Just How Unhappy IS Katie Couric?
Katie Couric has basically orchestrated the ouster of "Today" show executive producer Jonathan Wald, the man she practically handpicked to replace longtime executive producer Jeff Zucker--and close Couric friend--when Zucker left "Today" to fix problems with the network's entertainment division, reports "The TV Column" in The Washington Post. Katie is not a happy camper even though she has a $65 million contract.
At the Olympics in February she confessed, "I'm tired, the hours are brutal, it's hard to make yourself go to bed at 7:30 or 8 to get up" the next morning to do the show. Then in July she blasted Wald when she lost an interview with one of the nine men rescued from the Pennsylvania coal mine. At the last minute, the interview went to "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer. "Katie had every right to ask what happened; it was her interview," Wald told USA Today on Thursday. Meanwhile, after just 17 months on the job Wald is out, and the Washington Post says Tom Touchet, a former line producer at rival "GMA" has the inside track on the job. Couric and Zucker were longtime friends personally and professionally. Wald was almost doomed to fail since he had to follow Zucker. "There was always friction," a news industry exec who asked not to be identified told The Post. Wald "was not cutting it, but following [Zucker] is a tough act." An NBC source also told The Post, "It was an impossible situation from the start. It was impossible that there not be tension for anyone trying to follow Jeff."
Courteney Cox Arquette: Name Change?
Courteney Cox Arquette wants to be known as Courteney Cox. At least that's what a source told MSNBC's gossip columnist Jeanette Wells. Courteney, who stars as Monica on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends," is reportedly telling friends she is dropping "Arquette." And that has fueled rumors that her three-year marriage to David Arquette may be in trouble. Mind you, the same source that told MSNBC this story is also saying that Courteney denies any marriage woes. "She just wants to be known as Courteney Cox again," says the source. "She insists it's just out of respect to her family that she wants to use the name she grew up with." What happened to respect for her husband?
Courtney's spokeswoman told MSNBC that she just "vacillates between Courteney Cox and Courteney Cox Arquette" and that it is "completely untrue" that she is officially dropping Arquette. When she married David Arquette in 1999, Courteney made a huge deal about taking her husband's last name. Even the "Friends" producers must have been amused by her actions. The first episode of the show that aired after her wedding to Mr. Arquette, not only listed her name as Courteney Cox Arquette, but also listed the five other cast members as Jennifer Aniston Arquette, Lisa Kudrow Arquette, Matt LeBlanc Arquette, Matthew Perry Arquette, and David Schwimmer Arquette.