Today

I love to watch the show but find the talking all at the same time in a very loud voices obnoxious. The food shows are embarrassing for the person trying to show the food one is preparing, all chipping in and can hardly follow what is going on, do they need so many people at that time, just one would be better. Its so rude to all be talking at the same time and I just have to turn it off.

I'm not sure where you got your data about cast members, but someone needs to check it with NBC. Dave Garroway, the original host of Today, appeared on at least 2000 episodes during the first nine years of the run -- 5 days a week for at least 48 weeks a year for nine years -- but you credited him with 3 episodes. Jack Lesculie was an everyday regular on the show for at least 3 years in the beginning. To credit these men with fewer appearances than J. Fred Muggs, a chimpanzee who appeared on the show during that era, is an insult to their memory -- particularly since Muggs was biting them all the time! In those days, the program was live, so the human performers had to be careful how they reacted. Seriously, this was one of the most important programs in the early days of television, thanks largely to the work of Garroway, Pat Weaver and newscaster Frank Blair. It trained people to get up in the mornings and turn on their sets -- a habit we've continued to practice for more than half a century!

I too have been watching this news show forever but what has it become? Al Roker who I liked when he did the weather has become a screaming personality that has to shut up. His rants are intolerable and make me switch to another news channel. Additionally, when it's Hoda and Jennas turn, they talk nonsense and Jenna consistently over talks Hoda. Jenna needs to go... what does she contribute to the NEWS, which should be the focus of the show.

This is a sad commentary, but I am seriously considering switching my loyalty to another news channel. It's time....

Just watch this show. They show very little news but jump into "feel good" stories after the first 20 minutes. Fake smiles, fake agendas etc... No more Afghanistan stories, Southern border stories etc... They show only what they want. The little boy who has a lemonade stand to make money for firefighters gets 4 full minutes, but human trafficking gets nothing. An old celebrity dies and they get 10 seconds of airtime, a Kardashian comes up with a new line of clothing...5 minutes of airtime. You are watching 4 hours with 95 minutes of commercials. Just time it. The cast are making 10's of millions of dollars per year, off of commercials while you blindly watch.

As you can imagine my opportunities for watching are limited to my all too infrequent trips to the US. But I did for one hectic week actually help produce this show, albeit in a very minor capacity. Apart from Wimbledon coverage for HBO this was my first real experience working for American TV, and it was quite an eye opener. In July 1989 the French 'celebrated' their bicentennial of their revolution, and while pretty much every British broadcaster ignored it, the 'Yanks' came over in force.

Presumably the language barrier was thought to be too great for the French to overcome and so NBC hired a British truck, (bizarrely, staffed by Swedish technicians) and hired British operators and engineers of whom I was one. The shoot was on the banks of the Seine, opposite Notre Dame. Just a few yards down from us were ABC with their Good Morning America show, similarly equipped, and fortunately quite friendly as we had to borrow some lighting equipment from them! This was the swansong of Jane Pauley who turned out to be a real lady. Sadly she was about to be stiffed by NBC she was soon to be replaced by a younger, blonder presenter (who guested during the week with us) Shame, as Pauley was a hit with the audience, us, and the many, many, passers by who she treated with respect and courtesy. Bryant Gumbel in contrast, hid what charm he had under a steely, cold exterior, and left me at least in no doubt who was in charge of that particular production.

We also had the pleasure of the company of Willard Scott, who turned out to be a laugh a minute and defused many a tense situation with his easy going humour. Scott has even less hair than I and confused the hell out of me when I saw him later on that year in the studio, with apparently flowing locks. It was only after watching for a few days I realised that he was expected to wear a hairpiece in the studio, but excused the wig, in the blustery conditions of outside work! The real star for me was the director. He's not credited here, but is elsewhere on the IMDb, but forgive me for not naming him. Those in the business will have heard of the $500K+ a year he was making then, and know who I mean. In contrast to the almost fawningly polite style of British Television (I still remember being told on my BBC induction course in the 1970's that we were expected to hold open the doors as we walked around Television Centre, for other members of staff) Americans were direct, and utterly ruthless. One mistake and you were bawled out, two and you were cut, no argument. Remarkable then that I survived the full week although I did learn one or two new swear words. Credit though, when the show was over he walked to every person on that crew and thanked them by name - something a few British directors could learn. I still have a tape we recorded of the show with the his tailback on an extra audio track - and it still makes me blush! The British claim to have invented TV, and well we might, but the Americans have largely perfected it - and they're at their best in this genre of live News and Features. The slick one-two presenter style with throws to specialist sports/weather/news headlines presenters is now adopted by all of our domestic channels, and we know what imitation is