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View Full Version : Today Show, Kardashians and 9/11



KristineS
09-12-2012, 01:00 PM
I'm just curious if anyone has been following the flap over the Today Show not observing the moment of silence for 9/11 yesterday and airing an interview with Kris Kardashian Jenner instead. It's kind of become a sea of bad publicity for the Today Show and, in my opinion, they're not handling it well. What do you guys think? Good move? Bad move? Tempest in a teapot?

If you missed the story here are some links:

USA Today (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2012/09/12/today-show-kris-jenner-kardashian-mom-skips-911-moment/70000162/1#.UFC-ta6QCPA)
Radar Online (http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/09/today-show-skips-911-moment-silence-kris-jenner-interview-crisis-growing)
Today Show Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/today) (Scroll down to the post with the 9/11 picture)

ClientSpotDave
09-12-2012, 05:58 PM
I did hear something about this, but actually what's interesting is Kris Jenner is taking much more heat than the Today show, as if she personally disrespected the moment of silence.

But it's probably good publicity for the Kardashian TV show, not so much for Today.

It does seem like they're just ignoring the issue though, probably not the ideal way to handle it. They ARE in last place for morning shows though, so it's possible this was an attempt to gain some viewers by doing something different than the other networks...and that didn't work out so well :-)

Harold Mansfield
09-13-2012, 08:58 AM
I'd sooner pull out my eye lids than care about anything Kardashian, but as far as NBC is concerned...yeah they kinda dropped the ball. I can't believe they didn't get the memo that everyone else seemed to clearly receive.

Is it the worst gaff I've seen on a morning show? No. I remember watching who ever that lady is on CNN in the morning, and she used to call people on the phone at 6:00 a.m and try to get a quick interview out of them. One morning she called Carolyn Kennedy who was clearly startled by such an early call.

Later that night Jon Stewart remarked, "With as much tragedy and as many unexpected deaths as that family has had over the years, you just don't call a Kennedy at 6 a.m. with some B*ll Sh*T".

Disclaimer: I'm not in any way comparing 9-11 wth the Kennedy's. Its just a joke

But to the point, I can't see that the Kardashian women had anything to do with it. It really looks NBC either they forgot, or they just decided that they were going to move on and not mark the moment anymore. But being that they are in New York, and in Manhattan, it makes it all the more bewildering that they would just ignore it.

KristineS
09-13-2012, 11:07 AM
The way they've been handling this is just fascinating to me. First of all, if you're going to not acknowledge the moment of silence, which they have skipped in past years as well, I would certainly broadcast something with some gravitas to it in that time period. Kris Jenner was not a good choice in my opinion. Personally, I don't think she had anything to do with electing not to recognize the moment of silence, she's just a woman who wants her 15 minutes, and she's not going to anger a show that's giving them to her. I think the decision was made by Today Show or NBC executives.

Second, once the event happened, and people started voicing their displeasure, and easy way to shut the whole thing down would be to say they were sorry, they made a misjudgment and let's all move on. They didn't do that, and the story has been building steam steadily. Even if it's a relative minority, why would you let them rant and rave when you could shut everything down by simply saying you're sorry?

Harold Mansfield
09-13-2012, 02:01 PM
It's a perfect example of how you can get so big that you can bumble what should be something simple, because you are so frozen in that slow moving, corporate mentality, that you can't respond to anything quickly, and it results in missed opportunities. Or worse.

AmandaKess
09-13-2012, 03:00 PM
I'd sooner pull out my eye lids than care about anything Kardashian, but as far as NBC is concerned...yeah they kinda dropped the ball. I can't believe they didn't get the memo that everyone else seemed to clearly receive.

Is it the worst gaff I've seen on a morning show? No. I remember watching who ever that lady is on CNN in the morning, and she used to call people on the phone at 6:00 a.m and try to get a quick interview out of them. One morning she called Carolyn Kennedy who was clearly startled by such an early call.

Later that night Jon Stewart remarked, "With as much tragedy and as many unexpected deaths as that family has had over the years, you just don't call a Kennedy at 6 a.m. with some B*ll Sh*T".


But to the point, I can't see that the Kardashian women had anything to do with it. It really looks NBC either they forgot, or they just decided that they were going to move on and not mark the moment anymore. But being that they are in New York, and in Manhattan, it makes it all the more bewildering that they would just ignore it.

I couldn't have said it better myself. It's just really surprising to think that they would just ignore 9/11.

billbenson
09-13-2012, 05:18 PM
Maybe someone should send them a reminder program for X-mas:)

Dan Furman
09-17-2012, 10:45 PM
Can we just stop with the pseudo-solemn "such and such didn't do this on 9/11"? We seem to love dragging people/things down for mundane BS. We get the same way over flag pins and photoshopped pictures of the wrong hand over the heart during the pledge.

Pretty sure most of us were doing something pretty mundane at that moment too. Me, I was sleeping.

KristineS
09-18-2012, 11:43 AM
I'm not disagreeing with you Dan, a lot of people didn't observe the moment of silence, heck the Today show hadn't observed it in past years and no one said a thing. I think in this case, the issue was what they chose to air instead, and also how they've handled things since the incident. That's really the part that fascinates me. A marketing newbie could tell you the easiest way to shut this thing down and probably retain viewers is to issue an apology to those who were offended and move on. Instead, they've let it build until it became a national media story. To me, that's so mishandled I can't even fathom it. Where are the people who are supposed to be protecting the reputation of the show and the network?