This is what happens when TV anchors are allowed to speak extemp … extemp … er, without a script. On Tuesday’s edition of “Later Today” on NBC, guest gossip expert Nancy O’Dell (blonde anchor fixture on TV tab “Extra”) inadvertently dissed beloved “Brady Bunch” mom (and “Later Today” co-host) Florence Henderson.
What happened was this: O’Dell and Henderson colleague Jodie Applegate were babbling about Tom Cruise and the star’s “Mission: Impossible 2” leading lady, Thandie Newton. The conversation veered off and suddenly O’Dell was happily noting that before ol’ Flo could be considered for such a plum role, she’d have to take acting lessons. Ouch.
If O’Dell meant to get snippy, it didn’t show. (Neither did Henderson’s reaction — she was off-camera.) O’Dell went on with the rest of her “report” — as sunny at the end as she was at the beginning.
At the close of the telecast, Applegate disclosed that a chagrined O’Dell had belatedly phoned the studio to apologize for what was described as a joke that didn’t, um, joke. Henderson feigned blissful unawareness (“Dis? What dis?”).
Insert obligatory “Brady Bunch” tag here.
