Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Nell Scovell, a writer on Dave Letterman's show in the late '80s, has stepped forward to detail the show's "hostile, sexually charged atmosphere." [VF]
• Layoffs: Yesterday's cuts at Forbes claimed 30-40 people; reality TV-focused Teen Vogue laid off half a dozen staffers today; the cuts continue this week at W; and a big round of cuts could go down at Time Inc. sometime next week.
• Sarah Palin's memoir, which comes out next month, had already earned her $1.25 million even before she stepped down as Alaska's governor. [AP]
• Michael Jackson's This Is It debuts in theaters tonight. [NYDN]
• How's Jay Leno's new show doing more than a month in? Not so good. [NYT]More

• Renee Zellweger is going to be spending the holidays with Bradley Cooper's family in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper's ex-wife, Jennifer Esposito, is now engaged to Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis. So everyone's happy, right? Well, except for Jennifer Aniston, that is. [NYDN, People]
• Speaking of happy couples, now that they've supposedly inked their pre-nup, Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom went out and inked themselves with each other's initials, too. Marriage after just a couple months, now matching tattoos... what could possibly go wrong? [People]
• Madonna planted a tree to kick off construction of her new girls' school in Malawi. She wore heels. And she looked awkward. [AP]
• At Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's wedding on Sunday, guests were given a gift bag containing a book in Hebrew and flip-flops with a tag that read "Ivanka and Jared—what a pair." Of course, that's a step up from the wedding invitations which contained a promotional flyer for one of Donald Trump's golf courses. [NYP] More

• Coco Rocha may have only been "observing" at Vogue a few weeks ago, but Chanel Iman says she actually spent past of last week interning at Teen Vogue. [Fashionologie, Grazia]
• Is the Costume Institute Gala planning a new approach next year? Some insiders tell the Daily it will be a "much less splashy affair" the next time around, with more benefactors in attendance and fewer models and celebrities. [FWD]
• A couple of weeks ago, it seemed Esteban Cortazar had decided to split with Emanuel Ungaro. Now it looks like he's staying put. For the moment, at least. [WWD, Cut]
• An interview with Stacey Bendet, whose alice + olivia line now rakes in more $50 million a year, she says. [ObsessedTV] More

Just What You Wanted to Do Today | If you're a Gossip Girl fan and you have no objection to spending your Friday afternoon in a sea of teenage girls at a mall in New Jersey, you may want to take note of this: "Gossip Girl cast member Jessica Szohr will be appearing at the Mall at Short Hills, Short Hills NJ today at 5pm! Come meet Jessica, Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Amy Astley and designer Vivienne Tam! The Teen Vogue Haute Spot is a concept retail store in the Mall at Short Hills. It's a place for girls to interact with various brands and themselves! See the hottest looks for Prom and test out the latest technology from HP including Vivienne Tam digital clutches and touch screen computers. Plus win a free HP digital clutch computer!" 

♦  Teen Vogue is opening a retail outlet at the mall in Short Hills, New Jersey. It'll be called "Teen Vogue Haute Spot" and, no, this is not a joke. [NYT]
♦  More than 20 percent of American households watched Barack Obama's infomercial on Wednesday night. [NYT]
♦  Joe the Plumber is pursuing a country music deal and could have an album out by Inauguration Day, although we're going to assume this won't be Barack's musical choice for the big day. [Politico]More

♦  Anna Wintour attended the presidential debate last night at Hofstra. In Hempstead. On Long Island. Also: Is it just us, or is her hair getting lighter and lighter? [The Cut]
♦  Next week, five hundred lucky students will attend Teen Vogue's Fashion University, where for three days they'll access the wisdom of Tory Burch, Phillip Lim, Peter Som, Nanette Lepore, Monica Botkier and Cynthia Rowley. [NYDN]
♦  No, the day could not pass without Marc Jacobs being in the news for some reason: He's inked a licensing deal for swimwear, which will launch in spring '09. [WWD]More

Not that fashion magazine jobs have traditionally attracted shy, retiring types but if you're going to work at a glossy, you should probably bear in mind that it means signing up to be on TV. Since Elle's massively successful collaboration with Project Runway—which saw both circulation and ad sales leap—other publications are viewing TV-tie-ins as integral to future success, reports AdAge. As well as Elle's new show Stylista, next March will bring Running In Heels, a show about the "inner workings" of Marie Claire featuring Nina Garcia. As long they uphold the high standard of no-holds-barred realism set by Whitney and Lauren in the Teen Vogue closet, they're sure to have a hit.