For a quarter of a century, newsman Ted Koppel lent an air of gravitas to ABC News' Nightline. And now, years after Koppel's retirement, the network has finally found the right person to replace this icon of journalism: a guy who owns a PR firm.

Come next week, we'll get to see with our own eyes if the pop-culture feud of 2012 is as fake as it seems when American Idol begins its 12th season featuring Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj on its judging panel. But until then, we'll just have to take their word for it. Nicki has already weighed in, and Mariah got an extended chance to do so last night on Nightline when she sat down with the always daffy Barbara Walters.

On Nightline this week, Cynthia McFadden confronted Taylor Swift on her tendency to turn into a slack-jawed yokel when her name is inevitably called at whatever awards show she happens to find herself the belle of. This quirk has been mocked widely (full disclosure: my mocking supercut of her fly-catching turned into a bigger story and ended up being the highlight of my 2010), partially because it seems like put-on false modesty but mostly because whenever it happens, it freakishly appears that her jaw is going to fall right off her head.

After Casey Anthony's surprise acquittal yesterday for the 2008 murder of daughter Caylee, the warrior wailers of CNN-HLN asked, How could a jury let this "lying, no-good slut" off the hook?

A couple of nights ago, Michelle Williams, promoting Blue Valentine sat down with Nightline's Cynthia McFadden and she talked emotionally about her marriage to and the death of Heath Ledger, among other heavy topics. The complete interview inside.

In last night's Nightline interview, Cher discussed her Burlesque co-star, what it's like to work with younger girls and why she envies Meryl Streep. As with every interview with the icon, Cher provides us with some amazing sound bites.

It is against my gay nature to speak ill of Cher, but since she's been on a media tour promoting her impending schlockfest Burlesque, she just sounds like an old. That's not going to sell tickets, Cher!

Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern is going to be profiled on Nightline tonight (barring breaking news, etc.), and apparently he discusses his history of drug abuse with host John Berman in pretty graphic detail.

California authorities have launched an investigation into claims that Goldline International — the favorite investment arm of Glenn Beck and Mike Huckabee — is scamming people into buying coins and is sending them "something different from what they had ordered."

Diddy stopped by Nightline recently to interview with the comically earnest Martin Bashir. Together, they dig into the hard hitting issues, including Diddy dog food, the definition of mind-f*cking, and the appropriateness of Diddy buying his son a Maybach.

The former Nightline anchor's son, Andrew Koppel, was found dead in a Washington Heights apartment early yesterday after an all day Midtown bender. He was 40 years old and worked as an attorney for the NYC Housing Authority. [NYP, pic]

Did you miss this week's Nightline interview with Jesse James? Fear not, BWE.tv has reduced it to a mere 20 seconds worth of awkward goodness. Even if you weren't before, this will put you on "Team Sandra Bullock."

Monster Garage star Jesse James gave a teary interview on Tuesday to apologize to the world for cheating on America's Fun Aunt, actress Sandra Bullock. We also learned he's not a sex addict—"at least in the traditional sense."

Cheating Sandra Bullock husband and lover of strippers Jesse James is breaking his silence, tearfully. "They call you the most hated man in America," says the interview. "I think it's most hated man in the world," he replies. Watch video.

In your vengeful Wednesday media column: Albany justice does not save the media, a physically attractive journalist is found in India, Nightline is old, and the WSJ plans to cover this whole "god damn Mets" business.

The "SnOMGpocalypse of Death" today has us thinking of the BBC commentator's hilarious meta take on how the news networks report on disastrous weather—namely snow. It's a clever dissection of scare tactics, the word "treacherous," and people falling.

At New York today: former über-flack Lizzie Grubman talking on Nightline about the pains of being a heiress. Next, Page Six-er Paula Froelich recalls the business of covering "people being stuck in the wrong role in an Edith Wharton novel."

• So how did Jay Leno's new show do? He hit it out of the park ratings-wise, roping in an estimated 18 million viewers. The reviews were all pretty lousy, though, so don't be surprised if it's all downhill from here. [AdAge, LAT, THR]
• The sale of BusinessWeek: Bruce Wasserstein has dropped out as a potential acquirer of the struggling mag. And it's cutting 20% of its staff. [BW, NYT]
• ABC News has apologized to the White House for Nightline anchor Terry Moran's tweet about Obama calling Kanye West a "jackass." [LAT]
• Speaking of the White House, Barack Obama will be David Letterman's guest on Monday night; it's the first time a sitting president has done the show. [NYT]
• Oprah's season premiere scored big thanks to Whitney Houston. [Wrap]
• The House of Harvey has sustained another blow: Harvey Weinstein's 70 percent stake in the home-video distributor Genius Products, once worth as much as $400 million, is now pretty much worthless. [NYP]
• Speaking of the film mogul, The Weinstein Co. picked up the rights to A Single Man, designer Tom Ford's debut film, at the Toronto Film Festival. [THR]

• The average person consumed 32.2 hours of TV each week this summer. It's a new record. And it's all thanks to the quality programming that cable channels have been putting on the air the last few months, obviously. [NYP]
• The bad news for newspapers is getting worse: Ad sales dropped by 29% during the second quarter, which means newspapers have $2.8 billion less in their (already empty) pockets than they had at this time last year. [AP]
• Related: Please take the time this weekend to read the massive story about Hurricane Katrina in the New York Times Sunday magazine. It cost the paper and ProPublica a record-setting $400,000 to produce. [CJR]
• Because Nightline feels left out of the war between Conan and Letterman, the show is launching a campaign to remind you that it still exists. [AdAge]

Former NYT food critic Frank Bruni's big (eh) Nightline appearance is coming up. Its highlight: Bruni giving the full review treatment to a Choco Taco. No stars? Hey bro, I'll eat it. Watch the magic, below.