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It`s all eyes on a full house as the US raises its game: as the UK proposes to relax its gambling laws, the US revels in a love affair with poker. And it`s odds-on that the UK will follow suit

Marketing Week , October, 2004 by Polly Devaney

Never mind the Presidential race, the contest that has more Americans gripped these days is poker, "Texas Hold` em" style. As the debate rages on in the UK about new gambling laws, the US market is at a very different stage of its evolution. Following changes in legislation, expansion into new markets and further exploitation of existing ones, the US gambling industry saw its revenues more than double in a decade--from $35bn (19bn ) in 1993 to $73bn (40bn ) in 2003, according to the American Gaming Association.

Once considered a vice by most in the US,

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Meredith Vieira, this is your life today

Chicago Sun-Times , Sep 14, 2006 by Doug Elfman

It`s no wonder young people don`t watch "Today." It looks like one of those parent parties where Uncle Willard`s being weird again and the moms and dads are engaging in something resembling flirting, but it`s so awkward and rusty it makes you want to hide somewhere, scoop up the spiked punch and head outside to mumble to yourself how you`ll never end up like that.

Wednesday`s show wasn`t even a show. It was a two-hour biopic commercial for Meredith Vieira on her first day of co-anchoring.

In the first two hours, about eight minutes focused on news. The rest was the Vieira promotional movie in progress. In a seven- minute clip, images flashed of Vieira from childhood (she drank Tab!), her career (she was a hot Beatles fan!) and motherhood (she`s not a disciplinarian!).

A cavalcade of TV "talent" kept a-trucking in.

Willard Scott, the guy who wishes viewers happy 100th birthdays, almost gave Vieira, like, an Alaskan nose-kiss.

Vieira`s ex-boss at CBS` "60 Minutes," Don Hewitt, called her "a great broadcaster" but just had to add, "She`s loaded with sex appeal!"

"NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams trotted out to hand her flowers and divulge he caught a glimpse of Vieira backstage in curlers.

"At least I had my clothes on!" she said.

Vieira and co-anchor Matt Lauer compared photos of each other revealing various states of undress.

And news reader Ann Curry could barely conceal whatever emotion she was feeling for being passed over for the Katie Couric seat Vieira is filling. Curry eked out a "welcome" and high-fived Vieira about something or other.

But like a spurned Julia Roberts in "My Best Friend`s Wedding," Curry faced away from Vieira in a quiet chill. She doesn`t give away love easy, that Ann Curry. Nah-ah. Her high-five said, "Hey there, sister," but her body language said, "You seat-stealing broad!"

Oh, right. It wasn`t Curry who called Vieira a "broad." It was Vieira.

"I`m gonna be the broad in broadcasting," Vieira said.

OK! You go, uh, girl?

To make Vieira relatable to "security moms" who watch "Today," one of Vieira`s teenage boys advised her in a recorded message, "I know you`re freaked out right now, but please, try and relax."

Relax? Who could relax with 6 million eyes on her?

Her eyes wept when "Today" sprung out a live shot of students and teachers ringing bells in Vieira`s honor at the school she attended in Rhode Island. (Her nickname was TuTu LaRue.) A smiler, not a Couric giggler, Vieira was all teeth and tears.

That was at 8:02 a.m. At 8:25 came a montage -- a montage! -- of highlights from Vieira`s long and illustrious career at "Today," all 85 minutes of it. At 9:51 a.m., another montage arrived, climaxing with Vieira flipping a hat in the air, Mary Tyler Moore-style.

Vieira`s journalism bona fides were evidenced with her first interview: a chat with a fellow NBC interviewer, Tim Russert. Gloriously, he did not try to rub noses with her.

As "Today" does, various on-air segments were ad-sponsored. The crowd of hand-written signs outside Rockefeller Center was overwhelmed by two huge, hand-held posters for a new movie.

A slightly older movie is what Vieira`s debut was reminiscent of: "Adaptation," the film about the making of itself. Presumably, her introduction is now over, and Vieira will get on with co-hosting "Today" today, sharing news and views not specifically related to the coronation of her cult of personality.

See what you gave up, Katie? The queen is dead. Long live the queen.

e-mail: delfman@suntimes.com

THE MORNING`S CHOICE QUOTES

Meredith Vieira (holding Matt Lauer`s hand): "I feel like it`s the first day of school and I`m sitting next to the cutest guy in the class. That`s you."

Lauer: "I have not been more excited to come to work since the day after Bryant announced he was leaving."

Vieira to Al Roker: "I`m particularly fond of you because I had a hamster named Al growing up: Big Al. He died."

Vieira (showing President Bush gazing at a magazine picture of a shirtless Lauer): "He`s turned on by your abs, honey."

Vieira (looking at a leggy photo of herself in a magazine two decades ago): "I got a lot of grief from people who thought that a journalist should never pose like that. But my argument was, `I`m a journalist, yes, but I`m also a woman, and I`m not ashamed of being a woman.` Those legs aren`t quite as good anymore, but what the heck."

WHAT ELSE IS ON

"Survivor: Cook Islands" (7 p.m., WBBM-Channel 2): Here it is, the segregated version of the reality-competition show. It`s white vs. black vs. Hispanic vs. Asian heritages. Unfortunate, it is, that the teams are called "tribes."

"Hello Again, Everybody!" (8 p.m., WTTW-Channel 11): A new, two- hour documentary about the late Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray.

"The Underground" (9 p.m., Showtime): On his 30-minute sketch show, Damon Wayans uses the opportunity of starring on FCC-free Showtime to feature a talking vagina (not a cartoon), the best bit in a mostly unfunny ` debut.

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