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Blackberry Z10 goes on Sale Today; Ford says he could return as Han Solo; "Mary Tyler Moore" Cast to Reunite; Rebranding the Republican Party; Leno Unleashes on NBC

Aired March 22, 2013 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is a big day for Blackberry, yes, Blackberry. The new Blackberry Z10 finally goes on sale today. It had been delayed for months and expectations are rather high.

CNN's Zain Asher is standing by in New York. Good morning.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, you know this is an absolutely crucial release for the company. It's had so much trouble competing with Apple and Samsung over the years.

Its market share is pretty much a pittance compared to its rivals. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Blackberry owned about 3.5 percent of the Smartphone market versus 70 percent for Android and 21 percent for Apple's IOS.

Now this is really a tough time for the device to come out. The market place is certainly a lot more competitive now compared to previous Blackberry launches. Reviews have been mostly positive, though, and investors at RIM are optimistic too. The company's share price has gone up more than 40 percent since the start of the year, up roughly 3.5 percent today -- Carol?

COSTELLO: Zain Asher reporting live from New York, thanks so much.

Coming up, the cast of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" coming back to TV for a star-studded reunion.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take the --

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NILOU MOTAMED, "TRAVEL & LEISURE": UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we were looking at our eat like a local list at "Travel & Leisure", we really wanted to make sure that breakfast was well represented. So what I like is a combination of very hot coffee, Bloody Marys whenever it's applicable, and eggs done just the way I like them. So a place I love in Los Angeles is called Huckleberry. You'll see everyone from the west side of L.A. who loves this place for their amazing pastries and their great eggs. One thing that I love there is their green eggs and ham. Which is really cute it's prosciutto, pesto, eggs, arugula it is absolutely delicious.

I love Morning Call in New Orleans for their perfect pinae (ph) and Cafe Ole. This place is an institution in New Orleans it's been there since 1870 . The combination of the Chickory coffee and that great hot milk that makes the perfect Cafe Ole and the beignets are hand- rolled and hand-cut right before you get there. There's a reason why this place is an institution, there's a reason why locals love -- love Morning Call and I can't get enough of it. Every time I go to New Orleans, this is absolutely on my list.

On New York's lower east side, the Crenton's St. Baking company delivers exactly what I want for breakfast, which is -- but I can get it any time of day. They have these incredible pancakes with blueberries. The pancakes are so fluffy. And I love the fact that I can get them for breakfast, which is great, although there are lots of crowds, if you're going to go there brunch make sure that you get there early or I can get them for dessert. It's not bad.

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COSTELLO: It's the role that put Harrison Ford on the map.

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HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: Laugh it up, Fuzzball.

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COSTELLO: Laugh it up, Fuzzball. That's one of the great lines from the "Star Wars" series and Harrison Ford could be back as Han Solo. Listen to what he told CNN affiliate, WGN.

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FORD: I think it's almost true. I think, you know, I'm looking forward to it. I'm -- not in the bag yet, but I think it's happening.

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COSTELLO: Ford turns 70 years old next year. "Star Wars" Episode 7 is still in the early development process. We'll keep you posted.

The cast of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" will reunite on the TV show "Hot in Cleveland" and be prepared for witty comments like this one.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's my sweater. I knew I left it somewhere. Hi Lou. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mary?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where have you been?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At lunch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what time did you leave?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 12:00.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right and what time is it now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 12:55.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-huh. And I suppose you usually take 55 minutes for lunch?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, Mr. Grant, I usually take an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even when it's Friday and you still don't have a guest for Sunday's "Place the People Show."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you know she doesn't Lou?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does she?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know, why don't you ask her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good well there's new city council Pete Peterson his office has been bugging me to get him on the show.

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COSTELLO: I love that show. A.J. Hammer is in New York. This should be good.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I wanted to watch more, Carol, quite frankly.

COSTELLO: I know me too.

HAMMER: Look this is going to be a huge thrill for fans of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and it's really hard to imagine how emotional it's going to be on that set when you get Mary, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, Gloria Engel and of course the terminally ill Valerie Harper all reuniting on the same sound stage.

Now this is going to be the very first time since "Mary Tyler Moore" went off the air in 1977 that they're all going to be in front of the camera together. And I'm going to do the math for you, that's 36 years ago. I have to imagine Valerie Harper's recent announcement about her cancer and prognosis played a big role in making this reunion happen and I think it is terrific they're doing this and that Valerie is healthy enough to plan on shooting this episode.

And you know this has to be great for her spirit. She loves this character. She loved playing Rhoda. And she loves performing for her fans.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is who broke this news about the reunion. They say the episode is going to be taped on April 5th and the story line will apparently revolve around Betty White and Gloria Engle's characters deciding to get their old bowling team back together. Now the very glamorous ladies of bowling made up by the "Mary Tyler Moore" reportedly had some kind of a falling out after their championship season went to their heads.

Now there is no word yet on the surviving male members of the cast that we saw in that clip a few minutes ago, Ed Asner and Gavin MacLeod and if they're going to be a part of the reunion. And Asner has actually been very busy with the "One Man Play." He's playing FDR in Gary, Indiana. Earlier this week, he was hospitalized after having some trouble speaking while on stage.

So our good thought is going out to Ed Asner and his family right now for a speedy recovery. It would be great if he and Gavin MacLeod Murray made an appearance on the show when they do this reunion.

COSTELLO: Or Captain Stubbing what's your generation right?

HAMMER: Yes wrong show but -- but sure he was Captain Stubbing and Lou Grant.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much, A.J.

HAMMER: You got it.

COSTELLO: The Republican Party looks to the future, but first it might need to deal with a little GOP family feud as some conservatives take aim at one another. Our "Talk Back" panel, next.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Even as Tiny Valparaiso fell beneath the thundering sneakers of Michigan State, Boosters still had reason to celebrate, because their team at least made it into what has become the sports spectacle of spring. In truth, the NCAA tournament is rivalled by few other sporting events, any time of year, drawing millions of fans who follow every dribble and millions more who don't know a free-throw from a foul.

Michael Wilbon with ESPN.

MICHAEL WILBON, CO-HOST, ESPN PARDON THE INTERRUPTION: They wouldn't have any idea what those basketball programs are about or what they've done historically, but they know final four. It's a brand. It's a -- you know, a uniquely American brand. FOREMAN: The tournament started in 1939, when basketball itself was still just gathering steam and it was an underdog, a distant second to a much more popular college playoff series. But shrewd marketing and good luck pushed the final four into a fast break of staggering success.

Today, the contest nets $1 billion in TV revenue and has fans from Wichita, that's their team playing, to the White House guessing who will win.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think this is Indiana's year.

FOREMAN (on camera): In many ways, that is what makes the final four so attractive. Unlike say, football, where many teams are out of contention for the championship even before their seasons end. In the final four, dozens of teams come into the tournament with a real shot at the crown, even if it's a long one.

WILBON: Basketball is a much more Democratic endeavor, if you will. It is much more inclusive.

FOREMAN (voice over): That is what has driven the final four to such heights. The Cinderella stories, the championship comebacks, and the idea that even when buck nail meets butler, one of them might go all the way.

Tom Foreman, CNN.

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COSTELLO: It's 43 minutes past the hour. Time to check our "Top Stories".

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie being blasted by his rivals for not taking a harder stand against gay conversion therapy. Christie says he does not believe in the practice, but as he hasn't made up his mind whether to sign a proposed ban into law.

He spent more than 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Now David Ranta is a free man, after a man who identified him as the killer admitted he was told to do so by police. Moments after the judge's decision, Ranta spoke to reporters about what he plans to do next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any one thing you want to do?

DAVID RANTA, WRONGLY CONVICTED NOW FREE: Yes, get the hell out of here, maybe.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: I bet. The D.A.'s office says it found evidence that if available at the time of trial, may not have caused jurors to convict Ranta beyond a reasonable doubt for the murder of a Rabbi back in 1990.

A Canadian highway has reopened after a massive pileup that injured 100 people. The miles-long accident happened on a highway outside Edmonton during a spring snowstorm. The CDC reports police and fire department also had helped several stranded passenger.

And a new law making its way to the South Carolina senate. It would allow anyone to carry a gun in public, regardless of whether they had a concealed weapons permit. CNN affiliate WSPA says the bill is now under review and will head to the state's senate judiciary committee next month.

Time now to "Talk Back". What a week it's been for Republicans. The party searching for a way to rebrand, and more importantly, to win, releasing that much-anticipated autopsy, saying that it needs to branch out in order to meet that goal. But that plan to rebrand is meeting resistance, as some prominent conservatives blast the proposal and one another.

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RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: In other words, what the Republicans have to do, and even a Republican strategist, Ana Navarro, agreed, what they are really suggesting is every voice of opposition be silenced. That's what they're all talking about. No dissent, no opposition whatsoever. Anybody opposing us or Obama, you have got to denounce them. You have to shut them up. She was McCain's Latino -- I know who she is. I know who Ana Navarro is.

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COSTELLO: So there you go, Rush Limbaugh taking aim at Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ana Navarro after she says the party should speak out against extreme rhetoric spoken by people like Limbaugh and Donald Trump. That prompted the Donald to offer this rebuttal via "Twitter" quote, "Why do shows have Ana Navarro, national Hispanic chair for the losing McCain '08 and Huntsman '12. She's a loser who doesn't deliver votes."

Ana Navarro joins me now along with CNN contributor and "New York Times" op-ed columnist Ross Douthat. Welcome to you both.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

ROSS DOUTHAT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Ana, you're (inaudible) -- I can't believe, Ross, you've agreed to appear with Ana.

DOUTHAT: I guess neither Donald nor Rush was willing able to appear, so I'm here standing in for them.

NAVARRO: And you're a mighty fine fill-in, Ross.

COSTELLO: Mighty fine. So Ana, first of all, I'm sure you're used to being blasted because you live in the world of politics, but how does this feel?

NAVARRO: It doesn't bother me at all. Listen, you know, it's part of the game. It comes with the territory. Certainly, I've been critical of Donald Trump's speech at CPAC. If he had eyes and ears, he would have seen that he was bombing at CPAC.

At some other point, he has given good speeches. This particular speech was rather incoherent and rambling, and completely off the message of what CPAC was trying to do, which was push things like immigration reform.

But he's -- we're all entitled to our opinion. I don't want to silence anybody. I think there should be as many voices of dissent as there are. But I think we need to be a big tent party, and that means there's got to be room for voices, like Donald Trump's, but also like mine. Like Rush Limbaugh's, but like Governor Chris Christie's. I think we all have to learn to live with each other in harmony, in a big, happy tent if we are to grow this party and start winning some elections.

COSTELLO: Ross, I have to laugh, because she said big, happy tent. Is that possible? Everybody says there's this civil war going on within the Republican Party.

DOUTHAT: Well, look, if it's Ana versus Donald Trump for the future of the Republican Party, then I'm obviously on Ana's side and I think any sensible Republican would be. But I do think part of the backlash against the RNC report this week reflected the fact that this is the sort of elite Republican vision of how to fix the party, right? So officially the report didn't make any policy recommendations, but then it said, oh, by the way, we should probably be in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and probably gay marriage as well.

And that's the strategy that I think, if you talk to Republican consultants in D.C., many of whom are for gay marriage themselves, have always been for immigration reform, they'd be on board with. The danger there for the party, though, is that, one, it's, you know, it obviously is going to anger a lot of opponents of unrestricted immigration, a lot of social conservatives, whose votes the party needs.

And the second problem is that the Republican Party's problem with Hispanics isn't just about immigration, right? It's about economic policies. That if you go down the list of polling questions, Hispanic voters, in general, don't like what the Republican Party is selling on economics.

So if the Republicans become the party of, you know, immigration reform, you end up with more Hispanic voters and they don't have an economic message to meet them, all they're doing is creating more Democratic voters, which you can understand why some Republicans would consider that an odd strategy for the party to take. COSTELLO: Ok, so Ana, respond to that.

NAVARRO: Well, I think, actually, that's completely wrong. And I want to think that we are a party that can compete with, you know, the Democrats for the hearts, souls, and votes of Hispanics. I think it's really short-sighted and underselling Republican values to say look, we're going to give green cards and citizenship to 11 million people and we are committing political suicide because then they're all going to be Democrats.

That's not the Republican Party I belong to. I belong to a Republican Party where I can be a Hispanic and I can be a proud Republican. And I live in south Florida where we have great Republican leaders who have been able to bring in Hispanics to the party, because they ably represent us. They don't say things that antagonize us. They defend our interests, because they embrace us as being all Americans.

And so, you know, we're not talking about giving 11 million immigrants citizenship tomorrow. This is going to be a lengthy, long, hard process and if we as a party, in ten years, 15 years, 20 years that it's going to take any of them, under the current plans, to become citizens, cannot compete for their votes, we should just give up and, you know, hang up our gloves right now.

We must be a party that can compete on an even field for these votes. And just people who are talking about, we're all over the place on immigration reform. Just this week, the RNC came out in favor of it, Senator Rand Paul came out in favor of it, Marco Rubio is in favor of it, Jeb Bush is in favor of it, Governor Christie is in favor of it. Practically every 2016 potential nominee being mentioned in the Republican Party, Paul Ryan, you name it, is in favor of immigration reform. So I don't know where you turn to if you're against it.

COSTELLO: All right. I've got to wrap this up and I'm sure we all three make an appearance on the "Rush Limbaugh Show" later today. Ana Navarro, Ross Douthat, thanks so much for joining us.

Burning bridges with your bosses. Jay Leno scorches NBC amid talks he's on the way out. Coming up, some of the comedian's toughest punch lines.

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COSTELLO: Talk that NBC might have Jimmy Fallon take over the "Tonight" show is no laughing matter for Jay Leno. Actually, it is. Here's Jeanne Moos.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDNET: In a way, Jay Leno is living a fantasy. You know, when you know you're going to leave a job, but before you walk out the door, you unload on the boss. What Jay is unloading are jokes about NBC's ratings. In one case, six jokes in under a minute.

JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: And the most common thing people are giving up for Lent this year, watching NBC apparently. The ratings are so bad, the "Biggest Loser" isn't just a TV show anymore, it's our newest motto. That's how bad it is.

MOOS: The "New York Times" reported the jokes so offended NBC's entertainment chief, Robert Greenblatt, that he fired off an e-mail to Jay and Jay fired back.

Leno's contract is up next year and "The Times" says NBC execs have promised the "Tonight" show to Jimmy Fallon. Jay's digs at NBC have critics keeping score, what did he say this time, asked Mediaite. Here's what he said Monday.

LENO: St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and then they came into the United States and became NBC executives. It's a fascinating, fascinating story.

MOOS: On Tuesday, he referred to an actual woman with a rare medical disorder.

LENO: And unbelievable, she sees everything upside down. In fact, she thinks NBC is at the top of the ratings. That's how it's gotten.

MOOS: And on Wednesday, more science.

Leno: Things that once thought to be instinct could now be brought back from the dead. So there's hope for NBC. It could turn around

MOOS: We called NBC for comment, but got none. Of course, comedians always bite the hand that feeds them. Listen to Howard Stern rip apart the financial officer of his employer, Sirius XM radio, amid contract negotiations.

HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Why the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) would I take a pay cut when I'm the one who's actually performed? You can (EXPLETIVE DELETED) whoever the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you are. I never even heard of you.

MOOS: Two days later, Howard agreed to a new contract, terms undisclosed.

(on camera): The moral of the story, beware of antagonizing a guy with a mic, a big mic. Taking the cake was Charlie Sheen attacking his by then his ex-boss, executive producer, Chuck Lorre.

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: It's sad and stupid that a foul odor attached, it would be you, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You picked a fight with is a warlock, you little worm.

MOOS: Sort of makes Jay's jokes seem gentle

LENO: St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland --

MOOS: Jeanne moos CNN --

LENO: And then they came in to the United States and became NBC executives. MOOS: New York.

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COSTELLO: Pretty funny. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me today. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues after a quick break with Ashleigh Banfield.

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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's good to have you with us today on this Friday. Today we are devoting much of this hour to two stories you have probably had a conversation about, at least one time perhaps this week.