# Today Show: Have You At Last No Depth? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 21, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557 "2003-02-21T16:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/1 "2003-02-21T16:58:09Z")
I realize that the Today Show isn’t exactly the TV equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein, but have they always been as totally devoid of any sense of depth or taste as they are now? I missed the State of the Union address because I had to work late and hoped to hear about it on the news the next morning. Instead, Katie and Matt are staging a version of DATING GAME. On the morning after the Al-Jazeera tape that may or may not be Osama bin Laden’s voice, they’re discussing makeovers of Al Roker with the gayest guy in New York not to wear a feather boa who I’m guessing from appearance and inexplicable TV time is the bastard son of Tim Curry and Liza Minelli. Today, on the morning after 54 people died in a still blazing fire in a Rhode Island nightclub, that zany-wacky-tastic Matt and Katie are playing Trading Spaces with their dressing rooms. No mention is made on any of these about the top stories. Is this why Katie Couric became a journalist? Is Matt a journalist? Christ, folks, there’s enough fluff on cable, can’t we have something halfway intelligent to start the morning with? I look forward to the invasion of Iraq so that we can see how Matt & Katie are going to do each other’s hair while Al gives himself dreads and Special Foreign Correspondents Anna Nicole Smith and Jack Osbourne interview Uday Hussein. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/2 "2003-02-21T17:07:49Z")
Listen to NPR, dude. The Today Show is for people who don’t like to deal with heavy stuff that early in the morning. You’re obviously not one of those people. Tune your radio to your NPR affiliate in the morning and listen to Morning Edition. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/3 "2003-02-21T17:45:43Z")
They did talk about the fire in Rhode Island. It was the top story at 7:00. The Trading Spaces bit wasn’t on till the 8 O’clock hour. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/4 "2003-02-21T17:59:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > \*\*I realize that the Today Show isn’t exactly the TV equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein, but have they always been as totally devoid of any sense of depth or taste as they are now? \*\* Oh, Jeez! At first I thought you were talking about the **Daily Show!** And I was going to answer, “yes. They’ve always been shallow and tasteless. That’s why I watch it!.” oops.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/5 "2003-02-21T18:25:54Z")
Thankfully, I’m at the office by the time that inane “news” show comes on. Waste of electrons… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/6 "2003-02-21T18:32:27Z")
Evidently I sleep an hour later than the “good stuff”. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/7 "2003-02-21T18:33:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > \*\*Oh, Jeez! At first I thought you were talking about the **Daily Show!** > And I was going to answer, “yes. They’ve always been shallow and tasteless. That’s why I watch it!.” > \*\* Actually, I’d rank the Daily Show as one of the few intelligent and non-partisan news shows on the air. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/8 "2003-02-22T03:35:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > \*\*Actually, I’d rank the Daily Show as one of the few intelligent and non-partisan news shows on the air. \*\* Non partisan??? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/9 "2003-02-22T03:43:23Z")
CNN. Its still fluffy and has no depth, but at least you know what to google later. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/10 "2003-02-22T03:45:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > \*\*Actually, I’d rank the Daily Show as one of the few intelligent and non-partisan news shows on the air. \*\* I am a huge fan of The Daily Show, however… The Daily Show is very definitely partisan. They lampoon far right conservatives with a lot more biting humor pointing up out and out hypocrisy and lack of humanity in their attempt to do evil. The far left liberals are jabbed at more for being dopey and idiotic and crazy in trying to do good. Now, don’t get me wrong, I agree with that characterization. I just have no delusions about who’s getting the quicker cut. And before anyone neo-conservative wants to jumb in and blather on about the media bias… let me point out that many of the conservative editorialists have been abandoning all-out defense of Bush-W that’s starting to get eerily reminiscent of their defection of Bush-H shortly before his electoral defeat. ## Peace. And yes, TDS is intelligent and deserves yet another Pulitzer Prize. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/11 "2003-02-23T00:17:07Z")
I hate all three AM shows. I have never seen more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Sometimes years will go by without seeing any of them. But one question. Why, on the Today show, before they tell us what’s coming up in the next segment, and before go to commercial do they say, “but first this is Today?” That would have been like Johnny Carson saying, coming up next Burt Reynolds and Joan Embry, but first this is Tonight. I don’t get it ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/12 "2003-02-23T02:07:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kevja \* > But one question. Why, on the Today show, before they tell us what’s coming up in the next segment, and before go to commercial do they say, “but first this is Today?” It’s a cue to the affiliate stations that a specific commercial sequence is coming up. Affiliates use this cue knowing they can insert their local commercials over regional and national ads if they choose. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/13 "2003-02-23T02:15:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by eenerms \* > \*\*Non partisan??? :rolleyes: \*\* Let’s see, they make fun of EVERYBODY, not just Bush, since that is what you are probably thinking. He gets it now since he is pres. i guess you lived in a cave during the Clinton presidency, and they have conservatives and liberals on alike. Would a Liberal biased news show have Pat Buchanan on and have an intelligent conversation? I think not. They had a Bush speach writer on like two weeks ago, Bob Dole is almost a regular. I bet you never even watch the show. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/14 "2003-02-23T12:39:00Z")
Morning TV is devoid of any personality and is insulting to intelligence. Who are these people standing outside in zero weather with signs “Hi Mom in AssBoink” while Al Roker does the weather. If the world were collapsing around us and I needed a news update, I would _never_ and \*never have \* watched these brain droppings. They dumb down the people who watch them. Give me the \*\*Daily Show \*\* any day. Jon Stewart is brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/15 "2003-02-24T00:39:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duckster \* > \*\*It’s a cue to the affiliate stations that a specific commercial sequence is coming up. Affiliates use this cue knowing they can insert their local commercials over regional and national ads if they choose. \*\* Thanks **Duckster**. But one more question. Why is it that “Today” is the only show that does this? ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/16 "2003-02-24T03:37:52Z")
I have seen the Dailey Show and enjoy it. I make sure I watch it when I come to the states, that is why I said 'non Partisan??" As for the Today Show…It is carried LIVE here and if I hear one more time to someone who is suffering “How do you feel about blah blah blah” I’m going to scream! ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/17 "2003-02-24T12:48:16Z")
Its the only show where you can watch Katie Couric twist knives in the hearts of those that lost loved ones the day before the broadcast. I can’t wait to hear her interview some folks from RI this morning. “Did it hurt you to not know if your brother/sister/daughter/whoever had burned alive at a Great White concert?” ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/18 "2003-02-25T02:37:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > \*\*I realize that the Today Show isn’t exactly the TV equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein, but have they always been as totally devoid of any sense of depth or taste as they are now? \*\* Yes. And in other news, scientists have discovered the sky is blue. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-show-have-you-at-last-no-depth/156557/19 "2003-02-26T01:38:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stinkpalm \* > \*\*Its the only show where you can watch Katie Couric twist knives in the hearts of those that lost loved ones the day before the broadcast. > > I can’t wait to hear her interview some folks from RI this morning. > > “Did it hurt you to not know if your brother/sister/daughter/whoever had burned alive at a Great White concert?” \*\* I’m waiting for the day when someone bitch-slaps her. **Broadcast News** : “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck it, fuck fuck. Can you use that?” “Depends on how slow a news day it is.” I mean, how **dare** a subject not cooperate. :mad: :smack: :wally