All this week on the "Today" show, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer and Al Roker have been standing amid the two-by-fours of several Habitat for Humanity houses being built right there in Rockefeller Plaza, doing their morning spiel in a caring-only zone re-dubbed "Humanity Plaza."
The houses are going to victims of Katrina and Rita, while the more immediate spoils are going to Katie and Matt and Al, basking in their good works. Morning shows have to be happy in the worst of circumstances, and these have not been happy weeks. So they've remade happiness as blue state can-doism for the pobrecitos in the red states, with "Good Morning, America" adopting the Pass Christian, Miss., hometown of anchor Robin Roberts while GMA's main competitor, "Today," has made its set a virtual relief zone, the Gulf Coast's misery becoming a kind of green room, with celebrity guests picking up a miked hammer and driving in a miked nail before going inside to plug their products.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has become so popular that First Lady Laura Bush sought out the show for a guest appearance, according to The Times this week. The Bush episode, set in Biloxi, Miss., will air in November, said "Extreme" executive producer Tom Forman, leaving out the word that comes after November, "sweeps." It's the equivalent of sitcom stunt casting, a ratings sweeps period staple. The Bushes have visited Louisiana and Mississippi multiple times without creating a convincing narrative about their compassion. So Mrs. Bush is resorting to a surer thing, guesting on a series where the compassion, if it doesn't come across live, can be cobbled together in the editing room.
And so on Tuesday, on "Extreme Today," Couric was having some trouble getting a 7-year-old girl whose family had lost their home to play along. Couric wanted her to dance to Beyoncé, then come look at her new bed and clothes, then dance again. In the 7-year-old's face you didn't see heartbreak or struggle, you only saw a kind of fun spontaneity perfectly suited to her age and to the moment. She was in a hurricane, and now she was on TV, and people were giving her things.
"Stop looking at your stuff for two seconds," Couric said at one point, trying to direct her back to center stage. She wanted little Jada to dance again.
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-ontv30sep30,0,3216535.story?coll=la-story-footer
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