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NBC's "Today" show Halloween decorating segment with Better Homes & Gardens and the news team dressed as "Star Wars" characters went increasingly awry due to a pair of scene stealing (and reportedly intoxicated) Ewoks. ...

Over a chorus of gleeful Irish pub-goers literally singing Barack Obama's praises, NBC's Al Roker, broadcasting live from Ireland on Monday's "Today" show, explored the current president's Irish roots as he observed: "As St. Patrick's Day approaches in Moneygall the townsfolk join in the chorus, determined to keep hope alive." The "Today" show weatherman began the celebratory segment by exclaiming: "In a small pub in Ireland they're still celebrating Obama's victory. Dancing in honor of their adopted son." The following is a complete transcript of the segment as it was aired on the March 16, "Today" show: AL ROKER: You...

"Today" might have hit a new low in tasteless humor on network morning news shows, with a sheep-shagging double entendre this morning. Meredith Vieira and Al Roker are over in Ireland this week. Opening this morning's show, the pair explained that as part of their visit, they did a bit of sheep-herding, which led to this suggestive exchange between the pair. . . View video here.

To quote Jimmy Durante: everybody's trying to get into the act. At the "Today" show, it's not enough anymore to be subjected to the liberal preaching of Vieira, Lauer and Curry. Now weatherman Al Roker wants to harangue us, too. Roker had been off for a few days, and this morning we found out why: "We were in South Africa at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. Life changing. Good for her. She's done such an amazing job." Wonderful. Good. Glad to hear it. But Al didn't stop there"And to the people who are castigating her: boo on you. If you've...

Many a television newsman has had a signature phrase, whether it's a unique sign-off or a particular expression that viewers come to associate with him. Could Al Roker's be ..."man candy?" Yesterday, Roker, of NBC's Today Show fame, surveyed the sea of tight-T-shirted young men lined up on the Today Show Plaza for Cosmopolitan magazine's search for "The Most Eligible Bachelors in the United States" and proclaimed: "It's like a Whitman's Sampler of man candy." On Monday, "award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson" appeared on the show to prepare an autumnal feast and inspired this exchange between Roker and Ann Curry: CURRY:...

Matt Lauer had a chuckle at the expense of his guests - then took Dems to task. Michael Smerconish scolded a Republican. And Meredith Vieira gave further evidence of a style looser than that of her perky predecessor. That's the nutshell wrap on the first half-hour of this morning's Today. Politics first. Lauer opened his interview with the folliclely-challenged duo of James Carville and Philly radio host Michael Smerconish by rubbing his own less-than-hirsute pate and observing with a laugh in the shot captured here: "First time in a long time I feel like I have a luxuriant head of...

by Mark Finkelstein August 2, 2006 - 08:17 The uniformed Cuban military officer pictured here barks commands at a smallish crowd in Havana that responds with pro-Fidel chants. Imagine you're an objective journalist. How would you report it? "The Castro regime orchestrates a public show of support," perhaps? Not Andrea Mitchell. Appearing on this morning's Today show, here's how she characterized what you have to imagine was a less-than-spontaneous event: "In Havana, Cubans turn out to show support for their long-time leader." No surprise. I did ask you to imagine how an 'objective' journalist would report it. Andrea managed to...

by Mark Finkelstein June 30, 2006 Should we look for Matt Lauer to close his next interview of Condi Rice by clasping her hands? Perhaps a verklempt Dick Cheney thanking Campbell Brown for being with him "every step of the way"? Could be, judging by Al Roker's interview of Star Jones this morning. OK. Star isn't Secretary of State. She's someone who got bounced as co-host of a televised coffee klatsch. Even so, some of the journalistic values on display were eye-brow raising. For openers, what does it say about Today's news values that the interview, stretching across two half-hours...

by Mark Finkelstein April 5, 2006 Playing the straight man to perfection, Matt Lauer kicked off the second half-hour of this morning's Today show by asking Katie Couric: "Anything new?" In responding, Couric made official what she acknowledged was "the worst kept secret in America": that after 15 years she was leaving Today to go to the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes. Here, for posterity, was the opening line of Couric's announcement: "I wanted to tell all of you out there who have watched the show for the past 15 years that after listening to my heart and my...

Hey gang, so Deep Throat is revealed. Retired FBI agent Mark Felt told Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein the goods to bring down a presidency. I remember Watergate during the summer of 1973. The hearings that were presided over by Sen. Sam Ervin (D-N.C.) provided me with the means to further my college education. That summer, I had just finished my sophomore year at Oswego State University. To make some cash and pick up a summer course or two, I spent my summer at school working at the public radio station on campus, WRVO-FM.

What do we offer the world? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 19, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern "So, how do we advance the cause of female emancipation in the Muslim world?" asks Richard Perle in "An End to Evil." He replies, "We need to remind the women of Islam ceaselessly: Our enemies are the same as theirs; our victory will be theirs as well." Well, the neoconservative cause "of female emancipation in the Muslim world" was probably set back a bit by the photo shoot of Pfc. Lynndie England and the "Girls Gone Wild" of Abu Ghraib prison. Indeed, the filmed orgies among...

Ad Campaign Launched for King MemorialBy ELIZABETH WOLFE The Associated Press Wednesday, May 7, 2003; 6:21 PM WASHINGTON - Halle Berry is escorted to a "colored section" at the back of a restaurant and TV weatherman Al Roker can't find a treadmill that isn't marked "white guests only" in a new ad campaign to raise money for a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The public service ads using modern celebrities to portray times past were unveiled Wednesday. They are part of an effort over the next year and a half to raise $40 million needed to break...