When the comely Nicole appeared on camera, Dave joked, “Green jobs makes [sic] me cough, apparently.” Clad in her low-cut blue top and a short black skirt, the chuckling Greek lovely cooed, “It makes other people do other things, even worse.” Glancing down at her gorgeous gams and putting his hand to his mouth (as if to suppress yet another cough), a smiling Dave replied, “Right. That’s where I was going with that.”

Subsequently, the brainy beauty tutored an attentive Dave (on the millions of taxpayer dollars being lost on green projects of “Friends of the President”). When barely a minute had elapsed, Dave looked down at Nicole’s sexy stems anew and coughed once more. After an intervening query and,  yes, still another cough, Dave concluded his interview, “earnestly” asking Nicole a follow-up question (on private sector investment): as his luscious lecturer began to opine in her dulcet tones, Dave looked at her almost lovestruck and then dreamily turned away with a goofy grin.

When Nicole had finished, Dave more soberly remarked, “Nicole Petallides from the Fox Business Network. We appreciate it.” Smiling sweetly at Dave, Nicole responded, “Thanks. You did a great job getting though that.” Aptly, Dave answered, “Trying to get through this, right?”

Poor Nervous Nelly. Perhaps, the F&FW co-host that The Tonight Show host Jay Leno lampooned for having an appreciative eye for his FOX-y colleagues (or, to be more exact, the bonny bums of Ainsley Earhardt and Janice Dean) should be given a pass today. After all, it’s the birthday of Dave’s beautiful wife Brandi.

Fox & Friends Weekend – 01/28/12 (@ 6:46 a.m. ET)

Not too surprising. With Jaqui Jeras covering for her “Mr. Dreamy” a/k/a Rob Marciano today, Ashleigh appeared to need a fresh infusion of some early  morning testosterone. But with her erstwhile A.M. Adonis gone, the comely Cannuck seemed eager to embrace another male this early morn–but, to no avail.

Perhaps, Ken Jautz’s morning all-girl world is not all that it is supposed to be. For Ashleigh. Or, her audience.

* Early Start – 01/05/12 (@ 6:50 a.m ET)

**Ibid at 01/25/12 (@ 5:40 a.m. ET)

Doubtlessly, ES is an hour too early, and Ash appears to acknowledge that each time she assures her audience that the news is not old news from yesterday but will be the new news later in the day. Not to mention Ashley’s telling her West Coast viewer to go to bed as she greets her East Coast audience indicates that one may have tuned in just a tad too early. Not necessarily an auspicious start to one’s day.

Unfortunately, Ash’s co-anchor Zoraida seems all too content to sit idly on ES‘ sidelines. The lovely Latina professes that the early hour is her favorite one but she seems to blossom a little later in the day (e.g., Z’s tantalizing tango and sexy cha cha). But, if the brunette beauty ever seeks to supplant even remotely AM‘s Aphrodite Kiran Chetry in the hearts of her CNN viewers, she must soon emerge from Ashleigh’s long shadow.

Early Start: A little late.

Naked? Not exactly: she did have her earrings on. Unfortunately, for her, perhaps, overly avid votaries, the long-tressed brunette beauty also had on additional adornment, i.e., a long-sleeved royal blue jacket and matching low top (yet without a hint of decolletage) and a long high-waisted form-fitting black skirt. But, as usual, she sported no necklace, no bracelets, and NO rings.

Hint, hint: Take a gander, guys? Comely Maria Molina: FNC’s “naked” nymph!

*America’s Newsroom – 01/23/12 (@ 10:05 a.m. ET)

During the F&F mid-show headline news segment this morning, Gretchen’s co-host Brian Kilmeade read the ditched-cougar-mascot account and producers aired an accompanying Cougar Town clip of a flashing Courtney Cox. As he explained, “If you watch Cougar Town, you know Courtney Cox plays an older woman who dates younger men, Gretchen whooped, “Alright!” When Brian elaborated that some parents and school board members were consequently for another mascot, the bawdy former Miss America exclaimed, “Oh, come on! Come on! That is so ridiculous! And, I can say so with authority!”

Amused, Brian asked, “So you are outraged?” Lifting her right eyebrow suggestively, Gretchen cooed, “I’m a cougar!” Pruriently prodding her on, Brian continued, “You’re a cougar?” Shrugging her shoulder and smiling coyly, Gretchen insisted, “I mean I don’t act on it but I’m a cougar.”

Tweaking a randy Gretchen, Brian jested, “Right, I know: Casey’s 29. This is something brand new.” While chuckling at Brian’s playful but, perhaps, untimely reminder of her middle-aged hubby Casey Close, Gretchen protested, “I just mean in age alone–not that I’m gonna act on it.”

Crouching cougar: Hidden Carlson?

*Fox & Friends – 01/20/12 (@ 7:36 a.m. ET)

[Author's aside: For related Carpe Diem articles, cf. Gretchen: Cougar 2 Pussycat, "Cougar" Carlson: "I'm in the Mood," "Cougar" Carlson: Saved by the Bell, and Gretch: Rub My Toes, Peter Doocy.]

Almost three and a half years ago (07/02/08),* during a “Back to the 80′s” segment with F&F co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson, then Fox & Friends news reader Aly happily displayed pics from her heady 80′s years.** After producers aired a photo of the leopard-clad lass and her family at the beach in Wildwood, New Jersey, Aly penned an “80′s Photos” post which shared pics of herself and various amorous blurred-out beaux (one, two), a big-haired prom pic, and then the piece de resistance–Aly and her co-ed buds basking in the sun.

As the full-screen photo of a taut, tanned, and bikini-clad Aly appeared, she proudly proclaimed, “Now, this is what’s so important about this picture: That’s what somebody looks like before three children. This is what the abs were like.” As an appreciative Brian exclaimed, “Oh!,” a smiling Aly continued, “I hope as many– people, if you’re not watching your television right now, please come to the tv and stare at this. You’ll never see this again: I’m a figment of my former self.”

Seductively, Aly added, “Listen, if you can somehow take your eyes up from my abs, look at the Wayfarer sunglasses…and that is my Joan Jett mullet–short in the front, long in the back!” Priapically, Steve asked, “What did you call that yesterday?” Racily, Aly animatedly answered, “Business in front: party in the rear!”

As Steve and Aly laughed wickedly in unison, a bawdy Brian exclaimed, “Yeah, fantastic!” Seemingly somewhat jealous, Gretchen acerbically chuckled, “I have a feeling that little get-together wasn’t very innocent.”

Unabashedly, Aly replied, “Uh, none of those that we just saw. And, I’m amazed that they’re…covering the face[s] of the guilty in some of these even though I did not tell them to: Somehow, our producers instinctively knew.” In a final riposte, Steve jested, “Some people call those snap shots of the ‘guilty’: others call them evidence. And, that’s why we’ve fuzzed people out.”

Unfortunately, F&FW fans, Steve may not have been “jesting” after all. Seemingly, FNC has gone one step further “for Aly”: Not only have they covered “the face of the ‘guilty’” but they have expunged the evidence altogether.

Sexy “Camerota CENSORED” again: But, this time, did Aly “tell them to”?

*Fox & Friends – 07/02/08 (@ 8:36 a.m. ET)

**Aly and fam – 3rd row, 1st pic; Aly and beaux (3rd row, 4th & 8th pics); “prom” Aly (3rd row, 9th pic); and Aly in her piece de resistance (2nd row, 11th pic).

Then, Huckabee explained, “I heard that news from my campaign chairman Ed Rollins who heard it from three different sources inside the [McCain] camp.” Deftly, he continued, “I thought it was a compliment in that it was a brilliant political move if they did it.” Then, with a sly smile, he snarked, “Now…if they weren’t smart enough to do it, then I apologize for giving them the benefit of being that smart.”

Ouch. Reagan’s 11th Commandment: Forgotten?

America Live – 01/13/12 (@ 1:19 p.m. ET)

[Author's aside: For video of Thompson's denial today on Fox & Friends, link here.]

Pressing Thompson, co-host Alisyn Camerota inquired, “So, Senator McCain never asked you to stay in the race?” Emphatically, Thompson answered, “Correct! Senator McCain and I never had a conversation about staying in the race, staying out of the race.” He continued, “If I’d wanted to hurt Huckabee, I would have stayed in…as we went down to Tennessee…or would have endorsed John before then.” More definitively, he declared, “We didn’t [even] have a conversation with the intermediaries….There was nothing said about that.”

Clearly still miffed, Thompson elaborated, “Mike, Mike’s been around long enough to know not to…inhale all of that stuff too deeply. And, when he says [that] several McCain people have come to him and verified it, I, I must say–you know, I have nothing at all against Mike Huckabee–I doubt that. I doubt that.”

Then, calling Huckabee “out on the carpet” before his clearly uncomfortable FNC colleagues (F&F co-hosts Aly, Steve, and Eric Bolling), Thompson concluded, “And, if they did…he should name the names. Now, it’s just a rewriting of history that’s unnecessary.”

Coming to Huckabee’s defense, Steve stammered, “Well, it, it, apparently, it’s his perception on what happened.” Chiming in, less than convincingly, a smiling Aly asserted, “Well, we appreciate you clarifying all of that.”

Perhaps, Aly. But, Governor Huckabee probably doesn’t.

Fox & Friends – 01/13/12 (@ 7:52 a.m. ET)

Update: For columnist Tommy Christopher‘s subsequent take and the vid clip in Mediaite, link here.

After her show AM was cancelled almost two weeks ago (December 30), Christine waited just one business day later until she returned to the early CNN morn like a phoenix. Initially, she started off innocuously  enough as headline news reader with hits on the half hour on Starting Point. The very next day, Christine seized the role of the “Magic Wall” election expert. Subsequently, Christine has assumed the role again of biz whiz and even anchor–albeit on the sly. E.g., during her purported “headline news segment,” she has begun to take live reports, e.g., from correspondents such as Nic Robertson (Syria); Brianna Kielar (White House); and HLN sports anchor Joe Carter–not to mention, Christine has started to include CNN’s weather report and her resurrected AM “Minding Your Business” occasionally before tossing to Soledad again.

Perhaps, CNN chief Ken Jautz is having second thoughts about letting Soledad O’Brien anchor CNN a.m. again–at least, on her own.

Clad in a short charcoal gray dress accentuating her long gorgeous gams, Nicole held court as F&FW co-hosts Alisyn Camerota and Clayton Morris interviewed her.* While FBN’s Aphrodite sagely opined on the Labor Department’s December jobs report, Aly and Clayton tried to studiously maintain eye contact with the erstwhile “Foxy’s Angel.” Meanwhile, Nicole’s Fox & Friends Weekend fans can be forgiven for not following suit, especially, since their dear Italian divine Aly seemed to care less for their tribute with her longer, more matronly attire.

Perhaps, Nicole was auditioning to fill-in for Aly on the F&FW curvy couch. If not, the beautiful married mother of two certainly should. But, if so, she certainly fits the bill with the requisite smarts, sass, and sexiness to be an F&FW fox.

*Fox & Friends Weekend – 01/07/11 (@ 6:16 a.m. ET)