Tag Archives: morning talk show

Live on

“Regis is here!” — Regis Philbin (anytime he walks into a room)

We all knew the day was coming.  But Regis Philbin’s announcement yesterday that he plans to leave Live with Regis & Kelly at the end of the summer was still a shocker.

David Letterman — who has poked fun at the man more than anyone on television — called Regis while taping last night’s Late Show to lament his decision.

Personally I applaud Rege for leaving before he ‘needs’ to… for retiring while he still loves the job and while the audience — and the industry — still loves him.  Now executive producer Michael Gelman must find not just a new co-host, but the right co-host, to join Kelly at the Live desk.

I think we know how I feel about this.

Way back in November 2009, when Regis had heart surgery and was out for six weeks, I made my preference known.

And still today, I will accept — without too much whining — only one of the following to sit by her side:  Neil Patrick Harris or Anderson Cooper.

Anderson just signed a deal to host his own daytime talk show, so I would think that takes him out of the running. Which can only mean one thing….

If Gelman has a brain in that yoga-toned body of his, America will soon be waking up to the next great morning show:

Live with Kelly and Neil Patrick

(I think she’s earned top billing by now.)

It will be legen — I’m still waiting for it — dary.

Buffering?

Now that I DVR television programs on a nightly basis, my morning TV habits have changed as well.

I no longer automatically turn on “Today” or “Live with Regis and Kelly” while I’m eating breakfast.  Instead, I may be watching shows from the previous evening’s recordings.  Hey, when you can whip through the commercials, you get through them pretty quickly.

But this morning, I actually watched a bit of “Today,” and was intrigued by a teaser on the “8 hidden benefits of middle age.”  (Of course, I’M not middle age; I just know people who are and thought it might be interesting to share.)  Since it was coming on later in the program — after I would be working — I decided to catch it online.

Here’s where “Today” suffered a big, fat FAIL.

They post enormous amounts of video on their website, and most segments are preceded by an advertisement.  I don’t sweat that; in fact, I expect it.  But the ad for cling wrap buffered about every five seconds… so by the time the actual segment began, I had not only hit middle age, I was ready for retirement. Then the segment buffered about every third word.  I could not get past the opening chit-chat; it was simply taking too long and was too darn annoying.

I still don’t know what the eight hidden benefits are to middle age are; patience definitely isn’t one of them.

Now, to be fair, I did check a couple of other pieces of video on the “Today” website to make sure that this wasn’t a random FAIL.  No such luck.  Every piece of video buffered like a tortoise.

If the folks at Youtube can figure out a way for random people to post video online that — nine times out of 10 — doesn’t buffer, then the folks at “Today” should be able to do the same.

Hint:  size does matter.

Use your words

When the first trailer for “Dinner for Schmucks” popped up in theaters, I thought the premise was ridiculous.

A guy can only get promoted if he brings the biggest idiot to a secret corporate dinner?  I mean, seriously — what were they smoking at the pitch for that movie?

But then,  they assembled a dream cast.  Paul Ruud. Steve Carell. Zach Galifianakis.  And the clips look pretty hilarious.

I’ll bite.

But before I go to the movie this weekend, at least one of the morning or late night talk hosts promoting the film this week has to get the name right.

It’s “Dinner for Schmucks.”  Not Smucks.  Or Shucks.  Or whatever the heck it is you guys are saying.

It’s schmucks.

Hearing everyone mispronounce this very common Yiddish insult is driving me insane.  Is it a network conspiracy?  Like the new show “—- My Dad Says” based on the Twitter account, where they have replaced the very common curse word with hash marks.

Is “schmuck” such a bad word that everyone has agreed to say it wrong?  That’s even more ridiculous than the plot of the movie!

And it makes me want to go see it even more.