By FRAZIER MOORE

It would be interesting to know what Andy Rooney would say now about the great beyond.

But if there’s a hereafter for the once lovably cantankerous commentator on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” he, even as a new arrival, would already have some pointed reactions — and some bones to pick.

Sure, it’s Paradise. But who can sleep with all that harp-playing? Maybe he’s still miffed about the long line at the Pearly Gates. And, though he was never a fashion plate, he might have a beef with wearing white after Labor Day.

That was Rooney’s style during his 92-year life and remarkable career. He shrewdly observed the world he shared with the rest of us, and then gave voice to the everyday vexations and conundrums that afflict us all.

“I probably haven’t said anything here that you didn’t already know or have already thought,” he declared in his final “60 Minutes” essay — his 1097th — on Oct. 2, 2011. “That’s what a writer does.”

Former ’60 Minutes’ commentator Andy Rooney dies | Online guestbook: Share your condolences

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Viewership is up at the “CBS Evening News” since Scott Pelley took over as anchor in June. But the same can be said for his rivals.

The Nielsen Co. said Pelley’s third-place newscast reached an average of 5.55 million viewers during his first five weeks in the anchor chair. That’s up 7 percent over the same five weeks in 2010 when Katie Couric was the anchor.

During the same time, Brian Williams’ “Nightly News” on NBC averaged 7.88 million people watching each night, and ABC’s “World News” with Diane Sawyer had 7.12 million. For each, that’s up 5 percent from 2010.

The network evening news — a format that has seen multiple death sentences over the years — has picked up more than a million viewers collectively since last year.

Elizabeth Smart is taking a job with ABC News as a commentator focusing on missing persons and child abduction cases.

ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend tells The Associated Press that the Utah woman who was kidnapped, raped and held captive at age 14 by a Salt Lake City street preacher can provide viewers with a unique perspective on such cases.

Townsend says the deal with the now 23-year-old Smart has been in the works for some time.

She says Smart could be on the air within the next few weeks.

Smart spokesman Chris Thomas says the Brigham Young University music student wants to use the media position to create awareness about cases involving missing children.

In May, Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life without parole in federal prison for Smart’s 2002 abduction.

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After 14 years as the understudy, Ann Curry is in the big chair now at NBC’s “Today” show.

She had her first day Thursday as co-anchor with Matt Lauer on television’s top-rated morning show. Her predecessor, Meredith Vieira, had an on-air going-away party Wednesday.

Curry has been on the show since 1997 as the regular newsreader, and has filled in as co-host dozens of times.

She referred to that in her opening, saying, “I’m Ann Curry, in for I guess nobody this morning — me, myself and I. It’s nice to be able to say that, isn’t it?”

Lauer welcomed her, saying she had already been on the show so long that “it’s a little bit like a member of the family moving to a new seat at the table.”

Glenn Beck is leaving his Fox News Channel show later this year.

The network and Beck’s company, Mercury Radio Arts, announced the departure on Wednesday. Fox and the company said they will work together to create other projects for Fox News television and digital.

Beck became a sensation almost immediately after jumping from HLN to Fox for an afternoon program. Lately his viewership has declined. He had faced an advertiser boycott that limited the amount of companies that wanted to be a part of his show after saying President Barack Obama had a “deep-seated hatred for white people.”

Beck said that he “cannot repay (Fox News chief) Roger (Ailes) for the lessons I’ve learned and will continue to learn from him and I look forward to starting this new phase of our partnership.”

Laurel Sauer records part of her On Assignment segment during the WPBF Channel 25 news. (Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post)

Laurel Sauer arrives at a Juno Beach park for an interview and shakes a beach towel out of her bag.

And begins field producing the conversation.

"Here. Sit on this so you won’t ruin those white jeans. And let’s sit over here, out of the sun."

Habits acquired during 28 years of local TV news are hard to kick.

Nor has Sauer lost the folksy, personal touch that made her the most recognizable female face in local TV for nearly three decades.

"I brought you this. It’s warm out today," she says, handing over a chilled water bottle fished from her bag.

Laurel Sauer with her husband, Davis de Montluzin, and their children, Jillian, a freshman at the University of Florida, and Brooks, a senior at Palm Beach Gardens High School.

She settles on the gazebo’s wooden bench and turns on that familiar, bright-eyed grin.

"This is my relaxation," says Sauer, gazing out at the ocean. "Give me a beach chair, my thermos and a magazine, and I’m happy."

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CBS says Jeff Fager, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” has gained an additional job as chairman of CBS News.

The network on Tuesday also named David Rhodes as CBS News president.

In the newly created position of CBS News chairman, Fager will report to CBS boss Leslie Moonves and guide the overall editorial direction of CBS News broadcasts.

As president, Rhodes will report to Fager and run the operations of CBS News on a day-to-day basis. Rhodes most recently was the head of U.S. Television operations for Bloomberg.

Fager and Rhodes succeed Sean McManus, whom the network has named to the newly created position of chairman of CBS Sports.

Fager will continue at “60 Minutes,” where he has been executive producer since 2004.

Keith Olbermann, who last month abruptly left his MSNBC talk show, is headed to the Current TV public-affairs channel.

Current announced Tuesday that Olbermann will host a nightly prime-time news and commentary show. His program will begin later this year.

The network said Olbermann will also serve as chief news officer and have an equity stake in Current Media.
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Larry King began his career in 1957 at a Miami Beach radio station. (Photo by AFP)

By GLENN GARVIN

Five decades and 50,000 interviews after he first jabbed a microphone into a surprised pop singer’s face at a Miami Beach diner, Larry King is hanging up his suspenders. His Thursday night show on CNN will be the last of a broadcast career that eternally careened between pinnacles of wild success and pits of utter catastrophe.

King and his producers are being uncharacteristically tight-lipped about who will appear on the final edition of Larry King Live, which airs at 9 p.m. Comedian Bill Maher and American Idol host Ryan Seacrest will be at King’s Hollywood studio — but 14 mystery guests will also beam in from around the world via satellite.

Could President Barack Obama be among them? He’s already shared a microphone with King, as has every American president since Richard Nixon. O.J. Simpson? King’s mile-by-mile coverage of Simpson’s 1994 slow-motion car chase by Los Angeles police inaugurated the age of crime as entertainment. LeBron James? Bill Gates? Lady Gaga? They’ve all been chatted up on the nightly show.
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