The private Paula Deen overwhelms the public Paula Deen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/dining/paula-deen-is-a-no-show-on-today.html?smid=tw-nytimes

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/19/paula-deen-uses-the-n-word-7-shocking-details-from-her-deposition.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paula-deen-defends-use-n-572562

From the Food Network's PAULA'S HOME COOKING web page (still online as of this writing), this description:
"With small-town life as her inspiration, Paula Deen brings uncomplicated and delicious home cooking to a series dedicated to the American traditions. Whether it's her stories or her recipes from her country kitchen, Paula has always had a gift for lifting spirits."

Now, here's most of the comment made by June Pagan on DEADLINE.com's Comments section under the updated article about Paula Deen and loss of endorsements (plus the Random House book deal):
"Discrimination on any level is not to be tolerated let alone endorsed. The Food Network and any business that is ethical should not be supporting any business that treats it’s employees like second class citizens. It is not right for employees to have to endure racial slurs and pornographic material in the workplace. Obviously ,the employees were afraid of losing their jobs. Paula Deen is a Southern cook who hit a stroke of luck by getting picked up by the Food Network. They gave her fame and she should have passed on that opportunity by making sure that all of her and her co-partners in business supported the people that supported them. Making uncomfortable statements, jokes and exposing them to unfair treatment was and is disghusting, low class and unacceptable."

Deciphering NBC Newsdude Steve Capus' Ann Cuury statement.

"So morning television is HDTV and Ann Curry should have been comfortable doing fluff pieces. And, believe me, our highly-paid consultants tell us that fluff holds onto more eyeballs than serious news in the morning. It's not the first time we've stooped to conquer viewers over six decades of TODAY. Remember the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs and Willard Scott dressing in drag as Carmen Miranda? We just do that shtick more frequently these days. And besides, Ann--like Meredith--just didn't have the Katie Couric zip. That's why we're rolling dice that Savannah Guthrie can turn the world on with her smile, just like Mary Tyler Moore. Seriously, are you naive enough to think we'd pin the blame for our ratings decline on Matt Lauer?"

Blog commenter with post-mortem on Ann Curry's demotion from TODAY host to NBC correspondent.

Yielding the floor to commenter "Bird" from the HOLLYWOOD-ELSEWHERE site:
Sure, Ann never quite had the snappy easy banter with Matt that Katie or Meredith had, but ultimately she's taking the fall for the scattershot gosspy mess Today has become of late. You can't follow a report on an upcoming Supreme Court ruling with the latest on a reality "star". I mean, unless she was the victim of a terrorist attack there is no reason any [Kardashian] should be mentioned in the top half of the 7am hour.
Good luck to Ann, and my condolences to her replacement.

More random comments about Andrew Sarris, Ann Curry, Matt Lauer, Joy Behar and Al Gore.

1. RIP film critic and auteurist Andrew Sarris--read his reviews in THE VILLAGE VOICE and THE NEW YORK OBSERVER and consider his books THE AMERICAN CINEMA and THE JOHN FORD MOVIE MYSTERY essential reading for those interested in film studies. 2. As Keith Olbermann mentioned on Twitter, it's sad that Ann Curry is enduring public humiliation by NBC/Comcast (news leaks) regarding her forced departure from the TODAY show. Yes, Savannah Guthrie might evoke (to Matt Lauer at least) the Lost Era of Katie, but Lauer and NBC News majordomo Steve Capus should have the sense (they're being paid enough)to realize that any alleged "chemistry" between anchors doesn't necessarily raise ratings or paper over the essential problem of TODAY doing too much wading in the shallow end of the news pool. 3. Al Gore and his partners at Current TV are now focusing on the Hail Mary pass of getting mild-to-moderate progressive comics to join the channel. John Fugelsang (who can be pithy on Twitter) is subbing for "rock star" Jennifer Granholm on THE WAR ROOM and Joy Behar is getting a five-night tryout before officially debuting this fall. If you see the Joy Behar ads, the impression is given that she'll be Politically Direct and free of any restrictions on content she had on her HLN series or may still have on THE VIEW. So last night, amid the horse race election-coverage stuff, Ms. Behar felt compelled to do a tabloid crap story about Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and Kris Jenner. Fine for ABC and HLN, but it was woefully stupid for Current TV--even considering them having Cenk Uygur do an on-bended-knee interview of Hugh Hefner, which the channel probably justified due to Hef having some progressive views.

LAND OF THE LOST: the "it's a flop" post-mortems begin....

http://www.popeater.com/movies/article/has-ferrell-fatigue-set-in-at-box-office/518314

I passed on LAND OF THE LOST this past weekend in favor of AWAY WE GO and THE HANGOVER.

Having seen a long trailer for LOTL in Montreal while on vacation, I was a bit suprised (having liked the teaser ad showing Will Ferrell jousting with Matt Lauer) that the film opted for a dumb, breast-grabbing NATIONAL LAMPOON approach instead of going for a suitable-for-just-about-all-the-family PG in the manner of the NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM duology.

And maybe that's the reason LOTL underperformed--not "Will Ferrell fatigue" or younger audience unfamiliarity with the Sid and Marty Krofft TV series from the 70s.