TVSquad

This weekend's horrible Saturday Night Live featured another takeoff on the Kathie Lee Gifford/Hoda Kotb hour of Today and the two hosts talked about it on their show. Hoda thought it was funny (and so did the crew) and that Kristen Wiig can sing. Kathie Lee didn't like it (well, she liked the part about Hoda).

To be honest, I don't think this is the best sketch they've done about Hoda and Kathie Lee. Maybe she'll think the other ones they've done are funny (probably not). (Stay through the talk about Palin as Hoda and Kathie Lee talk about the sketch more.)

The Beatles Rock Band video game came out yesterday. The only way you couldn't have known that is if you took your head off your neck, preserved all of the necessary blood vessels and spine connections, and then placed said head (heh) in cryogenic storage for the last two days.

That's because my TV was filled with not just advertisements, but personal appearances, morning show demos, and even news stories about the release of the game.

Even Jesus doesn't get this much attention in the media. Oh crap.

So Kathie Lee never answered my e-mail reply to her question about me, but she did go crazy on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. She surprised the show's staff with a pool noodle (if you're like me, you had no idea what a pool noodle was until this video).

Loyal TV Squad readers will recall that Bob wrote a post yesterday that criticized the ever-annoying Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford for the lame "dirty secrets" they gave during the lighter-than-air fourth hour of Today that morning (they originally talked about "bad habits," which turned into a talk about "dirty secrets"). For those who care: Hoda doesn't wash her hair that often and Kathie Lee doesn't floss as much as she should. I know: scandalous, right?

Anyway, at the beginning of their first segment this morning, the hosts called Bob and TV Squad out on his post -- initially they said he "wrote in," as if Bob's sitting at his computer writing angry e-mails to the Today show staff -- and invited him to e-mail them his dirty secret:

Somehow, I have become addicted to the last hour of Today. I don't think that the show should be four hours long. Not at all. But I have become fascinated by... well, whatever comes out of the mouths of Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. It could be crazy, it could be outlandish, it could even make you roll your eyes. But it's probably not going to be boring.

This morning the two girls were asked what their "dirty little secrets" are. Oh, I thought this would be good. Kathie Lee would say something about some sexcapade she had in the '70s and Hoda would talk about her collection of lint or something just as outrageous. So what did they reveal as their dirty little secrets?

Look, we have just about as good an idea as you as to what happens on the eleventh fourth hour of the Today show. Hoda Kotb (who won a Peabody Award) and Kathie Lee Gifford (who is loud) sit together, morning after morning, drinking, chatting, and generally swishing about in a televisual escapade that brings into the mix - among other things - Facebook, "cougars," breast cancer, and wine. Needless to say, we will be first in line when they invite a studio audience (although the appeal of hearing camera men laugh at Kathie Lee's menopausal delirium stands very well on its own).

Considering that we don't get to watch the show as often as we'd like, we very much appreciate being steered by The Soup toward a clip taken from a segment on Today called "I Got Played."

Radner. Louis-Dreyfus. Poehler. Fey. Shannon.

Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on Seinfeld. And, yes, Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from Weekend Update anchor to Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.

But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every Amy Poehler, there's a Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a David Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)

Basically I'll try to find any reason to write about Amy Sedaris. And since this is holiday-related, I can justify it.

Sedaris was on the Today Show on Christmas Eve to plug the paperback version of her excellent cooking/entertaining book I Like You and to make Greek spaghetti for hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. The recipe is in the book, but the ingredients include Parmesan cheese and a whole stick of butter, which you melt and pour on top of the spaghetti and sauce. Probably not the healthiest meal (especially if you include Sedaris' other recipes for various cookies and other desserts) but it looks tasty. I love how Sedaris can show you how to cook the meal and at the same time throw off a bizarre line like "your animals talk for a whole minute on Christmas Eve, did you know that?"

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Saturday Night Live now has a web site devoted to politics.
• Actually, maybe The CW is going to renew Reaper after all.
• Kathie Lee Gifford says she wants to be cremated.
• Ricky Gervais is filming a movie in Massachusetts with Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Jason Bateman, John Hodgman, and Louis C.K and blogging about it.
• Marion Ross answers questions from Entertainment Weekly readers.
• Jeff Zucker wouldn't mind Katie Couric coming back to NBC.
• A look at the new CBS series Swingtown.
• Not only is the season one DVD set for Mad Men coming on July 1, there will also be a CD of music from the show released on June 24.

Three weeks ago it was a hot rumor. Now it's a fact. NBC announced that Kathie Lee Gifford will co-host the fourth hour of Today beginning Monday, April 7th. She'll be teaming up with Hoda Kotb for an hour of chit-chat, info, interviews and what have you. I doubt she'll be singing, but then again, if Kathie Lee can cajole them into rolling a piano onto the set, watch out.

"I am truly honored to join the Today show family, many of whom have been friends and colleagues of mine for years," said Kathie Lee via release. "And I'm especially looking forward to working with Hoda, a bright and beautiful woman I admire very much. Together I hope we will bring a fresh and fun perspective to the topics that affect all of our daily lives."

Is Kathie Lee Gifford coming back to daytime? Does Regis know; does he care? Well, whatever the case with Reeg, there is talk that La Kathie Lee may be ready for a new talk show gig. In the Hollywood Reporter, Today executive producer Jim Bell said Kathie Lee Gifford is on the short list as a co-host for the fourth hour of the show. "I think she's a great talent," he said of KLG, while adding that other names are in the hopper as well.

Former Live with Regis & Kathie Lee star Kathie Lee Gifford is going to guest host the fourth hour of NBC's Today Show tomorrow.

As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of any morning show having a fourth hour. Even if they brought back Breakfast Time I'd say that two hours was enough. And just the fact they're now getting "guest hosts" proves how trivial the fourth hour really is. But isn't the third hour mostly cooking, celebs, and fashion tips too? What's the fourth hour, just all the ladies (Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, and Hoda Kotb) having pillow fights with each other while Al Roker watches? Let's just hope Kathie Lee doesn't sing.

NBC's press release is kind of odd. It says that this appearance "will mark the first time she has co-hosted the fourth hour of Today." Has she co-hosted any of the other three hours of the show?

Yesterday we told you about Kathie Lee Gifford making her first appearance on Live with Regis & Kelly next month, and now she is revealing for the first time why she left the show in the first place.

She left in 2000 because her dad was dying. Gifford says she had an "epiphany" while guest-hosting David Letterman's show when he had heart surgery. She realized that she wanted to be with her dad and be with family without having cameras in her face and having to talk about it on the show all the time.

Of course, that headline doesn't quite make sense, since she's never even been on Regis & Kelly, so she can't come back to it. But it's a lot snappier than saying "Kathie Lee coming back to the show that used to be called Live with Regis & Kathie Lee."

The singer/actress/Carnival Cruise promoter will return to the morning show on Sept. 14 to end the big celebration marking the show's 20 years in daytime syndication. Expect lots of clips, lots of laughter, some tears and a knock-down fight with Kelly Ripa as Gifford realizes she shouldn't have left seven years ago.

No word on whether Frank, Cody and Cassidy will make an appearance. Let's hope that Gifford doesn't sing some tribute to Reege.

Anna told you yesterday about Regis Philbin's surprise announcement that he will undergo a heart bypass procedure this week. Philbin's last day for at least five weeks was yesterday, and the show has announced who will fill in for him while he's recuperating.

Today and tomorrow, CNN's Anderson Cooper, who has guest-hosted the show before, will take over for Regis in the chair next to Kelly Ripa. Then on Thursday and Friday, MTV's Damien Fahey will fill in. Then there will be a rotating group of celebs who will take over, and that list includes Jeff Probst, Martin Short, Donald Trump, Neil Patrick Harris, Howie Mandel, and Pat Sajak.

Wait a sec...no women? I know they like to have that male/female dynamic on the show, but come, who wouldn't watch Kathie Lee Gifford sit next to Kelly Ripa for a few days?