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As most of you are well aware by now, former Live with Regis & Kathie star Kathie Lee Gifford has joined the ranks of Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira. Dubbed “America’s most meaninglessly controversial figure” by the Washington Post, Kathie Lee, 54, has emerged from retirement to co-host the fourth hour of NBC’s Today Show.

Aside from wondering what those NBC execs were thinking, a more practical question is what does the addition of Kathie Lee to Today mean for PR people? The simple answer is WE LOVE IT!

The fourth hour of the show is “an hour dominated by extreme weight-loss stories, ambush makeovers and recipes for carrot cake so good that it will make a man propose” (Washington Post). Kathie Lee is the deliciously fattening cream cheese frosting on top off that carrot cake. To the devout journalist, this hour is undoubtedly considered an abuse of airways; to the progressive mom blogger: a perpetuation of antiquated gender stereotypes; to the PR pro: product placement heaven!

Seriously, and personal feelings aside, Today’s morning entourage of chatty hosts offer the perfect context for beauty, home, and health products and the human interest stories that resonate most with viewers. If every news program was like CNN’s “The Situation Room,” where stories are color-coded to the National Terror Threat rainbow, we’d be out of a job - or worse, I’d develop a bad case of agoraphobia.

In the words of Kathie Lee, “I’m eight years older, 10 pounds heavier, a half-inch shorter, and just in time for HD television.” Oh hush! You look flawless in canary yellow!

Filed under: Media and Press, PR Industry |