Well, we know that the singers from Glee were not welcomed into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade thanks to NBC's territorial attitude. Still, that doesn't mean we won't be watching on Turkey Day. NBC, in fact, will feature one of their own prominently that morning -- 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski will be singing an original song on a float.
It will not be a typical Jenna floppola, either. It's a song being written by the Emmy nominated team of Wesley Whatley and William Schermerhorn. And in case you don't know, Jane's a Tony-winning star who is not only hilarious as Jenna, but a really fine singer/dancer/actress.
That's not all. Alan Cumming is also set to perform in the parade, and it sounds like a doozy, too. He'll sing the Sinatra classic, "That's Life" on the M&M float. What the song, Cumming and Sinatra have to do with M&M candies is anyone's guess.
So, this was just another desperate attempt by the family to get on television. Honestly, have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?
I say that because if these parents have even a scintilla of sense, couldn't they have projected what was going to happen when the balloon came down? Couldn't they have seen that there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
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.
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."
Like a lot of Star Trek and classic TV fans, I'll be in line for the new movie when it opens tomorrow (actually, tonight in many cities - check your local listings, as they say). Leonard Nimoy is in it (no, that's not a spoiler), and this morning he sat down to talk with Al Roker on Today (video also here). Roker says that Nimoy put the ears on for the first time in 18 years. Wait, 18 years? That can't be right. I feel old.
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.
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.
When I watch Today every morning, I wonder how some of the people that are standing in Rockefeller Plaza are able to bring signs that are blatant advertisements. I figured there was someone at the entrance to the taping area that would inspect each sign and reject ones that are inappropriate.
Turns out that's true, but Ad Age says that what's in the inappropriate category is less than you think. All the staff looks for is inappropriate language and readability. In fact, NBC doesn't seem to mind that a lot of companies are getting a ton of free advertising by asking people to bring signs and display them, hoping to get a lingering glance or even one of the hosts to come over and speak to someone reading the sign.
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?
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?
File this one under the category of really, wild rumors that should become reality: Desperate Housewives wants Governor Sarah Palin to appear as a guest on the show.
Like I said, this is a rumor that cropped up yesterday, saying that head-writer/creator Marc Cherry was "very hot to trot to have her appear in the season finale." That was followed by an ABC spokesman denying that there's a shred of truth to the story.
Still, what if it's not such a Lucy Ricardo idea? Sarah Palin as a visitor to Wisteria Lane would be terrific -- and probably a boost in the ratings (which are doing great anyway, but still why not do even better?).
When I read AOL's Top 20 Best Game Shows of All Time, I pretty much agreed with all the choices. I might have moved Password up a bit, and dropped Who Wants to Be A Millionaire to a lower slot, but the one selection that really made me glower was The Price Is Right as number one.
No, no, not to me. For me, the only choice for numero uno is Jeopardy. It's not a game of chance or luck or random spins of a wheel. It's all about brains and thinking on your feet. And maybe having really fast thumbs. Merv Grifffin's creation remains the best gameshow ever in my book.
As I was thinking about Jeopardy, I realized that for me, the best Jeopardy is not today's Alex Trebek version. I mean, it's great -- don't misunderstand me. It's the one I still prefer to watch today, but my favorite Jeopardy remains the pre-syndication edition, the one that played on NBC daytime from 1964-1975. No, I'm not nuts. I have five very good reasons why I prefer the original, classic Jeopardy.
Well, we know that the singers from Glee were not welcomed into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade thanks to NBC's territorial attitude. Still, that doesn't mean we won't be watching on Turkey Day. NBC, in fact, will feature one of their own prominently that morning -- 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski will be singing an original song on a float. 
Well, you sort of knew that this was coming, didn't you? The 
Somehow, I have become addicted to the 
Seeing Brian Williams sitting next to Matt Lauer on 
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, 
When I watch Today every morning, I wonder how some of the people that are standing in Rockefeller Plaza are able to bring signs that are blatant advertisements. I figured there was someone at the entrance to the taping area that would inspect each sign and reject ones that are inappropriate.
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, 
Here's what's on TV tomorrow. Lots of marathons, movies, and bowl games.
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 
File this one under the category of really, wild rumors that should become reality: Desperate Housewives wants Governor 
When I read 
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
