Savannah Guthrie interviewing Kris Jenner on September 11. (NBC)

September 11th was Tuesday, which most people remembered, what with "Never Forget" being the slogan for the annual commemoration of those who lost their lives or loved ones when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers 11 years ago. NBC might have forgotten the date, however. At least we assumed that's what happened when it booked Kris Jenner to talk about reality television and filming her daughter's fake-boob upgrade on Today, making it the only major network out of the Big Three that didn't air footage from the Pentagon and Ground Zero to honor the Moment of Silence. We were willing to give NBC the benefit of the doubt, something that the network's President Bill Capus obviously didn't want.

According to a memo sent to NBC affiliates obtained by The New York Times, the decision to not air the footage was an "editorial" one:

Yesterday, we made an editorial call resulting in the Sept. 11 moment of silence not being seen. While we dedicated a substantial amount of airtime to anniversary events, we still touched a nerve with many of your viewers … and for that we apologize.

Mr. Capus then went on to note that NBC had only observed the moment of silence once before, during last year's 10th anniversary. Of course, the problem wasn't only that NBC didn't air the same footage as every other network ... it was that they filled the time slot with Kim Kardashian's mom talking about giving her children breast implants as a present. What was the editorial decision behind that? "If we don't show Kris Jenner yammering about excess frivolity and giving her daughters a terrible body image on national television, the terrorists will win"?

Kris Jenner, blithely blathering on about some bullshit. (NBC)

While every other major network today chose to interrupt its normal programming in order to cut to the president observing the annual moment of silence for the fallen heroes and victims of September 11th at Ground Zero and the Pentagon, NBC decided to go an alternate route ... by skipping the matter entirely and having Today interview Kris Jenner about breast implants.

Only the New York affiliate, WNBC, chose to air live coverage of the somber event, while the rest of the country took to Twitter to freak out:

While the CBS and ABC cut into their normal programming, NBC instead showed the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star discussing her decision to let camera crews film her 23-year-old daughter change her breast implants.

"I thought it was such a great idea to film that," Ms. Jenner told Savannah Guthrie. "The reason I went in and did that was because I had had my implants in for 152 years ... you know, a long time, way longer than their shelf life."

Keep it classy, guys.

Al Roker, spicy (NBC)

Who would have thought Al Roker had a snarky side? During Today’s segment this morning on the Olympic women's rowing team, the usually jolly Mr. Roker made a thinly veiled dig at Matt Lauer for not standing by their co-star Ann Curry when she was abruptly fired in June.

http://youtu.be/VvgrlyWrU5A
Mr. Lauer noted: "The tradition here in New York is that you throw her in the Hudson River."
To which Al "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" Roker: "Which is different than in our tradition, which is to throw one of us under the bus. But that's another story."

Then everyone chuckled uncomfortably and Mr. Roker segued into the weather report.

Per some kind of Today tradition, Ms. Guthrie was introduced twice.

"I'm glad you played it again because I was so nervous I didn't hear it the first time," she told co-anchor Matt Lauer.

We'd be nervous too if we had Good Morning America nipping at our heels. During Ms. Curry's tenure, ABC's rival program broke Today's sixteen-year winning streak. During her last week, GMA tied Today. (Though Today maintained its hold on the crucial 25-54-year-olds demographic.)

"We're happiest because you bring a great attitude and what we like to call a weird sense of humor to this program," Mr. Lauer said.

"7:02 and he's already calling me weird." she replied.

Is this what chemistry sounds like?

Guthrie.

That was fast! Just a day after Ann Curry took her final bows, Savannah Guthrie, host of Today's third hour, has been named the show's co-anchor. Ms. Guthrie is NBC's chief legal correspondent, a role in which she will remain.

"I've been at Today for 15 years and I'd love to make it to 20. I think eventually I want to become a teacher, like my father wanted to be, and hopefully positively influence the next generation."

Yikes. She also said that she takes it really hard when Today loses to rival ABC's Good Morning America.

"It's hard not to take it personally. You worry, Am I not good enough? Am I not what people need? Am I asking the right questions? When people say negative things or speculate, you can't help but feel hurt. I know NBC pays my salary but I have never doubted who I work for. I think about the people who watch. They're the ones who matter to me. I want to feel I haven't dropped the ball when it comes to them."

A small silver lining: Ms. Curry's not going into negotiations totally disempowered. She's resolved to, like Mika Brzezinski always says, "know her value."

"I don't always understand my worth. I think it's a chronic condition for women. I'm not talking about professionally. I'm talking about in our personal lives. We constantly punish ourselves with degrading thoughts when we look at ourselves in the mirror. We allow people to treat us poorly, we allow our husbands or boyfriends to get away with things or we have relationships with girlfriends or colleagues who don't treat us well. We don't defend ourselves as we would our own children. Women have demanded and gotten better jobs and more power. But the one thing we deserve is a better relationship with ourselves. We waste too much time beating ourselves up. I think at my age of 55, it's time to stop doing that."

55?! Wow, she looks great.

Ms. Curry at Cannes.

Today host Ann Curry has hired attorney Robert Barnett to represent her in negotiations with NBC as the network transitions her to a new job within the company, reports The New York Times.

Morning show watchers think Ms. Curry and her recently re-upped co-host Matt Lauer's lack of chemistry has contributed to the longtime front-runner getting beat by rival Good Morning America this spring.

Her most likely replacement is 9 a.m. host Savannah Guthrie, and Ms. Curry is said to be interested in a newsier post, perhaps as a foreign correspondent. Mr. Barnett brokered a similar deal for Christiane Amanpour, who left ABC's The Week and became a "global affairs anchor" at the network, as well as an anchor at CNN.

They say she'll be out by the Olympics.

Waterworks: The tears start flowing early from Gristina before the first minute, when she talks about her youngest son coming to visit her in jail, where she's been for the last four months. She tells Lauer: "He cried the whole time and begged to stay with me."

Vocals: Her voice is surprisingly sweet. She sounds like Kelly McDonald in the trailers for Brave.

Omerta: The first and most crucial point comes in around 4:43, when Gristina's vaguely-noted "loyalty" is noted by Lauer without interruption—a savvy move on his part—as he speeds on to the second half of the question: Do you feel those you've been loyal to have been loyal to you? Gristina responds that she hasn't been in contact with anyone so she wouldn't know. Oh really? In a New York Post piece in which reporter Jeanne MacIntosh disclosed her prior relationship with Gristina, she told the reporter of a conversation she had with a friend tied up in the prosecution of madam Kristen Davis' case:

Asked if she knew the conversation was being recorded, she said, "No, but apparently it was."

Gristina most certainly knows who's loyal to her these days, and who isn't. To enter the idea of loyalty into the conversation would appear to acknowledge its need, but to deny it outright would've appeared silly, too. Lauer's question was smart; Gristina's response was smarter.

Powerful Men: Lauer asks if she knew anything about the powerful men the D.A. quizzed her on during the initial interrogation. The lawyers stop her from answering that and volley with Lauer. For the entirety of that question and the lawyers' answers that followed it, Gristina's face looked like this:

She didn't say a word.

Interrogation: Gristina is asked about how she was questioned. Interestingly, she explains that

Lawyers: Definitely there, definitely making sure she wouldn't comment on the accusations. Take a look at this:

Match.com's Would-Be Competitor: Matt Lauer didn't exactly have to do hard-hitting interrogating to get the lawyers to speak up. For example, when asking of the matchmaking service Gristina contends she was running:

Matt Lauer: Would this include married man looking to have someone to have dinner with?

Anna Gristina: Very much like Match.com.

Matt Lauer: Would it also include married men looking for someone to have sex with?

Ponytailed Lawyer: I think we've answered that question. 'Very much like Match.com.'

Matt Lauer: If I say to you, 'Had you ever connected a married man—or any man, for that matter—with a woman in a matchmaking service,' have you done that?

Ponytailed Lawyer: Our response would be 'You sound like the Manhattan District Attorney's office.'

If Matt Lauer sounds like the D.A. in an interview like this, someone is doing their job incorrectly. Or correctly. At this point, it's hard to tell. Also:

Matt Lauer: So you won't say to me at all whether you have been involved in running any kind of legitimate, legal dating service in the past?

Ponytailed Lawyer: Given the state's allegations in this case, we'd be fools to answer your question.

So what did they answer? Again: It's hard to tell.

The Law Enforcement Connections: At one point Lauer asks about the wiretaps the D.A. reportedly has in their possession from the five year-long sting, wherein, Gristina is heard boasting of her connections to law enforcement. The lawyer responds that if the D.A. has them, they want to hear them (as they haven't been released to the defense lawyers as evidence), explaining that they won't "try this case by innuendo." Lauer counters that he's never been heard bragging about knowing cops in the event that he were arrested. The lawyers explain that Lauer's probably said a lot of things that could be made to sound "sinister." To which we'd counter: Maybe by Scientologists?

Finally, one of her lawyers, Pete Gleason—a former NYFD fireman who took the case pro-bono, and is putting his loft up for Gristina's bail, and who contends doing so is just an act of good samaritanism—was also interviewed by Lauer. And that was a separate trip in and of itself.

Lauer's interview can be seen here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Jamie Lynne Grumet on 'Today' (NBC)

Last week we had Patricia Krentcil, the Tan Mom. This week, thanks to Time magazine's salacious new cover, the deep-fried New Jersey mother has been pushed aside for Jamie Lynne Grumet, the Breastfeeding Blogger Mom. The 26-year-old was breastfed by her own mother until she was six, and she's paying it forward by keeping her 3-year-old son on the teat.

Since everyone and their mother seems to have a very vocal opinion on this matter (and the side matter of whether the act of breastfeeding--which is fine in the privacy of your own home where its between you and God--should be the salacious cover of a reputable magazine), the mommy blogger went on Today this morning to explain (once again) how controversial her decision to pose for Time was.

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"He's self-weening right now," Ms. Grumet tells correspondent Savannah Guthrie, as her son Aram whines by her side, most likely confused about why he's not being fed at that moment. (To be fair, that's what we were all wondering.) She then goes on to say that although the photo was not indicative of how she breast-feeds at home--you mean, she doesn't make her son climb up on a chair to get it?-- she understands why Time chose that image. "Because it's going to be such a...you know...it did create such a media craze."

"To get the dialogue," Ms. Grumet concluded. It was a fine segment, but we think we speak for Aram and America when we say, "What, no tit?"

Katie Couric (Getty Images)

Onetime queen of the morning Katie Couric is reclaiming her throne--for one short week. She'll be guest-hosting Good Morning America for the week beginning April 2, as part of her new utility-player duties at ABC in the leadup to her new chat show, Katie, in the fall.

This comes at a pivotal time for morning news, as Ann Curry reportedly is losing or has lost the esteem of her colleagues at Today (where she occupies Ms. Couric's old seat) and Matt Lauer ponders whether he can get more money elsewhere. A world-beating week for ABC might raise blood pressures among Today producers accustomed to first place.