Current Tv

Al Gore is turning to another cable-news castoff to help prop up his Current TV network. This time, it's Joy Behar. Behar - best-known for ABC's morning gabfest “The View” - will co-host a 6 p.m. talk show Monday through Thursday starting in September for the low-rated outlet founded by Gore and legal entrepreneur Joel Hyatt. The program will repeat in prime time. In a sort of dry run, Behar will guest-host for the vacationing Eliot Spitzer next week on Current's “Viewpoint.” In a statement, Gore, the former vice president and Nobel laureate, called Behar “a beloved veteran television personality with her finger on the pulse of what viewers care about.” Well, sometimes.

WASHINGTON -- If the White House Correspondents' Dinner was any indication, all it takes to get a room packed with journalists and celebrities laughing is a series of jokes about eating dogs, the size of Mitt Romney's bank account and Kim Kardashian's attendance. The dinner, a celebration of Washington journalists, is complete with awards for excellent coverage and scholarships for aspiring reporters, but what ends up taking all of the headlines is the president's humorous address and the subsequent comedic routine by the host.

Keith Olbermann isn't mincing words in his $70-million lawsuit against Current TV. Dumped last week by the upstart cable network, Olbermann let loose a verbal barrage against co-founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt in a 43-page legal complaint for breach of contract filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accusing them of blackmail and calling them "dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives. " The lawsuit sets the stage for a high-profile legal battle between two leaders of American liberalism: Gore, a former U.S. vice president and Nobel laureate, and Olbermann, a fiery talk-show host.

Fiery TV host is out Re "Olbermann booted from Current TV," March 31 It's hard to dislike someone who reads James Thurber's short stories aloud to a national TV audience, but Keith Olbermann needs help. The act is wearing very thin. Olbermann and his uncontrolled ego are doing a disservice to the progressive cause he professes to care about. He more than anyone created the progressive standard-bearer that is MSNBC today, and for that we should be grateful.

Following a turbulent year, Al Gore's Current TV finally parted ways Friday with fiery host Keith Olbermann. "Countdown," Olbermann's show, was canceled Friday and was to be replaced by another featuring former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. In a statement, Gore, the former vice president and Nobel laureate, and his business partner Joel Hyatt took an extraordinary swipe at their outspoken host, to whom they had reportedly given a $10-million paycheck as well as an ownership stake in hopes he would raise the tiny network's profile.

Seven months after dropping a movie project based on the board game "Ouija" over concerns about its proposed budget of about $150 million, Universal Pictures is again planning to make the picture — but at a much reduced cost. The studio on Monday announced it was going to target the film for release in 2013 but did not say when it planned to begin production. People familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak publicly said the new "Ouija," which will be produced by Jason Blum ("Paranormal Activity")

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Friday. Saturday night will be Dick Clark's 40th New Year's Eve special. ( CBS ) Die-hard film fans are still turning out to the multiplex on opening weekend, but casual moviegoers are getting scarcer. ( Los Angeles Times ) Kelly Clarkson stepped in it when she voiced her support for GOP candidate Ron Paul on Twitter. ( Los Angeles Times ) Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are charming everyone with their YouTube clip performing "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"

Cenk Uygur, 41, brings his round-table talk show, "The Young Turks," to Current TV this month after last summer's parting of the ways with MSNBC, where he spent just six months. I wanted to talk to you about why you started out as a Republican and then switched to — what would you call yourself, a liberal? I didn't really switch, aside from the fact that I'm no longer a Republican. When I was growing up I was a liberal Republican in New Jersey. Now of course that is an extinct species.

Amazon.com Inc. will allow customers to use Hulu+ on its upcoming Kindle Fire device, adding a major source of TV and movie content to its tablet arsenal. The 7-inch tablet, which will begin shipping next week, costs $199 and will feature a special, limited version of Google's Android operating system that Amazon customized. That means Amazon will selectively choose which apps it will allow on the device — and which it will not. That gatekeeper approach is similar to the way Apple runs its App Store: approving only apps that follow its many guidelines, and taking a percentage of all Apps its sells on the iPad.

I didn't have a huge investment in the fate of Amanda Knox, the 24-year-old American whose conviction for killing her roommate four years ago in Italy was overturned Monday. I was generally too put off and confused by the media circus surrounding the case to try to figure out the whole story. Still, in the moments before the appeals decision was announced, I found myself on the edge of my seat, constantly refreshing my Internet browser until the word "acquit" flashed across the screen.