Stop me if you’re heard this before. The Today Show on NBC once again gave free air time to Fox’s American Idol.
This morning, an interview with Kevin Covais — followed by a brief performance from the kid they call “Chicken Little”, because of his resemblance to the Disney character.
Again I ask — why? Aside from the fact AI is a monster hit — why?
Call me crazy (you wouldn’t be the first) — but I think Today is better off doing interviews related to Deal or No Deal. To the best of my knowledge, they’ve done one where Matt played an abbreviated mock game with Howie live in the L.A. studio and half-a-dozen models and their respective cases. Because DoND has been one of few new NBC shows worth writing home about, it’s worthy of just a little more attention.
(Spoiler warning: Some results of last night’s DoND are included in this post. Stop now if you haven’t seen the show from 3/29/06 and don’t want to know ’til you see it.)
Case in point, last night, Daniel Miller, a member of the U.S. Navy, was reunited with two daughters he rarely sees and later took a banker’s bribe of $94,000. He said he planned to use any big money won to buy an RV to see this great country he’s been defending.
Unfortunately, when he sold his case to the banker, he didn’t make a good deal. His original selection contained $400,000.
Still, some of that 94-grand can be spent on an RV for the ride of a lifetime for him and the girls. *That’s* a feel-good story — and one Today doesn’t have to feel guilty about having to cross network lines to pursue.
Of course, if Today were really hard-up for features, why not an interview with the game show’s banker? We seen him shrouded in secrecy on every show. But we’ve never *heard* from him — unless your name’s Howie Mandel or you’re a DoND staffer.
I could go on — but I’ve got to put some finishing touches on a tenth anniversary Sunday radio show.