Was Laurye Blackford's exit from The Early Show not the voluntarily departure we heard it was? Earlier this month we heard the "mean girls" producer gave her two weeks notice when Zev Shalev was installed as interim executive producer.

Now one rumor being floated is that the idea of her exiting the CBS show wasn't something she actually wanted to do, and that she was nudged out the door when her 6-month contract, signed in January, expired. She's said to be weighing a move back to Los Angeles, which might help her escape one unconfirmed rumor we heard that she's secretly living with one of her own staffers, who she hired, here in New York.

Meanwhile, Shalev, who's been on the job just a couple weeks and is well liked by CBS News head Sean McManus (McManus fought with Shelley Ross to bring him on board), is already facing off against Michael Rosen, the show's No. 2 who's been clamoring for the top EP slot himself. The "poor chemistry is visible on the air," reports a spy; timing errors and sloppy live producing are cited as evidence. But Rosen does have something to look forward to: We hear he's getting married to CNN's human resources head this summer.

Which is actually very bad news for any Early Show staffers looking to jump ship: His new wife will be the first to know and, presumably, able to alert Rosen that they're job hunting.

Not that staffers are really expecting him to return in a better mood post-nuptials.

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JOSSIP REPORTS

Laurye Blackford, one of Shelley Ross' hires and one of the notorious "mean girls" at The Early Show, told bosses yesterday that she's quitting. She submitted her two weeks notice, Jossip hears, in protest of Zev Shalev being named executive producer of the A.M. show, following Rick Kaplan's exit, which we were the first to tell you about this week. (Interesting, because David Shenfeld, the senior producer who stopped showing up for work last week, is said to have left the show because he lost all power to Blackford.)

Blackford was only supposed to be with the show through January, but stayed on because she thought she might be named to Ross' top spot, says a source.

Oh, and in case you missed it in there: Shalev is officially replacing Kaplan.

The Early Show's drama didn't end with Shelley Ross' ouster. Or with last week's exits.

Yesterday, security escorted five staffers and one senior producer out of the building, we're told, in a housecleaning orchestrated by interim exec producer Rick Kaplan and CBS VP of talent/development Barbara Fedida. So the story goes, the removals were all people Ross wanted gone during her tenure. (For its part, CBS denies this was a Kaplan-Fedidia-led ouster, and was merely part of a network-wide restructuring.)

Among those removed? None other than Rob Foreman, the health producer who Ross forced to read an apology to the staff when he dared question one of her decisions. How's that for retaliation?

Not only that, but the senior producer was the show's only black staffer, who was escorted from the building along with the show's only Asian staffer. (CBS assures us this is not the case, and that there are other black and Asian staffers, not just Julie Chen.)

The black producer let go was Anjie Taylor. Jee Won Park is the Asian staffer, who made her hatred of Ross and senior producer Laurye Blackford, cohorts from Good Morning America, well known. (Ross and Blackford were the show's "Mean Girls.")

If you ask CBS, they'll tell you they're moving the show in a different direction and the firings are part of company-wide layoffs. Nevermind that they have double-digit job openings to fill, and everyone who was fired was either over 40 or a minority (CBS says this is untrue).

We're told to expect more blood spilled before someone grabs a mop.

Update: Says CBS in a statement: ""Like many news organizations, print and electronic, CBS News is taking steps to accommodate changes in technology and newsgathering and trying to best utilize our staff. To that end, some open jobs in the division are not going to being filled, some jobs are being redefined, some are being lost and some will be added."

(This item was updated from its original version.)

"The Hudson Hotel bar should have a permanent booth for Early Show going away parties," says a CBS veteran, who reports another two staffers on the network's morning show quit this week, and there are more exits on the way.

It turns out Shelley Ross' departure hasn't been the panacea that brass tried convincing everyone, including the press, it would be. Even with interim executive producer Rick Kaplan at the A.M. helm, we're told "things aren't any better [there]. No former staffers have returned to CBS despite the media plants to the contrary."

So how come problems remain? Because of Ross' "mean girl" confidants are still on the inside, even though, we're told, they're the ones responsible for brandishing the largest, most serrated knives when it came to stabbing her in the back.

And look no farther than former Good Morning America colleague and Early Show EP hopeful Ben Sherwood and CBS VP of talent/development Barbara Fedida, who were both, reportedly, on great terms with Ross to her face, but not when she left the room. (Fedida worked in talent at ABC before CBS poached her.)

Fedida and CBS News chief Sean McManus, meanwhile, are taking heat from staffers for "hand pick[ing] one executive disaster after the next" without repercussion.

And that's easy to do when Les Moonves is asleep at the wheel.

So happy are The Early Show staffers now that Shelley Ross is gone, some of the 21 who left under her tenure are thinking about coming back now that Rick Kaplan is, at least temporarily, manning the show. [Mixed Media]

Though Ben Sherwood may be the leading candidate to take over Shelley Ross' executive producer job at The Early Show, network brass is fuming over reports in Page Six that are said to have been leaked by Sherwood himself, or from inside his camp.

On Thursday, Page Six reported that at the funeral of GMA producer James Bogdonoff, ABC anchor Charlie Gibson muttered, "It took us six years to get rid of her. How come it only took them [CBS] five months?" From inside CBS, we're told Les Moonves & Co. understand Sherwood fed that item, and they're furious he'd go to such lengths to sabotage his predecessor.

And it's not just them. Gibson is raging, too, that P6 ran that quote, and more furious since he too suspects it was Sherwood-provided. (These two know each other from Sherwood's days at ABC; he exec produced GMA through 2006, after he returned from writing novels for two years after leaving his No. 2 producer gig at NBC Nightly News.)

But all of that might be swept under the carpet, eventually. We're told Sherwood retains his lead role on the list Early Show job candidates because of a strong personal friendship, beginning in college, with a senior CBS News executive.

As Steve Forbes is apt to repeat from his father: "There is nothing wrong with nepotism so long as you keep it in the family." Or, at the very least, the university class.

While some folks are doing silly things like worrying about the future of The Early Show, others can't help but look to the past. Turns out, during Shelley Ross' tenure running the CBS morning show, viewership may have actually increased. Number crunching TVNewser reveals audience figures may have eeked upward, with a net gain of 64,000 viewers. Nothing substantial, but that's certainly a better direction than the alternative. But with Radar's bullet-pointed list of all of Ross' missteps – her No. 2 that never left; making weatherman Dave Price miserable by flying him around the country on costly assignments; never answering email; and, oh, that demoralizing of staffers – perhaps maybe hypothetically possibly potentially theoretically it wasn't enough to keep her from getting canned?

An anonymous tip making its way to our inbox: "Former GMA executive producer Ben Sherwood is the leading candidate to (once again) replace his nemesis Shelley Ross, this time at CBS' Early Show. He is working with his superagent, CAA's Alan Berger, as well as through his powerful Hollywood studio exec wife, to secure the position."

CBS News just sent out a press release confirming what we already knew: The Early Show executive producer is out. Who's in? None other than Evening News exec producer Rick Kaplan, who's gonna have crazy hours, at least until they find a replacement.

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"It took us six years to get rid of her. How come it only took them [CBS] five months?" That's what Charlie Gibson's said to be wondering aloud, to Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts, following rumors that The Early Show exec producer Shelley Ross is a goner. Not only has Shelley not shown up for work this week, but boxes are being moved out of her office. On Monday, which was potentially Ross' last day, a meeting was held for staffers to vent their frustrations with Ross. She attended the meeting. It was awkward.

Since arriving in September, Ross has maintained The Early Show's third-place ranking (that's not a compliment), seen 21 staffers leave, seen Les Moonves wife and Early Show co-anchor threaten to quit, and suffered through rampant rumors of tequila shots and joyfully humiliating staffers.

After all this, it looks like somebody might need the happiness gene — which, as the The Early Show reported today, explains why some people are genetically wired to be happy. That the B-roll included footage of girls getting wasted at a bar is completely unrelated.

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Normally the biggest question Shelley Ross must answer is: "Patron or Cuervo?" But following the latest round of gossipmongering about the The Early Show exec producer and "cruel tyrant," she might be forced out of her job within the next few weeks after only coming on board in September (and overseeing the exits of more than 20 staffers). Though Ross' recent tendency not to come into the office might push things along. Perhaps you know if she was at work this morning?

Best known for allegedly serving her staff (non-optional) tequila shots as a means of motivating the troops, embroiled Early Show exec producer Shelley Ross has more leaks to worry about. (Obvious criticism: She's getting harsher treatment because she's a female exec, an assessment we wouldn't argue with)

Some Chatty Cathys at the ratings-challenged morning show are eager to share gossipy anecdotes. Like the time medical reporter Rob Foreman, who dared challenge the program's commitment to scientific evidence, was forced to write an apology and read it aloud to the staff. Or the time when another producer was forced to reschedule his colonoscopy because it conflicted with sweeps.

Apparently, her tactics have made for an unhealthy working environment! Which explains why, since September, some 21 staffers have exited. Probably to "spend more time with their families."

• Best Life finds its new publisher at GQ.

• That New York Times is getting awfully lucky with those classified memos.

• Canned ABC News exec producer Shelley Ross won't tell you where she's headed next, but she's "taking meetings." Like Atoosa Rubenstein, Lloyd Grove, Debra Birnbaum, Howard Burns …

• Anna Wintour does as Bee Shaffer tells her.

• Yahoo splitting into three groups with ambigious names.

• Sirius lowers subscriber forecasts by six figures.

• Johnny Apple's funeral at the Kennedy Center last night drew the types of a Tom Brokaw dinner party.

• Rescuers claim to be thisclose to finding missing CNET editor James Kim.

Richard Johnson & Co. are expanding on a Los Angeles Times item yesterday that hinted CBS News is ready to announce a deal with Katie Couric. Sure, the media crits have been expounding on the idea for weeks and months, but Page Six claims the announcement could come "any day now." And when the Sixers spit it, you know it's gospel.

But the media movement doesn't stop there. ABC, not content to be completely forgotten about, is prepared to announce Charlie Gibson will take over Peter Jennings' old job, leaving Liz Vargas to swing in the 20/20 wind.

And most interesting to us, former Good Morning America and Primetime Live exec producer Shelley Ross will be responsible for ousting Rick Kaplan. She'll soon be sitting in his Secaucus office — and within weeks shouldering the blame for dismal Nielsens.

But back to Katie for a minute. If she does wave goodbye to her $13 million-a-year gig at NBC for a better paying anchor chair assignment and a flip-flopped sleeping schedule, it'll mean one thing in particular: CBS head Les Moonves didn't take Jon Friedman's advice to groom his own star. And that just makes us wish we had a heart to break.

Katie to CBS? [Page Six]
NBC's Couric May Jump to Rival CBS [LAT]
Related: Jon Friedman should keep his letters to himself