Lauer ‘the heart and soul’ of NBC show
The “Today” show’s top producer is speaking out against stories portraying anchor Matt Lauer as being difficult to work with during the show’s slide in the ratings.
Executive Producer Jim Bell said Wednesday that Lauer is “the heart and soul” of NBC’s morning news show and that negative stories about him have been hard to deal with.
“Today” has slipped behind ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the ratings recently, particularly since Lauer’s former co-host, Ann Curry, was replaced by Savannah Guthrie. That’s led to a wave of bad publicity, much of it focused on Lauer.
Bell said there’s a clear contrast between his show and “Good Morning America” now, one that will become even more apparent in the coming months.
Lil Wayne opens skate park in NOLA
Lil Wayne returned to New Orleans, his hometown, for the opening of the Trukstop skate park in the Lower 9th Ward – one of the most devastated sections of the city after levees failed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Grammy-winning rapper, who recently launched a skateboarding-inspired clothing line called Trukfit, opened the park Wednesday with his corporate partners, Mountain Dew and Glu Agency, a boutique advertising firm.
The park will be a gathering place where residents have been slow to return since Katrina hit seven years ago. Flooding pushed homes off their foundations, and many blocks remain vacant and overgrown by weeds.
Trukstop occupies a pre-Katrina building that survived the flooding. It was constructed using recycled materials and will be run using solar energy.
He’s a Prinze of a baby
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. have added a boy to their brood.
Their publicist says the baby was born in Los Angeles. His name and details of the birth weren’t released.
The couple also has a 3-year-old daughter named Charlotte. They celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary this month.
Gellar and Prinze have co-starred in two “Scooby-Doo” films, along with “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
Last year, the 35-year-old Gellar starred in the CW drama “Ringer.” The 36-year-old Prinze had a role on the final season of Fox’s “24.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Jayne Meadows is 92. Actor Wilford Brimley is 78. Singer-actor Meat Loaf is 65. Singer-actor-director Shaun Cassidy is 54. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is 40. Rapper Lil’ Wayne is 30. Singer Avril Lavigne is 28.