Former CNN news/weather anchor Rob Marciano will join Nancy O’Dell on the “Entertainment Tonight” desk in January. He replaces Mark Steines, who left last spring and now co-hosts Hallmark Channel’s “Home and Family” with Paige Davis.
“Definitely sad to be leaving my CNN family in January, but very pumped for the new gig co-hosting Entertainment Tonight,” Marciano tweeted yesterday.
“Congrats, Rob — looking forward to working with you!!” O’Dell tweeted back.
Marciano, 44, a onetime equity sales trader, holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Cornell University. He’s worked at CNN since 2003 and, prior to that, worked as the chief meteorologist for TV stations in Portland, Ore., Lake Charles, La. and Connecticut News 30 (WVIT).
And, according to Wikipedia, he’s also related to legendary boxer Rocky Marciano.
* * *
Mariska Hargitay and Lucy Liu, among others, will be honored next month by New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) at the organization’s annual Muse Awards fete.
Hargitay (“Law & Order: SVU”) and Liu (“Elementary”), will be joined in the honoree category by documentary filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson (“Sex Crimes Unit”) and WEtv president/GM Kim Martin, for their “outstanding vision and achievement of women in film, television and digital media industries.”
The shindig takes place Thursday, Dec. 13 at The New York Hilton; there’s more info at nywift.org/muse.
* * *
Hey, it’s November sweeps — so who are we to judge?
Michael Lohan (you-know-who’s father) will take a paternity test on on Thursday’s “Trisha Goddard” (5 p.m./Ch. 55) — trying to put to rest rumors that he’s the father of Kristi Horn’s love child (as she claims). Goddard will reveal the DNA results on Thursday’s show. And since paternity tests are usually “Maury Povich” territory, that show’s host, Maury Povich, will be on hand to interview Lohan.
(“Trisha Goddard” and “Maury” are corporate siblings, since both shows are produced and distributed by NBC Universal Domestic Television and both are shot in Stamford, Ct.)
* * *
Awkward!
Or, at the very least, extremely unfortunate timing.
Not long after the news broke yesterday that “Elmo” voice Kevin Clash had taken a leave of absence from “Sesame Street” — over allegations he had a sexual relationship with a minor — an e-mail arrived promoting the DVD, “Sesame Street: Preschool is Cool — Making Friends.”
According to press materials, the DVD includes Elmo working with Professor Grover, who “wants to show Elmo how to become friends with the rest of the class. Is making friends really that easy? Will Elmo and his classmates be able to get along?”
The DVD was released last month (Oct. 2 to be exact), which, in itself, immediately raised my “cynicism meter” — thinking, perhaps, that Warner Home Video is piggybacking off the Clash news.
When I questioned this, I was assured that there was an unspecified “delay” in review copies, so WHV just wanted to make sure everyone knew about this DVD.
Still, the timing is strange. Just sayin’ . . .
* * *
Last, but not least:
* “Hampton Sheet” publisher Joan Jedell now hosts “Red Carpet Scoop” on 1010 WINS. Her reports will air Thursday and Friday (2:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.) starting this week . . . “Finding Bigfoot” returned to 1.3 million viewers Sunday night on Animal Planet . . . “Coldplay Live 2012” premieres this Saturday (Nov. 17) on EPIX (8 p.m.) . . . Chaz Bono plays himself on next Tuesday’s (Nov. 20) episode of “Degrassi” (9 p.m. on Teen Nick) . . . E! has renewed “Married to Jonas” for a second season with stars Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle.