Beauty and the Beast

PPDA is out. Laurence Ferrari, the ravishing speakerine whose chemistry with Sarkozy in a bare-shouldered interview led to rumors that she would replace Cécilia, is instead to replace the French Walter Cronkite, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, who had seemed to be a permanent fixture of TF1. The advent of a "news babe" in the most visible post in telejournalism may add fuel to the fire reported here. I've seen too little of Ferrari to know if such criticism is warranted. On the other hand, I've seen too much of PPDA to worry unduly about his demise.

The gossip now comes full circle. It was rumored that Ferrari left TF1 when her then husband, Thomas Hugues, was passed over as PPDA's heir-apparent in favor of Harry Roselmack, the station's first black anchor. Then Hugues and Ferrari divorced, fueling speculation that she was the object of Sarkozy's affections, a rumor scotched by his marriage to Carla Bruni. Now, presumably, it's Roselmack's turn to feel miffed and Claire Chazal's to feel threatened. Ah, quel monde! Et si petit.