The Today show gang continues their tour of embarrassing stunts as they work their way through the rest of the Olympics. This morning, Al Roker and Matt Lauer treated viewers to their rhythmic gymnastics routine. This goes over well with the working and stay-at-home moms who make up a huge portion of their viewership, but not for cynical media watchers like ourselves. CONTINUED »
In May, Noah Oppenheim left the Today show, where he was pulling double duty while also manning David Gregory's Race to the White House, for Reveille, the production studio that Ben Silverman just unloaded. Now, Oppenheim's replacement arrives. Today EP Jim Bell alerted staffers via email last night that Noah Kotch is taking his place, arriving from ABC News. Today was his first day. CONTINUED »
We've been dutifully chronicling all of the Today show gang's embarrassing acts of cultural diversity while broadcasting from the Beijing Olympics, because we want a historical record of what it means to be American in a foreign country.
Already, there was Meredith Vieira trying her hand at gymnastics. The whole bunch — Matt, Meredith, Ann, and Al — trying to sing opera. And the lot of them trying out local cuisine.
Now, a Beijing tipster says there's another embarrassing moment on the horizon: In a pre-taped segment on tomorrow's Today, Roker tries learning Chinese. It did not go well. CONTINUED »
Wonder why Olympic-caliber gymnasts weigh 85 pounds, look prepubescent, and lead to accusations of age cheating? Because otherwise, we'd get this: CONTINUED »
Earlier today, we thought the Today show really embarrassed itself during this food segment about Peking duck. And it's true — they did make asses out of themselves. But there there was their attempt to imitate a Chinese opera singer: CONTINUED »
Yesterday, the Today show tried bringing us Chinese fashions. That was … bizarre.
This morning, the show's American cast tried introducing us to the Chinese delicacy of Peking duck. It was, to put it nicely, embarrassing.
With the English-speaking manager from a hotel there that supposedly serves the best duck in the city, Meredith Vieira educates viewers on local cuisine.
"It dates back 600 years, right?" asks Vieira.
"Uh, actually," she's told, "the duck was roasted in China since more than 1,000 years ago. It was first prepared for Chinese emperor."
"Nowadays," continues the manager, "it became the cornerstone … of Chinese cuisine."
"Why is that?" asks Vieira. Uhhhh. "Because it tastes good?"
That's when Matt Lauer gets his turn at asking stupid questions.
Put Bob Costas back on.
A guest chef on this morning's Today dared do what the entire fourth hour crew wants to: tell Kathie Lee Gifford to shut up. It was absolutely worth the inevitable consequences: that he'll never be asked back on Today.
Is anyone else a little uncomfortable with Vanity Fair scribe Maureen Orth taking to this morning's Today show to update everyone on the status of her family's mourning over husband Tim Russert's death, while also plugging her article about France's first lady of gossip Carla Bruni. Or maybe the booking was supposed to work the other way around?
On the plus side, Orth's Today appearance is one signal NBC still values its relationship with the late Russert's wife, and gives Vanity Fair reason to keep Orth around, despite them losing The Russert Guarantee that Orth would get booked on NBC's shows.
NBC News very cleverly gave Phil Griffin a new job description yesterday. Previously the SVP of NBC News, Griffin has been running the day-to-day at MSNBC since 2006, following Rick Kaplan's departure. In his new role, as president of MSNBC, Griffin will be, uh, running the day-to-day at MSNBC. Indeed, nothing has really changed about his role at the cable channel. Elsewhere? Yeah, things are different. CONTINUED »
As of last week, NBC's Today scored its 655th consecutive week winning the ratings game, putting it in the top spot for 12 straight years and counting. "Since the start of the year Today is up about 3 percent, leading Good Morning America, which is down 6 percent, by about 1.2 million viewers a week." And in case you weren't wondering: "The Early Show on CBS trails far behind the other two programs." [NYT]
By now it's already well-known Madonna and Guy Ritchie are on their way to divorce, with the question a matter of when, not if. The two are leading separate lives! She wants more kids, he doesn't! She still think she's a sex pot, him not so much! The reasons are endless for their going separate ways. The only matter that really remains is what to do with her $600 million fortune, especially since the pair reportedly didn't sign a prenup. Not that Madonna is leaving it up to chance: She's said to have hired divorce attorney Fiona Shackleton, who helped Paul McCartney walk away with most of his fortune and made Heather Mills look like a crazy person (though, Mills helped).
And while those close to Ritchie can be heard saying he won't wage a public legal battle, maybe $500,000 a month in alimony would help things along?
But none of that is the most interesting part of all of this.
Rather, it's who's reporting the news. While we all expect the British and American tabloids to run wild with this story, it was this morning's Today show report — based on pure speculation and carrying a "no comment" from Madonna's rep — that has us curious. CONTINUED »
Over the years, NBC's Ann Curry, who joined the network in 1990, has put together a reputation that carries many descriptions, including "affable newsreader" and "skilled reporter" to "difficult to work with" and "out for her own." In all the stories we've heard about Ms. Curry, however, "riotously funny" is not one of them. (Cheery banter during cooking segments doesn't count.)
Early next month, she aims to change all that. CONTINUED »
Billy Ray Cyrus stopped by The Today Show to speak about raising a famous daughter, but he seemed more interested in spewing off as many analogies as humanly possible. Our favorite: “The turkey with the longest neck’s gonna be the one everybody’s shootin’ at.” We’re thinking of getting it crocheted on a pillow to pass down from generation to generation.
It's only fitting that Today would get the "get" of Luke Russert, the only child of Meet The Press anchor Tim Russert and Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, who appeared on the show this morning for a lengthy segment with Matt Lauer. While Russert's colleagues have blanketed NBC, MSNBC, as well as other networks including CNN, with their own tales of what it was like to spend their work and personal hours with Russert, this is the first time somebody from Russert's family has spoken about the tragedy. The well-spoken Luke, of course, is a burgeoning media brand by himself: He's the co-host of XM sports show 60/20 with Tim's friend and colleague James Carville.
After all Bill O'Reilly's whining over trying to book Scott McClellan, he'll have to watch the former White House spokesman on NBC's Today show this morning like everybody else. And then, later tonight, he should TiVo Keith Olbermann's show, because that's where McClellan will also be making a stop. [Variety]
Yesterday we brought you O'Reilly's rant about not being able to book McClellan, which went something like this: "I said, ‘Hey Scott, come on the program, you know the Factor sells more books than any other show. Absolutely want to have you.’ Then he said he was gonna come on and now he’s not. That shows me he’s a weasel. Then who does he sign up with? The crazy left. Now when you do that, and I’m saying to myself, ‘I’ve got no axe to grind against Scott McClellan.’ I mean I just want to ask him questions about his book. The same thing I do with Hillary Clinton. But now I see what the marketing strategy is: Go to the Bush-hater people and that’s where we’ll sell our books."
Now, via a comment left by someone claiming to be from McClellan's publishing house, we learn how O'Reilly lost out on the big get: CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
