Am I the only one who’s noticed that the morning network talk shows recycle the same health, fitness and nutrition stories every other week?
Whether it’s Ann Curry of The Today Show summarizing an "analysis" of over-the-counter anti-wrinkle creams by asking an expert, "So, I guess the bottom-line here is that we’re paying too much money for some of these creams?" Or one of her peers on the other shows, exclaiming, "So, if you don’t include exercise with dieting, you really won’t see any significant results." And vice versa, and vice versa. The same stuff makes its way from one show to the other and back within a fortnight.
Gimme a break. How can The Today Show announce yet another hour of programming each day when it, and its rivals, recycle such dreck?
Are viewers that forgetful (or that needy) when it comes to the same old, same old, that they’ll continue to view slight variations on the identical subject week-in and week-out?
Segments on good and bad cholesterol have also been recycled at nauseum (Yes, we get it. The "H" in HDL stands for "healthy" and the "L" in LDL stands for "lousy.").
In my opinion, the morning shows have been in a downward image and reputation spiral for quite some time. The first half hour or so contains some newsworthy elements but, after that, it’s pure pablum.
So, who’s watching and re-watching this stuff over and over? Does the fault lie in the programming or the audience that watches?
Regardless of where the fault lies, it seems to me we need another hour of recycled stories from The Today Show and its ilk as much as we need another hour of unbearable reality shows.
lunch moron- get a life and real career while you are at it. no one cares about what you eat for lunch or your grammar skills.
Your grammar has gotten worse in just a few hours, bub.
Don’t fear – $1.3 million in revenue should allow you to make a capital investment toward your English skills. Following that, I will determine your ROI.
Again, take care.
doubt it- are you a former employee of 470 park ave south?
lunch moron- i got to tell you, it’s clear you are in pr, b/c all you can do is hide behind a stupid “your grammar sucks” comments. i’ll stick with 1.3 million dollar average a month in sales- to all my not so happy customers. you can stick to your dream of ever seeing 1.3 million dollars in a pr lifetime….
“and one more point for ted & steve…
you were the ones making such a big point in new biz presentations and meetings to talk about how great you were in getting your clients on the today show- and came up with every gimmick possible to do so. but now you are saying this show is a basically a waste. what type of message does that send to clients and prospects- sounds like a mixed message to me..”
My point exactly.
MSE – I think you should ask one of your probably-not-so-happy-customers for a check-up. You’re cleary in need of some mental help.
Also, your grammar sucks.
Take care.
ok, so one more point and a question for the repman.
steve, you run a highly successful and well known pr firm and one of your jobs is to help the public relate to your clients and vice versa. but it seems like all you have a big problem with the public and global opinion/views. as an example, each year you knock suber bowl advertising, yet you fail to understand that the ads are probably more a part of the event then the event itself. hundreds of million seems to think so, yet you knock it.
8 million people each day seems to enjoy the format of the Today Show, yet you have a problem with it. million of people adore athletes and will buy a danica patrick calendar, you you rip her. the list goes on and on.
so my question to you is this- from an image and reputation standpoint, how do you answer that question of being able to relate to the public when it seems like your reputation is one that takes issue with such global accepted views?
and one more point for ted & steve…
you were the ones making such a big point in new biz presentations and meetings to talk about how great you were in getting your clients on the today show- and came up with every gimmick possible to do so. but now you are saying this show is a basically a waste. what type of message does that send to clients and prospects- sounds like a mixed message to me..
huh? you are blaming the viewers??? what are you smoking or snorting? should we “blame” the hundreds of million of people worldwide for myspace and you tube? should we “blame” you and the rest of the world for starbucks charging 5 dollars for a 3 cent product?
that had to be one of the dumbest and most ridiculous things i have ever read. i’ll blame your alarm clock going off a bit too early this morning for that post…
heres an idea, maybe they should scrap the current format and rename it the peppercom today show and feature stories about copy machines and office furniture. that would surely get them 8 million viewers a day!
I’m usually the first in line to rip on the morning shows. The blending of news and entertainment is bad for journalism, in my opinion.
But, the people to blame are the viewers. If eight million people didn’t tune in every morning to watch the Today Show, then it would cease to exist. They watch it because, in one form or another, they enjoy or need or think they need the content being delivered by Matt and Meredith.
So, shame on us, or at least our fellow Americans who make the Today Show as part of their daily routine. As long as we are willing to watch it, the networks will be more than happy to provide it.
Great comment! We just linked to your post from The Today Show Viewers home page. Would you please consider reposting your comment in The Today Show Viwers Forum for everyone to see? Thank you!
http://www-todayshow.com
funny how i was thinking the same thing when watching the morning shows recently. but that got me thinking back to the old days in pr and remembering how hard we tried getting our clients on these shows. these shows were so important that jr. level staff was sent to “crash” the show and wait outside for hours just to get on tv for a few seconds. so clearly, the morning shows were a pretty important piece of the puzzle.
but that begs the question, if the content is so pathetic on the morning shows, why cant firms like peppercom get their supposedly creative stories on the air over recycled wrinkle cream stories? maybe the answer is that pr firms just dont understand what these shows want- the old round peg and square hold adage….
I totally agree with you. The program producers need to be doing a better job of finding fresh, relevant information. One can only re-cycle the same story so many times before viewer fatigue sets in. And viewer fatigue equals lower ratings. And lower ratings means out-of-work program producers.”
The problem isn’t with the PR people pitching the stories…if PR people had such control, it would be called advertising. Who knows whether the show producers are trying to emulate the other shows’ content, or just trying to satisfy the demographics of their audience?
From today’s post:
“Regardless of where the fault lies, it seems to me we need another hour of recycled stories from The Today Show and its ilk as much as we need another hour of unbearable reality shows.”
From the comment above:
“…such repetition is a gold mine for PR firms and we’ll continue to pitch away. It’s the shows themselves who are losing from an image and reputation standpoint.”
It would seem that attitudes such as this from Peppercom are themselves a good part of the problem you’ve identified.
On the contrary, such repetition is a gold mine for PR firms and we’ll continue to pitch away. It’s the shows themselves who are losing from an image and reputation standpoint.
So can I assume then that Peppercom staffers are under orders to no longer pursue client appearances on these shows?
What I thought.