NBC Gives 'Infotainment' A Worse Name

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Lost amid the splashy Post-Olympics debut of  Jerry Seinfeld's comedy-reality-quiz show-train wreck "The Marriage Ref," Sunday night featuring celebrity panelists Alec Baldwin and Kelly Ripa was the presence of NBC "Today Show" anchor and correspondent Natalie Morales, who will appear regularly on the series as the "Just the Facts Ma'am" (the rest of the show is just as side-splittingly funny as her title).

Morales' involvement in the Seinfeld series has been vetted and approved by NBC News Standards, which should be comforting to viewers worried about the blurring of news and entertainment, but somehow isn't.  During the "Ref" program, Morales is perched behind a laptop computer, like a real journalist, where she reports information about the underlying issue about which the couples are arguing.

Perhaps "TUOL" shouldn't be all in a dither about this, given that CNN Newsie Anderson Cooper once hosted "The Mole" on ABC and CBS's "The Early Show" anchor Julie Chen does double duty as host of  the network's "Big Brother" reality show.  "TUOL" is grateful that Chet Huntley & David Brinkley left the network before they could be given recurring roles on "Law & Order" and that John Chancellor died well-before he might have been asked to host "The Biggest Loser."

NBC stands for "News Broadcast by Clowns."