Colonoscopy to air live on ‘Early Show’

March 10, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NEW YORK

“The Early Show” co-anchor Harry Smith is scheduled to have a colonoscopy Wednesday, with live reports planned as he undergoes the procedure at a New York hospital. CBS says it will be the first time an anchor has had a colonoscopy live on network television.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric plans to be with Smith as he prepares for the procedure. Smith and Couric are recognizing National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. Couric has been an advocate for early cancer screenings since her husband, TV legal analyst Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer 12 years ago. He was 42. “The Early Show” airs weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Anger registers on Richter scale

NEW YORK

Andy Richter, Conan O’Brien’s sidekick at “The Tonight Show,” is acknowledging some ill will toward NBC and Jay Leno in the wake of the network’s late-night upheaval. “Why wouldn’t I?” said Richter, who was filling in Tuesday for Regis Philbin on “Live! with Regis and Kelly.”

Richter told Kelly Ripa he was frustrated that Leno was allowed to reclaim “The Tonight Show” host chair just nine months after O’Brien had inherited that plum assignment. “NBC, definitely, everybody said they were going to do something and they didn’t,” said Richter, implying the network broke long-standing commitments it made to O’Brien.

O’Brien left NBC and “Tonight” in January amid complaints by NBC of low ratings. NBC had proposed reinstating Leno in the 11:35 p.m. EST slot and bumping O’Brien back a half-hour. O’Brien’s future is unclear. So is Richter’s, though he said, for now, he’s still an NBC employee. He called a rumored live concert tour for O’Brien and Co. “a distinct possibility.”