Tom Brokaw unhurt in N.Y. highway wreck that kills 1

NEW YORK -- Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife said they escaped injury in a three-car accident on a New York City highway that killed a 30-year-old woman and injured a mail truck driver Friday afternoon.

The accident happened about 1 p.m. as Brokaw was driving in the left lane of the northbound Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx.

Police and the Brokaws said a 1998 Ford Expedition swerved to avoid a spool of cable bouncing in the far right lane, which caused the driver of the SUV to lose control.

The Expedition overturned and then collided with the mail truck, police said. Suejas Estrada, of the Bronx, was thrown from the Expedition and killed. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Brokaws said the out-of-control Expedition forced the mail truck into the couple's lane. The truck collided with Brokaw's vehicle.

Underwood aims for family fun with variety show

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The variety show was once a television staple, and Carrie Underwood thinks it might be time for a resurgence.

The country music star hosts Monday's "An All-Star Holiday Special" on Fox, and she believes it's just the tonic for the regular TV lineup.

"I think it's really great they're making a comeback because I think it's really good family programming, and nowadays it seems like every show is about, like, murder or police and people shooting at each other," Underwood said.

The 26-year-old Oklahoma native was too young to catch the golden age of the variety show. It once was as common as the reality show with stars like Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell sisters, Sonny and Cher, and even The Muppets mixing music and comedy to draw in a family audience.

But Underwood did her research before shooting her show in Los Angeles earlier this fall.

"I remember a little bit of the Mandrell sisters and I have gone back and seen episodes of their show just to kind of, I don't know, get some ideas and kind of see how it's done from a master's perspective," she said.

Brad Paisley, fellow "American Idol" winner David Cook, "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest and Neil Patrick Harris also appear in the special, along with Underwood's mother and sister.

Actress Meredith Baxter reveals she is a lesbian

NEW YORK -- Meredith Baxter, who played mother Elyse Keaton on the 1980s TV series "Family Ties," has revealed that she is a lesbian.

"I am a lesbian, and it was a later-in-life recognition of that fact," the 62-year-old actress said in an interview last week on NBC's "Today" show.

Baxter has been married three times, including to actor David Birney. She is the mother of five children.