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FTVLive is reporting that there are rumors going around that two MSNBC personalities, Tucker Carlson and Rita Cosby, are being let go from the network. As we've told you earlier, NBC has laid off 700 people and MSNBC is going through a massive restructuring and Carlson and Cosby might be part of those changes (there are also reports that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews will be going over to CNBC and MSNBC will go to an all documentary and taped feature format).

But wait! Carlson says it's not true, and so does MSNBC chief Dan Abrams.

Regardless of whether they're gone or not, I still think that making CNBC the news station for NBC is a good idea, if for one reason: they'll get out from under that "MS" in MSNBC and become their own news entity. There were rumors a year or so ago that NBC was going to end its association with Microsoft, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe this could be the first step to rebranding. What does CNBC stand for anyway? Isn't it something like Cable NBC? If that's the case, the change makes sense.

[via TV Newser]

I can never understand why magazines and newspapers do this. Do they really think, in this day and age of the web and incredible news scrutiny and an increasingly media and tech-savvy public, that no one would find out? Just looking at the two photos of Katie Couric, you can tell that one has been airbrushed. They made her thinner, the coloring is different, and even the dress looks a little different (though that last one might just be the quality of the photos I've seen). Touch up is one thing. That happens to photos every day. This goes a bit further.

Reminds me of the time that TV Guide had Oprah Winfrey's head on a pic of Raquel Welch's Ann-Margaret's body. Yeah, like people wouldn't notice that.

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• Over at TV Barn, Aaron Barnhart has the news about changes at MSNBC.
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• Over at his Bastard Machine blog, Tim Goodman isn't sure he believes that Lost will answers a bunch of questions in the season finale (as the ads have promised), but what the hell, is on for the ride anyway.
• TeeVee has some typically wiseass reactions to the CBS and NBC upfronts (that's a compliment, by the way - we like wiseass).
• TV writer Ken Levine tells his favorite casting story ever, when he had to audition actors for a 1993 show called Big Wave Dave's. But damn it, he still won't say who actor is!
• TV Newser has the story of Katie Couric's first appearance for CBS, at the upfronts.