Kathie Lee Gifford

'The Secret Life of an American Teenager:' What a Great Show

Looking for a “great” television show that you can watch with the family? Then NBC’s “The Today Show” has a recommendation for you: “The Secret Life of the American Teenager!” Never mind that it’s about a pregnant fifteen-year-old. During the July 23 “Today Talk” host Kathie Lee Gifford and guest host Steve Schirripa were discussing the ABC family show “The Secret Life of an American Teenager,” which Schirripa stars in.

Schirripa described the show as being, “about a fifteen year old kid that gets pregnant and how it affects everyone’s life, and I mean everyone – everyone at school and the other kids and it really is show that you could watch with your kids.” Gifford touted, “And learn something.” Yep – a great show to learn about sex, promiscuity and contraceptives.

Gifford also praised the show because “it’s got great critical raves because of Brenda Hampton who’s behind it.” Gifford apparently didn’t read CMI’s 2008 article about the show’s reviews. “The Los Angeles Times summed up “Secret Life” by stating, “the tone of the pilot [episode] careens between an after-school special and “American Pie,” with a bit of “Pretty in Pink” grabbed along the way.”  The New York Times called it “a parody of an after-school special” and said “‘Secret Life’ doesn’t take the fun out of teenage pregnancy, it takes the fun out of television.”  The Hollywood Reporter said ‘it feeds into parental hysteria in ridiculously one-dimensional ways.’”

Coulter Spars With Kathie Lee and Hoda About Her 'Venom' in Second 'Today' Chat

Hoda Kotb, NBC Host; Kathie Lee Gifford, NBC Host; & Ann Coulter, Conservative Author | NewsBusters.orgAnn Coulter made a second appearance during the 10 am Eastern hour of Wednesday’s Today show, and hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb continued the discussion about the apparent “venom” in her books. Kotb asked if Coulter’s style was “kind of like shock jock, shake the cage, freak everyone out, wake everybody up,” and later stated that she felt the tone of the conservative’s writing was “dripping with venom.” The two hosts focused Coulter’s take on single motherhood in her new book, as Matt Lauer had done in her earlier appearance on the NBC program.

Kotb began the interview with her “shock jock, shake the cage” question. Coulter answered that she tries to “write in an entertaining, intriguing way, so that people will read what I have to say.” After the three briefly discussed the writing process for the author, Kotb then brought up the title of Coulter’s chapter on the problem of single motherhood: “Victim of a Crime? Thank a Single Mother.” Coulter explained her central point in the chapter, that single mothers are “victimizing their children by raising their children without fathers,” and how these children are “70% of the prison population, 60% to 70% of future unwed mothers -- of murderers, of rapists, of juvenile delinquents, of teenage runaways.”

Perez Hilton to Ann Coulter: 'Bite Me!'

Appearing in the timeslot of the fourth hour of Tuesday's "Today" show that Ann Coulter was originally booked to appear on, celebrity blogger/author Perez Hilton addressed the Coulter bumping controversy directly, as he challenged the conservative author: "Ann Coulter, if you’re watching, bite me!"

"Today" co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb then acknowledged that Coulter was, in fact, scheduled to promote her book at that time but may be invited back on Wednesday's show. Gifford expressed disappointment that Coulter and Hilton weren't on together, saying it would have been "good television," which prompted Hilton to respond: "She's not very friendly with the gays...but that's okay I'm friendly with everyone." However Hilton then went on to brag, "I'll talk trash about her, to her face...I'm not a fan of anyone trying to deny me my rights."

The following exchange aired during the fourth hour of the January 6, "Today" show: