Don’t do it!
Together again?
This sounds like a gimmick — and one that won’t work.
AN ONLINE report on Monday sent a warm and fuzzy ripple through the TV biz with the suggestion that NBC is thinking about reuniting Regis Philbin with Kathie Lee Gifford.
It’s an intriguing but bad idea, and it’s not going to help vault “Today” back ahead of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Reege could become Gifford’s co-host for the fourth hour of the “Today” show, according to a RadarOnline report, if current co-host Hoda Kotb is moved up to the main slot from which NBC is clumsily dumping Ann Curry.
In fact, a Reege-and-Kathie Lee reunion might be one of the few ways NBC could distract viewers enough to emerge from this debacle with a little goodwill.
But that’s not reason enough to pull the trigger on it.
Nothing against Philbin. Nothing against Kathie Lee. They reunited for a one-off last week, and it was bushels of fun. But riding a wave of happy nostalgia for a few weeks or months is not the same as finding a show that can help NBC reestablish the domination of the “Today” brand.
It sounds more like a gimmick, and one with a troubling undertone: Is NBC’s best idea for that part of “Today” to recycle a show that ended 12 years ago?
Philbin, 80, has made it clear he doesn’t see himself as retired, and that’s fine. But there’s a difference between picking his spots — or becoming a “Today” contributor — and co-hosting a daily show. He’s reached the point where it’s okay to downshift, and even before he left “Regis and Kelly” last year, he was taking days off, Johnny Carsonstyle.
NBC naturally isn’t commenting on any of this, and none of it even becomes relevant unless Kotb is promoted to Curry’s spot.
A TMZ report Monday said Curry will get a $10 million buyout from the three-year “Today” contract she signed last year and that, as previously speculated, she may remain at NBC as a foreign correspondent.
It is also widely expected NBC will break its loud silence this week and announce what’s next for Curry and “Today.”
Point worth remembering: Fondly as we recall Reege and Kathie Lee, they’re a garnish here, not an entree.