THE TODAY SHOW; Nearly Three Wasted Hours Of Fluff

I like THE TODAY SHOW cast very much. But the show itself is becoming more and more fluffy, and merely an exercize in wasted time. Every morning is nearly three wasted hours of real fluff with little real hard news. Serious cable channels offer important national, international or business news. It is surprising just how much worse things have gotten since Katie Couric left the show. Today they showed off the construction of their new set that includes a new kitchen set area. You know that few serious reports on Iraq, Iran, North Korea, or other serious troublespots will be origniating from there.

Say what you will about perky Katie Couric, but she was at least a serious journalist who asked some tough questions and had real skills in story preparation. Her loss to THE TODAY SHOW is already taking a huge toll in the quality of the show. Serious world issues and troublespots are worsening. A coming report on CNN asks the question whether WWIII is soon coming. By comparison on THE TODAY SHOW, engaged couples are competing in the worst ever amateur sing-offs that I've heard. They make even the worse acts on AMERICAN IDOL look almost reasonable by comparison. The world is going to heck in a handbasket, but you could hardly tell this from the three hours of mush served up each morning on the "new" TODAY SHOW.

52 year old Meredith Viera is a very nice woman. I can't say a single bad thing about her. But I question whether she can handle hard news stories with nearly the same skill as Katie Couric. Viera will be fine for typical TODAY SHOW fluff. But what about when the next terrorist attack hits, or Iran starts WWIII in the MidEast. How will the skils of Viera who hosts WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE fare there. The trend is clear, with Katie Couric gone, so is the commitment to hard news on THE TODAY SHOW. And this is deeply sad in my view. It leaves searching for better news on CNN, CNBC and other more serious outlets. Tuning in to THE TODAY SHOW used to be an important morning ritual for me. Now it is becoming far less so. So far I'm not very happy what I am seeing.