Kinda nasty and cynical (but so well-written... Ah, what can we say? It's gossipy fun to have rich celebs raked over the coals), this piece by L.A. Times TV critic Mary McNamara trounces Katie Couric's just-published book, "The Best Advice I Ever Got" -- a collection of tips from folks she interviewed, mostly on "Today" -- as possibly "the embodiment of the decline of television news coverage." Then there's McNamara's take on Couric's publicity tour, trying to promote the book while fending off questions about her plans: "There is a breathtaking aspect to watching Couric work this moment, nodding …

ABC just announced it is pulling the plug on these venerable soap operas -- which TV Week calls "two of the most famous, longest-running shows" -- and replacing them with a food show, "The Chew," and "The Revolution," "about health and lifestyle transformations," according to a company statement.

"Social media has created a human filter for quality content," writes Mashable's Vadim Larusik, affirming that there's still a big need for in-depth journalism and news stories. In fact, news stories were tweeted more often than gossip or opinion pieces, according to data from The Daily. The other half of this story is that social referrals "are outpacing the growth of referrals from search" at many media organizations, such as the Washington Post.

Watch for "spellings of forbidden words that won't get picked up by an automatic filter," like "changing the i to a 1 in prick." That's an example of online comment screening cited by the Boston Globe in its official online-comments policy, which is analyzed by Media Nation's Dan Kennedy in a fascinating piece. The Globe has just hired a company to monitor and delete offensive comments from its Web site: Winnipeg-based ICUC, which also handles the task for the San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com and for Gannett.

This summer, movie theater owners could give more of their screens to studios that are not part of the new premium video-on-demand plan that will shorten the window movies are available exclusively in cinemas, reports the Financial Times, citing an interview with John Fithian, chief executive of the National Association of Theatre Owners. For example, Paramount Pictures, which has "privately come out against" the project, would be favored over Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, which are working on the VOD deal with DirecTV.

American Media Inc. has reshuffled the top of the Star magazine and Radar Online mastheads. At Star, former Radar Online editor David Perel became editor-in-chief and Candace Trunzo was fired after four years in that job. Perel is a 25-year veteran of AMI who spent most of that stint at the National Enquirer, leading to some concerns that the Star could take on "a meaner tabloid tone," writes the New York Post's Keith Kelly.To replace Perel at Radar Online, AMI also hired Jose Lambiet, formerly editor of the Palm Beach Post's gossip column. The company, which went through a "prepackaged …

Not really surprising: Charlie Sheen told a Boston radio station he was in talks with "Two and a Half Men" executives about possibly returning to the show. He also said he's not receiving his portion of the show's syndication profits due him. Bummer.

Following a review, Capital One just changed media agencies, shifting its $360 million account from Publicis Groupe's MediaVest to the independent Horizon, according to Advertising Age's Rupal Parekh, who cited anonymous "executives" as the source of this info.

Buoyed by the ubiquity of digital devices and media, Americans now spend an hour and 21 minutes more per day with media than in 2001, according to a study conducted by Arbitron and Edison Research. That's roughly 20% more time spent not only on the Internet but on broadcast media -- stats that came from a telephone survey of 2,020 people.

The food and lifestyle pub is celebrating its five-year anniversary with reorganized sections, new columns, and refreshed design elements including "sketches and handwriting-like fonts," beginning with the May issue, reports Folio. Editor In Chief Liz Vaccariello, who joined EDWRR last November, said its "architecture and pacing were off." Next up: "We turn our attention to creating new digital products," she told Folio.