Before we get started, two news-related items: First, I can’t help but feel sorry for the jurors on the Desperate Housewives trial, who are having to waste valuable days, nay weeks, of their lives because a crazy actress is upset that she got written off a show and into obscurity. Forgive me if I’m not fully getting it, but it sounds like just another day in Hollywood to me.
**Breaking News! Another major character is getting killed off the show on Sunday. I wonder if s/he (yes, I know who it is but I’m not a spoiler so you’ll have to click around a bit to find out for yourself. Trust me, it’s not hard to discover) will also sue. The series ends after this season so we can only hope no one will care by then.
Also, Newsday’s Verne Gay reports that Comcast NBCU is going to re-sign Today’s Matt Lauer at $25 million annually. Take that, Katie Couric.
On to this week’s Fates:
Brian Lando has been promoted to senior vice president of development at Scripps Network. In his new position, he will relocate to Los Angeles and develop and oversee programming for Scripps’ Food Network, Cooking Channel, HGTV and Travel Channel. Lando has been with Scripps since 2006, when he joined Food Network as director of programming. Prior to joining Scripps, Lando worked in programming at Endemol USA/Tom Forman Productions, and on projects for CBS, E!, NBC and Nickelodeon. He graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with a B.A. in television, radio and film.
Also at Scripps, Steven Lerner has been named vice president of programming for HGTV and DIY Networks based in Knoxville, Tenn. Lerner previously was DIY’s program director. Prior to joining DIY, Lerner was the showrunner on My Big Redneck Wedding. He’s also executive produced and directed shows for VH1, Nickelodeon, Lifetime, USA, FX and PBS.
Carolé Dacey-Young has been named vice president of business development, HealthSolutions for the CBS Television Stations. Dacey-Young has been with CBS for 14 years and has served as director of HealthSolutions since 2004. Prior to that, she was director of business development at CBS’ WFOR Miami, and marketing manager at Clear Channel in Miami. Dacey-Young graduated from Ithaca College in New York with a B.S. in marketing.
Also at the CBS TV Stations, Jennifer Young has been promoted to VP of integrated and strategic marketing. Young joined CBS last year as marketing director. Prior to that, she was marketing director at Lifetime Television, and at L’Oreal USA. She spent the first 12 years of her career at Nickelodeon, where she started as marketing assistant and worked her way up to senior director of marketing. Young graduated from SUNY Binghamton.
Kelly McAndrew has been named vice president of corporate communications at Cablevision Systems Corp. Prior to joining Cablevision, McAndrew served as SVP, corporate communications at Viacom since 2007. She came to Viacom from the Pepsi Bottling Group, where she had overseen public and media relations since 2000. She also worked in public relations for Texaco for nearly a decade. She began her career at Hilary Kaye & Associates in Southern California. McAndrew earned her B.A. in psychology from the University of California at Irvine, and a master’s degree in communications management from USC’s Annenberg School.
Charles Wolfertz III has been named general sales manager at Hearst’s WTAE Pittsburgh. Wolfgertz comes to the station from Belo’s ABC affiliate WHAS Louisville, Ky., where he’s been director of sales since 2007. He succeeds Robert Bee, who became VP/GM at Nexstar’s WBRE/WYOU Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in January.
Araksya Karapetyan and James Koh each have joined the news team at Fox’s KTTV Los Angeles. Karapetyan will work as a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor for Studio 11 LA and Fox 11 News at 10 p.m., as well as KCOP’s Fox News at 11 p.m. Koh also will serve as a general assignment reporter, covering breaking news and sports headlines. Like Karapetyan (the more I type that, the easier it gets to spell), Koh will contribute to KTTV’s Studio 11 LA, FOX 11 News at 10 p.m., and KCOP’s FOX News at 11 p.m. Both Karapetyan and Koh are originally from SoCal: Karapetyan is a native of Palos Verdes Estates, although she’s been a G.A. reporter at KOIN Portland for the past three years. Koh comes to KTTV from KSWB San Diego, where he was a multimedia journalist. That should serve Koh well at KTTV, which is making a lot of headway on the digital and social media front. Check out My Fox LA on Google + to see all the interesting stuff they are doing with On-Air Hangouts.
With Karapetyan leaving KOIN Portland to join Fox’s KTTV, Brent Weisberg is moving from Fox affiliate KPTV Portland to head over to KOIN, where he’ll be a reporter on the station’s morning newscast.
Geoff Russell, a 26-year veteran of Golf Digest, has been named SVP and executive editor of the Golf Channel. For the past decade, Russell has been editor-in-chief of Conde Nast’s Golf World Magazine. He will relocate from Connecticut to Orlando, Fla., for his new post. Russell has been with Golf Digest Publications since 1986, and Golf World since 1989, when he joined as a beat writer. He worked his way up and was named editor-in-chief in 2002. For the record, he holds a three handicap and has been playing golf since he was six years old. He has a bachelor’s degree from Claremont-McKenna College in Southern California, where he played NCAA Division III golf, and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.
Katy Garretson has been named executive director of the Los Angeles branch of the I Have a Dream Foundation, which works to get kids from low-income communities through college or vocational school. In January, Garretson received the DGA’s Frank Capra Achievement Award, for her work in the entertainment industry, including directing such sitcoms as Frasier, Reba and George Lopez.
