Question: I saw your comments last week about Gameshow Marathon, which seems to appall you. As a big fan of the classic '70s and '80s game shows, I have actually found Gameshow Marathon to be a guilty pleasure. It does have a couple of major flaws, but if tweaked a little, it could be very enjoyable summer fare. As for its faults, I think having C-list celebrities playing for charity takes any element of suspense out of it. Also, Ricki Lake is just not a good fit as the host of the games — she obviously knows her stuff, but her voice and style are just soooo annoying. But on the plus side, the faithful re-creations of the classic game-show sets are satisfying in a surreal kind of way. And I really like the concept of the tournament. This could be a fun summer show if it were played with real people (not celebrities) for their own cash and prizes, and if the games themselves had hosts who were more in the traditional host mold. Of course, most of the original hosts are no longer with ...
read more
History is about to repeat itself at NBC's Today.
Any minute now, The View's Meredith Vieira will sign on as coanchor to replace Katie Couric after she leaves to join the CBS Evening News. But it looks like Vieira will keep her other gig as host of the syndicated
read more
My favorite TV moment this week (granted, I've been on the road and haven't watched a lot) occurred early Wednesday morning, as Matt Lauer defused the mawkish sentiment on the Today set in the wake of Katie Couric's long-awaited announcement that she would be leaving soon for CBS.
"Also coming up in this half hour..." Lauer quipped, as the Today crew (a great group, as I can attest to from the experience of being on the show a handful of times) broke into laughter.
What I loved about that gag was how it underscored the fact that life on Today would go on, no doubt quite robustly, after the Katie Couric era ends. (There have been so many: the Bryant Gumbel-Jane Pauley era; the Barbara Walters-Hugh Downs era; and so on).
This is a historic shift, no question, and shouldn't be underestimated even as it's overanaly
read more
