NBC is expected to announce that former US gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin will join its broadcasting team for the upcoming Winter Olympic games, kicking off Feb. 6 in Sochi, Russia.
Liukin, who’s now a student at NYU (she started there last January), won five medals at the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing (one gold, three silver and one bronze), tying Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller for the most won by a US gymnast at a single Olympics.
Born in Moscow, she’s a dual Russian-US citizen — and will serve as a reporter for NBC in Sochi as well as presenting daily features for “The Olympic Zone,” its 30-minute daily show produced for NBC affiliates.
Liukin contributed to NBC’s online coverage of the 2012 Summer Games in London.
The voice? Meh, not reality
Well, at least she’s honest about it.
TV chef and Food Network personality Giada DeLaurentiis might be a lot of things — but a singer? Meh. Not so much.
She tells People magazine in its Nov. 11 issue — out on newsstands today in New York City — about the last time she crooned out loud. “On the way to and from my daughter Jade’s school this morning,” she said. “Right now, our favorite song is Katy Perry’s ‘Roar.’ It wakes you up in the morning.
“I only sing in the car where no one can hear me, because I suck.”
Yeah, and you’re also now responsible for me having that song in my head on an endless loop.
So thanks for that.
Speaking of singing, Kevin Bacon (Fox’s “The Following”) and his brother, Michael Bacon — who comprise The Bacon Brothers — will perform with their cousin, actor Quinn Van Antwerp (“Jersey Boys”) and other family members and friends at The Cutting Room on Dec. 8.
The show, “A Band Called Holmes,” will also include the Bacons’ sister, Hilda Bacon, singer-songwriter Holly Near, musician Nick Holmes, Kevin’s kids — Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon — and Van Antwerp’s sister, Devon Near-Hill.
Last, but not least
“Paternity Court” has been upgraded on Ch. 55, where it’s now airing at 3 and 3:30 p.m. with “presiding judge” Lauren Lake. It’s tripled its key female and adult demos from what aired on WLNY last year . . . GSN will air “The Marcia Wallace Marathon” this Friday (8 a.m. to noon) with episodes of “Match Game,” “Password Plus” and “The $100,000 Pyramid” in which the late actress/comedienne appeared . . . New Yorker Solomon Fallas is featured on this Friday’s episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank” (9 p.m./Ch. 7) . . . Megan Hilty (“Smash,” “Sean Saves the World”) is featured on Jim Brickman’s new holiday CD, “The Magic of Christmas.”