Along the eastern coast of the United States, experiences of the hurricane differ greatly, from a few fallen leaves and extra rain to a loss of power and dangerous flooding to over 20 hurricane-related deaths. That said, some reporters were selling the storm as “the hurricane of our lifetime,” which, after a quick comparison to storms like Katrina, Hugo or Andrew, just didn’t seem to be even close to realistic. But does “unrealistic” equate to “irresponsible”?

Well, reports NBC News’ Peter Alexander for Today, the storm has so far resulted in what is predicted to be as much as $7 billion in economic losses. But, he also points out, a whole lot of money may also have been “wasted” in preparations for and business closures because of the storm.

Then again, as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo put it, “Just because it ‘could’ve been worse,’ doesn’t mean the preparation wasn’t justified.” If you followed coverage of the blizzard that struck New York and New Jersey last winter, you’re also very much aware that, while it can lead to a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” it generally behooves politicians to prepare people for the worst case scenario than have them inadequately prepared and have a resulting fiasco on their hands.

Today‘s Al Roker then joined other weather experts to discuss the issue. The general consensus? People are going to complain about coverage either way, and it’s better to ensure they’re taking potential disasters seriously rather than risking more deaths and devastation.

Take a look at the segment, courtesy of NBC:

These people are, truly, the unsung heroes throughout terrible storms, risking their comfort, hairstyles and sometimes even their lives (!) in order to make sure we’re informed and remain safe. That’s exactly why these reporters are our Patriots of the Week.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the gutsy men and women who have given memorable (and, sure, sometimes funny) reports on hurricanes:

Stephanie Abrams, The Weather Channel, via

Carly Swain, WCTI12, via

>>>>NEXT PAGE: More crazy weather reports!

Watch the magic unfold around the 2:15 mark, courtesy of NBC:

Huh, good to know the Pope has the same tastes as my aunt who never married.

So why a crystal cat? Lauer explained:

“We had heard that this Pope has a real love for cats so what was in that box was a beautiful crystal cat that, who knows, could be on the table of papal gifts right now. I’m not sure where that goes but he seemed to accept it and like it and, anyway, we just wanted to offer him some gift to show our appreciation for the time and generosity he showed us.”

Ok, fine, the Bishop of Rome likes cats. I guess that was a good gift then. I mean, the Nook Color now has its own app store, but whatever. Crystal cat, sure…

Watch the clip from NBC below:

These days the Today Show has alternated primarily between two male substitute hosts: Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla. So what happened to Gregory? In 2008, Gregory was given the prestigious job hosting the Sunday political powerhouse Meet The Press. No small job to fill Tim Russert‘s shoes at the number one weekend political program. But a New York Times piece covering his move made it clear the Today Show was still part of the deal and part of Gregory’s future. Bill Carter wrote: “Under his new contract, he will continue to have a presence on “Today,” serving as the regular substitute host for Matt Lauer.” The Today Show clearly intended to have Gregory move from Meet The Press to the Today Show ala George Stephanopoulos if Lauer ever left.

With speculation now rampant that Lauer might actually pack his bags at the end of his contract, insiders are speculating publicly about Geist. Quintanilla, Lester Holt, Al Roker even ABC‘s Chris Cuomo but very little mention of Gregory. While Gregory has been thrown the occasional fill-in bone as of late, he has been far from a regular host on the show, the way he once was.

Did Jeff Zucker‘s departure shift Gregory’s star trajectory? We contacted NBC for comment and a spokesperson told Mediaite “Matt Lauer is under contract and has a long time left at the TODAY show. We prefer not to comment on speculation.” That’s probably true, but that doesn’t mean that the media soothsayers haven’t noticed the shifting narrative of what “insiders” have been speculating. One has to wonder if that is a source of frustration for the multi-talented Gregory. Stay tuned.

As Gossip Cop reports, Today co-host Al Roker suggests the man may have been yelling about “being God’s gift to music.” Bieber? Was that you, boo?

Ann Curry, who tried her best to move on from the incident inside the studio while her colleagues were dealing with the man outside, Tweeted about the incident this morning:

Drama @todayshow: man suddenly jumped over the plaza guard rail, speaking incoherantly. All ok. Weirded out, but ok.

Watch the incident for yourselves – you can clearly hear co-host Meredith Vieira shriek after the man jumps over the rail – via NBC:

h/t GossipCop

Snowmaggedon? Again? With six serious snowstorms so far this season, morning news shows were left with little left in the clever branding cabinet. Snowpocalypse, check. SnOMG, check. JetBlue Airlines suggested a new one: “Snowprahwinfrey.” Meh.

TODAY put Al Roker, Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer out in the cold amid a foot or more of snow in Rockefeller Center–and a massive snowpile assembled by plows–to talk about the Snowegoagain.

And Roker surely made everyone’s morning by telling us there are two more snowstorms on the way. Delightful. Snowverit.

Watch it here, from NBC News:

On the plus side, as Roker himself so aptly pointed out, digging a van out of a veritable wall of snow is a great way to get in a little exercise in the morning. When the going gets tough, long-suffering weathermen get going. Someone get this man a hot cocoa. And a warmer hat.

So take a few moments, won’t you, and look back fondly at the many ways our TODAY team has been suggestive, offensive and otherwise highly amusing for a group of people who get up waaaaaay too early in the morning.

Watch it here, from NBC:

After performing, host Natalie Morales tossed to British pop star Charice, who was just about to start her song when, lo and behold, Boyz II Men started “singing” again. The kids on Twitter are all probably typing LOL!

Here’s the “Making Of” video – you’ll see that the Today Show crew was inspired by a group of college kids who did the same thing. Good backstory in the below (and two more awesome videos after that):

…and here’s the video it’s based on! FROM QUEBEC! THAT’S IN CANADA, YO! Once you watch this you will see the inspirations in the Today Show version, and all the hat tips to their Quebecois lipdub brethren. Who, if I may say, rocked it even harder. I dare you to watch it and not smile. C’est impossible.

…and the original – attention must be paid to College Humor’s “Flagpole Sitta,” which is just as good watching it 3 years later. I love the internet.

It’s all part of the morning show’s series TODAY Goes Viral.

Watch the results and the making of the video here, from NBC:

It started with Roker and the store manager looking at the screen and screaming “Music montage!” Within an instant, Flo Rida’s “Club Can’t Handle Me” (thank you, Google) began playing and the store’s staff, the customers, and the Today star began dancing around like there was no Tomorrow. After it was over, Roker, back in the studio, seemed a bit embarrassed:

“That was just ridiculous. It had nothing to do with the first job. But Jenn Long, our producer who’s a frustrated music producer, decided to do it.”

No, need to explain, Al. Did we learn anything about you or your childhood? No. But, still, any weekend that begins with Al Roker dancing around a grocery store with a butcher named Lunchbox is sure to be a good one.

The device, Regan tells us, is called the Dash because Sony wants users to think of it as a “dashboard for your life,” constantly being updated with all the information you need to know. In a nice bit of synergy, the hosts discuss the CNBC app that comes automatically with the device before moving onto listing its other uses. It’s when they get to weather that things become more entertaining. As Regan was talking about the weather app, Ann Curry looked over to Roker and helpfully pointed out his redundancy. A rather indignant (but still smiling!) Roker then hilariously remarked, “I bet you can get news on that too!” Cue large laughter from behind camera.

As for the new device, it seems pretty cool to this decidedly non-tech savvy writer. As the Today Show gang points out, the Dash is kind of like a revolutionary take on the alarm clock. Instead of a clock radio, it’s like a clock everything. And, although it’s not portable, it fixes the one design flaw that’s keeping me from buying an iPad: it sits. Don’t get me wrong, I like Apple products as much as the next guy (or Jon Stewart), but, if I’m gonna watch a movie on my fancy new screen, I don’t want to have to hold the damn thing up for two straight hours. Shockingly enough, typing out blog posts all day haven’t given me the strongest of arms.

Anyway, the Dash is out today for all you wacky early adaptors out there, so get on it! For the rest of us, we’ll just enjoy in vicariously in this video and hope that it doesn’t lead to the disappearance of our favorite jolly weatherman.

When they want to be outside with the crowd, they’ve got a ski hill and skating rink. Inside, they’ve built a full interview set. And I love the name the NBC technical crew has given the temporary studio in my native country. They’ve replaced New York’s “Studio 1A” with “Studio 1-eh.” (Al Roker relayed that clever name on air this morning, giving credit to veteran NBC cameraman Bob Jaeger.)

The Today Show is one of my favorite parts of the NBC Olympics lineup. It’s the perfect showcase for some of the local color and Olympic history that would seem intrusive in the middle of event coverage. The morning-after interviews with winning athletes are a perfect complement to the network’s primetime showcase.

It’s just too bad NBC insists on still clinging to its tape delay philosophy for the Winter Olympics because there’s so much to like about the way the network covers the games.

NBC has 835 hours of Olympic programming scheduled on its television networks. That’s twice as much as viewers were offered for Turin’s games four years ago. And if there ever was a year for NBC to give up on its tape delay, this was it. The growth of online news and the rise of Facebook and Twitter make the network’s tradition of holding back video from key events for hours seem more ridiculous than ever. And this year would’ve provided an easy transition, thanks to Vancouver’s proximity – every event occurs at a reasonable hour for coast-to-coast live coverage.

I understand how the policy started. When NBC began its current run of Olympic telecasts in Seoul in 1988 it didn’t have to compete with a thousand other news sources. Advertisers liked the idea that a huge audience could gather each night for a tightly-packaged telecast. But as each year passes, more viewers get early access to results and the delay policy grows more insincere.

I’m headed to Vancouver Saturday morning and fully intend to tweet (@patkiernan) and blog from the events I attend. Should I consult the NBC schedule to see if I’ll be ruining someone’s primetime viewing enjoyment by sending an update about the biathlon on Tuesday? Even if I decided to delay a tweet for NBC’s benefit, do I delay until 8 pm ET for the Eastern US audience, or am I compelled to hold back until the news is out on the West Coast?

In fairness to the network, there are plenty of second-tier events available live. But it has used its clout to push many events into the 8-to-11 pm ET window. Monday’s luge event, for example, starts at the spectator-unfriendly time of 5 pm PT. I’ll be attending the event at Whistler and shivering in the dark just so NBC can put a “live” bug in the corner of the screen. I’d feel better about that if the network at least delivered the luge-in-the-dark telecast to the entire country live. But it’s only the Eastern and Central time zones that get that privilege. Western viewers see the “live” marquee events on a further tape delay – something that seems to have entirely escaped the network’s promo producers:

By now you’ve heard that NBC overpaid for the Vancouver 2010 TV rights, so the network has little interest in departing from its proven program strategy. In a Wall Street Journal story this week, NBC noted that three-fourths of its US TV audience is in the Eastern time zone. But there are plenty of viewers interested in finding a way around the delay. The Seattle Times published a lengthy Q and A for viewers looking to circumvent the blackout. (Short summary of the story is that you’re stuck with whatever NBC gives you.)

A solution does exist, if the executives at NBC are interested. Canada’s broadcasters do great ratings with a hybrid schedule that delivers every big event live as it happens, and then repackages the big moments into a primetime show. CTV will keep its primetime show fresh by bringing winners into the studio for live interviews to follow the replay of the daytime events. The athletes have often been whisked from venue to studio and it’s a joy to watch their reaction as they see the coverage of their win for the first time.

From the early indications on Today, it’s clear that NBC is spending the money to deliver a great product with its Vancouver 2010 coverage. I don’t have access to the viewer research that leads the network to believe the time delay is its only option, but in the long run I think the network needs to acknowledge that the tape delay is as outdated as the term “tape delay.” (We use video servers to record most programming now.)

The 2012 Summer Games will be in London, with live events coming from a time zone perfectly suited to daytime programming in the US. Millions more will be plugged into mobile devices and social media by then. It will be the perfect time for NBC to make the switch to live feeds for all.

TV newsman Pat Kiernan picks his favorite stories from the morning papers each weekday on NY1 News and PatsPapers.com. He’s known to VH1 fans as the host of World Series of Pop Culture. Twitter: @patkiernan

Over at the LA Times, Matea Gold has a great piece detailing how some reporters negotiated the tough and often dangerous trip to Haiti in the aftermath of the Earthquake:

CNN’s Anderson Cooper appeared to be the first television reporter to make it into the country, by hitching a ride Wednesday morning on a government helicopter from the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The copter was nearly clipped by a plane as it approached Port-au-Prince. CBS’ Kelly Cobiella reached Haiti shortly afterward, after driving through the night on a dangerous road from the Dominican Republic.

And this from NBC head Steve Capus:

“You’re trying to move a small army into place, all the while knowing you’re walking into a place where all infrastructure has crumbled,” said NBC News President Steve Capus, who compared the situation in Haiti with the conditions reporters confronted in covering Hurricane Katrina. “Sometimes you have to just go in and hope you can compensate the best you can.”

And this from CBS, which once again highlights the necessity of news operations who are able to fund the sort of reporting necessary in circumstances such as these.

Bill Felling, CBS’ national editor, worked throughout the night Tuesday trying to get Couric into Haiti, finally locating a plane in the Dominican Republic. Felling said CBS News President Sean McManus didn’t blink when he asked him to sign off on the cost, a sum he said was not insignificant.

“When big stories break you have an obligation to cover this to absolute maximum of your ability,” Felling said. “You can’t quite get the power of this until you see people’s faces and the extent to which they emote the pain that they are going through.”

After the jump video of Brian Williams and the Today team attempt to call in from the Haiti airport.

And his first release, The Morning Show Murders, takes place at a morning show and involves the murder of the show’s executive producer. How does that make you feel, Today show EP Jim Bell?

USA Today talked to Roker and others at the Today show about the new book.

“I work with these people,” Roker said. “I don’t want to violate their trust. In real life I would never kill my executive producer. He does a great job. I need him.”

So – Jim Bell? “It’s sadly very telling,” he joked. “They’re your best friends, and then they go to a fictional side and it’s obvious they want to kill me. It’s so obvious.”

The book’s protagonist is “Chef” Billy Blessing, who is loosely based on Roker. Blessing is accused of the murder in the book. From the Amazon.com page, Roker has a video describing his book. “It’s international intrigue, there’s some romance, and there’s some fabulous recipes,” said Roker. Also: “I have never killed my executive producer. There have been a couple I’ve wanted to kill…”

This is the first in a series of murder mysteries coming from Roker, including his second in the series out in Fall of next year. All will take place at a morning show. Some previous books from Roker have related to family and cooking. Of course, Roker’s several day jobs continue, with his work on the Today show, his new show on The Weather Channel, producing programs for MSNBC and other channels and a Food Network show.

But back to this murder mystery at a Today show-like locale. “Al is clearly way into this murder thing,” Matt Lauer told USA Today. “We all felt for a long, long time that if Willard (Scott) ever turned up dead, it would have been Al who killed him.”

“That didn’t make sense to me,” Meredith Vieira told TV Guide. “But then ego takes over.” Still the group went along — none the wiser, save for the shifty Matt Lauer — only to be met by actors posing as a zany photo crew. Hidden mics and cameras looked on as the Today cast deals with a Sacha Baron Cohen-style photographer, absurd costumes and inane directions. “Pretend you’re walking on water,” they’re told.

If you missed it late last week, it’s pretty good for a Sunday chuckle. Here’s the clip:

When Roker threw to the local affiliate (“Here’s what’s happening in your neck of the woods!”), one local affiliate wasn’t quite ready. A Mediaite tipster noticed Hartford/New Haven (WVIT-TV) never cut to the local weather, so we got to hear Roker’s conversation during the short break.

What did he talk about? Mostly teasing Erin Burnett about her shoes.

Check out the video:

(via TV Eyes)

—–

• Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

So besides his three hours on Today, his MSNBC-produced shows, his work on The Food Network and more, you now get more Al in the morning.

The Weather Channel gig is a further extension of the partnership between NBC and TWC, which has slowly become more apparent since July 2008, when NBCU made the purchase. Getting more original programming on TWC works the other way, too – while TWC talent are seen more on NBC, this beefs up the slate for a growing network that already has a built-in audience.

TVNewser talked to Roker and his co-host Abrams about their new show:

The other NBCU talent who’s going to be getting up even earlier is Willie Geist. Besides appearing on Morning Joe from 6-9amET on MSNBC, Geist begins hosting his own program, Way Too Early, on July 27. It airs for a half-hour at 5:30amET.

From the press release: “Geist, who will continue to co-host ‘Morning Joe‘, brings his signature style and sense of humor to the thirty-minute broadcast, offering viewers everything they need to know to start the morning – from news and politics to sports and pop culture.”

• Jeff Goldblum (Not true, and handily disproved on Colbert tonight)
• Harrison Ford (Also not true, and was not in New Zealand to die alongside Goldblum, either)
• Natalie Portman (Not true, according to the gentle and helpful Examiner.com)
• George Clooney (Not true, according to TMZ, now the most trusted news source in celebrity deaths)
• Rick Astley, just starting to circulate, complete with a fake Associated Press story on something called iReport.com, which proudly proclaims: “iReport.com is a user-generated site. That means the stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post.” O-kay then. So much for trusted citizen journalism.

The Examiner told me to confirm with trusted sources, so I Google-Newsed it and found nothing. Then it said to check “reliable online sites like People magazine,” and “if that fails,” then places like the Huffington Post, TMZ and Perez Hilton. Okay! Perez said, “Rick Astley is NOT dead, Tweeple. Chillax!” So I’m chillaxing.

Update: Trust Perez! That iReport “story” has since been taken down.

Update to the Update: This is one of the smaller stories to come out of the Michael Jackson coverage, but it is actually sort of revealing, when juxtaposed with the Twitter/Iran and TMZ/Michael Jackson stories. It demonstrates just how fertile Twitter is for seeding misinformation (and disinformation), as well as how important brand credibility is for news sites. Something can call itself “iReport” and allow “citizen journalism” to be uploaded to its pages, but that doens’t make it trustworthy or credible, and what do you know, turns out that matters. On the flip side, this has provided another opportunity for TMZ to demonstrate credibility (if TMZ says they’re not dead, then they must not be dead!). The LAT explores TMZ’s slide up the credibility scale here.

(Demerit to Al for perpetuating celebrity-death-trend hysteria; demerit to Byrdtweets for not knowing how to spell “Cronkite.” Come on, now.)

Here’s the update: after big first week of awareness-raising, petition-signing and media coverage the De La Cruz family was able to appeal Medicare’s denial of coverage for Eric, and their appeal was successful. (Not sure if that’s attributable to Harry Reid’s office “looking into” it circa May 18th, but somehow I doubt it). Thanks to federal Medicare, Eric was able to get on the transplant list — but it will cost thousands of dollars to pay for the operation — which he needs to have before he can get treatment.

Enter Twitter. Veronica launched a fundraising campaign to raise money for the (very) expensive operation and Twitter jumped on board, under the hashtag #ERIC and with the distinctive supporter logo shown above (also seen here). It started to catch on. The retweets worked their way up, until Eric’s cause was being retweeted by Al Roker, Demi Moore, P. Diddy, Alyssa Milano, Kathy Ireland, Annie Duke, Kevin Smith, and Twitter celebs like Pete Cashmore and The Expert (for some context: Pete Cashmore has 716,304 followers; Alyssa Milano has 68,268; The Expert has 21,288; Al Roker has 19,307).

Even better, some celeb supporters did more than retweet. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails joined the cause early and upped the ante significantly, putting the fundraising call out on his website and selling off various passes to the upcoming Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour. Per Paste mag:

A $300 donation will grant concert attendees access to the pre-show soundcheck and a meet-and-greet with the band, while $1,000 will get you backstage for dinner and relaxing with the band, as well as stage-side viewing for the show, autographs and pictures. For fans without tickets, a $1,200 donation comes with two tickets to the show and VIP treatment backstage. This is NIN’s final tour, so fans of the band will want to seize this opportunity.

Reznor raised over $260K in the first day — and as of now he has raised over $850K. He announced on his site that he had sold out of all the VIP packages in North America (and that’s a lot of cities!), so is offering something else awesome instead: One hundred collectable, signed skateboards by Tony Hawk (737,211 Twitter followers – and another #ERIC supporter). A $1,000 donation wins the skateboard plus a copy of NIN’s rarest CD release, STILL, signed by Reznor. Here’s a Twitpic of Hawk doing the signing; here’s Reznor’s appeal for a more help:

Please consider helping if you haven’t already — we’re showing the world the power of a strong and committed community, and we’re quite possibly saving a life in the process. We still have a ways to go financially. Thank you all.

There’s retweeting, and then there’s this. Wow.

(On the other hand, I have to say that one of the weird things I’ve noticed during this campaign is a lack of CNN presence. Veronica worked at CNN, came up to New York from Atlanta, was with them until the end of 2008, parted amicably. I’ve kept an eye on her feed and the #ERIC feed Tweetdeck columns, and I have yet to notice a CNN-based retweet; searches within Rick Sanchez and Anderson Cooper for #Eric came up nil. I’m just surprised that there would be so little effort to help a former colleague — never mind that this is a legitimate story.)

So what happens now? I guess they wait — now that they are on the transplant list — and can prove that they have the money — they need an actual donor. Eric is in critical condition and, well, there’s a reason all this is happening with such urgency in the first place. In the meantime, Veronica and her family are doing what they can — with the help of “Eric’s Twitter Army.” From Trent Reznor to Tony Hawk to every celebrity retweeting out to thousands, to each individual person sending a flare up via Twitter — every little bit counts, especially now. I’ll leave the last word to Veronica:

Happy 2 be able 2 lean on my Twitter friends 4 strength, even from Cyberspace. xo