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The Best Stuff; The Bleacher Report; Getting to Know Michaela; And the Award Goes To

Aired January 1, 2014 - 08:30   ET




CUOMO: It is time, not just for "The Good Stuff," but it the very best stuff.

PEREIRA: Best of the year?


PEREIRA: I can't wait (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: You voted on and told us your favorite "Good Stuff" of the year. And at number one, drum roll, please, a Buffalo bus driver turned into a hero -


CUOMO: When he spotted what surely was about to be a suicide. No one else was stopping. People were literally walking by. But he did. CNN's Pamela Brown has the story.


PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This surveillance video shows a woman who appears to be on the brink of suicide, standing outside the railing on a narrow ledge over a highway in Buffalo. Watch at bystanders obliviously pass right by her.

DARNELL BARTON, HERO BUS DRIVER: It didn't seem real because of what was going on around. You know, the traffic was going as normal. You know, pedestrians going by as normal.

BROWN: Thankfully she caught the eye of bus driver Darnell Barton. He pulled his bus full of passengers over and attempted to communicate with the woman.

BARTON: Ma'am, are you OK?

BROWN: When she didn't respond, he walked over and put his arm around her and gently coaxing the woman off the bridge, helping her to safety. BARTON: She was distraught. She was distant. She was really disconnected. I grabbed her arm and I put my arm around her and I said, do you - do you want to come on this side of the guardrail?


BARTON: I wanted to convey that, you know, whatever it was, I'm going to help you through whatever it is and it's not as serious as jumping onto the 198.

BROWN: When Barton returned to his bus, a well-deserved round of applause erupted. Barton says he believes he was driving by at that moment for a reason.

BARTON: I felt like I did what I was supposed to do at the time. I'm a football guy, so, you know, you sit on the bench and the coach calls your number and you got to go in there and make a play and you got to do what the play calls for and I think that's what I did.

BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, New York.


PEREIRA: That's a great turnout (ph). Wow.


CUOMO: Right.

BOLDUAN: What an amazing, amazing human being.

PEREIRA: A great football metaphor. Yes.

CUOMO: It's just an amazing thing. You know, it's funny, my family watches this show once in a while. My seven-year-old says to me, hears me once and I'm angry about somebody and I'm saying all the reasons that this is a bad (INAUDIBLE). And he goes, yeah, yeah, but there are good people, too.

PEREIRA: Oh, way to go, Mario.

CUOMO: Seven years old. It's something we forget in life. But, you know -


CUOMO: That's why we do "The Good Stuff." Remember, these stories come from you. We want more of them because we need the reminders. We get engrossed with the bad.

PEREIRA: Yes, don't we all.

CUOMO: We need the virtue as well. CNN iReport campaign can catch all of your good stuff. Please log on to to find out how. Don't worry -- PEREIRA: See that picture?

CUOMO: Yes, that was me.

PEREIRA: That's going to play into something a little later. Wait for that later in the show.

CUOMO: Yes. Yes. Arguably not the good stuff, that particular scene.


CUOMO: You'll see. There was some controversy there.

All right, so 'tis the season for "The Good Stuff," 'tis the season for resolutions and, most importantly, for football. Football college bowl games. Six games on tap today. Less than a week away from a BCS national title game, Florida State versus Auburn.

PEREIRA: He's barely recovered from his hangover New Year's Eve.

BOLDUAN: Chris Berman is so good.

CUOMO: Wasn't it good. I grew up. I love him. I love Berman. I can't lie.

BOLDUAN: We love him, Chris Berman.

CUOMO: I also love Mr. Andy Scholes, the best teeth on television with "The Bleacher Report."

PEREIRA: The best.

CUOMO: Break it down for us in 2014, my brother.


ANDY SCHOLES, THE BLEACHER REPORT: What's up, guys? Happy new year.

You know, there are plenty of big matchups today with the biggest taking place this evening in Pasadena, California, the 100th edition of the Rose Bowl. It's going to feature Michigan State, the big ten champs, against Stanford, the best in the PAC-12.

Michigan State is making its first trip to the granddaddy of them all since the 1987 season. Meantime, Stanford, they're looking for back- to-back Rose Bowl wins. And this time you can expect an old school smash mouth battle with both sides running the ball and playing some great defense.

Now today's other BCS game is the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona. This one features the one loss Baylor Bears taking on the one loss Central Florida Golden Knights. Now, Baylor is coming off arguably their best season ever. They won the Big 12 for the first time in school history.

Now, UCF is also having a historic season. They jump to the front of the American Athletic Conference with wins against Louisville and Houston. The Golden Knights then narrowly avoided upsets down the stretch to claim the new league's first and only BCS bid.

And today will be your last chance to catch Gamecocks star Jadeveon Clowney play college football. The all-American defensive end will likely be a top three round in May's NFL draft. Clowney's ninth ranked Gamecocks will play 19th ranked Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. That game gets going at 1:00 Eastern.

Two games kick off at noon eastern, including one of my favorites, guys, the Gator Bowl. That one's Nebraska versus Georgia. And I don't know about you guys, but my plan is after this to go home, get on the couch and watch football all day.

BOLDUAN: How do you choose, though, Andy? How do you choose? The kickoff is at the same time. What do you do?

PEREIRA: You go like this, picture in picture in picture.

SCHOLES: That's why you have that button on the remote that goes back.

BOLDUAN: That gadget.

SCHOLES: Just go back and forth.

CUOMO: Andy Scholes clearly had a night of excess. Couldn't even remember the word -

PEREIRA: How was the party?


PEREIRA: Looking a little red-eyed there, buddy.

GRAY: And happy I can stay home this year. I had to do three years in a row at the Rose Bowl with the Badgers. I don't think I could have taken a fourth loss. I know I'm going to get in so much trouble for saying that, but it's a good thing that they're not there. Sorry, guys.

CUOMO: Hey, you going to give us a little prediction?

SCHOLES: I've got Chick-fil-A Bowl hangover.


CUOMO: Chick-fil-A Bowl. That's a good one. Fiesta Bowl is a great name also.

SCHOLES: That was last night. Yes.

CUOMO: But let me ask you, we're a little bit away from the BCS. What's your prediction? Who wins it?

SCHOLES: Gosh, you've got to go with Auburn, right? They're just the team of destiny. CUOMO: Auburn.

SCHOLES: It seems like no matter what, they find a way to win these games, whether it be a crazy catch or a crazy field goal return for a touchdown.

PEREIRA: That's true, actually.

CUOMO: True.

BOLDUAN: I wish we could play that video again, Andy.

GRAY: Unbelievable.

BOLDUAN: You remember that one. It was like the tale of the two announcers when the Auburn announcers -

SCHOLES (ph): Somebody tackle -

BOLDUAN: It doesn't have legs (ph). But he did it. He did it! Oh, my God, it was so good.


CUOMO: Dancing on the sidelines. What a play.

PEREIRA: Good to have you here with us on the first day of the new year, Andy Scholes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: Pleasure as always. Have a good one, guys.

PEREIRA: You, too.

BOLDUAN: All right, come up next on NEW DAY, Michaela schools all of us.


BOLDUAN: Take a look as we learn about a group of wonderful kids who are near and dear to her heart.


PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

This morning you've seen us do some kind of some crazy things, some fun things. Kate gave us an inside look at what it was like growing up with her dad. You took us out shooting. That was so much fun. Something very close to your heart and your family was going fishing. Also some questionable results, just saying. But maybe we learned more about each other than we wanted to know. But now it is my turn. We're going to give you a look at our trip back to California when I introduced the gang to my family and to L.A.'s best.


PEREIRA (voice-over): It's 3:30 in the afternoon in downtown Los Angeles is exactly where I want to be.

PEREIRA (on camera): I know I talk a lot about kids. I don't have any, but these are my kids.

PEREIRA (voice-over): My kids are the best in L.A. Sure, every parent thinks that their children are the finest in their city, but mine literally are thanks to an after-school enrichment program aimed at giving inner city kids the support they need.

A lot of times the kids don't have parents at home because parents are working and they need somebody to help them with their homework, they need help to sort of plant seeds of education in their mind. These kids are my heart.

PEREIRA (on camera): Hi, daddy (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, kid. Good to see you.

PEREIRA: You good?


PEREIRA (voice-over): Today my parents, Ainsley and Doug Tompson (ph), have come to my home away from home. Mom, a retired school teacher who spent 35 years in the classroom, and dad, a retired civil servant, are the reason I care about kids. I spend time with the children of L.A.'s best because every kid counts.

I was just three months old when the Tompsons chose me to join their family. The second youngest of five adopted girls, but still my mom's baby.

BOLDUAN: What do you think of your daughter?

PEREIRA: Now we talked. We weren't going to do any embarrassing stories.

BOLDUAN: She's now part of our family, so which means we're now part of your family.


PEREIRA: And we'll adopt you. And they don't have a son yet, so come on over.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Our first stop, the classroom.

CUOMO: What word is that?


CUOMO: Cloud, very good.

PEREIRA: Where the kids are hard at work. It's homework time, after all.

PEREIRA (voice-over): We have a math genius.

CUOMO: Two plus two.


BOLDUAN: We need your help.

CUOMO: Three plus nine.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three plus nine.

CUOMO: We'll play. You want to play? We'll play.


PEREIRA (on camera): Nice.

CUOMO: Pick again.

BOLDUAN: Oh my gosh.

PEREIRA: Oh, it's wrong.


CUOMO: What? Are you kidding me?

PEREIRA (voice-over): All right, so clearly I should have passed first grade math.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. It's a microphone.

PEREIRA: And thankfully our sound man's boom mike proves much more entertaining.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: La, la, la, la, la, la, la.

PEREIRA (on camera): We've caused enough chaos in her, so let's go play some soccer.

BOLDUAN: All right.


PEREIRA: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Bye, guys.

PEREIRA: Bye, guys. You did a great job. I wish you were coming with me.

CUOMO: Soccer's better than your math. PEREIRA: Ha, ha.


PEREIRA: I'm going to go like this.

PEREIRA (voice-over): So now I'm on a mission to prove I've got soccer skills.

KIDS: Michaela! Michaela!

PEREIRA (on camera): Oh, that one.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Once I figure out which team I'm playing for.

PEREIRA (on camera): I don't want to tell anybody, though, because I feel like I'm giving excellent effort.

Do you have any idea what team I'm on? I have no idea what team I'm on but somebody scored.

BOLDUAN: That was my team and I clearly had everything to do with that.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Clearly when it comes to soccer and math, Kate has no problem adding up her goals.

BOLDUAN: I'll tickle you. I'll tickle you. Yes. All me. Scored, again.

PEREIRA: Oh, no. Don't let the applause fool you.

BOLDUAN: You know I literally passed you.

CUOMO: You're a bad teammate.

BOLDUAN: You should be outfielder.

PEREIRA: Not everyone on the soccer field feels like they can count on Chris.

Is he helping or making it worst?

CUOMO: We're having a little problem on that point right now.

PEREIRA: Yes talk to your man. Talk to your man.


PEREIRA: I'm really glad you guys came out here today. The kids in L.A.'s Best program are my heart. When I have a tough day in the news business, this is the place for me to come.

Does anybody in here have their front teeth?

They're just trying to do their best and these kids are just so full of life and love.

CUOMO: Any kid that's given the chance to do great things.

PEREIRA: Sure can.

CUOMO: Give me a little faith.

BOLDUAN: They're so beautiful and so fun.

PEREIRA: At the end of the day when I still had no clue about which team I'd been playing for, I was reminded of something I know for certain.

CUOMO: Don't you learn it when you were with these kids, don't you always leave it feeling like you got so much more than you gave?

PEREIRA: I may not be as agile as the star kicker or as cool as the math genius, but when it comes to me and my kids.

Look at these smiles, I can't take it.

Showing these kids they matter is what counts the most.


PEREIRA: Oh I needed that. I miss them. I miss them very much -- the teeth.

CUOMO: You are right though. You are right.

BOLDUAN: One thing I don't think we saw enough of in that, was there is real hostility between Chris and that little boy.

CUOMO: I'm letting it go in the spirit of 2014. I'm there.

PEREIRA: He spoke truth to power brother, he looked right up at your 6'2" frame and said "You got to get out of here."

CUOMO: Life is long. Life is long.

PEREIRA: You're going to (inaudible) with him again.

CUOMO: Life is long. I'll be back.

PEREIRA: He remembers you.

CUOMO: I'll be back with gloves on. He had the gloves -- I had the gloves.


PEREIRA: He meant business, dude.

PETERSONS: I have to say at this show -- the one thing that I loved most about you, how much more love you have to give.

PEREIRA: You're sweet.

KEILAR: Are you going to see them when you head back?

PEREIRA: I'm hoping to, yes. The LA's Best Program -- there's programs like it all around. In fact there's a connection to New York. These after-school programs are such an important resource especially when we see how much money is going away from education and what have you.


PEREIRA: So it's a lot of fun. And I encourage you to somehow see if you can find one that's in your community. It's a great way to, I don't know, get back to your community.

BOLDUAN: Really warms your heart just being around them. You are right, it makes you feel better.


CUOMO: It takes so little time. That's what you forget. You think that you're going to have to take on a new job. It's not so.

PEREIRA: And it's not always about a check.

CUOMO: That's right.

PEREIRA: Sometimes it's just time.

CUOMO: That's right. You go there and literally an hour makes such a difference to somebody who feels that nobody cares about them.

BOLDUAN: We had a slam dunk contest afterward.

PETERSONS: Who won that?

BOLDUAN: Shockingly I do not.

PEREIRA: That was fun. I'm really glad we got to show these again because it was a really great bonding experience for all of us. Next time we're going to get her up and I'm so afraid of what she's going to make us do.

PETERSONS: Polka dance.

PEREIRA: Polka dance -- that is not what I was expecting.

BOLDUAN: No way.

PETERSONS: Just trying to think of something you don't know how to do.


PEREIRA: Learning a lot of things about Indra today.

BOLDUAN: We will see. 2014 is going to be interesting, folks.

CUOMO: I'm telling you right now we can't polka.

PETERSONS: I'm going to get you the outfits still. You're wearing the outfits.

CUOMO: I'm not saying you don't have the outfits. I'm saying you can't polka.

PEREIRA: A Latvian polka. This is getting more and more interesting.

PETERSON: Yes, I know.

BOLDUAN: Who knew? All right.

Let's take a break. After the break, who will take home the Oscar this year? A preview of the Hollywood award season -- coming up.


PEREIRA: Oh man, that music last night, I can never get enough of it, you know. The "Auld Lang Syne".

Welcome back it is a new year and we're talking about awards season really kicking off in Hollywood. Who and what films do you think are going to be nominated? Which actors are expected to take home the glory of the Golden Globes and more importantly the Academy Awards because they're coming up next and you better get your dress ready.

Nischelle Turner is here with a preview. We're going to talk about all of these award shows because they sort of are precursors to one another leading up to the big shoe, if you will. Golden Globes first up -- right, January 12th.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: January 12, Golden Globes are first, yes. And I like to kind of get out my crystal ball this time of year.

CUOMO: You have a crystal globe.


PEREIRA: It's got a lot of fingerprints on it.

CUOMO: Crystal globe.

TURNER: Nice, Chris Cuomo. Yes, it does.

CUOMO: Validate me.

TURNER: So let's talk Golden Globes. Because when we saw these nominations, we saw two films emerged as what could be front-runners, precursors for the Oscars.

BOLDUAN: Sure. TURNER: That's "12 Years a Slave" and that's "American Hustle". Both of these got seven nominations for Golden Globes. What the Globes do, they break them up into drama category and a comedy category. So these two films won't really be going head to head --


TURNER: -- against each other at the Globes because they're in different categories but we could definitely see what will be shaping up Oscar nomination morning, which is just four days later.

PEREIRA: Eventually because it's a different crowd doing the voting right. Hollywood Foreign Press does the Globes, different taste than the academy crowd.

TURNER: Absolutely the Hollywood Foreign Press -- very small group of foreign journalists. So we always see -- when you think they're going to zig, they always zag and they throw something interesting in for you.

And this year for the Golden Globes I mean I was floored by a couple of things. First of all, Lee Daniels' "The Butler" got completely shut out of nominations at the Golden Globes, although they did get Screen Actors' Guild nominations so Oprah, Forest Whitaker and the movie all got nominations for the SAG Awards.

The Golden Globes also -- they like to throw in those little known film sometimes. I mean we saw Greta Gerwig for "Frances Ha" be nominated in she really hadn't been on the radio although the -- or the radar -- although the performance was really good but everyone was kind of like "What's that?" They do that do you every single year.

PEREIRA: I love foreign film but not every -- not all American appetites are interested --

TURNER: Absolutely. They also have Leonardo DiCaprio in where "The Wolf of Wall Street" was shut out for the Screen Actors Guild awards because the voters got the screeners too late.

So that's what happened there, yes. But they definitely --

BOLDUAN: And is the general wisdom that more often than not what wins at the Globes is not going to win the Academy Awards?

TURNER: Well, it's interesting because the Globes there are so many awards there because they break it up into two categories, usually we see what's nominated there we can kind of write down and write down and say OK, we'll probably see this, we'll probably see this, we'll probably see this -- more than likely we won't see anything other than what we saw at the Golden Globes except this year maybe "The Butler" might get some love from the Academy Awards somewhere in their director, film -- just maybe.

CUOMO: All right. Can we get some predictions in here?

TURNER: You want some predictions? CUOMO: Yes, I do.

TURNER: OK, what do you want -- predictions for the Golden Globe Awards?

CUOMO: Yes, whatever you think of --

TURNER: OK, let's do this.


TURNER: Chris is a results guy.

Well, first of all people ask what's going to be the best film of the year. "12 years a slave" is a phenomenal film and I think that everybody is pretty much set in the drama category. They think that that one is pretty much a lock.

CUOMO: It's not your favorite.

TURNER: It's not my favorite of the year.

BOLDUAN: You told them that "The Wolf of Wall Street" --

TURNER: "The Wolf of Wall Street" is probably my favorite film of the year. It's up in the musical or comedy category. I think it can win but everyone is saying Nischelle you're wrong, it's going to be "American Hustle" in that category.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is the man to beat this awards season --

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

TURNER: -- he's the man to beat although Bruce Dern gave a great performance in "Nebraska". If you haven't seen, little film, black and white comedy of course, from the George Clooney, Grant Hetzlaf (ph) -- I'm sorry not Grant Hetzlaf, he did "The Descendants". And now my -- Alexander Payne -- I'm sorry. Alexander Payne did this film.

Great film. Bruce Dern could sneak in and surprise everybody.

On the female side -- Cate Blanchett.

PEREIRA: So tell us about "Blue Jasmine" because I think that's another one that people might have --

TURNER: Small film, great film. I kind look at her in this portrayal like I did with Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady". The movie overall was good but she was phenomenal


TURNER: So she's a front-runner as well as Emma Thompson playing P.L. Traverse in "Saving Mr. Banks".

PEREIRA: I love Emma Thompson.

TURNER: a lot of people think that she really is going to take home an Oscar this year for that.

PETERSONS: OK. So speaking of Oscars, I want to hear about the campaigning. I want to know how overboard they get. I want the behind the scenes stuff.

TURNER: Look, we've seen some really creative campaigning. We definitely do. I mean the studios they come in and they say sometimes they have a bunch of films that are really good and that could be nominated but then they have to decide what are we really going to push? Sometimes we see actors' campaign. Sometimes we see them say I'm not going to. Remember when Jamie Foxx won for "Ray" he was like heck no, I'm campaigning, I'm embracing for this, I'm nominated for an Oscar I want to win.

CUOMO: Well, that's one of the things with Leo right. Leonardo DiCaprio supposedly always takes a step back from the awards.

TURNER: Right.

CUOMO: And the question is will he need to be a little bit more assertive?

TURNER: Exactly.

CUOMO: To get nominated --

TURNER: And the thing about this film, too, it's three hours long so it could turn some people off and say I don't know if I want to sit for that long. I don't know if I want to, you know, really invest all that time. That's' lot of time to sit in the movie theater and a lot of time to sit and watch a film but it is very -- it's worth it.

PEREIRA: I get it that they might feel like, my work should speak for itself. I can understand the frustration, the whole dog and pony show.

TURNER: Got to play the game.

PEREIRA: We've got to play the game.

TURNER: Look out for Jonah Hill too, because a lot of people are saying this is his best work. I mean --

BOLDUAN: From "Wolf of Wall Street" too.

TURNER: From "Wolf of Wall Street". Look out for him but he's also up against the likes if he was to be nominated for like Michael Fassbender in "12 Years a Slave" who was just so evil and maniacal and so good in this film.

PEREIRA: Academy awards, March 2nd (ph) --

TURNER: March 2nd.

PEREIRA: Ellen DeGeneres host.


TURNER: She got mixed reviews the first time she did it. I thought she was phenomenal.

BOLDUAN: Does anyone not get a mixed review?

TURNER: Good point -- very good point.


CUOMO: Strong point. Let's end it on that. That is our special edition of New Day also known as New Year. We want to wish you and your family a happy and safe new year. From our hearts to yours, happy New Year.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the "CNN NEWSROOM", former First Lady Barbara Bush hospitalized with signs of pneumonia, spending New Year's eve with her family by her bedside watching football.

And a busy new year for U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, just hours before leaving the Times Square ball drop she gave an order blocking part of the President's health care law starting today.

Plus --


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It only gets cold when you stop.


WHITFIELD: It's 2014 -- we're rigged to get in with nasty winter storms bringing snow and ice to the northeast. It's already starting in Chicago. This is a live picture you're about to see right there from -- right there from Michigan Avenue. We'll have details on where the storm is heading and how it might affect holiday travelers.

And playoff problems -- why the Green Bay Packers wild card game could be blacked out, meaning you won't be able to watch it on TV.