NBC Announces Big Name Guests for the Return of the "Tonight Show With Jay Leno"

The Director's Cut Blog has learned the guest list for the first two weeks of the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" which returns to 11:35 p.m. beginning on Monday, March 1st.

We've also got our first look at the new "Tonight Show" logo.

Monday, March 1 - Jamie Foxx, Olympic Gold Medal Skier Lindsey Vonn and a musical performance by Brad Paisley

Tuesday, March 2 - Sarah Palin, Olympic Gold Medal Snowboarder Shaun White

Wednesday, March 3 - "Jaywalk All-Stars" with the Cast of "Jersey Shore," Chelsea Handler, the most decorated American Winter Olympian of all time Speed Skater Apolo Anton Ohno and a musical performance by Avril Lavigne

Thursday, March 4 - Matthew McConaughey and Jason Reitman

Friday, March 5 - Morgan Freeman and Meredith Vieira

Monday, March 8 - Simon Cowell

Tuesday, March 9 - Christoph Waltz, Animal Expert Dave Salmoni and a musical performance by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts

Wednesday, March 10 - Guests include Kristen Stewart and Guy Fieri

Thursday, March 11 - Guests include Dana Carvey and Kim Kardashian, with a musical performance by Colbie Caillat

Friday, March 12 - Guests include Dakota Fanning and Judd Apatow

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Former Channel 3 Anchor To Run for 17th District House Seat

Special to the Director's Cut
By Tom Beres, Channel 3 Senior Political Reporter

CLEVELAND -- Former Channel 3 anchorman Tim White has filed to run for the 17th House District seat.

That's the seat now held by Josh Mandel who is running as the Republican candidate for State Treasurer.

White left Channel 3 in December, 2008. He has homes in Pepper Pike and Wyoming.

He is running as a Democrat. Some people found that surprising.

White said, "Think blue dog."

If he stays in the race, he will face Democrat Kellie Perk in the May 3 primary.

Republican Marlene Anielski and Libertarian David Macko are also running for the seat.

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It's A Restrained Relaunch For Leno

Special to the Director's Cut
By Gary Levin, USA Today

NBC considered depicting the failed Jay Leno Show as a mere dream: Promo spots would feature Leno and Victoria Principal in the shower, an homage to the classic Dallas scene in which Principal dreamed the death of her onscreen husband.

Instead, the network is opting for a low-key echo of the commercials that launched Leno: Last fall, he was shown driving a race car emblazoned with a 10, a reminder of his new slot.

In spots that began airing during the Olympics Wednesday night, he's driving the same car, only the 10 is replaced by 11:35 (or 10:35, depending on your time zone), as the Beatles song urges him to "Get back to where you once belonged."

The approach is in marked contrast to the hype - painted buildings, grocery-aisle ads - that greeted his move to prime time last fall. Back then he was heralded on the cover of Time as the "future of television"; on March 1, NBC tries to relaunch Leno in his late-night perch and repopulates its 10 ET/PT schedule with dramas and reality shows.

The consensus from experts is that, promos aside, the new/old Tonight Show will do better than Conan O'Brien's short-lived version but not as well as it did before Leno left. "The damage to the Leno brand is real," says Sam Armando of ad firm SMGx. Leno sought to repair the brand in a lengthy interview with Oprah Winfrey and a Super Bowl ad for rival David Letterman that was designed to mock Leno.

"Whether true or not, Jay was perceived as doing something that was kind of hurtful to Conan O'Brien," says Brent Poer of Mediavest, though "memory and sympathy can wane very quickly."

Says John Rash of Campbell Mithun: "He was the reigning king of late night. But the negative news on his show, his performance, his guests and his hold on pop culture were questioned loudly and repeatedly for months, which makes it more of a challenge."

Leno will reclaim the desk he abandoned during his five-month prime-time stint, along with most elements of the old Tonight. But longtime band-leader Kevin Eubanks is expected to leave eventually to "pursue touring and recording opportunities," NBC says.

Meanwhile, Letterman's Late Show, which has been the No. 1 late-night talk show since summer, is preparing to defend its newfound success.

Late Show had planned to take off in early March but will go dark next week instead, an unusual move during a ratings sweeps. It has booked A-list guests including Jerry Seinfeld (Leno's first prime-time guest), Tom Hanks and Matt Damon for its first two weeks against Tonight.

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Four Gannett TV Stations Place Among Top 10 Most Watched Stations in the Country for Winter Olympics

McLEAN, VA -- Four local Gannett NBC affiliate stations were among the Top 10 most watched TV stations for the first four days of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. KUSA-TV in Denver ranked second; KARE-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul was fifth; KSDK-TV in St. Louis placed seventh; and WKYC-TV in Cleveland was ninth. Gannett stations also took 3 of the top 5 spots in the 25 largest television markets -- KUSA was ranked first, KARE third and KSDK fourth.

"We congratulate all our local NBC affiliates for successfully launching these Olympics. The high viewing is a clear result of unique content from NBC matched to strong local brands," says Dave Lougee, president of Gannett Broadcasting. "The Winter Olympics are off to a tremendous start from the most watched opening ceremony ever for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics (up 35% over the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy), to great weekend ratings (Saturday night was more highly viewed than any single night of Torino coverage) to higher ratings for our NBC stations compared to 2006."

In addition, the resources of USA TODAY, USATODAY.com, USA WEEKEND and more than 80 local daily newspapers are being shared across Gannett to provide unprecedented content for local consumers.

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation's top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 84 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 650 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of Web sites.

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Olympics Bring Ratings Gold to NBC and WKYC

By Frank Macek

CLEVELAND -- Despite weather that's far from a wintry feel in Canada, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, have racked up big ratings for NBC and WKYC.

In the half-century of televised Olympics, NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday was the MOST WATCHED EVER for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics with 67.5 million viewers.

Those numbers were 17 million higher than the Torino, Italy, games four years ago and six 6 million more than the previous record holder, Lillehammer Games in 1994. Those tabloid fueled games held the record for 16 years.

According to NBC Universal, the top five most watched include:

• Vancouver (2010) - 67.5  million
• Lillehammer (1994) - 62.0 million
• Nagano (1998) - 52.4 million
• Torino (2006) - 50.2 million
• Albertville (1992) - 46.7 million

Locally, WKYC was the 6th highest rated station in the nation for the Opening Ceremonies with a 23.1 rating and 38 share.

So far for the first 4 days of the Games, 129 million people have watched on the networks on NBCU - about 4 million more than watched the first 4 days of the 2006 Games.

WKYC has the 8th largest audience for the first 4 days with a 19.5 rating and 31 share.

The Vancouver Games are the first Winter Olympic Games to be presented entirely in high definition.

The Games continue through February 28th.

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Behind the Scenes: WKYC On Location At The Great Big Home & Garden Expo

Spring is just around the corner.

WKYC and Moms Like Me.Com are big sponsors of this year's Great Big Home and Garden Expo at the IX Center.

Our Director's Cut spies were on location and had their digital camera handy to bring you a few photos of the fun going on.

We even spotted star Ty Pennington who stopped by this year's show.

To see our photogallery, click on the picture.

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Betsy, Monica and Eric Go For The Gold In "Anchor Olympics"

CLEVELAND -- They're not Olympians, but they'll still give it their all!

Betsy Kling, Monica Robins, and Eric Mansfield will compete in 10 events in the first Anchor Olympics, starting Monday night February 15th on Channel 3 News at 7. The trio will do battle in winter olympic sports ech night during the broadcast.

Hockey, skiing, luging, tubing, and curling are just some of the activities.

So, who do you think will win?

Tune in Monday as the Anchor Olympics gets underway!

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The Director's Cut Makes Its "Must See" Picks for the 2010 Winter Olympics on NBC and WKYC

The Director's Cut blog has put together a "Must See TV" list of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games you will want to catch. The Olympics kick off Friday night, February 12th on WKYC and NBC.

And don't forget to join us for the Olympic Zone with Jim Donovan every weeknight during the games beginning Monday, February 15th at 7:30 p.m.

Click on the graphic below to save and print a Adobe Acrobat .pdf file:

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Behind the Scenes: WKYC Staffers Get a Little Sugar to Kick Off February Sweeps

This afternoon, our News Director Rita Andolsen gave us a little sugar... No, not that kind...but delicious dessert to help us kick off February sweeps which started Thursday.

Assistant News Director Howard Fencl had the hidden camera rolling and snapped a few shots of the staff.

Unfortunately, he forgot to take a picture of the dessert.

Click on the photo for several more pictures from our WKYC Facebook page.

(Your blogger is the guy in the middle waiting for the speech to be over so we could get right to the sweet treats.)

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WKYC Production Assistant Ashley Glaze Heads to Haiti To Volunteer, Provide Reports to Channel 3 News

WKYC production assistant Ashley Glaze took some time off to volunteer in Haiti with her church group to help the victims of the recent, devastating earthquake.

While she is in Haiti, she will be filing reports for Channel 3 News including flipcam video and photographs from her first person account.

She'll file reports as often as she has internet connectivity, which is sparse at times, in the still recovering nation.

We invite you to follow Ashley's on scene work and ask you continue to keep those affected in your thoughts and prayers.

Here's a link to her first set of pictures we have received: http://bit.ly/dzpkzf

For her on scene report: http://bit.ly/cj7ZSV

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Notes From the Newsroom: 2/4/10

By Frank Macek

Time for another edition of "Notes from the Newsroom" as we blog from the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center about what's going on behind the scenes at Channel 3.

The Olympics are getting close and Channel 3 is pysched up for the big event which features 15 sports, 86 medal events and 2,500 athletes all competing on the world stage.

WKYC and WKYC.com will have complete coverage including:

*Opening Ceremonies - February 12th at 7:30 p.m.
*Olympic Zone w/Jim Donovan - Feb. 15th -19th & Feb. 22nd - 26th at 7:30 p.m. on WKYC
*Olympic Coverage on NBC & WKYC - February 15th through February 28th
*Olympic Zone on WKYC.COM (www.nbcolympics.com/wkyc)
*Olympic Zone Weather for Vancouver on WKYC.COM
*Closing Ceremonies - February 28th at 7:00 p.m.

Something new and fresh is coming to Channel 3 News. We can't quite tell you yet what it is. But, we have spotted painters, carpenters, electricians, designers, lighting technicians and artists all working in the studio round the clock lately. Keep watching to see what's coming this February.

Yes, it's sweeps. Today is the first day of February Sweeps which run through March 3rd. Channel 3 News has a great bunch of reports to bring you on stories that matter to you. It's real news you can use.

January was a great sweeps month for Channel 3 and WKYC. Channel 3 News was #1 at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. In fact our morning show with Mark Nolan and Hollie Strano is up 37% in adults since last January. NBC's Today Show continues to dominate the morning network shows. Rachel, Ellen and Dr. Phil are all #1 in the key demographic for women. (In fact, Ellen even beat Oprah.) Channel 3 News at 6 & 11 PM with Romona Robinson were both clear choices for local evening news - even with NBC's primetime ratings down significantly. And, our weekend morning news remains #1 on Saturday and Sunday morning anchored by Kim Wheeler.

Don't forget if you haven't joined us on Facebook yet, please become of friend of Channel 3 News and Channel 3 Weather. We have special on-line ncontent just for our Facebook friends including your chance to be our Facebook Friend of the Day, daily behind the scenes promos, sneak peeks at NBC shows, a daily programming guide of what's on Channel 3 and much more.

• Click to become a Facebook Friend of Channel 3 News
• Click to become a Facebook Friend of Channel 3 Weather
• Click to become a Twitter Follower of Channel 3 News
• Click to become a Twitter Follower of Channel 3 Weather

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Gannett Names Gracia Martore as President and Chief Operating Officer

Editor's Note: The following is news regarding WKYC parent company, Gannett.

McLEAN, Virginia -- Gracia C. Martore has been named president and chief operating officer of Gannett Co, Inc., Craig A. Dubow, chairman and chief executive officer, announced Monday.

Martore, who was most recently Gannett's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will continue to serve as CFO until a new CFO is appointed. She will continue to report to Dubow.

"Gracia is an outstanding leader and business executive," Dubow said. "She has made enormous contributions to Gannett during her many years here and most recently as our CFO and executive vice president. She has tremendous financial skills and extensive knowledge of our business operations. She's earned this opportunity and I couldn't be more pleased that she will serve as our president and COO."

"Craig has brought new vision and direction to our company. As the economy continues to move ahead, we look forward to furthering the many changes under way and setting the course for what our company will look like in the years to come.

This move will allow Craig to concentrate on Gannett's long-term strategic planning while Gracia manages the day-to-day operations of the business. Craig and Gracia have been exceptional leaders for Gannett and work in tandem as an outstanding team," said Karen Hastie Williams, Gannett's presiding director.

Martore joined Gannett in 1985 as assistant treasurer. She was named vice president/Treasury services in 1993. She was given responsibility for Investor Relations in 1996, became treasurer and vice president/Investor Relations in 1998 and was named a senior vice president in 2001. She became chief financial officer in 2003 and was named executive vice president in 2006.

Martore is a native of Boston and graduate of Wellesley College where she was a Wellesley Scholar. Prior to Gannett, she worked for 12 years in the banking industry.

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