Ann Curry's Goodbye: A Review

You knew this was coming didn't you? No amount of internet campaigns and thoughtful letters on her behalf was going to stop this big wheel a' rolling. Miss Ann Curry was toast! It's taken a stint at a "facility" for me to process this but this is how I remember it. It was so long ago....


It was at 8:15 when it happened. Matt Lauer, Pinky Tuscadaro and Al Roker were all on the couch when Curry said her goodbye. Composure? Out of the picture. Ann was crying up a hailstorm. You know it was genuine. She's no actress. She wasn't Tara #2 on Ryan's Tomorrow, this is real pain. Curry said things that almost made it seemed like she let someone down. Oh no, NBC let you down--and us down. We really shouldn't have seen this. You know what we didn't see but should have? A highlight reel. I guess Matt Lauer vetoed it, it would have cut into his Aging Boys at the Ball Yard piece with Derek Jeter.

Curry's goodbye lasted mere few minutes. There was no highlight reel, no best-of, etc. Curry laid out NBC's plans for her. It seems that Ann's going to be repurposed like an old Gateway. They all got a chance to talk about stuff at the end. Ann looked at Al. Matt spoke--Ann didn't give too much eye contact and said a curt, "Thank you" after he stopped yammering. Natalie Morales reached out to Curry as she spoke. It was nice. According to reports, Morales is trying to leave.

   <-------Look at Al Roker on that pic will you please? I don't think I've ever seen that facial expression from our Al before, he's pissed. It's no surprise. Al and Ann are friends and I know he hates this, well at least that's what he told me in our chats on Yahoo! By 9 o' clock in the AM, Ann was gone into the ether, taking the first thing smoking to California Los Angeles. Without Ann in the mix,  I saw the things that are really killing TODAY. Here they are...


Star Jones and the Dunderheads: The world's only lawyer Savannah Guthrie talked with the Today's Professionals where they talked about everything except for how fast and far Ann Curry got drop kicked off the stage. I can't stand a one of them except for Star Jones.

Grade D









Willard, Your Name is Willard--5,4, 3.... They'll never admit to it, but I think Willard was having a "spell" on the air. Being away from the studio has made him rustier than old Desoto. Undaunted, NBC, a stickler for quality, let this man ramble on incessantly about 5 to 7 minutes. He was annoying in olden days, now, he's lethal.

Grade: A for Abysmal

Al Roker Is Not a Lady- Poor Al Roker. After saying goodbye to his only friend on the set, Al had some Life & Style clean up duty. This segment featured the "scintillating" Charmaine Harris and Janet Evanovich.
 From the lightning to the canned patter, it looked like TV from nearly 25 years ago. I half expected to see Linda Dano barrel onstage with her state-sized shoulder pads to talk about oat bran muffins and Clarence Thomas.

Grade C- Upped a notch for Al not "going off" and choking the both of them.