AlRoker-related stories
Posted Apr 30th 2009 7:35AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV Royalty, Programming, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Here's a move that I'm surprised nobody thought of earlier. Iconic television weatherman Al Roker
will be getting his own show on, get this, The Weather Channel.
Wake Up With Al will air at 6 a.m. on weekday mornings and will be co-hosted by Stephanie Abrams. Al will be also continuing his duties on
The Today Show.
In the standard workday, it's not unusual to find yourself discussing the weather with co-workers. It's a nice, harmless topic that everyone cares about to some degree. However, to dedicate an entire morning show to it seems excessive (mind you, I feel the same about an entire channel dedicated to it). On the other hand, if you're going to have a host of such a show, the natural choice is Al Roker.
Despite this achievement, I have no plans to consider Al as a serious journalist. Perhaps at some point he can get Mother Nature to appear on his show for an interview and discuss her infidelity with Father Time.
Posted Feb 20th 2009 2:00PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, OpEd, Daytime, Video, Watercooler Talk, Talk Show, Reality-Free
Seeing Brian Williams sitting next to Matt Lauer on
Today was a bit disconcerting, wasn't it? I knew NBC was having some budget problems, but I didn't realize how thin of a bench they actually had. Williams subbed in for Meredith Vieira, but only stayed on the show for an hour, as I'd imagine he'd rather spend the 8:00 hour putting together tonight's
Nightly News lineup than talk about ten ways to keep your car running or what
Drew Peterson ate for breakfast.
Anyway, Williams was at times a bit too stuffy for the morning gig, but his famous sense of humor showed through a number of times, including the clips after the jump. The first one is a clip reel of some strangely homoerotic interplay between Williams and Lauer, which Al Roker called "
a Whitman's Sampler of man candy." The second one is of Lauer, Williams, and Natalie Morales making their Oscar picks.
Continue reading Brian Williams puts in his hour at Today - VIDEOS
Posted Jan 29th 2009 12:07PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Willard Scott doesn't do much around the
Today show these days; except for an occasional week where he subs for Al Roker, all the semi-retired weatherclown (hey,
he was a clown once) really does is his periodic shout outs to the nation's centenarians.
But at this point, I'm starting to wonder if those centenarians are more with it than the man who's giving them the tributes.
Almost every time I've seen Scott lately, he seems to mumble his way through the birthdays. While he's always been known for wacky asides and
nonsensical ad-libs, they seem to be getting wackier as time goes on. But worst of all, he often falls behind the rotating Smucker's jar graphic that serves up each centenarian's name, location and photo. I mean, if you're a guy who's survived 100 years, don't you at least deserve to not have your face smiling on national TV while the audience is being told that you love wearing frilly dresses to church?
Continue reading Isn't it about time for Willard Scott to retire? - VIDEO
Posted Dec 10th 2008 8:05PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, OpEd, Daytime, Talk Show, Reality-Free
Something about
Today's Ann Curry has always struck me as odd. Don't get me wrong; she seems like a nice woman and a hell of a journalist. But something about
the way she answers questions, how she gets chummy and touchy-feely with people she's just met, and how she always chooses to go on needlessly life-threatening assignments makes me think that she's not quite all there.
Her November climb up Mount Kilimanjaro furthered this notion. Yes, it was nice to see how the glaciers on the African mountain were affected by climate change, but couldn't we have seen it using an airplane and a high-powered spy camera? Did Ann and her crew really need to climb the toughest route up the mountain during the most treacherous time of the year to get the story?
Well, it was absolutely necessary, as she tells
TV Week in an
entertainingly wacky interview about the assignment.
Continue reading Ann Curry: Today's lovable nut talks about climbing Kilimanjaro
Posted Jul 7th 2008 2:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Industry, OpEd, Casting, Reality-Free
So, you probably heard that the NBC Universal empire will be expanding by one, once
it has added The Weather Channel to its media outlets. On MSNBC this morning, the subs on
Morning Joe were crowing about CEO
Jeff Zucker, sucking up royally, and even hyping GE stock.
It was all really uncomfortable, obvious and out of place when you are tuning in for news, politics, some pop culture and get NBCU corporate cheerleaders in full pom-pom mode.
Okay, enough ranting; there is some news to report. If the deal goes through -- and it will --
Today weatherman Al Roker may be relocating or he'll be repurposed, becoming the face of The Weather Channel.
Continue reading Al Roker, NBCU and the Weather Channel
Posted Jun 2nd 2008 11:02AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, Industry, OpEd, Daytime, Reality-Free
This morning, as I watched the
Today show, I noticed that they had "team coverage" of
the big fire on the
Universal Studios back lot. Not only did they have reporter Peter Alexander doing a live remote from the scene, but they decided to send Al Roker, who was in L.A. to tape
Celebrity Family Feud, over there, as well. Matt Lauer called the fire "devastating," and Alexander went on to list all the sets that went up in smoke, including the town square from
Back to the Future. Oh, and some of the video archives were destroyed, even though there are backups.
All of this was delivered in somber tones, as if this was like those wildfires that have enveloped that part of the country over the last few years. It made you wonder if anyone got hurt. Thankfully, no one did. So why the somber tone? Sure, these sets might have some sentimental value, but they're just fake storefronts. And why have a reporter there if Roker was already available? It makes you scratch your head until you realize that NBC and Universal are corporate siblings.
Continue reading Corporate synergy watch: Today's coverage of the Universal fire
Posted Apr 3rd 2008 2:38PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Celebrities, Game Show, Casting, Reality-Free
Al Roker is in final negotiations to host the NBC celebrity edition of Family Feud, the one that we wrote about recently as a
summer series on the Peacock.
Roker, currently the main weatherman and easy-going interviewer on
Today (the first three hours at least!), would seem a perfect fit for this job. He's friendly, funny, personable and has a high recognizability/likability rating. He's also busy on the dial with Food Network shows, both producing and hosting. In fact, in 2006 his production company put out
Celebrity Food Fights, about competing celebs -- not unlike
Family Feud concept -- for Food Network.
Continue reading Al Roker ready for the Feud?
Posted Mar 27th 2008 11:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Late Night, Daytime, Celebrities, Talk Show, TV Squad Lists
So, AOL TV did a poll about
America's favorite talk show hosts and 1.3 million people made their feelings known. Interesting results. I didn't agree with some of them, like who I like waking up with. Diane Sawyer was the top choice, but I'd go for the second place finisher, Matt Lauer. As for whom to go to bed with -- TV talk show wise, that is -- I can't believe most of the people chose Jay Leno. Is he really that popular? I prefer David Letterman; I'm a sucker for the Top Ten lists.
Continue reading AOL readers rate TV talk show hosts
Posted Jun 17th 2007 1:40PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Web, Celebrities
A while back, I showcased some blogs that celebrities were (at the time) keeping. David Duchovny had one for a while, but it was just to promote one of his movies and he stopped it. Zach Braff had one for Garden State, but doesn't update it as much as he used to at his new site (though it's still pretty entertaining). And of course we know that Rosie O'Donnell updates hers, a little too much probably.
But there are other TV celebs who blog too, so it's time for an update. After the jump, a list of some of the better blogs out there.
Continue reading Celebrity blogs you should be reading
Posted Mar 31st 2007 5:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight
CBS has March Madness all night. - TLC has a new Moving Up at 8.
- Disney has a new Kim Possible at 8.
- GSN is showing four classic episodes of Press Your Luck starting at 8.
- Also at 8: Nickelodeon has the annual Kid's Choice Awards.
- At 9, FOX has a new America's Most Wanted.
- Suze Orman celebrates her 5th anniversary on CNBC at 9.
- A&E has a new Flip This House at 9.
- AMC has Deliverance at 9.
- Al Roker hosts Childhood Obesity: Danger Zone, on Food Network at 9.
- At 11, IFC is showing the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated.
- At midnight, USA has the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, followed by all the Trump/McMahon nonsense on a new WWE A.M RAW.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Posted Mar 31st 2007 3:22PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, News, Documentary
Tonight at 9:00 p.m. on the Food Network, Al Roker will host Childhood Obesity: Danger Zone, a special that delves into the obesity epidemic that now affects more than 12 million children in America. The special will focus mostly on children, including: a teenager who weighs 500 pounds; the public policy initiative put in place by Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to help overweight children; and a doctor who teaches kids how to shop for healthy food.
Continue reading Al Roker hosts childhood obesity special tonight
Posted Dec 7th 2006 6:41PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: NBC, Watercooler Talk, Talk Show, Ratings
The end of sweeps last week marked
Today's eleventh consecutive year as the number one morning news program in the nation. The big ratings all started in 1995, when Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric hosted together. The addition of Matt Lauer in 1997 only strengthened the show's ratings. And now, with Katie gone to CBS, the addition of Meredith Vieira seems to be fine with viewers. In fact, they seem to really like her since about 20,000 more people are watching
Today than they were at this time last year.
Why is
Today still number one? I think it's simply tradition.
Today was the first of its kind.
Good Morning America and
The Early Show both are copycats of the successful format but neither show has ever been able to match
Today. Even now, the anchors on
Today all seem much more relaxed. The show seems to flow much smoother than
Good Morning America, which is legendary for its awkward transitions, and
The Early Show, which constantly seems to be fumbling. Also, NBC has 'hosts', while the other networks have 'anchors'. NBC gets that the morning programs stopped being about news a long time ago.
[Via
TV Newser]
Posted Aug 4th 2006 11:28AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: NBC, News, OpEd, Daytime, Things I Hate About TV, Commercials
I think I'm living some kind of weird Rip Van Winkle life lately. Suddenly, without warning, there are these bizarre promos running during the breaks on the
Today Show showing Matt, Al, Ann and Meredith laughing, goofing and dancing together as if they'd been on the air for ten years with Meredith. Who are they trying to fool? Who are these people? What is going on here?!
Maybe they did an excellent video editing job and stuck Meredith's head on Katie's body, and this is an old goofy video they're using. And even then, when I say the promo's goofy, I mean GOOFY. I'm trying to imagine what the director was saying while trying to get the team to feel all chummy together, as if we're supposed to believe they're really that pally with Meredith: "OK now Al, you do a little hop and shuffle, then eat a beignet. Matt, you stick out your tongue, slap Ann on the ass and dip Meredith. No, on the ass, Matt. Meredith, you flex your biceps while Ann laughs hysterically in the background. No Ann, laugh. Like this 'hahaha.' There you go."
Posted May 13th 2006 11:29PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Cable, Talent, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Food Network
I just got done watching
Al Roker's Diner Destinations on the Food Network; in the show, Al visits diners all over the country, including a couple in my diner-heavy home state of New Jersey. During the show, he makes huge burgers, pastichio, and other dishes that would make a cardiologist woozy.
But he doesn't eat any of it. Why? Because Al's had a stomach the size of an egg since he had a
gastric bypass operation in 2002; if he
did partake in more than a few bites of any of the high-fat meals he cooked on the show, he'd likely get violently ill.
So why does Al continue to do
specials like this? I mean, I'm not a skinny guy myself; just the sight of all that yummy greasy food was sending me to the refigerator (don't worry, I got an apple... honest). I can't imagine the willpower he had to exert being around all that stuff in person. Maybe it's the "if I eat this I get sick" incentive, but I can't be sure. One thing I
do know, however; if I were Al, I'd stay away from the food and do specials about weather or something.
Posted Apr 17th 2006 9:04AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Podcasts, TV Squad APB Podcast
Joel and I try something a little different this
time, limiting our topics to five minutes each. I think it worked out pretty well, so let us know what you think.
Topics we cover this week:
- Joel's upcoming interviews: George Takei and Christopher Gorham.
- The new "Five Quick Questions" interview feature.
- Al Roker ... funny?
- What's with all the Paula Abdul talk lately?
- Comedy Central Motherlode
contest -- will it make someone's career?
- SNL's best of TV Funhouse is coming! Sweet!
- HUGE I mean HUGE and very spoilery spoilers about not this week's, but next week's
Prison Break. I'll likely not post these, so you'll have to listen to know.
Grab the file directly
(
link), subscribe to our podcast RSS feed (
link), or visit the iTunes music store (
link). (Running time:
40:09)
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