be a role model. first, the big story, hbo's newsroom. now the show's creative writer. alan sorkin and jeff daniels. welcome to you both. i was at the premier of the newsroom in new york, a very gradios affair with all the great of media there, lots of cable news anchors racing to see how accurate this was. i think it's fair to say, general consensus was it was pretty darned accurate. people really enjoyed it. i found it a thrilling reality check, for me, what it's like to see it through the prism of your character, jeff. i'm curious about your motives here. i'm an unashamed "west coast wing" fan. privilege to have you here. what are you trying to achieve with the cable news genre, if anything? >> i'm only trying to achieve one thing. one goal. that's to entertain the audience for an hour. we shoot our show on stage 7 at sun set studios, the same stage

where they shot "the monkees" and we're going for the exact same thing. >> but are you, though? >> you say all this stuff. i think underneath it, you do like to make your point. some of the criticism the reviews i've seen is not centered around the show or jeff, but this sorkinism, somehow an offensive new term for the polemic stuff you put in and i really enjoy, i suspect some people don't. tell me about that criticism you get. >> i do enjoy it. i enjoy language very much. it sounds like music to me. i enjoy oratory. that's the reason for the long speeches. i grew up in a family where anyone who said one word when they could have used 10 just wasn't trying hard enough. i was the dumbest kid in my family. i'd sit at the dinner table just listening to fantastic arguments, like i was listening to a tennis match. i grew to really like that.

i loved the sound of a point really well made, of somebody saying, but you haven't thought of it this way. think about that. what if this were to happen. as a writer, i grew up wanting to imitate that sound. >> a fantastic speech at the start of episode one, your character, will makes, jeff, trapped in this boring convention with students and then goaded by the moderator into finally letting go what he really thinks. let's listen to this. >> we didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and didn't scare so easy. we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. >> by great men, men who were revered. the first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. america is not the greatest country in the world anymore.

>> it was fascinating watching the room reaction, all these hard edges newsmen, a lot of them nodding along with that because it was a great speech and a classy, if you don't mind me saying sorkinism. >> i don't mind. at its best. it made you think. you rattled all these statistics where america is not number one anymore. made the point it used to be a great country and could be a great country again and right now it's not the greatest credit in the world. let me ask you a difficult difficult question. when you said it, did you believe it yourself? >> it was interesting to do the speech, work on the speech. it came late. there were some drafts it wasn't there. there was something that happened at northwestern that was referred to, i think one of the last couple of drafts before the pilot. >> last seen written. here comes the speech. let's see it. i remember reading it, going, you may not like it, you may disagree with it, you know, you -- for those who are

patriotic and wave the flag and don't want to hear it but there's nothing in it that's not true. that went all the way -- each phrase, each thing aaron has will say is all true. >> sorry to tell you, but it's true. that really resonated with me, to be able to say that, take words like the way this guy can put them together and throw it at the lens and throw it at an audience, it's for an actor, it's gold. >> it seemed to me, you're doing with will's character, who's the cable news anchor, kind of what you did with president bartley, he make these great speeches and makes these great moments sitting at his desk wherever he may be and over time, you start to speak for what america should be like. it's a better world, if you like. i sort of take issue with you slightly devaluing what your objective is here. i actually believe you do have a slightly higher calling with these things.

>> listen, i do -- my point, with devaluing is simply that. this show wasn't asking anyone to eat its vegetables at all, really, its spirit is screwball comedy. it's romantic comedy, heightened reality, idealistic, swashbuckling and we do just want people to have fun for an hour. but i'm writing about things i really, you know, believe in. one of them is i'm a patriot. i love america. that word "patriot," at least in my lifetime, has been defined over a different way as just somebody who flies a flag in front of their house. if you for instance criticize america, if you give the speech that jeff gives at the beginning of the show, that makes you anti-american.

that's something on "the west wing" and this show we fight against. >> aaron, you said, i felt like a lot of news outlets abdicated their responsibilities and a lot of people want to carry the torch of edward r. morrow. critics say you have to live in the real world, if you go to high faluting with your news coverage, if you try and do it in the purest sense, what your character does in this show, it doesn't rate, especially if it's not big breaking news. i can tell you a hard fact it is true. >> no. i know it is true. >> how do you tackle that? how you had your toes dipped in our waters for a while. if you were running a news network, what would you do? >> let me back up and say i don't have to live in the real world. i'm a fiction writer. get to write a democratic administration that can get things done and i get to write about a very idealistic newsroom where these guys reach unrealistically high so they fall down a lot and we're still

rooting for them anyway. there's no question that the antagonists in this show doesn't come so much in the form of a person although that's the role jane fonda plays and the role kris messina play, it's ratings, if we have a problem in this country with the news, it's at least as much the consumer's fault as it is the provider's fault. but this show doesn't live in the real world. it seems like it does because it's set against the backdrop of real news events. we never do fictional news on the show. it's all real. the characters are all fictional and not based on anybody, i know you will get to that question. they're constantly referencing don keheady and camelot and the name of the cable station is

atlantis and its parent company is atlantis and these are all lost cities. >> unimaginable romantic and idealist. he excels in that. the happy ending, swashbuckling. aaron told me when we started this, by the way, if you're in here to be likable all the time and it ain't going to work that way because you're going to fail. will is going to fail miserably. we do. over the first season, it is a struggle, just like the struggle a lot of these tv journalists say they're going through. >> it is a quite spectacular [ bleep ] from time-to-time. why i like knew thank you. >> let's take a short break and talk more about [ bleep ] will and aaron the genius. [ mrs. hutchison ] friday night has always been all fun and games here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening... there were two things i could tell: she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her what our other cats love, purina cat chow complete.

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people don't come here looking for handouts. we are a nation of striver and climbers and interprets the hardest working people on the nation on earth. >> how does people on earth -- is he slightly deluded, president obama, taking from

your character's speech at the start of the first episode? are americans still the hardest working people on earth? >> i have no idea. i have detested to how other people in the world work. it's good oratory. >> you didn't write that speech? >> no, i didn't. but jon favreau, not the actor but the president's speechwriter would tell you barack obama is the best writer in any room barack obama is in. i always smile when people have a problem with the teleprompter. he's the guy that wrote what's on the teleprompter. >> yeah. let's watch how this speech goes. quite interesting what he then says. >> nobody personifies these american values, these american traits more than the latino community. >> he's shameless. i would have thought -- again, you could expect that to pop up in the west wing at some stage,

as a campaign message. for a president to be standing there today deliberately pandering like there at to the latino community at a latino conference. >> right. >> am i being too cynical here? >> of course, you're not. listen, he's at a latino conference. governor romney spoke there yesterday, i think. and they both need the latino vote. but i -- i will say that i -- it's -- it's nicer hearing that than hearing about the lazy mexicans who come here who are draining our resources, selling drugs and shooting guns. >> that's true. >> you get up at 6:00 in the morning and see who's waiting at the bus stops. any time a new hotel opens in town, see who's snaking around the block three times waiting for a job. >> and you ruined it basically for every american president by making bartlett so likable principled and everything else

that he was, have you basically ruined -- do all of them now get unfairly compared to bartlet? i have seen polls that bartlett would have made president time and again? >> i have the benefit of fiction. i don't just get to decide what bartlett say, i get to decide what everybody else says and does, too. it's a lot easier for bartlett than for a real president. >> jeff, what is it like to work as an actor with someone like aaron's words because he's famously -- he strives over everything himself. this is absolutely his stamp on almost every word you will be in the end acting? >> every word, yeah. you memorize every word. that's the drill. i was doing a movie with meryl streep once and the hours and we were going to walk into a doorway where david hair was the screenwriter, merrill, say a few words coming in through the door. she was what, i have to write it, too?

i never heard an actor say that. david harris sitting there, came up with two lines. why do i have to write it? that's how you feel. you have aaron sorkin, a singular voice, you don't have a committee, you don't have executives noting him to death and three or four writers on it, he has every word on it. >> by the same token, when i'm writing it, i get to know jeff is going to be playing it, emily and sam waterston, these people are going to be playing it, you know what, you don't need a half page speech here. it's going to happen on jeff's face when he lights the cigarette. >> i did an interview with you a few years ago after the drugs thing that happened to you and you were talking about you like to just disappear on your own. at the time, it would be with drugs. >> yeah. >> you wanted to go to vegas on your own rather than go with other people. >> yeah. >> just have a night in a clean hotel room, as you put it. that is a strange thing to do. why do you like that solitude?

>> i liked it then because of the drug use. i didn't party with other people. i never did drugs with other people, i only did it by myself. now, solitude is about writing. because so much of that process is thinking about what you're going to write before you write it. i'm also a father now, so when i'm not working i like to spend my time -- >> did you let the beatles do your best stuff on the drugs? >> you know what -- the last thing i want to do is make drugs sound good to anybody. but, you know, bill maher once said drugs sure haven't hurt his record collection. i don't think i did do my best stuff while i was high, but even if i had, if i was writing at shakespeare level high and the hackiest hack level straight,

i'll take not being high and a hack. >> have you arrived at a good place in your life, do you think. the hard way maybe, but you have? >> i'm the luckiest guy in the world. i love being a father. i get paid to do exactly what i love doing, exactly what i'd love to do for free and i get to work with the greatest people in my industry. >> without wanting to be too intrusive, according to the photographs i saw after the premier, you are dating a beautiful woman from "sex & the city"? is this true. >> every so often. i am a single man. but every so often, an otherwise brilliant woman will have a short lapse of judgment and agree to go out on a date with me and that's what happened with christine davis, who was nice enough to be my date for the l.a. premier the other night. >> you make a very nice couple. >> thanks.

we'll see what happens. >> let's take a hurried break. jeff, when we come back, i'll talk about the fact you were compared to be the new cary grant. and how is that going for you. >> atsz going well, thank you. m. it's an honor to be a fire fighter. my job involves life or death situations you. satsz going well, thank you. going well, thank you.

it's a 156-week contract. it gives me the opportunity to fire you 155 times at the end of

each week. we'll wait a few months to make sure it's not a story bill carter can shove up my -- >> how did you get my contract changed? >> i gave the network back some money off my salary. >> how much money? >> a million dollars a year. >> you gave back a million dollars a year. you paid a million dollars to fire me any time you want? >> 3 million dollar. not any time i want, just the end of each week. >> aaron sorkin and jeff daniels here to talk about "the "newsroom"." i love your character. i'm sure you feel this way about an actor. a great role. so much you can go to with him. what's she like to work with? >> she's a dream, an incredible foil, if that's even a word for will. through will's bluster and screaming and yelling and treating everybody as if they're peasants, when the smoke clears, emily is still standing there going, are you done? she comes right in. she knows him better than he

knows himself for reasons that will show over the season. he's madly in love with her and hates her guts at the same time >> they clearly had a fling. this is the obvious. >> off-camera, she's a dream. she's a pro and works so hard. the chemistry we have is two actors listening to each other in front of the camera. she's beautiful to work with. >> the worrying thing i felt i said this to you, it will put us all out of business because you're so good. the new will, when he gets reborn, as this kind of cynical charging firebrand has prompted this big debate over who you based this on, i suppose who you based this on. lots of names have been thrown. is it hybrid or is there one particular -- probably throwing his own hat in the ring but -- >> the character is entirely a product of my imagination and then jeff's imagination. this person doesn't exist on tv. will mcavoy is a moderate

republican, who says that he's from a town outside a town outside lincoln nebraska. he is pro-life. he supports the arizona immigration bill and he's become famous and successful for aciduously hugging the middle of the road and not bothering anybody. >> finally -- >> if he's keith olbermann, i missed it. >> if you were in -- i have a "gq" cover to show you. it asked a great question. is jeff daniels the next cary grant? there it is. >> that's a great question. >> to which the answer was -- >> no. no, i believe, correct me if i am wrong, there was only one cary grant. i think woody had said it. woody had kind of mentioned there are elements of what he does in "purple roads of cairo" that are of that kind of cary grant way of acting.

or some such -- >> you had a great line about it actually. i was aware i don't have the looks for that movie star thing and when you have the camera on, it sucks the lens and loves me. whatever career i have is because i'm an actor and good actor. >> yeah. i'll stand by that. >> i actually think he's the new spencer tracy. that's who -- any time i write something and it comes time to cast it and you sit around with 3 casting director to talk about who you're looking for, i always ask if spencer tracy is available. he never is and then we try to fulfill the role. it's impossible to find jeff daniels in hollywood. there's only one. he's the only person that we wanted to play the role. it would be an entirely different show if he wasn't playing it and we're lucky to land him. >> what do you think is the art of great acting? you've written for great actors, been a great actor. what is the art of great acting, other than listening?

>> listening is a big part of it. i think it depends what actor you're talking about. i can tell you if there are some things an actor can't fake. an actor can't fake smart, an actor can't fake funny. if you need those things, you need to find somebody who is smart and funny. we were talking about emily a moment ago, really a remarkable winning performance that she gives. i don't write a lot of description in the scripts, but when her character enters, i describe it a little bit, as someone who doesn't need to act tough because she is tough, and that frees her up to be kind of silly and goofy and be who she is and that's exactly who emily is. there's -- she doesn't feel like she's a woman in a man's world. >> she's a great character. jeff, when you look around now in affirmant of great actor, who stands out for you male or

female pound for pound a great actor. meryl streep is the go to for me. i've told her, i've been lucky to do a couple movies with her and come to the theater in things i've been in. i said, i steal from you all the time. she's the best moment to moment present, sam waterston came up with that about merrill. she's present and not only acting but reacting to what you're doing. that's the key. too many actors act in front of a mirror, i'm ready for my close-up, i'm right here. the closer it gets, the more you make it about the other person. >> i have two contemporary questions to ask you, one for you jeff, there was a remake of "dump and dumber" apparently coming out. that's now apparently not. >> what have you heard? >> that jim carrey buggered off.

>> i know the four of us would want to do it. especially jim. jim's wanted to do it a year and a half. we've hit some bumps in the road. my hope is while i completely agree with jim's stance on it, he's frustrated and throwing up his hands, my hope is there's a happy ending and we get to do it. >> you did gross $250 million? >> million or billion? it has the potential to be seen by a couple of people, put it that way. >> i will ask you about facebook. whether you own any of the stock? >> you know, i didn't, and i should have -- really, i should have bought one share of stock just for sentimental value and i forgot to. maybe i will now. and maybe, i don't really know how this works, maybe if the street sees me buying facebook suddenly there will be a rush to buy the shares and the price will go up. >> it's been edging up in the past few weeks. >> starting to do well? >> starting to creep back to where it was before. >> damn, i can't take credit for

it. >> you may have missed the boat again. >> i'll figure out a way. >> alan sorkin. jeff daniels, thank you very much. "the "newsroom" sunday, 10:00 p.m. it's a terrific show. thoroughly enjoyed it. worried about my own feature, obviously. worried that will will come and sit in this chair. he's better than the real thing. for now, i'm prepared to provide it. next, ll cool j stops by talks about the prayer he prepared for whitney houston. ♪

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the cars are still here. >> you know what they are? >> condo manager identified him from a photo. 18-floor penthouse. short term rental. with seven others. >> we get atley, it's game over. >> we play our game, g, not his. >> either way, he loses. keys to the front door. >> done. >> 15 million viewers watched the season finale of "ncis l.a." wrapped for the summer. doesn't mean ll cool j takes a break. in 1992 he earned a grammy for the popular, mama said knock i out. he launched a new musical program called my connect studio ll cool j. welcome back. >> thank you, piers. >> i feel like we know each

other so well i can call you todd. >> yes, you can. >> the name your real friends call you. >> yes, it is. >> your real buddies don't call you ll cool j. >> you're definitely allowed to call me todd, absolutely. >> the last time bet, it was a strange experience for me. a great time. the grammys were a couple days away and then whitney houston died. you had this strange position of having to host an event which had been completely overtaken by the drama of losing one of the great entertainers in the world. when you heard what had happened, what was your reaction? >> my first reaction was horrifying. you know -- you know, you hear rumors about things that people are going through. that's always tough to listen to. but, you know, i didn't expect to get that news. the timing of it was just --you know, it was horrible. >> did you know whitney well? >> yes.

i knew whitney. she was a very sweet girl. very sweet girl. so funny. i used to walk around -- for many years i wore my pants leg rolled up, something i was known for, one pants leg rolled up. >> i do the same thing. >> whitney used to tease me, i remember one time she saw me backstage, ll, you got that from my husband. i said, no, whitney, your husband got that from me. that was a fun moment. she was really cool. when i worked in miami a couple times they came by the studio. she was a really nice girl. >> you came up with this really special idea, to say a prayer. >> yes. >> everyone remembers. the audience went through the roof at this event, suddenly the grammys would be this tribute to whitney. let's take a look at this prayer you said on stage. >> heavenly father, we thank you for sharing our sister, whitney with us. today, our thoughts are with her mother, her daughter and all of her loved ones.

and although she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit and to have her lasting legacy of music to cherish and share forever, amen. >> that was a really powerful thing to do. what gave you that idea to do that? >> you know, i was thinking about it. it was the only way that i would feel comfortable proceeding with the show and celebrating all of these other musicians, because it was about trying to find that fine balance between celebrating her legacy, giving love to this wonderful amazing entertainer and at the same time, respecting all of these young artists and all these established artists who were either nominated for grammys or performing on know and not putting them in a position where they have to perform at a memorial. it's a delicate balance. as human beings, we never want

to feel like we're like partying through the roof, you know, in the midst of a tragedy. it's tough because you have to remember that there were so many artist, so many fantastic musicians. we have paul mccartney in the audience, bruce springsteen, bruno mars. great artist, lady gaga. adele making a comeback. and you -- they deserve an opportunity to be celebrated as musicians, but at the same time, we can't be -- i guess the word would be crass or insensitive to what has gone on. it was just finding that balance. >> interesting thing to me, with you, in particular, talking about this, is you, last time you came on, talked about a very tough upbringing. you could have gone down the way a lot of people you hung out with, could have ended up in gangs or dead or prison. but you didn't, you made something of yourself. i interviewed mark wahlberg recently, a similar kind of story. i'm impressed the way he's done what he did as i am with you.

when you look at whitney and michael jackson, both died around the same age, both died from pretty severe drug abuse, different drugs but still drug abuse in the end. yet their upbringings weren't that tormented. relatively okay but got sucked into that world. you have four kids now coming out of teens into their 20s. >> right. >> what do you say to them? you've been through this experience and come out well and seen others, big big stars die through substance abuse and so on. what do you say to your children? >> you know, i think it starts with trying to set an example. if your kids see you reading, they're more likely to read. if your kids see you downstairs on the treadmill trying to exercise, they see their mom downstair, you know, down there fighting the good fight and working out to be the best she can be, they want to do that. i think that's all we can do. you know.

i think it's a fantasy to think that we're going to be able to go out and single-handedly stop all of the -- or prevent all the influences in society from affecting our kids, but what we can do is set an example and try to instill the right values in them. i do understand how tough it can get. you know, you have a lot of people out there in the world dealing with a lot of tough situations, and we as human beings always try our best to escape pain and seek some sort of pleasure. >> let's come back because you are back rapping. >> yeah. >> i want to know about this. >> let's do it. >> do a bit of rapping with you. >> all right. >> ll morgan. >> i love it!

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of the country. a total of eight nato troops died in three separate incidents and the attacks come as hillary clinton meets in tokyo and they're to shape the events going forward. >> kofi annan is appealing to the regime to sign a special peace plan even as the envoy death toll was creeping pup. activists say at least 43 people were killed on sunday. secretary state clinton had her own message for syria's president. >> the future for me should be abundantly clear to those who support the assad regime. the days are numbered. >> a hollywood legend, ernest borgnine died on sunday. he was an oscar winning movie actor an veteran of several tv shows including air wolfe and mchale's navy. he died in a hospital in los angeles and was 95 years old. at wimbledon roger federer's victory stole the spotlight from andy murray's run at history. he won his seventh wimbledon title at murray's expense. murray was the first british player to reach a wimbledon

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to keep america great, we have to keep america creative. i think the key is to create. i don't think anything great in this nation ever happened without creation whether it's the wright brothers or what bill gates has done or rest in peace, what steve jobs did. the basis of america is creating even if it's creating freedom. we've always been about creation. >> words of wisdom from ll cool j, back for a primetime exclusive interview. i was struck by what you said then. it's so right. i feel one of america's fundamental problems is this huge breakout of consumerism, demand of wanting. people stopped making stuff and you look at steve jobs, in isolation. there should be more. america has so many great brains. >> yeah, it does. >> i want them to be using it properly, making stuff again. >> you have to know to take advantage of the opportunity,

get the platform, get in position. there's a lot of other maneuvering that goes into creation. as far as, you know, what i've worked on now, what i did was i always dreamed that if i was in, let's say, new york and the kid was in london or i was in l.a. and the kid was in tokyo, we would be able to go online, or musician and go online and create music in real-time together. you know, if the same way it's as simple as us talking on the phone, now, we can go to our laptop -- >> you call this my connect studio. >> my connect studio. >> let's see a little bit of you rapping in your studio. >> we're singing cheers while we're holding back tears to keep up appearances in front of our peers ♪ ♪ we play holiday card tricks every year blackjack poker make the joker disappear ♪ ♪ he can't read when there's tension in the air ♪ ♪ three clubs in one night but still not a full house until

there's a pair ♪ ♪ you tipped your hand but the text wasn't clear ♪ you're dealing from the bottom when the hearts named pair ♪ >> i lake the way you named shake pierce in that. i'm known as a king in the rap world. >> you really are. they're talking about you in every club. >> tell me about music. you had this smash hit tv career now in "ncis l.a." i asked you the last time if i could let you do one thing the rest of your life, the more you do tv and movies, that kind of thing, do you drift away from music or was music always your first love? >> yeah. you drift away. you know, at the same time, you know, you always return to your roots. you know, i'm currently, you know, working on an album and, you know, i'm popping my laptop out and i'm working on music and i've been in the studio everyday

and working trying to create something great. you know, there are different audiences. there's an audience out there that grew up with ll cool j as a musician, as a rapper, as an artist. i'm going to give them an album. when i come out with a new album, it will be authentic hip-hop, it will be special. did a thing with sony and put "my connect" on the laptop. it's special. also, it has a convenient thing. it's convenient for musicians. it's special. you have to make things special. >> when you go to youtube, it sticks. no one want it hear you do your schtick. >> and you can't be just a cliche. you have to reinvent, be creative and in the end you have to win. >> absolutely. >> and in winning, you have to define what winning is.

>> what is it to you. >> a goal and achieving it. >> if i could write your tombstone heading now -- >> oh no. >> here lies todd. >> here lies todd. >> here lies todd, what would you like it to say? what do you want to be remembered for? >> you know, god, i don't even want to think about that, right? >> i'm not saying it's going to happen. >> you know -- >> >> you know, he maximized his potential. because that ultimately is all that we can do as human beings, right. you know, the last thing you want to do is be sitting on your death bed with all your dreams standing around you saying, why are you taking us with you? so many people do that. so many people believe that dreams have deadlines, but they don't. it's just a matter of you taking your life to the next level. it's like you were, you know, across the pond doing something different. you took your show on the road,

stepped into another arena. you're doing your thing. i mean, that's what it's about. it's about maximizing your potential. >> you're doing a hell of a lot. it's available now. the "ncis los angeles" returns to season four this fall. >> i want people to know the my connect studio is available on the sony vios laptop. it's preloaded. if you go to sony.com you can get a laptop and it's preloaded. it's cool. >> a matter of urgency to continue my own hip-hop career. when is the new album out? >> i'm working on it. i'm almost finished with it. it's authentic hip-hop. it's coming. >> when it's out, come back and talk about it. >> i'll do it. >> if you're basically hanging on to get me on the album in some capacity. >> i am. >> mc morgan is available. >> cpm. i like that. cool piers morgan. i love it. >> there are rap fans all over america dying a horrible death right now with all of this.

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in uganda, a.i.d.s. are striking like a machete in a corn field. killing men and women leaving 1.2 million children orphaned. the grandmothers stepped in and closed that gap. some of them have up to 14 children to raise. i was born and raised in nyaka village.

i moved to america. i went to columbia university. i came to visit. i looked in the eyes of women who carried me as a child and said, now is the time to also give back. i am jackson with the a.i.d.s. orphan project. we decided with $5,000 we would provide free education to children who are orphaned by hiv/a.i.d.s. we provide them uniforms, health care, the library, clean water, and we started giving them meals. we teach the grandmothers skills so they can support themselves. 11 years later, this projects has produced close to 600 students and helps about 7,000 grandmothers.

i feel humbled looking in the faces of the children smiling, focused in what their dreams are going to be.

for tonight's only in america, saying i do in the flash mob age. you see them in malls and markets, on youtube clips and morning shows. these supposedly spontaneous eruptions, a burst of synchronized loving improvieization designed to catch people by surprise. it's the flash mob proposal. they come in all kinds. this month in new york's bryant park, there's one that may have topped them all in sheer size and production value. >> what is going on? are you part of this?

oh, my goodness. >> that's a young woman named alison. she's about to be an unwitting star of her own engagement. they dance to michael jackson's "the way you make me feel." ♪ the way you make me feel then the show really gets going with a massive band marches in. >> i am shaking. >> the camera with all the extras is very hollywood. only thing missing is some explosions. finally, the grand finale with family and friends surrounding allison and boyfriend craig walks up and pops the question. >> allison mcclaren, before i met you, i didn't think i could love someone for the rest of my life. now i know i can. will you please, please marry me? >> yes. [ cheers and applause ] >> of course she said yes.

didn't really have a choice. hundreds of her nearest and dearest staring at her and the complete strangers. whatever hand to old-fashioned discreet proposals? don't get me wrong, i wish allison and her fiance the best for their future, but imagine their wedding. conducted at yankees stadium, broadcast on cnn, and personal wishes from president obama and lady gaga and the dalai lama. it's going to be one hell of a disappointment. that's all for us tonight. a deadly medical mystery is targeting children. it's a disease no doctor has ever seen. a disease without a name. >> in one case, the child's lung deteriorated within hours. one of the fastest men on earth -- >> you want to get up to speed as quickly as possible. >> reveals the secret to his success, slavery.

>> i was able to break the world record. >> is he right? does the color of your skin make you better, faster, stronger? plus, a cyber attack. the criminals already behind bars. but the impact of the crime is yet to be felt. why you could be a victim just hours from now. good evening, everyone. i'm don lemon. let's get you up to speed. tonight, more american troops dead in afghanistan. six u.s. service members killed in just one explosion today. it was a bomb that went off in eastern afghanistan. two other nato troops, we don't know their national itsity /* -- nationalities, were killed in separate attacks over the weekend. that bigger than life image, a hollywood legend died today. >> you hold it right there. this war was not started for r your private gratification, and you can be damn sure this army isn't beinn