Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Marc Jacobs TV: Unlikely | Marc Jacobs isn't doing a reality show for Logo, as we reported a few weeks ago. But he hasn't closed the door to doing a TV program of some sort, provided the perfect opportunity came along. But it probably wouldn't fall into the reality genre. "Well, I really would just want it to be a really great project, not just another reality show," he tells The Cut. "Not that there's anything wrong with them, but, for me, there's nothing really exciting about doing another anything, you know?" Also? He's never see the Real Housewives, but has seen a couple of episodes of The Rachel Zoe Project "because she's my friend." [The Cut]

• Tom McGeveran took over as editor of the Observer after Peter Kaplan made his exit this spring, but now he's headed out the door as well. [NYO]
• Layoffs: The cuts at Condé Nast continue though they should end soon; the layoffs at Forbes this week were deep ones: 1 in 4 editorial staffers were let go.
• Newsday's website erected a pay wall today. Good luck with that. [E&P]
• The Michael Jackson movie This Is It sold $2.2 million in tickets on its opening night, which is pretty good considering it was a Tuesday. [LAT, NYT]More

• Rupert Murdoch and John Malone are "interested" in a deal with NBC Universal, but have yet to pick up the phone and do anything about it. [THR]
• Condé Nast cut sales staff at W and Vanity Fair today and proved that no one is safe by dismissing the wife of a Newhouse family member. Some good news: magazines are reporting that automotive advertising is way up, so maybe the auto industry will end up saving print media! Crazier things have happened.
• The Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger is running into trouble in DC. [WSJ]
• The Fox News-White House brouhaha continues, not surprisingly. [THR]
• Fox Reality, which is going off the air next year, will be replaced by a new channel called Nat Geo Wild. Think less Cesar Millan, more Jeff Corwin. [NYT]
• Were you dismayed that yesterday's little balloon incident generated so much cable news coverage? Wait till you see what's in store next week! [CJR]More

Bravo announced today that it plans to add not one, but two new ladies to the cast of Real Housewives of New York: In addition to Sonja Morgan, a former hostess and the ex-wife of J.P. Morgan's great-grandson, the network is also tossing in an event planner named Jennifer Gilbert. Some fresh blood can't hurt, sure, but the much more exciting New York-centric reality TV news today has nothing to do with the Housewives. Page Six reports that a reality show about bizarro fashion designer Lloyd Klein is now being pitched to networks. The show would be about Klein and "his clients," which may not sound like the best premise for a program, particularly since his most famous client these days is LaToya Jackson. But any show about Klein would almost certainly have to include appearances by his BFF, Jocelyne Wildenstein, the woman who holds the title of most over-surgerized New Yorker. Join us in saying a little prayer that a gutsy TV exec out there takes a chance on Klein's show. (Are you paying attention, Animal Planet?) This could be huge!

Jon Bon Jovi has a fancy new title to add to his illustrious resume. And NBC has an "artist-in-residence," along with a bottomless pit of crappy programming. Just when you begin to worry that Jeff Zucker's creative mojo has started to wane, the NBC chief amazes the world once again: More

• Comcast is "leaning toward" keeping Jeff Zucker as NBC Universal's CEO if it goes ahead with a deal to buy take control of the company. [Bloomberg]
• The Fine Living Network will be rebranded as the Cooking Channel—and positioned as a Food Network competitor—in the second half of 2010. [AdAge]
• Some laid-off staffers at Condé Nast are furious about the severance they've received; chances are ex-Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl isn't one of them. [NYP]
• Does NBC's decision to cancel Southland "signal an abandonment of a decades-long commitment to drama"? Some seem to think so. Meanwhile, the show's producers are looking for a new home for the cop drama. [NPR, LAT]
• Let the hair battle begin: Disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be a contestant on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice next season. [CT]More

Today's Timewaster | If you're looking to kill a few minutes as the workweek finally comes to a close, Buzzfeed has an excellent round-up of the "10 best things that have ever happened behind a news reporter's back." Do enjoy. [Buzzfeed]

Law & Order's Two-For One Special | You expected to hear Law & Order would be ripping the Jon and Kate Gosselin saga from the headlines to base an upcoming show on, didn't you? The episode airing on Oct. 16 revolves around a reality show called "Larry Plus 10" and "chronicles the struggles of a single dad who's raising 10 adopted special needs kids by himself—after his wife, Joy, is bludgeoned-to-death." But are budget cuts now taking a toll on the long-running series? The other main character is a woman who had 10 kids by in-vitro fertilization and is a stand-in for Nadya Suleman. [NYP]

• The Condé Nast shake-up continues: A day after the company shuttered four titles, it's ousted the publisher of Details. And rumor has it the Condé cuts may now "inspire" similar such moves at Hearst and Time Inc. [AdAge, NYT, NYP]
• Ruth Reichl says she was completely surprised by the news Gourmet was closing. (She says she's planning to write a book about her years there.) And Gourmet's offices have since been completely cleared out. [NYT, Gawker]
• David Letterman should apologize on his show every night. His latest mea culpa generated better ratings than anything NBC aired during primetime. [AP]
• CBS is talking to Nancy Grace about hosting a Judge Judge clone. [B&C]
• The only big media company hiring and not firing? Bloomberg LP. [Crain's] More

• More on Condé Nast's decision to shut down four magazines, including Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride: An estimated 180 people will likely lose their jobs as part of the move, although CEO Chuck Townsend says the company has no plans to shutter any other titles. [NYO, AdAge]
• If Comcast goes ahead with a deal to take a controlling stake in NBC, Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's CEO, may need to find a new job. [NYP]
• Don Imus' radio show debuted on Fox Business today. [WP]
• Rich Ross, the president of Disney Channels Worldwide, is taking over Walt Disney Studios; he's succeeding Dick Cook, who was ousted on Sept. 16. [NYT]
• Universal Pictures has fired chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde. [LAT]
• CBS has been busy ridding YouTube of David Letterman's mea culpa. [NYT]
• Zombieland was No. 1 at the box office this weekend with a $25 million take. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs dropped to second place. [Variety]
• It wasn't all bad news at Condé Nast today: The New Yorker landed its biggest ad buy since 2005 with a $1 million deal with HSBC. [Folio]More

Remember those reports last week that Marc Jacobs had decided to appear on a gay version of Real Housewives on Logo called Kept? The rumor got off the ground, it seems, when the Daily News noticed an item about the show on Gawker alongside a photo of Jacobs and boyfriend Lorenzo Martone. Despite the fact the piece didn't actually suggest Jacobs was involved in the show in any way, the mere presence of a photo of Jacobs on the same page as a story about a gay reality TV show led the Daily News to publish an item a couple of days later that the designer had "reportedly signed on to participate." Naturally, the story was soon picked up by dozens of gossip outlets as if it were a done deal. Too bad the News didn't bother to call anyone to check (or even reread the story on Gawker). Much to the dismay of many—gay and straight alike—we can confirm that Marc will not be on the show. More

Reality TV stars artfully bare their souls on camera and in the tabloids, and even better, they do it all without a script. But a TV show is only the first step to building a brand, and now countless pseudo-celebs are milking their 15 minutes and peddling products that you couldn't possibly live without. (Or so they say!) We compiled the most promising items from the brightest minds in faux-showbiz. With these ladies' designs in your style arsenal, your look will never be the same.More

The Housewives Have Formed a Debate Team | It's just what you've been waiting for: a chance to see the cast of the Real Housewives of New York engage in a spirited debate with the cast of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. The topic: Which state is cooler, New York or New Jersey? (You didn't expect them to be debating Iranian nuclear proliferation, did you?) More on this once-in-a-lifetime, $28-per-person, blockbuster event below.More

• Is Time Warner planning to shed its Time Inc. magazine division? [Crain's]
• Condé Nast is hunkering down for a big round of budget cuts, as you've probably heard. One Condé title that happens to be doing quite well: Vanity Fair's Italian edition, which having its best year ever, apparently.
• Saturday Night Live's Jenny Slate won't be punished for cursing on the air. But it's looking like Darrell Hammond may have been dropped from the show.
• Tina Brown's Daily Beast is planning to get into book publishing. [NYT]
• Former Times film critic (and Turner Classic Movies host) Elvis Mitchell is in financial trouble again: He reportedly owes $500,000 in back taxes. [P6]
• How much the cast of The Hills makes might make you nauseous. [TDB]
• Can Twitter ever earn enough in advertising revenue to justify its recent valuation of $1 billion? It's highly unlikely, say some observers. [AdAge]
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was No. 1 again this weekend. [LAT] More

Mischa Barton's NYC Experiment Ends | If you see Mischa Barton on the street this weekend and she looks a little worse for the wear, and you strongly suspect her "toothache" has returned, go easy on her. The job that brought her to NYC last month—the CW show The Beautiful Life—was canceled today after just two episodes, making it the first victim of the fall television season. Like 10 percent of America, she's now unemployed. But she'll get by somehow, we imagine. [LA Times]