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CNN) — There was more laughter than tears on Friday as “Good Morning America” bid farewell to the anchor who has helmed the morning news show’s desk for the past ten years.

Within the span of that decade, Diane Sawyer covered Hurricane Katrina, Mideast disruptions and interviewed Washington political figures including first lady Nancy Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.

Sawyer is leaving “Good Morning America” to anchor “World News Tonight” beginning December 21. Charles Gibson retired from the position.

As the “Golden Girls” theme song “Thank You For Being A Friend” played in the background, the entire “GMA” crew replaced the audience. Many teared up as Sawyer reminisced with the other members of the “GMA” team, Robin Roberts, Sam Champion and Chris Cuomo, who also is leaving the morning show to anchor ABC’s “20/20.”

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(CNN) — Dunder Mifflin, the fictional paper company at the center of NBC’s prime-time comedy “The Office,” is facing bankruptcy. Staffers in the Scranton branch are anxious about their fate.

“The Office” is among a great many prime-time shows that have integrated recession-era themes into their plotlines this fall in an effort to reflect the changing American economic climate. Art imitating life on television can offer a sense of solidarity for the viewing public and a new type of coping mechanism for dealing with recession-related stress.

“Shows that deal with the recession help people to validate the full range of emotions they are feeling right now,” explained Stephan J. Quentzel, psychiatrist, family physician and director of Beth Israel Hospital’s Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine in New York.

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It’s doubtful anyone is surprised that TLC is cutting “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ from its programming.

After 10 years of marriage, the couple announced their separation and divorce filing on a special one-hour episode of their reality show in June.

A show insider told CNN on Thursday there’s enough “Jon & Kate” footage to last until mid- to late November, but the program will be off the air after then.

TLC would like to be able to replace “Jon & Kate” with the renamed series “Kate Plus 8,” but the network will have to get past Jon Gosselin first.

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The 34-year-old actress earned critic’s attention with her uncanny portrayal of “Little Edie” Beale in HBO’s “Grey Gardens,” and her directorial debut, “Whip It,” has been hailed as a success well before it rolls into theaters October 2.

But, at her core, she’s still the irresistible free spirit we all know and love, as she revealed in the October issue of InStyle.

On being a celebrity …

Barrymore said that while she loves her life, there are still moments she battles with being a celebrity. “Some days I want nothing more than a brilliant mask so I could look like someone else and go wander the streets and be free,” she said. “I’m very peeved that Halloween only comes once a year.”

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“He was a great anchorman in the news business, because his greatest contribution was not his knowledge or his expertise — as great as those were — it was his steady holding to what was most important,” said his colleague and longtime friend Andy Rooney, who addressed the crowd in a recorded video from behind his well-known desk.

“If it can be said about any individual in our business that he’s been a force for good in the world, Walter Cronkite was that person,” Rooney said.

Cronkite died July 17 at the age of 92. He anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 until 1981.

“I thought that he had the most trusted news program because he had an inquiring mind and a caring heart and a careful devotion to the facts,” former President Clinton said. He said he became friends with Cronkite years after he, as a youth, had watched the venerable anchor.

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NEW YORK – Walter Cronkite’s final resting place will be next to his late wife in Missouri, where the two first met, his chief of staff said Saturday.

The 92-year-old former CBS anchorman died Friday at his Manhattan home of disease involving blood vessels in the brain, according to Marlene Adler, his longtime chief of staff.

A private funeral service was scheduled for Thursday at St. Bartholomew’s Church. Adler said the Rev. William Tully will preside over the Episcopal service at the Park Avenue church, which the Cronkites attended for many years.
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A memorial is to be held within the next month in Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Adler said.

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LOS ANGELES – Some of the biggest stars on the planet turned back into gushing Michael Jackson fans at the BET Awards, donning single gloves, swapping stories about their idol and singing The King of Pop’s standards. One person who perhaps knew him best, though, brought the night into perspective: his sister.

“To you, Michael is an icon,” a somber Janet Jackson told the crowd at the end of Sunday’s show. “To us, Michael is family and he will forever live in all of our hearts.”

It was a stirring emotional climax for a telecast that was completely revamped to recognize the legacy of Jackson, who died Thursday at age 50. For the most part, it was a joyous wake.

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The best-selling comedy recording artist in history paid a visit to CNN’s “Larry King Live” to talk about Letterman’s gaffe.

“As a father of two teenage daughters, it was a flawed joke,” Foxworthy said.

Letterman joked last Tuesday that Palin’s “daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez” at a recent Yankees game, stirring up an angry reaction from the Palin family. Letterman has since apologized twice for what he called “inappropriate” humor.

And Foxworthy agreed: “I don’t think any kind of joke about someone having sex with a teenage girl is funny.”

But Foxworthy’s rebuke of the joke was gentle in tone, and he showed empathy for Letterman as well as the Palin family.

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This is going to be short, dear readers, since last night’s “So You Think You Can Dance” results show was a night of practically zero surprises and entirely minor revelations. The best thing about it was the Shane Sparks group number that opened the show, which, after multiple viewings, I’ve decided was about mystical urban dance fairies led by an unconvincingly crazy-eyed Queen Caitlin, who has directed her hard-edged hip-hopping fairy underlings to blow their magic dancing dust upon the city’s downtrodden and homeless and turn them into more hard-edged hip-hopping fairy underlings, one of whom danced so hard-edged, he apparently danced himself to death and had to be covered with a black sheet that caused him to kinda levitate off the ground. Or something.

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At a minute past midnight, broadcasters shut down their outdated analog transmitters, leaving static to watch for those who weren’t ready.

American TV viewers were given four extra months to get ready for the switch, when Congress voted early this year to delay the digital TV transition.

At that time, an estimated 6.5 million homes — including many elderly, poor and disabled Americans — weren’t prepared for a February 17 switch to digital, supporters argued.

“In any change this big, there are going to be disruptions,” said Michael Copps, the Federal Communications Commission acting chairman. “We are trying our best to provide people, especially those who are most at-risk, with the help they need to make the switch as smoothly as possible. And we’re going to keep offering it after June 12, so people should call us at 1-888-CALL-FCC.”