Kathie Lee Will Join Today: NBC

NBC musical dazzles critics... mostly

(NEWSER) - If you watched the Super Bowl, you just might have heard of Smash, NBC's new drama about the making of a Broadway musical. It premiered last night, and critics are (mostly) giving it a standing ovation:

• The buzz has gotten so intense that the conversation isn't even about whether it'll be good. "Good? Darling, it's great!" gushes Mary McNamara of the LA Times . The creators have "managed to capture the grand and sweeping gesture that is musical theater and inject it with the immediate intimacy of television," an impressive, unprecedented feat.

The Office firm to put 'quabity first' in Staples deal

(NEWSER) - Fans of the Office will soon be able to buy paper made by their favorite company—though instead of purchasing it from Dwight Schrute, they’ll have to get their reams through Staples. The office-supply giant’s Quill.com has reached a licensing deal with NBCUniversal to sell Dunder Mifflin paper, the Wall Street Journal reports. The letterhead must have been approved by Michael Scott: It carries slogans like "Quabity First" and "Get Your Scrant On." More»

Viewership down 9.3% from year before

(NEWSER) - NBC’s long-struggling ratings are only getting worse as the new television season gets under way. Some 3.3 million 18- to 49-year-olds have been tuning in to the network's primetime offerings over the past four weeks, a 9.3% drop from the year before, the Wall Street Journal reports. And if you leave out NFL games, viewership is down 16% from a year earlier, with just 2.2 million viewers. More»

Mr. LeAnn Rimes is out of a job ... and the oh-so-sexy Brian Williams swoops in

(NEWSER) - Who do you find sexier: Playboy bunnies or Brian Williams? If you went with the former you're out of luck, because NBC's 10pm EDT Monday time slot is about to be filled by the latter. The Playboy Club has officially become the first cancellation of the fall season. A slim three episodes aired, the last of which drew a paltry 3.5 million viewers. Rock Center will air in its place, and no, that's not a show about rock-hard bodies. The Williams-helmed newsmagazine will debut on Halloween night, and will feature Harry Smith and Kate Snow as correspondents, along with Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, and Ann Curry. Prime Suspect reruns will air in the meantime, notes the AP . More»

Broadcaster pays $4.38B for rights to 4 Olympics

(NEWSER) - NBC Universal has outbid rivals to win the US rights to broadcast the four Olympics after London 2012. The Comcast company's $4.38 billion bid included $2 billion to broadcast the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 summer Games in Rio de Janiero. Rival bidder Fox offered only $3.4 billion, while ESPN offered $1.4 billion for 2012 and 2014, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . More»