNN is and can be, and to enhance this truly special and powerful brand. The opportunities are limitless.

Full memo after the jump…

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Analyzing Jeff Zucker

Following the news that Turner Broadcasting is appointing Jeff Zucker the president of CNN Worldwide, the pundits and analysts sharpened the knives. Here are some of the things reporters and columnists are saying about the move.

James Poniewozik, Time: “CNN is proud of being nonpartisan, and makes a point that it doesn’t take sides like Fox or MSNBC. Problem is, you can’t define a strong network just by what it isn’t. And too often that’s been CNN’s approach: it still has great reach and strong reporting when it matters. But day to day it seems too driven by being the network that doesn’t bother anyone. There’s too much smileyness in its daytime programming, too much reflexive blandness on shows like Wolf Blitzer’s The Situation Room. CNN’s nonverbal message, too often, is ‘please don’t get mad at us.’”

Jeff Bercovici, Forbes: “What would a CNN that embraced the most radical implications of what it does look like? It would be a network that knows its job is to inform people in an efficient manner. It wouldn’t try to keep them in their chairs with pundit round-tables or endless crane shots of a podium where we are just moments away from whatever. It would be a network that never took six minutes to tell you something it could tell you in four. It would be a network that sent viewers on their way as quickly as possible, counting on their satisfaction in getting what they came for to bring them back often.”

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Jeff Zucker And Conan O’Brien, Together Again

Incoming CNN president Jeff Zucker and TBS “Conan” host Conan O’Brien have a long and not particularly friendly history.

When they were both students at Harvard University, O’Brien ran the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine, while Zucker was editor of the Harvard Crimson, the venerable student newspaper. O’Brien organized a prank in which the Lampoon staff stole all the copies of a new edition of the Crimson. Zucker responded by calling the cops on O’Brien.

They would work together in a relatively friendly fashion for years at NBC, as Zucker rose through the ranks as an executive, and O’Brien toiled away on “Late Night.” Then got the best gig in late night, as host of “The Tonight Show.” That all came crashing down in 2010, when Jay Leno was moved out of primetime, returned to late night and O’Brien left NBC — all after just seven months. Zucker maintains that it was the decision of NBC entertainment chief Jeff Gaspin, but it is well known that he had the final say in the decision, which permanently spoiled any goodwill between the two men.

Now, with Zucker taking over CNN, he will once again be in the same corporate family as O’Brien, whose TBS show is one of the channel’s trademark programs.

Coincidentally O’Brien recently debuted an online-only chat show called “Serious Jibber-Jabber with Conan O’Brien.” The series sees O’Brien in extended interviews with notable people, and there is minimal joking around. A source at TBS suggested that CNN might be a good fit for such a show, if O’Brien wanted to migrate it from the Web to TV, maybe late at night on the weekend. CNN already re-airs documentaries from sister network HBO, so it wouldn’t be a huge stretch.

With Zucker taking the helm at CNN, the possibility of any such plan is likely DOA.

A ‘Good Samaritan Cop’ Exclusive… On Three Networks

Yesterday afternoon, CBS News announced that senior correspondent John Miller scored the “first television interview” with NYPD officer Lawrence DePrimo who was caught on camera giving a pair of boots to a homeless man. An excerpt ran on yesterday’s “CBS Evening News,” with the full report airing this morning.

One little problem: ABC’s Dan Harris also interviewed Officer DePrimo for “World News.” NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk spoke to the officer,  the Arizona tourist who took the photo and the sales clerk who sold the shoes, for a story that aired on yesterday’s “NBC Nightly News.” The officer and the tourist also appeared together this morning on “Today.”

WATCH:

After the jump, the CBS story from this morning, with the mention of the “first TV interview” scrubbed:
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Learn From Top TV Experts at AllFacebook Marketing Conference

Learn from the marketing and branding strategies of executives at ESPN, HBO, TV Guide Magazine at Mediabistro’s AllFacebook Marketing Conference, next Tuesday and Wednesday in New York City.

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You’ll discuss which social media platform holds the most opportunity in 2013 and the practices that marketers and brands are adopting to generate engagement, increase awareness, and reach their key demographics. You’ll also be able to pitch questions to our speakers using the hashtag #AllFacebookConf.

View the full speaker roster here.

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