TheTodayShow-related stories
Posted Oct 15th 2009 8:24PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Daytime, Talk Show, Reality-Free
NBC just sent me a series of photos showing the interviews that will be conducted during the network's "A Woman's Nation" series. As part of the series, NBC, CNBC and MSNBC personalities will interview each other about "the state of women in American life," as the accompanying press release has stated.
In most of the pics, the pairs -- Andrea Mitchell/Rachel Maddow, Kathie Lee Gifford/Jenna Bush Hager, Mika Brzezinski/Hoda Kotb, Natalie Morales/Suze Orman -- sit on the comfy chairs, legs crossed. As you can see from the pic above, Ann Curry,
who's paired up with Meredith Vieira, wants to be different: shoes off, feet tucked under her rear end. She's
really into this conversation, know what I mean? She's
listening. She's
comfortable.
It's
so Ann Curry, isn't it?
Continue reading Ann Curry is so... Ann Curry-ish
Posted Sep 11th 2009 5:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Late Night, News, Reality-Free
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.
Continue reading The Beatles Rock Band creates another British invasion on my TV
Posted Aug 30th 2009 6:00PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Jenna Hager, the daughter of former President George W. Bush,
will be joining the Today show as a part-time correspondent on issues such as education. Hopefully this won't interfere with her other job as a schoolteacher in Maryland. Since the job is only slated for about once a month, I don't think her second job will interfere with her day job quite as much as my second job as a freelance writer interferes with mine.
I just wonder if Jenna's lineage has anything to do with this new part-time job of hers. Granted she's authored two books by the age of 27, but I have to ask if anybody with a little more experience could have taken the
Today show job.
Of course this could turn into a full-time gig for her which means she would have to quit her teaching job and kiss her tenure goodbye (unless she returned to teaching later on and started all over again). How would she survive if that happened? Oh yeah, she's a Bush.
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 Mar 23rd 2009 11:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Reality-Free
If you tuned in to
Today this morning expecting to see Matt Lauer, you were disappointed. But Matt wasn't off on another world wind tour of Asia or South America or the Baja Peninsula.
No, the intrepid
NBC host had a serious bike accident which sent him flying over the handlebars. According to co-host Meredith Vieira, Matt was biking at his Long Island home over the weekend when he had a run-in with a deer!
Continue reading Matt Lauer takes a tumble
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 Feb 13th 2009 10:01AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, OpEd, Daytime, Watercooler Talk, Talk Show, Reality-Free
I just finished watching
Today's Amy Robach interview creepy Chicago cop Drew Peterson and his half-his-age fiancee, Christina Raines. This is the umpteenth interview the show has had with Peterson, as accusations have abounded that he had something to do with the death of his third wife and the disappearance of his fourth, who's still missing. This engagement itself has been extremely odd, as Raines has already broken it once, saying that the whole thing was a publicity stunt. Now, apparently,
she's back with him, calling him "funny" and "caring," while he snickers. I can't even describe the douche chills I felt while watching this thing.
Why does
Today seem to be especially fascinated with this story? You
know Peterson is calling the producers any chance he gets, trying to come up with any angle that will get him back in front of their cameras. Now the angle is that some other woman
has fallen for his "charms", despite what happened to his last two wives and despite the fact that Peterson hasn't divorced his missing fourth wife yet.
Continue reading Can the Today show stop humoring Drew Peterson?
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 Jun 3rd 2008 9:21AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, News, Programming, Celebrities, Casting
Planet Green and
Access Hollywood are rolling out the red, er, green carpet for
Hollywood Green. The show, hosted by
Access Hollywood and
Today Show correspondent Maria Menounos will kick off tomorrow in a special timeslot at 6 p.m. The show will follow Menounos as she talks with her celebrity friends who are champions of environmentally-friendly living. The host will highlight green fashion trends, cover gala events, and put "fans and viewers in the know as to what she and the rest of Hollywood are doing to support the green movement."
Menounos is also a reporter for
NBC Nightly News and can be seen in the summer comedy
Tropic Thunder.
Planet Green is a property of Discovery Communications. It is a 24-hour eco-lifestyle network that focuses on conversation and meeting the challenge of protecting our earth.
Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos will air tomorrow at 6 p.m. on Planet Green then move to its regular time at 9 p.m. next week.
Posted Apr 5th 2006 9:47AM by Ryan j Budke
Filed under: NBC, CBS, News, Talent, Celebrities
Katie Couric announced this morning that she is indeed
going to be leaving the
Today show at the end of May; she'll be moving on to the news division at CBS (their
Evening News and
60 Minutes primarily). It was an odd announcement, because as she said herself,
she's not leaving right this moment, and it's pretty much the worst kept secret in America. Though this was a
non-announcement, it was still a little emotional, and you can tell that no matter what's gone on behind the scenes
throughout the years at NBC in the morning, they are a close-knit crew. There's going to be some fun stuff coming up as
they look back over Katie's career.
So now the big question is "who will replace Katie?" The front
runner in the rumor-mill is Meredith Vieira. I've never really seen her on anything besides
Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire (yes I know she's on
The View, but honestly I've just never seen it.) What do you guys think?
Would Meredith be any good? She certainly has some big shoes to fill from
Katherine Katie Couric.
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