To Change or Not To Change

So Rebecca Gomez decided to take her new husband's last name, Diamond so she is now Rebecca Diamond. This is pretty unusual especially for a TV newswoman to do. Most do not change their last names when they get married or at best they hyphenate it. There are some who got married before they became well known so the name change was not a big deal. I understand that Rebecca is probably the traditional type and wants to show her love and loyalty to her husband by taking his name. That's great, but as a guy in the IT business I can tell that it's always a pain in the ass especially when they want to change their user ID. Boy that annoys me. First of all, no one cares what their user ID is because it's only important to the user themselves. No one else sees it. When you're an anonymous woman, it's OK to change the name. But when you're fairly well known and known by your maiden name, going about changing it does indeed have an effect on your career and your notoriety. It's kind of like celebrities who have stage names. They're legal names may change but their stage name stays the same because that's their identity and that's what makes them money. Also there's that pesky problem of divorce. Rebecca should have sought out her co-worker Megyn Kelly's advice. She changed her name for her first marriage to Kendall. Then she got divorced and went back to Kelly. Problem was that no one knew her as Kelly so no one knew if she got married or divorced. So she got married again and smartly did not change the name. Keeps things easier that way.

Nice Thigh, Amy!

Gorgeous Amy showing Scarborough the thigh high show.

Damn, Trish!

You trying to put an eye with those things? Too bad you didn't dress as good live as you did in that piece or it could have been another classic double leg delight with you and Gorgeous Amy.

Julie Palin?

What's up with the Sarah Palin look that Julie Banderas was sporting on Redeye? I can't listen to the show so I have no idea if anything was mentioned about it. I guess there's a segment of the population who finds the glasses and hair up look sexy and I admit that on certain types it does look good. I think it has to do with sexual repression and that the act of taking off the glasses and letting the hair down frees up a woman. Besides, you can't let your hair down if your hair's already down. Also I think this fits with Jules's history because when she was on local TV I understand she used to do this kind of look all the time.

Well It Had To End Sometime

Kiran was in pants today, ending a four day skirt-and-sitdown streak.

Shame On You, CNBC

For hiding your hotties. Margaret Brennan appeared on the Today Show today for the first time, since, well it's been so long I can't remember. And while she of course looked great, while all the regular hostesses did not, it points out that these appearances by the CNBC hotties have been few and far between. And I don't mean Erin Burnett playing news reader on the weekends and wearing pants; that don't cut it. That also doesn't mean Michele Caruso-Cabrera showing up on the Nightly News and then not getting the leg shots. CNBC has got the hotties to go against FBN. OK, they may not win, but they can put up a fight. CNBC/NBC seems either unwilling or uninterested in doing so. It's something that they can do quite easily as well. They've had plenty of opportunities to do so in the past few weeks but they have refused to take advantage. Meanwhile, Liz and Alexis from FBN have made appearances on CBS Early Show and have looked great. Dagen and Go-Go have appeared on the M&J show. CNBC, are you taking notes? Of course not.
Shame on you also for bringing back the chairs, then not doing it for the rest of the week, then bringing it back today with Becky in pants. Guess that's what Kernen meant by "phasing" it back in.

When It Rains, It Pours

Ever since Wednesday, when I mentioned that Kiran's sitdown broke the drought, there have been three straight sitdowns in a row. Coincidence? I think not.

The People Have Spoken, The Chairs Are Back!

CNBC Squawk Box brought the chairs back due to popular demand this morning, so it wasn't just me. But at least I was honest. I bet all the other people asking for it were dudes who wanted to scope out Becky's stems but came up with some lame, politically correct excuse. Well, whatever, it's back. However, Kernan said they were going to phase it back in. Uh, why? And note to Becky: This does not mean you are allowed to cover your legs with the newspaper. Ever heard of folding it up?

Huh?

What the hell is ED Hill doing on the View? OK, I know she's filling the blond seat in Hasselbeck's absence. Well, for what it's worth, she's probably the smartest host, guest or otherwise, the show has had in a while.

Sitdown At Last, Sitdown At Last, Thank God Almighty A Sitdown At Last

Kiran finally had a sitdown today after who knows how long. OK probably since the last time I mentioned the drought ending. I ain't keeping track anymore.

So That Explains It

Go-Go got her lovely curvaceous ass married this weekend which probably explains her lack of appearances this past week. Boy she sure picked a good week to get married, eh? Well congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Whatever-The-Groom's-Name-Is-Cuz-It-Don't-Matter-Cuz-She-Ain't-Taking-It-Anyway and have fun on the honeymoon.

Go-Go On "Emergency Happy Hour"

Just one day after noting that Go-Go had been quite absent from all of the frenzied Fox Business coverage of the stock market demolition that has pre-empted the Happiest Hour on TV, who would appear but Go-Go herself on the Happy desk today. Coincidence? I think not.

It Ain't Thursday, It's Skirts' Day

Boy this is weird. All four of the female Today Show hosts during the first three hours wore skirts. Coincidence? I think not.

Fox Biz-CBS Hookup?

Interesting to see the CBS Early Show inviting Alexis Glick and Liz Claman on to provide some expert commentary on the recent economic crises. Since CBS doesn't have a CNBC to draw on for expertise I guess they gotta go somewhere. What's interesting is that Alexis had made a couple appearances on Good Morning America. When she wasn't on this morning I thought she was going to GMA but lo and behold she was on CBS. I guess CBS outbid them.

Happy Hour Pre-empted, Go-Go Gets The Shaft

You know it's bad when Fox Biz can't even have Happy Hour but instead does the crisis thing instead. However Cody Willard has been joining in on the desk there but Go-Go has been absent except for an appearance on the Mike & Juliet show yesterday. What gives? Is her presence no longer desired in times of dire need? Might this be an indication of what Fox really thinks of Go-Go's "talents"?

It Ain't Hump Day, It's Pants Day

Every female host on the Today show today for the first three hours wore pants. Meredith, Ann, Amy and Maria. Coincidence? I think not.

More Maria Weirdness

Maria Menounos actually didn't look too bad yesterday but unfortunately the day was somewhat marred by the re-telling of her old story about losing weight. Supposedly in college, Maria was a size 14 and was absolutely in despair about it and wanted to lose it so now she is down to a size 4. The pictures they showed of her allegedly at that size did not reveal, to me, an obese or even mildly overweight woman. In fact one shot of her in a skirt looked pretty good to me. In fact she looked about average. She may not have been able to rock a bikini but in anything else she would have been OK. Ann even brought up the point that she didn't look all that bad after Maria showed off her old trousers but somehow she was so depressed and sad about being a size 14 that only shrinking down to a size 4 would do. I do not see what the point of that segment was and I think it just makes Maria look bad because they exploited her story as some kind of fat-t0-thin story a la their Joy Fit Club series. Now those people are really worth talking about. When those people show their old pants off, you can put a family in there. Maria's pants looked smaller than a lot of regular women I see on the street. That's like interviewing someone for a get rich story and they only made $50,000. That ain't rich to me. Sorry, Maria.

Squawkbox and the "Chairs"

CNBC's Squawkbox has on occasion a segment where the hosts sit in director's chairs and they usually discuss what's in the day's papers or any kind of current affair or event. It's also the only time to get caps of Becky Quick's legs. Whenever the shit hits the fan, and it's been like a billion toilets' worth these past few weeks, CNBC ditches the chairs and sticks to business. I don't understand why. So the economy's in the toilet, and the stock market is crashing worse than the Hindenburg. What's the problem with taking 5-10 minutes out of the show to talk about something different and get away from the doom and gloom? Is it so bad that you can't do that? Is spending those 5-10 minutes on business really so important that it makes a difference? I don't think so.

Random Thoughts: Maria and Erica

Maria Menounos had a mixed week. Again, I have no idea why NBC brings her in for these stints. She always looks like the little kid who has found herself sitting at the grown-ups' table. I think she has absolutely no substantive talent other than looking good. NBC makes sure not to overstress her from a segment point of view and she rarely has to stretch outside of her comfort zone. You won't see her doing too many segments on finance or world affairs. She has this odd fashion sense once she's in New York (lots of darks and drab) and shows off her West Coast affinity but always dressing more warmly than her colleagues, to the detriment of her overall appearance of course. Maria very rarely nails it totally but can usually be counted on to do it on one day, but usually one day only.

Erica has been (not surprisingly) confirming my fears by being pretty consistent with the pants on Saturday Early. I will give her credit in that she looks fitter than she did during her Headline News days, but I still see no benefit from her having the SES job. I don't see how she adds viewers or value. The show seems to a continually mediocre, and just there to be there. CBS seems either unwilling or unable to make the show anything more than what it is and they clearly don't seem to care that it succeeds or not.

On The Other Hand...

SNL knows what the costume score is!

Palin Wimps Out Against Katie

After Katie Couric "undressed" Sarah Palin in their first interview, Palin had nothing for her in the second one, as they more or less switched outfits with Palin in pants and Katie in a skirt when it was the other way around the first time. Guess Palin couldn't take Katie's heat.