Forget the Hype: Maybe We're Not One Big Happy TV Family

We live in a world of hype. But there is some hype that really gets my goat, and my ox, and my puppy.

The hype in question is that the broadcasters on news shows are one, big, happy family. And we, by watching them, become part of their family.  This is why they tell us stories about their children and spouses and show us baby pictures. They play trivia games with each others on air. On Halloween, broadcasters at local stations do the news in costumes. And when the Today show broadcasters returned this Monday from two weeks covering the Olympics in Korea, they showed 10 minutes of footage of Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, and Al Roker separately being greeted by their children and spouses at the airport.

And this is all fine--although it makes you think sometimes they might spend more time providing news and doing interviews with important people--except for the fact that it doesn't appear to be totally true. On NBC's Today show, after Matt Lauer--who was the head of the Today show family, the head guy--was fired last November for inappropriate sexual behavior, his co-hosts Savannah and Al both said they had no idea Matt was like that! They were shocked, shocked that improper behavior was going on behind the door that Lauer could lock by a button in his desk. And over at CBS' This Morning, after Charlie Rose was fired the next week for inappropriate sexual behavior, his co-hosts Gayle King and Nora O'Donnell also had no idea Charlie was like that. You have to ask, just how close are these people, really?

To give another example about another morning show, although not a news show, on Live with Regis and Kelly, which ran from 2001 to 2011, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa seemed happy and close. They even did commercials for TD Bank in which Regis would take Kelly to TD Bank to show her how it was open when other banks were closed and he would even call her at 2 a.m. to ask her questions about TD Bank. Ripa said in a recent interview that she  didn't talk to Philbin off camera. She said she would try, but that Philbin would stop her because he wanted everything to be spontaneous on the air. She said that even if she just asked, How was your weekend?, he would say, Don't talk to me! I'll tell you about my weekend and then you'll ask me about my weekend on air and I'll tell you again and it will be stale. If you want to ask me about my weekend, ask me on air so that it will be spontaneous. Therefore, it would appear they were not as close as it was made to seem.

They all may not be one big happy family, so it's mostly if not all, hype, a charade. And this would mean that we're not part of the family either. Now, you may say nobody really believes they are that close, but then why do the networks keep pushing this image even after Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose? At least it's something to think about.

Copyright 2018 by John T. Aquino