A week after the axing of Les Moonves' chief nemesis, Viacom head Tom Freston, the CBS president is sitting pretty. Sumner Redstone, the ancient master of CBS/Viacom, was the one who took the axe to Redstone's well-documented departure from the building. And Moonves couldn't be happier.

Since nabbing Katie Couric to anchor Eyewitness News, lining up a new season of television programming, and appealing to the Wall Street crowd, Moonves is becoming network television's next up-and-coming mogul. But he's not going to get too confident just yet.

Mr. Moonves is too savvy a political player to show even a hint of schadenfreude over the ouster of Mr. Freston. But in an interview late last week, he allowed himself to gloat a little about CBS’s current status.

“I am like: ‘O.K., bring it on and let the games begin,’ ’’ said the tanned, trim 56-year-old executive. “We are extremely pleased about Katie,” he said, though he was quick to add: “Don’t declare victory. Wait a couple of weeks.”

To say, "wait a couple weeks" is gloating? Sounds pretty modest to us. Then again, most tan and trimmed older dudes in expensive suits and big offices seem like they're gloating about something. Most of the time, anyways.

A Tortoise Savors the Lead [Geraldine Fabrikant and Bill Carter, New York Times]