Tyra Banks

Recent earthquake activity in Alaska provided “CBS Early Show” co-hosts with a ready-made metaphor for a segment on the personal lives of some of the those surrounding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. But their quake turned out to be barely a ripple.

Hosts Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez couldn’t contain their smirks as they introduced the piece. “There's been an earthquake rumbling outside Anchorage, but there is some other rumblings, as well, near Wasilla,” Smith snickered. “Oh, indeed,” Rodriguez chimed in with her eyebrows raised. “Sarah Palin says that she is focused on one thing, governing Alaska. But it has been hard to dodge the negative headlines swirling around her friends and family. Some real doozies.”

Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin’s ex fiancée and father of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s grandson, was interviewed on the Tyra Banks show. Questioned by Banks, Johnston said “I’m pretty sure she [Gov. Palin] probably knew” he and Bristol were sexually active.” Then (perhaps momentarily forgetting that there was living proof to the contrary) he tried to maintain that the two had “always” practiced safe sex. After several prompts from Banks, he reluctantly admitted it was only “most of the time.”

“Access Hollywood,” NBC’s nightly entertainment show, reports salacious celebrity gossip as “news.” It gets ratings and ad dollars for dishing about sex, drugs, violence, rehab and any other misbehavior by people in the public eye. But when it comes to the mother of the octuplets, well, Access Hollywood is suddenly above reporting that story.

Entertainment reporter Billy Bush told viewers on the February 24 broadcast that Access Hollywood would no longer report on the octo-mom Here is what Bush said in the last seconds of the show:

While the news media have focused like a laser beam on what Hillary Clinton said on the Tyra Banks show Friday, MRC's Michelle Humphrey and Kristine Lawrence each suffered through pieces of the interview to find the other angle: How soft and silly was Tyra Banks? Plenty. The show opened with the supermodel bowing deeply and gratefully to Hillary for appearing:

I am so honored that you are here. I am so -- aren't we like happy? (Cheers and applause)... This is a glorious moment, and I gotta tell you, I was intimidated at first, and I was intimidated because I feel like you are this -- there's an image of perfection, a polished diamond and I was like, oh, my gosh, what am I gonna say? And then I started doing all this research, and I started reading your book and just really digging into articles and I found such an honesty, vulnerability that I didn't know was there and I don't think a lot of people know is inside of you.

A few minutes later, Banks pulled out the "tough" questions:

TYRA: What about you? Do you ever get lonely, sit in a room by yourself and just feel lonely?