the today show-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 Feb 10th 2008 1:15PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- John McWethy: He was a veteran journalist who was the chief national security and Pentagon reporter for ABC News from 1979 to 2004. He reported on everything from foreign affairs, the military, and the Oklahoma bombing to 9/11. He died while skiing in Keystone, CO. He was 60. ABC News President David Westin released this statement.
Continue reading TV Obits: McWethy, Cuniff, Dabney
Posted Jun 22nd 2007 4:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Web
From the Things I Don't Understand file: NBC is selling video of Matt Lauer's interview with Prince William and Prince Harry on iTunes, even though the entire interview is available on MSNBC.com for free.
Now, before you say "nobody would buy that," please note that the $1.99 video is the number two TV video on iTunes right now, right behind video of the recent Miss Universe Pageant. Just kidding. Actually, number one right now is the latest episode of Starter Wife. The rest of the top 10: recent eps of The Office, Lil' Bush, The Starter Wife, Kyle XY, The Starter Wife, Hannah Montana, Stargate: SG-1, and Studio 60.
I guess if you buy it from iTunes you can keep it forever and watch it over and over and over.
Posted Mar 27th 2007 11:26AM by Elizabeth Chan
Filed under: ABC, NBC, Late Night, OpEd, Music and Variety, Watercooler Talk, Talk Show, Dancing With The Stars
The more America watches
Dancing With The Stars the more confirmation there is that athletes encompass infinite amounts of grace. At first glance, Laila Ali has a body meant to beat boxing competitors into a bloody pulp. Last night she also proved that she could knock people out with a mean mambo on last night's episode of
Dancing With The Stars.
She floated effortlessly on the dance floor and made a mambo booty shake that caused an earthquake on the dance floor and took home the high score on last night's
Dancing With the Stars. If you missed it, you can watch her shake it in this clip of TV's Top 5! moment.
However, some women are not so graceful...
Continue reading Laila Ali floats like a butterfly. Meredith Vieira does not.
Posted Mar 23rd 2007 3:20PM by Elizabeth Chan
Filed under: News, OpEd, American Idol, Watercooler Talk, News and Gossip
There is a Chinese proverb that says, "If you sit by an inkwell, you'll get dirty." It certainly seems that even if you are slightly involved with the juggernaut that is
Idol, you will achieve great fame overnight.
Ashley is the latest person to receive this kind of peripheral
American Idol fame. The last person I can think of that enjoyed a similar amount of success is William Hung.
Yesterday, little Ashley made her national pop culture icon debut on
The Today Show with Meredith Vieira and elaborates
why being such a "Fanjaya" brings her to tears.The best part of the interview is when Meredith attributes Sanjaya's survival on the show to her devotion to the contestant. The girl turns out to be way smarter than her deluded mother, and says she doesn't think so but is instantly refuted by her Mom.
I smell a stage mom. Sheesh. Get your own passion for your own
Idol.Posted Jan 20th 2007 4:48PM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Late Night, American Idol, Talk Show, Alumni, News and Gossip
American Idol's Season Five runner-up, Katharine McPhee, is going to be sharing her very special McPheever all over the TV in the upcoming weeks while promoting the January 30th release of her self-titled debut album. So McPhee Phans, set your TIVOs:
January 29 -- Tonight Show With Jay Leno
January 31 -- The Today Show
February 1 -- Live With Regis & Kelly
February 1 -- A guest appearance on Ugly Betty
February 5 -- TRL
February 6 -- The Early Show
Februay 7 -- Jimmy Kimmel Live
February 8 -- Larry King LiveContinue reading Katharine McPhee will promote album release all over TV
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]
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