Gee, all that outdoor noise during the Today Show outside Rockefeller Center. What will the neighbors think? "Cool it!" is what they think.As a result, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, hosts of the fourth hour of Today (Weekdays, 10 am/ET on NBC), have moved indoors permanently.The New York Daily News reports nearby offices complained that all that giggling and gossiping made too much noise during business hours. — J.R. Whalen
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Who isn't hosting Today these days? First, Kathie Lee Gifford set the world on fire by returning to morning TV to co-anchor Today's fourth hour, which had been seriously lacking in Cody stories, with Hoda Kotb. Seeing all seven(!) correspondents on the ever-expanding set sofa made me feel a little outnumbered.Now First Lady Laura Bush is grabbing herself a cushion, hosting the 9 am hour of Today on April 22 — the same day as the Pennsylvania primary, incidentally. While she will join in several segments during the hour, she'll also talk with her daughter Jenna about a children's book they wrote together, and Ann Curry will get a tour of the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. — Mickey O'Connor
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Today co-anchor Matt Lauer on Monday morning announced that Kathie Lee Gifford will join Hoda Kotb for the fourth hour of the NBC morning program. "I'm eight years older, 10 pounds heavier and a half-inch shorter — just in time for HD television," quipped Gifford, 54. Once Gifford starts her Today job on April 7, Ann Curry and Natalie Morales will go back to working the show's first three hours with Al Roker. Gifford of course was a staple of morning TV when she sat beside Regis Philbin for the syndicated Live with Regis and Kathie Lee from 1988 to 2000. She was also a regular fill-in host for ABC's Good Morning America during the early '80s. It was during one of those fill-in stints that she met future husband Frank Gifford. — Stephen BattaglioWhat's your take? Do you welcome Kathie Lee back to morning TV? Or did this just seal Today: Hour 4's fate on your viewing schedule? POLL: Will Kathie Lee make you more or less inclined to watch Today?Related:• Dawn of a New To...
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Is Kathie Lee Gifford joining the Today show team? Yes, if we are to believe Newsday's TV blog. The TV Zone's Verne Gay cites FTV Live, a subscription-only site for the news biz that apparently has the "exclusive."FTV claims that Gifford skews "older female," making her a perfect choice to anchor Today's fourth hour. It's unclear what this scoop means for Ann Curry and/or Natalie Morales and/or Hoda Kotb, who currently share anchor duties there.Gay, for one, supports the idea, saying that with Rosie O'Donnell MIA from daytime, "it's all become so bland and tired. Yes, of course, Reeg is still great. And sure, I love Babs Walters, but the dear girl isn't on all the time, and when she's not (even when she is) The View is so dreadfully polite." (I am now convinced that "Verne Gay" is my nana's pen name.)I, for one, remember Gifford's tenure on Regis and Kathie Lee with a mixture of amusement and horror. She's kind of in on the joke, but then she kind of isn't.What do you think? Is this...
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Unwinding to some Dean Martin after a taping of Live with Regis and Kelly (ABC, 9 am/ET; check local listings), 76-year-old Regis Philbin is feeling nostalgic about the show's 20th anniversary. Live's two-week celebration closes out tomorrow morning when former spitfire cohost Kathie Lee Gifford returns as a guest.
TV Guide: It's been 20 years. How's it feel? Regis Philbin: Twenty years, where did they go? My dream was to go national with the kind of show I'm doing now. I'm glad I finally achieved it.
TV Guide: Say you had to spend an eternity with Kathie Lee, Kelly [Ripa] or Joey Bishop [to whom Regis
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