Tough couple of days for Ann Curry.
Your job's up for grabs, the webernets are all atwitter over the (yet unconfirmed) idea that you've been FIRED, there's rampant speculation about who ought to replace you (Savannah Guthrie? Natalie Morales? Another generically earnest brunette lookalike?) and, in Murphy's Law-esque twist, you give this uncomfortably ill-timed interview to Ladies Home Journal in which you admit to all sorts of insecurities and to taking the entire Morning Show Ratings War game very personally. Next thing you know, every morning show-watching schmuck in the comments of every gossip website is coming down on one side or the other of the "DOWN WITH HER!" debate.
I feel for the sycophant.
I don't watch morning television, I can count on one hand the number of times I've even watched Matt Lauer on screen, I wouldn't know if I was watching The Today Show, or Good Morning, America, or whatever else is broadcast during those coffee and yoga hours. BUT. But -- this seems to have captured the imagination of America, certainly, and I suspect it has something to do with a national love of schadenfreude. All of a sudden, we're not the only ones out of work, we're not the only ones watching out job go to cheaper, younger talent, or watching the choice projects go to the newer, fancier chumps. All of a sudden, it's happening to That Lady With The Over-plucked Brows Who Asks Bland, Leading Interview Questions.
So, I did some googling. I dug up some Today Show Interviews. I started understanding what people meant when they complained about her coddling and pandering to the celebrities. I understood what they meant when they complained that she did all of the speaking and left too little air space for the interviewees. I understood why they called her out for asking stupid questions to which there was no, nice, soundbite answer, just an uncomfortable opportunity to parrot whatever she said back at her.
That's when it dawned on me:
The problem with The Today Show, frankly, is that there is altogether too little Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, and Harrison Ford. Hire plucky Rachel to produce that action, drag in Diane and Harrison to bicker and grumble their way through OctoMom interviews (for instance), and watch ratings shoot through the roof.
"Morning Glory," anyone?
Lordy, I love that movie. Have watched it probably.....twenty times? It's my "I'm cooking dinner, let's put a movie on," movie. It's my "I'm not quite tired, let's watch a movie to bring on the sleepy," movie. It's my "I'm moving out of my beloved apartment and have to pack up everything I own in three days, so will be up all night, I need company," movie. It's a delightfully saccharine schmaltz-fest with a delightfully happy ending and a delightfully perky soundtrack.
(Also: sidenote! This was written by a woman, about a woman, really, so there's none of that "This Means War-" style of insult to female intelligence. The primary goal of the Rachel McAdams character is professional success, not "finding the man of her dreams," making this, actually, a really girl-power-worthy movie in the most..."cutesy" sense of the already-cutesy girl-power phrase.)
Get that? It's D-E-L-I-G-H-T-F-U-L. Goofy, dweeby, determined girl wins in the end. Disgrunted, grumpy old guy comes around and warms up to dweeby girl, they forge touching, father-daughter-like companionship.
I mean, Matt Lauer's fine and everything, but, much like Ryan Seacrest, he just seems to ENJOY it all too much. The beauty of a little "Mike Pomeroy"-style Harrison Ford in the host's chair is that he's utterly nonplussed with the entire experience. Which makes things like Royal Weddings and Celebrity Divorces and Juice Cleanse Crazes and Weight Watchers Endorsements all that much more watchable, because you get the proper dose of "this is asinine" perspective thrown in.
There's my official recommendation. To suck the show out of the rating dregs: fire 'em all. Fine, leave Al Roker or whomever is still floundering around from the Olde Days, but -- fertheloveofpoptarts -- ditch those predictably cheery hosts and bring in the fine folks of Daybreak.
Also -- go watch "Morning Glory."
It'll make ya smile: promise.
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