TV Bites: A New Term for Jeff Zucker

· Congratulations to NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, who navigated last week's $37.5 billion Comcast-General Electric merger so well that his contract with the company was renewed for at least 18 months. Does this mean any big changes for the denim deity of peacock primetime? Probably not. Only last week, Zucker maintained that the Jay Leno Show is doing "exactly what we thought it would do" and just needs a little more time. Sigh. [Reuters]

CBS time-travels, Hugh Laurie tries his hand at directing, and more TV Bites after the jump.

· Barbara Walters tried to simultaneously forgive, honor and insult Adam Lambert during her 10 Most Fascinating People special on Wednesday, but the controversial AMA performer can rest easy knowing that he'll always be supported at Fox. The American Idol runner-up is scheduled to perform on next week's So You Think You Can Dance finale. Nigel Lythgoe promised other A-list guests including Mary J. Blige. [Zap2It]

· CBS can't go back in time to erase Three Rivers but the Tiffany Network will explore time travel with a new series called Murmurs about "the Commission, an agency that detects and corrects alterations in time called murmurs, ensuring that history remains unchanged." The series was brought to the network by Jason Smilovic, who recently penned the My Own Worst Enemy pilot, Goldsmith-Thomas and Smilovic's producing partner, Tyler Mitchell. [Reuters]

· Newscasters do cry, just ask Diane Sawyer, who teared up during her last episode of Good Morning America today. The anchor will replace the retiring Charles Gibson at ABC's World News. Meanwhile, GMA initiates Sawyer's replacement, George Stephanopoulos, on Monday with a cooking demo. [AP]

· Hugh Laurie has accepted the mighty challenge of directing a future episode of Fox's House, the series in which he stars. The British actor assured fans that "House scripts are Faberge eggs, and I will try my very hardest not to drop this one on a stone floor." [Reuters]