Not a bad book; just wish the author had spoken more with CBS, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. ( )

This is the story of rivalry between the Today show ,Good Morning America and CBS Morning News. If you don't care about the shows in question and personalities involved then this book is not for you. It goes into the Talk Shows Wars in a level of detail that many will find frustrating. Yet if stories of struggle between rivals for dominance in their field of battle turns you on, then you will have a great time. This book is full of insider views and information. Its written from the perspective of an insider with a breezy yet informative voice. The writer cites confidential sources that have requested that they remain anonymous, The book gives you the feeling of being a network insider. If you have ever wondered what is the story behind the smiling faces you see in the morning then this book is for you. ( )

Who knew? Who knew, indeed, the backstabbing, manipulating and jockeying for position that goes on behind the scenes at the two highest ranked network morning shows, NBC’s Today show and ABC’s Good Morning America? And who knew that the only viewers who truly “matter” to the two network “news” shows are those between the ages of 25 – 54? And that, in short, is the substance of this book. If you are a morning person, odds are you catch one of these two programs at least occasionally. And odds are you prefer one over the other for one reason or another. And odds are that the reason has less to do with the actual content of the program than with the personalities of the hosts, the chemistry between them, if you will.

The largest portion of the book by far is dedicated to the drama surrounding NBC’s ouster of Ms. Ann Curry from the Today show which was apparently orchestrated by Today show executives in an effort to keep their popular and long-term host, Matt Lauer happy. Personally, I haven’t watched the Today Show since back in the days of Brokaw and Pauley, and the few times I have seen Matt Lauer, I didn’t care for him, as he comes across to me as arrogant. That said, I am a regular viewer of Good Morning America and while I miss the camaraderie of Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, I am happy with the current team of George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Josh Elliot and weatherman Sam Champion. So you can imagine my disappointment to find that the executives at ABC could not care less whether I watch or don’t watch, as I am on the late side of their “target” viewing audience, the all-important 25 – 54 year-olds.

Typically I don’t read this type of book, but I had been reading some fairly heavy books about Joe Kennedy, WWII, the Civil Rights movement, etc., that were affecting my sleep patterns and my moods when awake, so I thought I would give myself a break for a week or two and picked this book up while browsing at the local library. The book is well-researched and fairly interesting, albeit the important and interesting parts could easily have been condensed into about half as many pages. As I mentioned, much more of the content is dedicated to the Today show, presumably because that is where more of the dirty dealing has taken place, particularly in the past decade. And CBS’ morning show, whatever it may be called this week, is mentioned basically as an “also ran”. I almost felt sorry for them, as they are the definite underdog and seem to be continually changing hosts and formats in an effort to get the leftovers in ratings. And make no mistake; it IS all about the ratings, as those ratings are what determine which show the big advertisers will grace with their almighty dollars … millions of those almighty dollars. Frankly, now that I know I don’t count, I am tempted to boycott every company that advertises on either show!

The book is a rather fun and interesting read, so long as you don’t take it all too seriously. After all, the personalities you will read about here take themselves entirely too seriously, but I guess one does when one’s salary is in the 7-figure range. The author, Brian Stelter, is a media reporter for The New York Times and is certainly more than qualified to write this book. He has done a good job and I have no complaints other than quite a bit of repetition and detail that made it, at times, a tedious read. I can recommend it for those looking for a bit of fun and nothing too serious, but I can only justify a three-star rating, as it certainly isn’t a life-changer nor a book of any real lasting importance overall. ( )