'Money Honey to Become Fox 'Fox'?

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After a 20-year run at CNBC, two-time Emmy winning business reporter Maria Bartiromo is leaving to join Fox Business Network ("FBN").

Credit the Drudge Report with the scoop on the departure of Bartiromo, one of CNBC's breakout stars, who acquired the sobriquet "Money Honey" in a career that also has included a stint at CNN, writing columns for USA Today and authoring three books. The 46-year-old Bartiromo will gain exposure reporting on Fox News, as well as FBN.

Among advertisers' favorite demographic group, those between the ages of 25 and 54, CNBC draws three times as many viewers as FBN.

Hasselbeck New 'Friend' on Fox & Friends; Carlson Goes Solo on Fox

Elizabeth Hasselbeck presumably will draw on the self-preservation skills that led her to a fourth-place finish on Survivor: The Australian Outback (2001) when she shares the curved couch with co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade on the top-rated gabfest Fox & Friends this September.

Mediabistro.com's TV Newser blog reports today that the 36-year-old Cranston, R.I., native will join Fair & Balanced Fox News after a 10-year stint as a co-host of ABC's Emmy-winning The View where she often triggered controversy in her role as the blonde Conservative panelist.

"Elizabeth's warm and engaging personality made her a star on The View," said Fox News Chair & CEO Roger Ailes--an expert in warm & fuzzy--in a statement released by Fox. "She has proven to be an excellent conversationalist and I am certain she will make a great addition to our already successful morning franchise," Ailes added.                                                                                          

Hasselbeck, who is married to her Boston College college boyfriend, NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, and is the author of two best-selling celiac diet books, was a keynote speaker at the GOP Conventions in 2004 and 2008 and in October 2008, introduced then-vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin at GOP rallies and Mensa meetings (we may have made that part up).

Hasselbeck supplants Gretchen Carlson on the Fox & Friends couch. Carlson, according to Fox, will host her own one-hour show on Fox at a yet-to-be determined time, after a seven-year stint on Fox & Friends. The show, which has been the top-rated morning cable news program since 2001, is a frequent satiric target of SNL and The Daily Show.

"TUOL" is eager to see how Hasselback adapts to her new co-panelists on Fox & Friends where she, no doubt, like Kate Jackson on the original Charlie's Angels, will come to be known as "the smart one."

'Crossfire' Redux

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When NBC Universal/ Today Show wunderkind Jeff Zucker took the helm of CNN (see "TUOL" post 11/30/12), he promised fresh programming and a Prime Time shake-up of the cable news network mired in poor ratings (see "TUOL" posts 5/3/12, 3/30/10).

According to a story by mediabistro.com's TV Newser blog, cutting-edge tv apparently means reviving Crossfire (Crossfire 2.0?), the political debate program that anchored CNN for more than two decades before it was cancelled in January 2005.

The TV Newser item about the political gabfest announced the talking heads who will appear on the program. On the political right will be S.E. Cupp, currently on MSNBC's The Cycle and a contributor to The Blaze, and Georgia's own perennially unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, a veteran of Congress and marriage. On the left, will be one-time Obama White House adviser Van Jones and former Obama campaign consultant Stephanie Cutler. The audience, meanwhile, will likely be on Fox, MSNBC and the Food Network.

MTV Generation Gets a Crack at the Prez

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MTV's "Power of 12" election promotion received a big boost as President Barack Obama will appear on the network this Friday, Oct. 26, at 5 p.m., where he will respond live for a half-hour to viewers' Facebook questions, mediabistro.com's TV Newser blog reports.

MTV correspondent Sway Calloway will interview the President in the White House while colleague Andrew Jenks chills at a nearby college campus with MTV-lovin' young voters. Viewers in the 18-29 age range potentially are a significant voting bloc, numbering roughly 45 million, though turnout by this age group historically has been spotty.

MTV has extended an invitation to GOP challenger Gov. Mitt Romney for a similar event, but he has yet to respond. "TUOL" wonders whether Gov. Romney thought he'd been invited to address "Mormon Tabernacle Voters" and figured he already had their support.

In any case, "TUOL" is eager to learn whether President Obama favors boxers or briefs (MTV once determined President Clinton preferred boxers, though, unfortunately, he liked them around his ankles). Looking forward to questions such as: "OMG, did you really call Kanye West a jackass? LOL."