The story has become both a day-by-day struggle by a successful businesswoman to keep her career afloat and an object lesson on the level of tolerance and forgiveness in society for being caught making an insensitive remark.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday that it ended its relationship with Deen and will not place "any new orders beyond what's already committed."

Caesars Entertainment Corp. said it had been "mutually decided" with Deen to remove her name from its restaurants in Joliet, Ill.; Tunica, Miss.; Cherokee, N.C.; and Elizabeth, Ind.

At the same time, Deen's representatives released letters of support from nine companies that do business with the chef and promised to continue. There's evidence that a backlash is growing against the Food Network, which tersely announced last Friday that it was cutting ties with one of its stars.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Deen had called him and he agreed to help her, saying she shouldn't become a sacrificial lamb over the issue of racial intolerance.

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The man, Bill Cunningham, later asked Fox contributor Tamara Holder, "Are you going to cry?"

Fox on-air personalities on Friday were talking about the exchange on Sean Hannity's prime-time show the night before. Commentator Juan Williams concluded that Cunningham "obliterated the line" of civil discourse in his argument with Holder. The two had been brought on by Hannity to discuss whether Attorney General Eric Holder — no relation to Tamara — had committed perjury.

Cunningham, sitting next to Tamara Holder in a New York studio, called her "one of the stooges of the left that will always be there to excuse away criminal behavior." He said she had the "incurable fatal condition of liberalism that caused people like Eric Holder to be the consulary of Barack Hussein Obama."

He was jabbing a finger at Holder, who returned the favor.

"I really hope that when you speak to a judge, you don't point your finger in the person's face the entire time," she said. "Your finger does not make your point."

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The network announced Wednesday what has been rumored for the past several weeks: Leno will leave the job he's had most of the time since 1992, to be replaced by "Late Night" host Fallon. The late-night franchise is also returning to its roots, leaving California for a New York studio.

The thinking is clear: Leno is 62, his hair graying. The eager Fallon is 38, looks younger, hangs with his ultra-hip house band the Roots and slow jams the news with President Obama.

All Leno does is consistently rank No. 1 in his field, a status not many people at NBC can claim these days.

The "Today" show was tops a year ago, too, or at least running neck-and-neck with ABC's "Good Morning America." Then the toppling of co-host Ann Curry spread a black cloud. Ratings tumbled, executives lost their jobs, Matt Lauer's popularity plummeted and "GMA" is now the most popular morning show.

Could history repeat itself at the same network?

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A Catholic organization has set up a website, www.popealarm.com, that lets people register to receive a text or email notification when a pope has been selected.

While the process of selecting a new pope is as old as the ages, there are enough changes to the media to make the last papal conclave — in 2005 — seem like ancient history.

The text service was set up by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, or FOCUS, and had proven so popular with more than 40,000 respondents that the popealarm website said Monday it was accepting no new registrants. The site hopes to increase its capacity before the cardinals begin voting, said Jeremy Rivera, spokesman for the Christian campus ministry.

"When the smoke goes up, you'll know what's going down" is the website's motto.

FOCUS paid nearly $10,000 to set up the free service, figuring it was good publicity. Now the group's leaders are sifting through co-sponsorship offers from other organizations impressed with the amount of online traffic it has generated and hoping for their own exposure, he said.

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Roberts said Wednesday she'd been waiting 174 days "to say this, good morning America."

The morning-show host is recovering from MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease. She looked thin with close-cropped hair but was smiling broadly, back at work on "Good Morning America" at ABC's studio in New York City.

Roberts was welcomed back in a taped message from President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, former ESPN colleagues and Magic Johnson.

ABC announced Roberts will interview the first lady later this week, to be shown next Tuesday.

ABC News President Ben Sherwood came into the studio to give fist bumps to the anchors at the 7:25 a.m. break. He said Roberts' health will be closely monitored to make sure she doesn't overdo it at the beginning.

"This was up to Robin, her doctors and God," Sherwood said. "It's a day that we all rejoice."

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The veteran MSNBC host raised his profile as much as any member of the television commentariat during the presidential campaign. His 5 p.m. "Hardball" show has seen viewership jump by 24 percent this year from 2011, 17 percent for the rerun two hours later.

Matthews symbolized MSNBC's growing comfort in being a liberal alternative to Fox News Channel. He engaged in an uncomfortable on-air confrontation with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, seemed nearly apoplectic when President Barack Obama flubbed his first debate and had to apologize for appearing grateful that Hurricane Sandy might have helped Obama's re-election effort.

With Keith Olbermann out of sight, Matthews essentially replaced him as the commentator that most annoyed conservative viewers.

"During the run-up to the Iraq War, he just became really, really partisan and became even more so when MSNBC decided to become the anti-Fox," said Geoff Dickens, who used to watch Matthews as a fan and now monitors him regularly as part of his job with the conservative Media Research Center.

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An NBC executive who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the plan is not finalized said Monday that Jim Bell will be replaced as the show's executive producer. Veteran NBC News executive Alexandra Wallace will oversee management of "Today" and a search is under way for Bell's successor.

NBC Sports said Bell will become executive producer of NBC's Olympics coverage, a role he took on this summer for the network's successful coverage of the London Olympics.

The "Today" show had a 17-year winning streak in the morning ratings, the last six under Bell's tutelage. But its ABC competitors made inroads this spring and after the decision was made in June to have Savannah Guthrie replace Curry as Matt Lauer's co-anchor, "Today" has fallen consistently behind in the ratings. The only exception was when NBC was in London for the Olympics, though "Today" recently has been closing the gap with "Good Morning America."

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Americans have an array of alternatives for following returns on Tuesday night. Television news divisions are throwing everything they have into the story, and second-screen options are abounding.

People will be able to construct their own media experiences, seek out desired information instead of waiting for it, participate in conversations and hear analysis that reflects their own perspectives or none in particular.

Virtually all of the media organizations covering the election promise a huge amount of information available online, from interactive maps that display state-by-state results to data from exit polls.

It's expected to be a big night for social media, and news organizations say they will monitor the conversations and have their own journalists actively participate.

Don't forget show biz: NBC is turning the Rockefeller Center skating rink into a giant map of the United States to be filled in with results. ABC will make Times Square into a virtual studio, displaying results and coverage on huge video screens and having Josh Elliott prowl around gathering reactions.

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The list included Harvard Law School student and future president Barack Obama. The groom was Julius Genachowski, the current Federal Communications Commission chairman. And The Daily Caller website wanted to know if the connections 21 years ago raise the question of bias going into Thursday's debate.

Raddatz's employer, ABC News, called the issue "silly" and sought to beat the website to the punch by confirming that Obama attended the wedding 21 years ago. The couple divorced in 1997.

Raddatz, ABC's senior foreign affairs correspondent, was chosen this summer by the Commission on Presidential Debates to moderate the debate between Democratic Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. She has been with ABC News for more than 13 years and wrote "The Long Road Home - A Story of War and Family."

In the early 1990s, Raddatz was a reporter for ABC's local station in Boston. Law school student Genachowski worked at the Harvard Law Review, where Obama was president, and the couple invited much of the review's staff to their wedding, ABC said. The guest list also included Bradford Berenson, a future counsel in George W. Bush's administration.

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The former PBS anchor said last week's confrontation, viewed by 67 million people, will be remembered as a watershed moment because it was a real debate instead of simultaneous interviews of the candidates.

He took some heavy criticism on social media for his light hand, letting the candidates talk and generally asking open-ended questions designed to encourage them to explore differences.

It was a new format approved over the summer by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Lehrer said the differences were not explained well to the public in advance. The commission issued a statement Friday backing Lehrer.

"I may be seeing something that's not there, but I can't imagine emerging from this experience - I'm talking about myself - with any permanent scars," said Lehrer, who has moderated 12 presidential debates since 1988. "I'm very upbeat about it, and I don't have any second thoughts."

Lehrer planned to divide Wednesday's debate into 15-minute sections divided by topic areas. But that quickly went off the rails.

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No one should be surprised to feel exactly the same when reading his first book, the memoir "Waging Heavy Peace."

Young's scatter-shot style includes a description of Crazy Horse as a living organism that illustrates an artistic sensibility better than any non-musician can, along with a recitation of a shopping trip he took once in Hawaii and praise for his electric toothbrush.

He generally avoids specific talk about songwriting. Yet he candidly admits that his song "Alabama," a trigger for Lynyrd Skynyrd's answer "Sweet Home Alabama," was ill-advised. Young's passions - his family, electric trains, cars and a system to sonically improve digital music files - get as much space as music.

"If you hang out with somebody, the conversation doesn't always run out in a linear fashion, from A to B," he said. "It's what's on their minds. Things happen. You see things out the window, you get interested in that. You get distracted by things. I always thought that was a natural way to go with it."

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The veteran PBS anchor drew caustic social media reviews for his performance on Wednesday, with critics saying he failed to keep control of the campaign's first direct exchange between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. The candidates talked over Lehrer's attempts to keep them to time limitations, and his open-ended questions frequently lacked sharpness.

The tough assessments crossed party lines: Republican commentator Laura Ingraham wrote on Twitter that Lehrer seemed "a bit overwhelmed." Comic and Democratic activist Bill Maher bluntly tweeted that "Lehrer sucked."

It's not the night Lehrer would have expected. The 78-year-old moderated 11 presidential debates between 1988 and 2008, and after writing a book last year about his experiences, Lehrer said he was through. But he was persuaded to come back Wednesday to handle the long-awaited contest between Romney and Obama.

Romney, aggressive from the outset, beat back some of Lehrer's attempts to bring structure to the debate. At one point, when Lehrer tried to ask Romney a question, the Republican cut him off by saying of the president, "Everything he said about my tax plan was inaccurate." Then he continued to outline his argument.

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Collins, finishing up his fourth year as NBC's Olympic basketball analyst, said he believes the U.S. Dream Team from the 1992 Barcelona Games would beat the current United States team in a hypothetical matchup. The 1992 team's front line is too imposing, he said.

The more important matter at hand for the U.S. team is Sunday's gold-medal game against Spain. Spain has a solid front line, too, but will succeed or fail on the strength of its guard play, Collins said.

The Americans are "close to where they want to be, but all of the pressure is on them to win the gold medal," he said. "Otherwise, it's going to be a failure for them. They know that. It's gold or bust for them."

Collins is happy for a day off between games because his day job keeps him pretty busy. The current Philadelphia 76ers head coach has watched from London as the 76ers participated in a four-team megadeal that landed Andrew Bynum from the L.A. Lakers while sending Andre Iguodala to Denver.

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The International Boxing Association asked Papa and Atlas to move from their seats close to ringside to a broadcast booth farther away because they were "very disturbing" to boxing officials, even during bouts they were not calling, said the group's spokesman, Sebastien Gillot.

He said the broadcasters claimed they didn't want to stay anyway because no U.S. boxers were in the running.

It's not clear why Papa and Atlas, who have at times been critical of the boxing judges and referees during the tournament, were suddenly judged too disturbing with only two days of boxing remaining.

"There are two sides to every story," NBC Sports spokesman Greg Hughes said. "We will address the matter with the IOC after the games conclude."

The NBC announcers will call the remaining 10 boxing matches off video piped into the International Broadcast Center in London. That's not an unusual setup: many NBC announcers for some of the lower-profile Olympic sports call the games from a studio in New York. NBC said Saturday that its boxing reporter, Russ Thaler, will remain in the ExCel center in London for the concluding fights.

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Mark Levy, vice president and creative director for NBC Sports, heads a department responsible for the on-air look of the games, along with profiles of athletes and extended taped pieces such as NBC's feature on the 1996 women's gymnastics team. That unit also made a short film about basketball's 1992 Dream Team that aired in prime time Friday.

At the same time, Levy works with advertisers to produce some of their campaigns. He helped AT&T make a series of ads featuring aspiring athletes listening to the NBC broadcasts of key Olympic moments for use as inspiration. He has helped Visa with its Morgan Freeman-narrated ads that salute specific athletic achievements shortly after they take place. Another major advertiser, Procter & Gamble, devised a campaign saluting mothers that NBC supplements by interviewing athletes such as Gabby Douglas and Kerri Walsh Jennings about their own moms.

In an era where product placement advertising has become commonplace, Levy said he has no problems mixing the editorial and advertising duties.

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The answer: A repeat of the CBS drama "NCIS."

Olympics coverage thoroughly dominated television last week, as expected. Its ratings were better than NBC expected and turned what was anticipated to be a money-losing event into one that will break even or perhaps finish in the black.

"NCIS" was seen by under 7 million viewers last week. It is usually among the top shows on television, so its placement on last week's list is not unusual.

About the only network not adversely affected by NBC's Olympics coverage was Univision. Fans stuck with their Spanish-language telenovelas, and five editions of "Que No Podia Amar" finished among Nielsen's top 20 shows last week. In viewers, Univision topped ABC and Fox.

NBC's prime-time viewership average for the week was 32.2 million (18.3 rating, 30 share), all of it Olympics. CBS averaged 4.2 million viewers (2.8, 5), ABC had 2.8 million (1.8, 3), Fox had 2.2 million (1.4, 2), ION Television had 960,000 (0.7, 1) and the CW had 600,000 (0.4, 1).

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It was part of her immersion into all things Bond for a feature Sunday in NBC's prime time. She visits a warehouse filled with props from years of Bond movies, sees a tailor to get the secrets of the Bond look and learns how to make a cocktail "shaken, not stirred."

Sports purists may grumble, but the slice of life features about Olympic host countries provided by Carillo and Jimmy Roberts are usually a welcome diversion in NBC's coverage. Between the events and the apparent need to showcase Ryan Seacrest, they've been mostly missing from London, although NBC promises that will change during the second week.

On the flip side of her Bond feature, Carillo also goes bog snorkeling in Wales. We're not sure what that is, but it doesn't sound as glamorous.

"It's nice to have relief from all of the sports," said Carillo, whose non-British specific feature on the old Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut aired Sunday morning. "You want to remind people of where you are and what the history and the culture are all about."

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It was part of her immersion into all things Bond for a feature Sunday in NBC's prime time. She visits a warehouse filled with props from years of Bond movies, sees a tailor to get the secrets of the Bond look and learns how to make a cocktail "shaken, not stirred."

Sports purists may grumble, but the slice of life features about Olympic host countries provided by Carillo and Jimmy Roberts are usually a welcome diversion in NBC's coverage. Between the events and the apparent need to showcase Ryan Seacrest, they've been mostly missing from London, although NBC promises that will change during the second week.

On the flip side of her Bond feature, Carillo also goes bog snorkeling in Wales. We're not sure what that is, but it doesn't sound as glamorous.

"It's nice to have relief from all of the sports," said Carillo, whose non-British specific feature on the old Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut aired Sunday morning. "You want to remind people of where you are and what the history and the culture are all about."

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"I'm going to miss that man," the NBC swimming analyst said.

The curtain officially closed Saturday on the Phelps era with his final medley relay race and 18th gold medal. The swimmer said he's retiring after London and has looked like it, appearing relaxed and reflective in interviews. Gaines and partner Dan Hicks have covered Phelps in four of the five Olympics where they have been partners for NBC.

"I thank God every day that we had him in our sport and nobody else had him in theirs," Gaines said.

Gaines, himself a three-time gold medal-winning swimmer, said Phelps has clearly done more for swimming than anyone else in its history.

They've had a friendly relationship, although Phelps appears to have used some of Gaines' words as motivation. While calling a race in 2003, Gaines suggested that Phelps had started off too quickly and wouldn't be able to maintain his pace. Phelps won, setting a world record for time in the process.

After many of his subsequent wins, as recently as last year, Phelps would needle Gaines: "Did I fade in that race, Rowdy?"

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He wouldn't know. The three-time World Cup participant turned sportscaster is one of many at NBC covering the Olympics from a cubby equipped with a television monitor in New York, one of a warren of them lined up in the studio where "Saturday Night Live" usually originates. NBC has a team of 650 people working on London Olympics coverage from New York.

Outside of the soundproof booth's closed door, you wouldn't be able to hear Balboa if he shouted, "goooaaallll!" That's so as not to disturb Jason Knapp and Rich McKinney, calling an archery match from a different booth a few steps away.

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