That's how John Runowicz, an administrator in the chemistry department got away with stealing money from the University for six years. He's now under arrest and probably needs a drink more than ever.

Before our excitement about next year's Fey/Carell vehicle 'Date Night' even had time to incubate, we're hit with news that the NBC comedy darlings might co-star in another romcom. "30 Rock" + "The Office" = Yes, please.

It's night two of the epic Sing-off, or The Subtle Train Wreck of 2009. Last night, the show proved to be educational beyond my wildest dreams. Did Nick Lachey and the gang keep it up tonight? HELL YEAH, they did!

Tonight, NBC premiered The Sing-off—a four-day a cappella group competition that was marketed as a cross between American Idol and Glee—and it was amazing, for all the wrong reasons. Here are the six things I learned while watching.

• The New York Times is gearing up to cut another two dozen positions at the newspaper, but that's fewer than NYT execs were anticipating. [NYP]
• Cancellations: MTV has pulled the plug on Alexa Chung's daytime show; and HBO's Flight of the Conchords is finished after two seasons. [THR, Variety]
• Diane Sawyer and Chris Cuomo bid goodbye to GMA this morning. [ABC]
• NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker, who will remain in charge of NBC after Comcast takes control, has been signed up to a new three-year contract. [THR]
• Ex-Daily News editor Debby Krenek is Newsday's new editor-in-chief. [E&P]
• Stodgy Harvard Business Review is getting a sexy makeover! [NYT]
• Grim stat du jour: 367 magazines were shuttered in 2009. [Crain's]
• More on Dave Zinczenko, the laziest magazine editor alive. [Gawker, DF]

When not waging the war on Christmas, 30 Rock took some time to throw a few light punches at its network, their social networking site, and Facebook in general. It's a superpoke to the eye.

• The list of New York Times staffers accepting buyouts from the paper to leave has grown. And it includes Jenny 8. Lee, surprisingly). [Gawker, NYO]
• Television news: The Early Show has a new boss as of today; profits are up at CNBC; and Joy Behar's new show on HLN is doing pretty well in the ratings.
• Will Vevo, the new Hulu of music videos, succeed? That's up in the air, but it did host a glam launch party last night and traffic's been strong. [AdAge, CNET]
• Tavi, the 13-year-old blogger who's transfixed the fashion world, is writing a column for Harper's Bazaar; a bit of controversy has followed. [WWD, NYM]
• Great news! R. Kelly has signed a deal to pen his memoirs. [Vulture]
• Even better news: ABC has a reality show debuting in January that combines dating and romance with a "moving conveyor belt." It's about time! [Wrap]

• Diane Sawyer has confirmed that she will end her decade-long run as co-anchor of Good Morning America this week. Friday's her last day. [LAT]
• Meanwhile, Chris Cuomo's role at ABC is up in the air. He's denied rumors he plans to jump to NBC, and may end up as co-anchor of 20/20. [NYDN, prev]
• Today was the deadline for New York Times staffers to take the buyout package that was offered to employees last fall. A list of people expected to exit the paper in the near future is now making the rounds. [Gawker]
• NBC might be ranked fourth in the ratings, but Comcast says it has no plans to sell NBC Universal's broadcast TV business when it takes over. [AP]
• MTV's Jersey Shore is one of two new reality shows stirring up criticism; now Domino's Pizza has decided to pull its advertising from the show. [NYT, TVG]
• Oxygen is developing a new reality show with Russell Simmons that will "focus on the women in his life." That should be interesting. [THR]
• Is Nancy Grace responsible for pushing a woman to commit suicide? [AP]
• John Stossel is happier at Fox than he was at ABC, unsurprisingly. [TDB]
• The Blind Side surpassed New Moon at the box office this weekend. [MTV]

• Rolling Stone is opening a theme restaurant in LA, believe it or not. [LAT]
• The first issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek hit newsstands today. [NYO]
• MTV's Jersey Shore is off to a very solid start, not surprisingly. [Wrap]
• Entourage has two more seasons left, and then a movie will follow. [THR]
• The NBC-Comcast deal turned into comedy fodder for Conan this week. [NYT]
• Editors at Golf Digest are a bit embarrassed. The headline on the cover of the January issue: "The Top 10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger." [NYP]
• The new issue of Vogue Italia is totally dedicated to Twitter. [R29, TC]
• Tom Brokaw and his wife were almost killed in a car crash today, but escaped unharmed. A woman in another car died in the incident. [NYP]

What better way to get back at the network that had no faith in you than by making fun of it on its own airwaves. Last night, Tina finally got her revenge.

• ABC has offered George Stephanopoulos the job of Good Morning America co-host and "intensive negotiations" are now reportedly underway. [WP]
• More on how the deal to hand over control of NBC to Comcast came together; and more on how the deal will be viewed by regulators in Washington.
• Oprah won't be hosting her own show when her cable network debuts in 2011, but she will have a "significant presence" on OWN, reportedly. [NYP]
• The magazine graveyard: National Geographic Adventure is no more. [NYT
• Cuts: Thomson Reuters is laying off 240; Daily Candy is shutting down seven of its 12 editions and laying off half a dozen; and ALM is shuttering four titles.
• Town & Country is planning to sex up the magazine, apparently. [WWD]
• An unnamed former Forbes staffer is writing a tell-all about the mag. [DF]
• Lou Dobbs is a nasty, evil man. But you probably knew that. [TDB]
• Someone is paying "at least $100 million" for Friendster? [Reuters]
• This year's Grammy nominations were announced this morning. [LAT]

[The network trotted out big guns Rob Thomas, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Zach Levi, Jane Krakowski, Michael Buble, and another selection from Aretha Franklin's curious hat collection for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony last night. Image via Getty]

It's a done deal: NBC has a new corporate overlord. So how did it go down?

• Rupert Murdoch is hoping to give the Times a run for its money. The mogul plans to put $15 million into the NYC edition of the Wall Street Journal. [NYO]
• ABC still hasn't said who's replacing Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, which has led to some "puzzlement and frustration" among staffers. [LAT]
• Why is Comcast planning to keep Jeff Zucker on as NBC Universal's CEO after it takes control of the company? There are no easy explanations, alas. [NYT]
• The Times may "prune" its collection of 70 blogs to cut expenses. [NYO]
• Sam Zell has stepped down as CEO of Tribune; he'll remain chairman. [NYT]
• The lineup for Sundance 2010 was announced today. [Vulture, NYT]
• Tiger Woods' spicy extracurricular activities would have come out two years ago if the National Enquirer hadn't cut a deal with the golfer. Allegedly. [NYP]

• The deal between Comcast and GE to hand over control of NBC Universal to the cable giant is done; an announcement may come Thursday. [CNBC]
• Job cuts hit Gannett today; USA Today is reducing its staff by 5 percent. [AP]
• So much for Lou Dobbs moving over to CNBC. The cable network now says it has no plans to hire the ex-CNN anchor/possible political candidate. [NYT]
• Will Bravo get into trouble if it goes ahead and casts White House state dinner crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi on The Real Housewives of DC? Did the Today land an interview with the couple because of their pending deal with sister network Bravo? So many questions, so few answers. [NYDN, Gawker]

It's certainly not a best-case scenario, but in the face of all fears, the end of Jay Leno's ratings free fall doesn't seem bad. At last there are signs the NBC's Jay Leno experiment may have turned a corner.

• Another ex-Post staffer has filed a salacious lawsuit against the paper. [HP]
• Yet another magazine is no more. Giant gave up the ghost today. [Gawker]
• Rupert Murdoch's son, Lachlan Murdoch, is teaming up with media investor Jimmy Finkelstein to bid on a handful of media trade titles owned by Nielsen, including The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and AdWeek. [NYT]
• The guy who runs Clubplanet.com says that if Maxim's owners don't sell him the mag, it will go bust by March. Maxim isn't impressed. [P6, AdAge]
• One sector of the magazine biz that's doing well: Airline publishing! [WSJ]
• Did BusinessWeek just replace Maria Bartiromo with Charlie Rose? [BI]
• The good news for Jay Leno: His ratings seem to have stabilized in recent weeks. The bad: More people are watching shows they recorded on their DVRs rather than tune into NBC's misguided 10pm experiment. [THR, NYP]
• New Moon topped the box office once again this weekend, as expected. [THR]

The jokes at NBC's expense weren't very insidery this week, but as usual 30 Rock spent half the episode dissing their home network. Here's what happens when you make Tina & Co. play along with your dumb corporate green initiative.

Like an Italian sex party, Manhattan real estate has no rules. Last night on 30 Rock, Liz threw dignity out the window in order to kick her roommate out of his apartment when the building went condo.

• It's official: Oprah says she plans to call it quits in September 2011. [ABC]
• Layoffs: The BusinessWeek cuts continue (and include a handful of the mag's more notable names); meanwhile the AP body count now stands at 90.
• Sarah Palin sold 300,000 copies of her book the first day, alas. [TDB]
• Condé Nast and Adobe are teaming up to bring Wired to electronic reading devices. Digital versions of Vogue, VF, and the NYer will follow. [WSJ]
• Vogue's design director is exiting the magazine after a four-year run. [WWD]
• In other Anna news, her de facto stepdaughter, Alexis Bryan Morgan, is leaving the Condé Nast family to take Nina Garcia's old job at Elle. [NYM]
• Cable mogul John Malone isn't happy about the idea of Comcast and NBC teaming up. Meanwhile NBC chief Jeff Zucker is staying mum about the deal.
• Another rumored Playboy bidder is denying interest in an acquisition. [NYT]
• Does Bonnie Fuller's new website stand a chance? [NYP]