Today

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.

Once the Today Show had merit with the likes of Ann Curry but it's become a hollow program more concerned about lame entertainment than meaningful news. I stopped watching. And once, Hoda Kotb was a valuable journalist fell into the trap of entertainment over news and subsequently left Today to devote her time to Hoda and Jenna another lame show that doesn't, however, claim to be anything else. I'm not even sure why I gave it 3 Stars. Maybe it was locality to what it once was.

Someone suggested the show go to a 1 hour format, because that would be plenty of time to get what they wanted in. Well, how about going to a 15 minute format. That's about how much substance there is on any given show.

Even the weather primarily consists of Al Roker joking around on the plaza. I actually like him, but they should stop the charade that he's giving a forecast and just say "Here's Al Roker, who is going to schmooze a bit on the plaza and then unhelpfully gesture toward a map the United States and mention that in some part of the country it will rain. Or not rain."