Viewers aren't the only ones easily annoyed by the fourth hour of the Today show. Neighbors are now complaining about Kathie Lee's fluffy chat fest.
As part of its arrangement to host the show at Rockefeller Center, producers also had to agree to cut their outdoor activities by 10am, but the fourth hour keeps the hosts gabbing until 11am. [NYDN]
The crowds and the noise weren't sitting well with neighbors, who began the backlash. Now Kathie & Co. are being forced inside, but: They might return to the natural light for Memorial Day. Let's pray for rain.
An example of the fourth hour's boisterousness, below. CONTINUED »
Because the non-scandal surrounding Richard Engel's George Bush interview for NBC News doesn't seem to be quieting down anytime soon, let's re-examine the argument that White House counsel Ed Gillespie is making — that NBC edited the interview to push its lefty politics or something.
Notes WaPo's Dan Froomkin: "If Bush had actually explained what he thought Engel got wrong, then the editing might have come in for legitimate criticism. But all Bush did was vaguely and confusingly suggest that what he was calling appeasement was not taking the words [of enemies like Iran -- or Hitler --] seriously.' By no accepted definition does that amount to appeasement. But regardless, Bush's point was dutifully noted in what NBC aired."
So then what the hell was Gillespie complaining about? CONTINUED »
Today show and Race to the White House producer Noah Oppenheim is leaving NBC News to head to Reveille, the production unit started by NBC's co-chair Ben Silverman that's behind Ugly Betty and The Office. [TVN] Bowing to pressure of conflicts of interest, Silverman sold Reveille this year to Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine, which means his new job will put him closer to Bill O'Reilly than it will to Keith Olbermann. No matter, though: Today show exec producer Jim Bell is "happy that he'll still be part of NBCU's extended family."
Why can't separate units of the same corporation get along? You don't seen Time Warner's People and TMZ.com feuding with each other. But yesterday's Access Hollywood "promo" of Angelina Jolie's interview with the Today show has the morning show's exec producer Jim Bell furious with his NBC counterpart.
Today released footage to corporate cousin Access so exec producer Rob Silverstein could tease the interview, providing the tabloid TV show with a buzzworthy nugget while synergistically promoting its morning show pal.
But then Access posted an entire transcript of the interview, even though it was Today who flew Natalie Morales to Cannes for the interview, meaning Bell & Co. footed the bill. Relays Page Six: "'Jim and Rob exchanged words. Rob had to be told off, but the situation was resolved favorably.' Today reps said the show 'is always happy to share the wealth of our many exclusive interviews throughout the entire NBC Universal family.' Silverstein said, via a rep, 'All 5-foot-7 of me on a good day would never dare take on 6-foot-5 Jim Bell.'"
The interview from this morning's Today is below. CONTINUED »
An exhausted Barack Obama chats with Matt Lauer from Evansville, Indiana, repeatedly referring to him as "Tim" (as in Tim Russert, who Obama chatted with on yesterday's Meet The Press), officially making this a more interesting segment than "Where in the World Is Matt Lauer?" CONTINUED »
On tomorrow's Today (too early for brain to comprehend!), Michelle and Barack Obama will sit down with Meredith Vieira. Here is why that is a stupid, stupid idea: CONTINUED »
• Miley Cyrus and her parents saw an opportunity to boost her profile with a Vanity Fair photo shoot that portrayed her as more than an innocent little girl.
• Vanity Fair saw an opportunity to sell magazines by shooting America's tween sweetheart as more than an innocent little girl.
They both exploited each other. Neither should apologize. Except for one little thing: that the the photos are, uh, actually quite terrible.
Photographer Annie Leibovitz, responding to criticism over Miley Cyrus' topless Vanity Fair photoshoot: "I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together, and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.” [Us]
The Today show didn't even get around to mentioning it until its second half hour. CONTINUED »
This morning on the Today show, the suddenly-in-demand Ashlee Simpson continued avoiding questions about her spawn status, instead noting how she's "giving birth" to a different type of baby: her new album Bittersweet World. What a clever segue into advertising your new record, which is probably what this entire pregnancy rumor is to begin with: an ad.
You can let America choose its next idols. But please do not let them choose the next job for Katie Couric. The CBS Evening News anchor, who is either being "pushed out" or "volunteering an exit" from her post, was the subject of career speculation outside the Today show, or at least she was when the Observer egged on the crowd. So what do fans of the former morning show star think she should be doing? CONTINUED »
Today show weatherguy and fan greeter Al Roker is in talks with FremantleMedia to become the next host of Family Feud, taking over from John O'Hurley and returning the show to its rightful place as "that show hosted by the pudgy guy." [Variety]
Time's James Poniewozik: "I cannot honestly say I am a regular watcher of the Today show's fourth hour; I cannot say that I will be in the future. But I will say that the addition of zany, oversharing Kathie Lee at least provides more of a reason to watch the fourth hour than there is now, namely, that you were vacuuming during the third hour of the Today show, had a seizure, and are now prostrate on the floor awaiting medical help." [Time]
Is Today show producer Noah Oppenheim about to be named executive producer of David Gregory's new 6pm MSNBC show? That's the rumor we're hearing from inside 30 Rock. [Ed: Update: It's also the rumor the Observer already heard.] Oppenheim, who runs the 7am hour of the Today show, is said to be the frontrunner for Tucker Carlson's replacement show. But naming him to the lucrative spot has some concerned — is this just more evidence that veterans from NBC proper are heavy-handing their way into leadership roles at the cable net? To be fair, Noah is a MSNBC veteran himself; he was once a senior producer of of Hardball and EP of Scarborough Country. (Bonus points: Oppenheim was also, according to his website, the editorial chair of The Harvard Crimson while a student.)
In ditching the Today show at the last minute, and opting for ABC's Good Morning America, Mariah Carey has NBC execs pissed — except, as manager Benny Medina puts it, he never guaranteed the peacock network his client. The two parties were negotiating to have Carey perform as part of concert series, but Medina wanted all-out promotion for Carey, which meant a guest starring role on My Name Is Earl and promotion of her fragrance on Today. They agreed, but when her album needed retooling, NBC's promotion was pushed back. Now she's bailed on the gig altogether, but Medina hopes reneging on his verbal arrangement doesn't make Today "feel disrespected by me trying to do right by my client." No hard feelings, right kids?
Yesterday, Janice Dickinson (a.k.a. the nip-tucked monstosity formerly known as "The World's First Supermodel") called frenemy Tyra Banks "fat" during a candid exchange with Al Roker on the Today show. Then, she panicked and immediately tried to run damage control by awkwardly rescinding her statements in an interview with former View co-host Star Jones.
But her slick maneuvering wasn't enough to fool the observant editor of Stereohyped, who called Dickinson out on her transparency and had this to say about her backpedaling behavior:
The greatest thing about publicity tours is that when you go on a talk show in the morning and call Tyra Banks fat during an interview with a black host who has had highly-publicized gastric bypass surgery, you can retract the statement the very same day during an interview with a different black host who has had highly-publicized gastric bypass surgery.
So true! Next up on Janice Dickinson's self-promotional publicity tour: A round-panel discussion with Mike Huckabee, Missy Elliot and Karl Lagerfeld.
Watching this video of Janice Dickinson calling Tyra Banks fat, we realized that maybe we were better off being a nerd in high school than being a queen bee. Hot girls are mean.
Well, some former models themselves go and some don’t. But they do share one thing: an abject refusal to give up their fame.
The reviews are in on the superfluous fourth hour of the day show, and NY Newsday's Verne Gay isn't pulling any punches.
The Fourth Hour is utter glop, with no reason for being, no purpose, no intelligence, no thought, no energy, and no originality. Remember 'Later Today,' the third hour at the turn of the century that derailed or sidelined a whole bunch of careers? That was actually better.
And don't even get him started on how he feels about the first three hours! Meanwhile, in other completely unrelated news, Today's ratings have dropped 6.2% since Meredith Vieira's arrival. Possibly due to the fact that Vieira is, admittedly, "not really an early-morning person," possibly due to the fact that the show is unintellectual glop, definitely due to the fact that it's lost its (i.e. Katie Couric's) legs.
Rita Cosby will not be appearing on the Today show today, tomorrow or anytime soon if Larry Birkhead's lawyers have anything to say about it.
According to TMZ, Today producers abruptly canceled a scheduled sit-down with the former NBC correspondent (and author of trashy publicity-seeking bio, "Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death") after receiving a rather threatening letter from the litigious Larry Birkhead and his newest crop of high-paid high-powered attorneys.
Birkhead, as we reported previously, has threatened to sue Cosby for smearing his *cough* good name with somewhat-believable allegations that he and Howard K. Stern were in collusion throughout the custody hearings and somewhat-less-believable allegations that he and Stern were in a "relationship." At least according to Jackie Hatten, a reliable source "known wacko whose brother served prison time for stalking Anna Nicole."
Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, and Hoda Kotb are said to have been chosen to run the NBC morning show's fourth 60-minute slot kicking off Sept. 11. Now, if Today kicks off at 7am with what they'll refer to as "hard news" and gets more fluffy by the hour, you can just imagine how often Natalie Morales is going to be hosting fashion segments on Spanx. [B&C]
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