Now that a judge has allowed Dan Rather to dig through his CBS bosses' email, what will the embittered former anchor find? "Guys - I know it's in the shitter lately what with us firing Dan, canning the actually quite popular Bob Schieffer (the "Sheef" as we suits like to call him) and replacing him lovely news-pouf non-fembot Katie Couric... not to mention ratings in the toilet, a morning show to NOT die for and also sticking you all in a decrepit, aging brick building on the butt end of the Far West Side... but, cheer up! At least we know we won't have to deal with Dan Rather anymore!!! His White-House-defaming, non-story-factchecking ass is GONE!!! Along with his odd Southern quip-isms. Now, who wants to work Christmas and New Year's?" [Original comment]

Dan Rather's legal team will now get access to CBS execs' emails in the run-up to the network anchor's dismissal. A judge said Rather, sidelined from the evening news after a story on George Bush's service record, could get on with discovery.

This week's New York brings Joe Hagan's second story this year about a wretched CBS News anchor, his first being that interminable cover piece on Katie Couric this summer. Today's slightly less endless article chronicles Hagan's talks with Dan Rather. Hagan doesn't uncover anything you don't already know about Rather's legal dispute with CBS or the documents scandal that started it all. He does, however, paint Rather as an around-the-bend loony toon, one of those old guys who madly scribbles notes to himself while muttering at the pigeons from his park bench.

You've heard the rumors and now they're confirmed: Katie Couric is a bitch after all. On the other hand, bitch is also hilarious. In this My Damn Channel video, discovered by the Daily News, Couric makes a coitus interruptus joke, says "Bro, what up?" and makes fun of Dan Rather. Oooh, she fierce! This is on the same day CBS filed a motion to have Rather's $70 million lawsuit dismissed. Talk about comedic timing!

· Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are cast in Kevin Smith's Zach and Miri Make a Porno, the story of two platonic friends who try to use the power of hardcore pornography to solve their debt problems. As the actors previously appeared together in The 40 Year Old Virgin, this film represents the kind of re-teaming effort that drives us so wild with delight. [Variety]
· In one of the final Thursday night shoot-outs at the Nielsen Corral before the networks expend all of their first-run-episode ammunition, CBS defeats ABC. [THR]

Just like in last night's episode of The Office, Dan Rather and his ex-employer CBS have become bitter estranged lovers. In the latest installment of the former CBS Evening News anchor's battle with the network, CBS responded to the lawsuit Rather had filed on September 19th by asking a Manhattan judge to dismiss the case. Rather claims that "the network violated his contract by giving him too little to do after it forced him off the evening news in 2005." The network claims that "this lawsuit is a regrettable attempt by plaintiff Dan Rather to remain in the public eye, and to settle old scores and perceived slights, based on an array of far-fetched allegations." It's like the media version of the "You don't pay attention to me anymore/Girl, you crazy!" argument but with $70 million dollars at stake. Oh yeah, and a courtly old man's dignity, too!

Hot reporting from the American Magazine Conference down in Boca from the Huffington Post: "The evening was mostly off the record." Oh boy. But! HuffPo's Rachel Sklar had dinner next to Dan Rather. "Here's what we can tell you: He stands every time a lady leaves and/or returns to the table (courtly!) and he did not discuss his pending legal case (er, other kind of courtly). We did discuss Howie Kurtz's book ('You're in it!' I said brightly, and helpfully) which he said he had not read (he also said other stuff!)." Mmm, other stuff. [HuffPo]

Former White House spokesbot Tony Snow will be the keynote speaker at the American Magazine Conference in Boca Raton, Florida at the end of the month. Men's Health editor David Zinczenko, the AMC 2007 chairman, is super jazzed about it. But should he be? Former keynote speakers included former President Bill Clinton, former future presidents Barack Obama and John McCain. Tony Snow was a regular guest host for the Rush Limbaugh Show and frontman for the band "Beats Workin'." He did, as Zinczenko made sure to mention, survive the cancer that God so unjustly gave him. Who else is speaking in Boca, and why?

We've been checking out Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz's new book, "Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War," an advance excerpt of which was posted Sunday with great hubbub on Drudge. That excerpt recounts a discussion between Dan Rather and '60 Minutes' executive producer Josh Howard that took place on the eve of the airing of the controversial piece that would end Rather's career at the network. Kurtz's story was treated as big news—but the substance, and some of the language as well, was no different from New York Press editor-in-chief David Blum's 2004 book, "Tick... Tick... Tick..: The Long Life and Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes."

The New York Post has really taken Ed Klein's talking points from his Katie Couric bio to heart: "Katie Couric has gone from a cougar to a dove. The 'CBS Evening News' anchor with a penchant for dating younger men has come out criticizing the war in Iraq—and her predecessor, Dan Rather." See? She's a nutty hussy! After her husband died, she dated more than one person! So she can't possibly have any of these wildly radical opinions like "people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale for this war." Someone should totally dunk that communist traitor witch and see if she floats!

Cranky former CBS anchor Dan Rather declined to answer today when asked whether he planned to depose President Bush in the incredibly unlikely event that his $70 million lawsuit goes to trial. The demurral came at a Q&A session in Washington, at the restaurant of his former CBS colleague, Carol Joynt. "From the look in his eye—and he gave me a definite Ratheresque look—I got the impression he will call the president as a witness," Joynt later told the Washington Examiner. "Possibly both of them: 41 and 43."

Why is Dan Rather facing the ridicule and embarrassment engendered by his lawsuit against CBS? Felix Gillette lists some pretty compelling reasons, none of which include the "crazy old coot with a score to settle" theory. [NYO]

"I'm going braless," Huffpo's Rachel Sklar said in the cab on the way to the Sheraton. She was tucking herself into a sleek black dress. "Women sweat there!" When she had first invited me to the 28th News and Documentary Emmy Awards, this wasn't what I had in mind: learning the finer points of a lady's thermoregulation sitting in UN-caused traffic jam in Midtown. I was dreaming of Russert, Blitzer, Koppel, Wallace, Stewart, Soledad—Brian Williams! Christmas for the newscasters! Get behind me, Santa!

"Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors." Plus! "'Mr. Rather is the most experienced reporter in the United States in covering hurricanes,' his lawyers write in the suit." Poor Anderson! [NYT]

Nation editrix Katrina Vanden Heuevel, whose commitment to liberalism is almost as strong as her commitment to snuffing out all forms of humor or excitement in her magazine, offers her take on the Dan Rather-Katie Couric kerfuffle. Guess who's to blame? Big corporations!

From time to time the news cycle offers up an event of such import and complexity that it can only be comprehended through the medium of musical theater. This week resident composer Ben Greenman examines the Dan Rather/Katie Couric contretemps.

Yesterday Les Moonves said that Dan Rather's remarks about Katie Couric were "sexist." Yesterday afternoon, Neil Cavuto let Dan Rather strike back. "Les Moonves knows about entertainment, but he doesn't know about news," Rather said. Snappity snap!

CBS CEO Les Moonves defends the honor of Katie Couric, calling remarks about her by Dan Rather "sexist." CBS, long known for its championing of female equality, broadcasts such empowering programs as "Two and a Half Men" and "The King of Queens." [AP]

"The mistake was to try to bring the 'Today' show ethos to the 'Evening News' and to dumb it down—tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience," says the former anchor. He also says that while Katie Couric is "prettier than a ten-dollar whore at a prostitute pageant" she lacks the "folksy, front-of-the-country-store gravitas of a distinguished journalist whose talents were seasoned under the white hot Texas sun." [NYDN]

Avert your eyes from this embarrassment: print ads promoting Dan Rather's awesome new gig on HDNet, Dan Rather Reports. He's explosive! Just don't pull the pin. Or ask why his mic still has a cable.