While I was in Pasadena for the TCAs, I got a chance to have a very interesting talk with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He was at the press tour to promote his new PBS series 'Faces of America,' which debuts on Wednesday, February 10.

In the four-part follow-up to his 'African-American Lives' series, Gates traces the lineages of a number of celebrity guests via the use of both old-fashioned digging -- documents, genealogical investigations -- and cutting-edge genome research. Some of the guests include Eva Longoria, Yo Yo Ma, Stephen Colbert, Malcolm Gladwell, Dr. Oz and Meryl Streep.

Professor Gates and I talked mostly about what he found surprising about his research, and what guests were most surprised by their lineages. Of course, I also asked him about the aftermath of the "beer summit" with President Obama and James Crowley, the Cambridge police officer who arrested him for breaking into his own house last summer. You'd be surprised what the officer gave Professor Gates as a keepsake of the incident.

Morning news shows are a goldmine of cringe-inducing moments and epic fail goodness. The title alone makes me laugh because only half of it is accurate due to the fact that it airs in the morning.

By far the unintentionally funniest show is that morning cup of crazy on Fox News, Fox and Friends. They truly cover news stories that no one else does as their on-air promos suggest because no one in their right mind would consider it news. I'm finally starting to understand Walter Cronkite's distrust of the 24-hour news network model: you'll call anything news to fill time.

Hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade actually took President Barack Obama to task for ordering a Budweiser instead of an American-brewed beer during his recent "Beer Summit" with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley.