Tom Brokaw retired from NBC's Nightly News and somehow maintained his integrity and political power, at least enough to step in on "Meet the Press" through a historical general election. Brokaw has been the voice of reason during NBC election coverage while commentators Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann sway outside of the facts with their opinions. He may also be the only host who could step in for Tim Russert during the election ratings grab. NBC isn't going to let its $60 million paycheck slip away that easily. It'll be good to see Brokaw on TV regularly again, even if it is just for a few months. Brokaw has gone out of his way saying that it is, indeed, temporary saying, "The plan is for me to be in place until they can find somebody who can take it over on a permanent basis."

Daytime Emmy action

Rachel Ray, who was not wearing a scarf nor eating Dunkin' Donuts, split the top Daytime Emmy awards with Ellen Degeneres. Ray, of course, is the cooking/lifestyle guru who was hosted "$40 a day," then spun-off from Oprah to her own talk show highlighting her cooking skills. She won for "Best Talk Show," upsetting Ellen's 5-in-a-row possibilities. Don't feel sorry for Ellen though, she won for "Best Talk Show Host" for the fourth year in a row, beating out The View panelists and Regis and Kelly.

`Flipping Out' flips big

The Bravo network is on a hot streak with original series. "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" increased double digits over its season premiere. And the second season of "Flipping Out" increased by 40 percent over last season. The marketing for the show definitely helped with the man-diva complaining loudly to his assistant. Who knew? America likes mean people.