Drinking is part of the fourth hour. Every day has at least a few seconds, often an entire segment, with the two co-hosts talking about booze and liquor, and then having demonstrations of how to make mixed drinks. Even the days are named. One day is "Booze Day Tuesday"; another is "Thirsty Thursday." Guest co-host Seth Rogen two weeks ago had said he had never had a drink that early on TV. Hoda, joking it up, responded on the show's Facebook page that the "operative words" were "on TV." It isn't too outrageous to believe that by the end of the Today's final hour, even AA mentors are tempted to take a swig just to ease their pain.
Because the "Today" producers are "with it" and "one with social networking," they underline the on-air show with audience contact through Facebook and Twitter. During the hour, Sara Haines conveys fan email to the co-hosts and occasionally discusses technology. There is no evidence she is a technology guru, just as there is no logic why she, like the two co-hosts, are bottle blondes.
Legendary TV pioneer Sylvester ("Pat") Weaver created the "Today" show in 1952, filling a daily two-hour program with news and features. Two years later, now NBC's president, he created the "Tonight" show.
For all but eight years of its 59 year run, "Today" has been the ratings leader in its two-hour time slot, mostly following the basic formula that Weaver established.
In 2000, NBC added a third hour. In September 2007, NBC expanded "Today" to the fourth hour. Kotb was the original co-host, along with Ann Curry and Natalie Morales. Gifford replaced Curry and Morales a few months later. After a dip in the ratings, the fourth hour again took over its time slot, adding to the News Division's profit, a reason why it would do everything possible to stonewall any attempt to move that hour into the Entertainment Division where it belongs. The show itself is little more than an amalgamation of the worst parts of Cosmopolitan, Us Weekly, and just about any TV entertainment-and-gossip show.
Kardashian Week may have brought in greater ratings. It's also why middle-class America willingly bathes in the limelight of the rich and famous, even those with little ability other than having created a following who make them famous for reasons no one yet understands.
[Walter Brasch is an a award-winning syndicated columnist and media analyst. His latest book is the fast-paced mystery Before the First Snow.]
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