Later today ABC will join together Barack Obama with the ladies of The View. While they tell us the main focus of their interview segment is on the "controversial remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright" (something that Elizabeth Hasselbeck has slammed him for in the past), one of the clips shows Barbara Walters telling Obama he is, "very sexy looking." At which point the presidential candidate needs to fan himself from the 78-year-old news legend's......

Don Imus made his return to the airwaves this morning, with a mostly zinger-less show -- spending the first half hour discussing the comment that got him fired. The NY Times reports that after 8-months of off-air time, Imus came back with a vow that he "will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me.”......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not......

Barry Manilow, who is out promoting his Greatest Songs of the Seventies, has refused to share a stage with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who was barely walking in the 70s. The crooner left a little message on his website yesterday for his fans letting them know he wouldn't be on The View today, saying "I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselback. Unfortunately, the show was not......

This Sunday Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Opera will hold A Tribute to Beverly Sills. The event is open to the public, free, and will be dedicated to the sopranos life -- which ended in July. Sills was more than just a singer, she held many prominent positions, including General Director of the New York City Opera; Chairman of Lincoln Center; and Managing Director, Chairman, and Chairman......

In 2005 Barbara Walters mentioned her distaste for public breastfeeding on The View and was met at the show's studio with "lactivists" protesting her statement. The NY Press reported that the "lactivists" (the New York City Breastfeeding Promotion and BABE - the Brooklyn Alliance for Breastfeeding Empowerment) were back Friday packed in to a southbound A train at noon. The groups carried signs that read “La leche materna es el mejor alimento” and “Breast milk......

New York magazine has a big cover feature on Katie Couric, aka America's Sweetheart...at least, she used to be. The feature by Joe Hagan is at times a Couric confessional, complaint-fest, and call to arms (literally - she apparently "slapped" a news editor on the arm for using the word "sputum") that looks at the much ballyhooed move from the Today show to the storied news ground of CBS where her evening news program is......

Forbes has put out their list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, something to bicker about at the water cooler, no doubt. Here are some of the top-ranked New Yorker's and their earnings: Jay-Z at #9 with $83M David Letterman at #17 with $40M Donald Trump at #19 with $32M Sean Combs at #43 with $23M Derek Jeter at #50 with $28M Bill Clinton at #55 with $7M Regis Philbin at #64 with $21M......

Barbara Walters may not have the controversy-ratings dervish Rosie O'Donnell on the roster of The View anymore, but what she does have is her reputation as the go-to interview for many celebrities. Last week, it was announced that Paris Hilton would be giving her first post-jailhouse interviewed with Babs. One release and re-jailing later, Hilton called Walters collect. Hilton told Walters, "I used to act dumb. That act is no longer cute. Now, I would......

After Wednesday's blow-up with Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O'Donnell made today's show her last day on The View. Originally, O'Donnell's exit was planned for June 20, but it seems like she wanted out early. Here are some statements via ABC News:Brian Frons, the president of Disney-ABC's Daytime Television Group, said, "We had hoped that Rosie would be with us until the end of her contract three weeks from now, but Rosie has informed us that she......

After the hearing the crazy voicemail Alec Baldwin left for his daughter, it's nice to hear some refreshing news about him. In a taped segment for tomorrow's episode of 'The View', Baldwin says that he asked NBC to let him out of his contract for '30 Rock' so he could spend his time working on "parental alienation" and that if he "never acted again I couldn't care less." On the show, Baldwin plays a meddling......

It looks like Rosie O'Donnell is leaving daytime television yet again. No, it's not because of her attempts to speak Chinese, but because of contract issues. How mundane. TMZ first reported last night that O'Donnell, the co-host and moderator of ABC's morning talk-show, was set to announce her departure from the show. This morning, ABC News confirms the story in an "exclusive" (side note - shouldn't ABC break news about its own show before TMZ?).......

April Fool's! When America's Mayor told Barbara Walters that his wife, Judith Nathan, would be attending Cabinet meetings if he's elected President, he was totally joking. Some confusion arose when Giuliani told Walters that Nathan would be welcome at Cabinet meetings if they were discussing something she might find interesting: "If she wanted to. If they were relevant to something that she was interested in. I mean that would be something that I'd be very,......

Set your DVRs, because tomorrow night's 20/20 should be a doozy. The Barbara Walters interview with Rudy and Judith Giuliani will air, and they talk about marriages (and divorces), their first meeting ("instant" attraction), and how Rudy would be fine if Judi sat in on policy meetings at the White House. Oh, yes. According to ABC News' preview, Giuliani says, "If [the meetings] were relevant to something that she was interested in. I mean that......

With the surprising, though not quite scandalous, news that Judith Giuliani had been married three times (one more time than the widely believed two times), it was a matter of hours before presidential candidate and our former mayor would have to answer questions. While on the campaign trail in Oakland, California - and taking a break from kissing babies - Rudy Giuliani said he's known about his wife's first husband for a while: "She told......

A look at some noteworthy televison shows this week: Live From the Red Carpet: The 2007 Academy Awards (Sunday, 6:00 p.m. E!) The traditionally absurd Oscar pregame of celebrities arriving at the Oscars. 2007 Joan & Melissa at the Academy Awards (Sunday, 6:00 p.m. TV Guide Channel) Joan Rivers and daughter Melissa do their yearly schtick during the Oscar arrivals. An Evening at the Academy Awards: The Arrivals (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. WABC 7) Channel 7......

Subway special on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by an A train in Brooklyn, a stabbing on the J train in Queens, and a "train job" (?) at Newkirk Avenue. Rosie's Trump beef now extends to Barbara Walters, who appears to have been stabbing her in the back in private conversations with Donald Trump: "Are you looking me in the face and denying you didn't tell him you didn't say this? You're a......

Where the hell is Lisa Ling when Barbara Walters needs her? Last week, Rosie O'Donnell commented about the whole Danny DeVito drunk as a skunk on The View by imagining what people in China were hearing: "The fact is that it's news all over the world. You can imagine in China, it's like, ching chong ching chong ching chong Danny DeVito ching ching chong chong ching drunk The View chong."Of course, Rosie's riff has upset......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: The Investigators: Riker’s Island (CourtTV , Monday, 8 p.m.) CourtTV’s law enforcement documentary series takes a look at Rikers The Year Without a Santa Claus (WNBC 4, Monday, 9 p.m.) A new version of some Christmas cheese from NBC. If anyone cares Santa decides to take a year off and the elves have to cope. Sounds like hard hitting drama. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole......

New York Magazine reports that Jim Carrey is renting an apartment near Lincoln Center for the smokin' figure of $45,000 a month. The apartment is for sale - if you have $11,800,000 to spare - and has a 2,000 square foot living room! We saw Carrey on a Barbara Walters special, and he was talking about being all Zen and we think took her to his meditation retreat for the weepy part of the interview;......

David Yellen, Photographer...

Here's a little Mayoral Race 2005 action to tie us over: Congressman and mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner held a protest against the West Side Stadium yesterday, but he was heckled by trade union guys. According to Newsday, the trade unionists were more "amused" than menacing, and called Weiner a "loser." But Gothamist could feel sorry for Weiner, because those union guys could probably take him, it turns out that Weiner heckled back. Another Democratic mayoral......

Jeff Croteau, Librarian in G-Training...

Candice Holmes, Recent Grad...

Gothamist wants to be one of the first to say what everyone will be uttering tomorrow with more frequency than usual: Why does Melissa Rivers persist? Joan, we understand, because she can be funny, though lately it's been more outrageous than incisive. And we understand nepotism and accept Tori Spelling's wooden acting...but Melissa...she must be stopped. And when she tears into some poor, celebrity with a bad stylist, no stylist at all, or her/his own......

Martha Stewart tells Barbara Walters that she hasn't been able to chop up a cabbage after the infamous Early Show appearance after news of her little Imclone thing. During a segment where she was demonstrating how to make a salad, host Jane Clayson was trying to ask her about the scandal but Stewart wanted to "focus on my salad." Now, looking back, Stewart said to Baba Wawa during a 20/20 interview that will air tomorrow......

Maybe it was because Barbara Walters and her posse actually hired a Chinese girl once before, but now I sort of feel motivated to try out to be the fifth host on The View. The other day the Post reported The View has started looking again. Lisa Ling was pretty damn annoying, and I know I could be just as annoying...or at least hyper. My strengths: I can be straight or sassy at company parties.......