Pretty much immediately upon the death of his father, Luke Russert inexplicably had a full-time broadcasting job, supplanting his part-time broadcasting job co-hosting a satellite radio sports talk show with James Carville. (That was a real thing that actually existed. Can you imagine a human who would want to listen to that?)

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NBC gave him a talk show with the deeply stupid name “Rock Center” (no one in the known history of New York has referred to Rockefeller Center as “Rock Center,” I’m sorry that “30 Rock” took the name you wanted but you have to come up with something different), where he is not quite as funny as a late night talk show host and not quite as newsy as a news show host. And, obviously, not as opinionated as a cable news show host, because as a network evening news anchor, Mr. Williams is not allowed to think for himself, or hold opinions on issues other than the annoyingness of those Brooklyn Hipsters.

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It might be a hopeful sign that the show will be overseen by Bryan Fuller, who created the imaginative, not completely awful "Pushing Daisies." Less hopeful: Fuller is also developing a show based on "Silence of the Lambs." This undoubtedly essential "Munsters" update comes in the midst of an unprecedented glut of reboots and reimaginings, all thick with the promise that No, really, this will be very different. It will creepy and full of action and with a feminist theme. You know what's really different? A stinkin' original idea.

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"The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So, there is zero probability of default," said Greenspan on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He said that the S&P downgrading of U.S. debt -- more than indicating a genuine risk of default -- "hit a nerve that there's something bad going on." He said the move "hit the self-esteem of the United States, the psyche… . It’s having a much profounder effect than I conceived could happen."

Greenspan said too that the downgrade would likely precipitate market turmoil, but that the possibility of a double-dip recession depended on Europe..

Appearing alongside Greenspan, Austan Goolsbee, the chairman of the White House's council of economic advisors, hit out at S&P. "Well, the basic case is they made a $2 trillion math error and forgot to check their work," he said. "So rating agencies that didn't make a $2 trillion math error reaffirmed the AAA status."

Watch the clip below:

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62 percent of self-identified Democrats said they would want Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to make compromises to gain consensus on the current budget debate, while only 43 percent of Republicans want to see their party leaders concede some of their positions. However, around 70 percent of independent respondents said they wanted to see both parties compromise.

The poll results, released Tuesday show that 55 percent of respondents think that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be "a real and serious problem," while only 18 percent said it would not be. This contrasts starkly to results gleaned from a Gallup survey in May, in which 47 percent of people said they would want Congress to vote against raising the debt ceiling.

Meanwhile, support for President Obama's proposal for lowering the deficit significantly trumps that for Republican proposals: 58 percent of NBC/WSJ poll respondents said they preferred Obama’s suggestions to lower the federal deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years by cutting federal spending, raising tax revenue from the wealthy and reducing some Medicare spending. Contrastingly, only just over a third prefer the House Republican proposal to reduce the deficit by $2.5 trillion over 10 years through cutting spending alone and not raising additional revenues.

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Now that the show is in its final season on NBC (though technically the finale played back in February on DIRECTV), there's no denying that the tragically under-awarded series has been held together by some amazing performances. In particular, Kyle Chandler as the stoic Coach Eric Taylor has imparted five years of wisdom, not all of it about football. What has Coach T. really taught us? He taught us all how to fail, and how to fail well.

Here are some "Friday Night Light" tips for when you lose at life.

1. Get rid of that pride, boy

In the "devil town" of Dillon, everyone must eventually answer for their sins. Whether its conning your church out of money to buy steroids, making an off-handed racist remark to the press, or screwing your crippled best friend's girlfriend -- and hey, we're still in season one! – there is no moral or ethical slip that goes unpunished on "Friday Night Lights."

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And despite how we may feel about lip dubs, Improv Everywhere, and general attempts to "make it viral" with flash mobs (with so many of them using "Glee's" insufferable butchering of Journey), there was something very sweet about this goodbye.

Of course it was dorky. What else would you expect from something orchestrated with help from Al Roker? But it reminded me in all the right ways about what I love –well, like – about the "Today" stunt segments. They are your dad being cheesy at the breakfast table, telling bad jokes and asking what the kids are into these days. They are a cup of coffee and some doughnut holes during an otherwise snoozeworthy meeting. They are just a nice, sweet way to start your day. Also: Abe Vigoda was there.

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"30 Rock's" Alec Baldwin and "The Office's" John Krasinski have figured out what they're doing with their off-season, and that's punching each other in the face about baseball. No, seriously. In this series for New Era Caps, Baldwin goes head to head with Jim Halpert over their Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. So far there have been three spots, and if you play them in succession it's kind of like watching a crossover episode between the two shows.

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Last night, the final installment of "Jack Donaghy Executive Superhero" aired on NBC.com with a short video involving a snooping Al Roker. Watch all three episodes while you can, because let's be honest folks … we don't know how much more of Jack and Liz we have left.

Episode 1: Soft Served! (With Brian Williams)

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The network said he died in his home. It did not specify the cause of death.

Haines worked at CNBC for 22 years after working as a news anchor at TV stations in Philadelphia, New York and Providence, R.I.

He was the founding anchor of CNBC's "Squawk Box" morning show. In 2005, he started co-anchoring "Squawk In The Morning," a 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. show, with Erin Burnett, while "Squawk Box" was pushed to an earlier slot. Burnett recently left CNBC to host a general news show on CNN.

CNBC President Mark Hoffman said Haines was "always the unflappable pro."

"He was an authentic voice in business media," said Eric Jackson, who runs the hedge fund Ironfire Capital. "He resonated with so many people because he would speak out, and with opinion. Too often the media lets the corporate PR army and highly trained CEOs get their points across without question. He wouldn't let that happen."

Barry Ritholtz, head of the research firm Fusion IQ and frequent guest on CNBC, said Haines was "a no-nonsense straight shooter. He knew what questions to ask and how to ask them."

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From NBC:

1."Up All Night"

With Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, and Christina Applegate. It's about babies, which all three of these actors have, so at least they are working with the source material. Here's hoping it's not another "Running Wilde" for Arnett.

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"Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" has been adapted from Chelsea Handler's memoir into a scripted sitcom starring Prepon as Handler. So was Elizabeth Banks not available, or is there just a rule against appearing on too many NBC sitcoms in one year? Because as much as I loved her as Donna, I'm not sure Prepon can pull off Chelsea's wackiness.

Meanwhile, three other shows have been picked for the peacock's lineup, including "Free Agents," an American remake of a British comedy about the romantic lives of P.R. executives. Exciting! Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn star in the Americanized version along with Anthony Head (Giles from "Buffy"), who will be reprising his role from the original series.

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We take a look at some of the more egregious examples of stations trying to make this non-story work below.

In 2009, Katie Couric did a short segment on Friggatriskaidekaphobia, a phobia of Friday the 13th, which raises the question: Why do we need a name for something everyone has?

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The Ohio Republican says in a broadcast interview he believes "it's a moment to look each other in the eye." Boehner (BAY'-nur) told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that "if we're really going to be allies, if we're going to fight this war together, we need to be in it together all the time."

He said he still trusts the Pakistani government but concedes that questions linger over "what they knew or didn't know about bin Laden being in their country -- their willingness to pursue some terrorists but not others."

Boehner said he thinks that Pakistan on balance "has been a real asset" in the war on terror.

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The initial story, in which Navy SEALs engaged in an intense 40-minute firefight with bin Laden's minions before getting into a shootout with the master terrorist himself -- while he was using his wife as a human shield -- has been scrapped. The latest version holds that there was no human shield and that bin Laden was not armed. In fact only one of the five people who were shot to death by the SEALs had a weapon. That was reportedly a courier who shot at the Americans when they came into the compound. He and his wife were both killed. Most of the 40 minutes of the raid were spent collecting computers and other intel, according to the new version.

All of these accounts have been sourced to various parts of the administration; none of them can be independently fact-checked, at least at this point.

Despite the major misstatements by the administration on perhaps the biggest story of the year, the media has largely taken a deferential stance.

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By now, many of you will have heard the story: how Williams took off to cover the royal wedding – something even he admits was "outside (his) area of expertise" – but was troubled by thoughts of the tornado in Tuscaloosa, Ala., which weather radars predicted would be landing down in the middle of his flight. How, after getting to London, Williams watched as the death toll started to rise back in the States. And how NBC News president Steve Capus called Williams (whose entourage had already turned their car around and pointed it toward Heathrow airport) and told him to come home.

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As an example of the dry hilarity of the anchor with a Disney villain chin, writer John Swansburg offers this amusing exchange between "Saturday Night Live's" Seth Meyers (interviewed for the piece) and Williams:

"He knows his instrument as a newsman, but he’s very aware of his comic instrument as well," says "Saturday Night Live" head writer Seth Meyers.

Told of Meyers's admiration for his comic instrument, the anchor replies, "That’s odd, because we’ve never belonged to a health club together, and we’re both in successful long-term relationships."

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While season one of the American "Office" tried to mimic the storylines from its BBC namesake program, the ratings had tumbled by the time of its season finale. Turns out, our audiences only like painfully awkward confrontations during prime time news or on shows about hoarding. Scripted comedies? Not so much. (Though Larry David and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" may beg to differ.)

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"Once a day there is a story about all the riches offered in that borough ... you can make beads, simple beads at home and then trade them for someone to come over and start a small fire in your apartment that you share with nine others. Artisanal cheeses. For sale. On the street."

It was a really good bit, because it was making fun of that breathless New York Times Sunday Styles elite-enthusiasm (elitesiasm?) for exposing a part of culture that the rest of the country had known about for at least a year now. (For another good example of this, check out David Parker's piece on The Awl, "The Most Emailed New York Times Article Ever.")

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"You run, or you shut up," said a man who, up until now, I mostly respected for his sweater collection. I didn't even know Bill Cosby could get this upset, but it is a righteous and awesome anger.

Then again, this is Bill Cosby we're talking about, so he managed to sneak in a little Smothers Brothers/Pat Paulson reference for all the folks back home who remember who those guys are.

Is there a way we can convince the 73-year-old to run under the "Donald Trump is Full Of It" campaign?

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