Joe & Mika: The Rock Hudson & Doris Day Of Cable News

May 9th is the third anniversary of the coupling of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski as co-hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." 

The NYT is postively orgasmic about "The Odd Couple Of Morning TV." Last week on the north lawn of the White House, the morning after the annual White House Correspondents’ Association  dinner, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski held court on the grass, presiding over a special Sunday edition of their MSNBC daily news program “Morning Joe.” [396,000 total viewers 8-9a] As they sat beside one another in directors’ chairs — Mika in a black evening gown with a plunging neckline; Joe in a dinner jacket (sans tie), both of them wearing dark sunglasses — they exuded the reckless, easy glamour of old-style Hollywood stars: Rock Hudson and Doris Day (but Doris Day with a tan and killer abs).

CB: Uh, it wasn't the "glamour" fans were attracted to:  it was the romantic antagonism and sexual tension between Rock & Doris.  I'm old enough to remember sitting in movie theaters thrilling to "Pillow Talk" and "Lover Come Back," and devouring the movie mags.

Back to the NYT: It’s clear that MSNBC is strewing as much moondust as they can around their male and female leads, tantalizing the breakfast audience by promoting them as an iconic duo . Between segments on the program, stylized photographs of the hosts appear — the two of them aglow in the morning light, striding down 30 Rockefeller Center canyon; or carousing in a dimly lit bar, à la “The Fabulous Baker Boys.” But when you ask them about their private lives, they gratefully extol their spouses — Joe’s wife, Susan, and Mika’s husband, Jim Hoffer — who understand their gruelling schedules. “Susan and Mika are very good friends, they’re in constant contact and love each other, and Jim is in the business himself,” Joe says.

The Times buys into Joe's revisionist history - that he welcomed Mika to his lone on-air world.  Joe's body language and verbal edge back in May 2007 belied the spin. Joe lobbied and got Imus's old slot, but in my view, he wanted a solo show and got Mika foisted on him as the newsreader. Joe's mellowed big time since the show kicked off three years ago.  

"Morning Joe" is appointment TV for me.  I watch it every a.m.  The on-air marriage between Joe & Mika with bumps and Bickersons' banter successfully combines entertainment and hard news without silliness, vapidness, and for the most part, political bias. It's a flexible format that works.

My only complaints?  Joe's repeated banal bloviating on "when I was in Congress."  The repeated booking of the annoying, unintelligible liberal Greek Internet Goddess Arianna Huffington.  And the presence of frequent talking head Donny Deutsch who returns from suspension Monday a.m. co-hosting - "Morning Joe."  Deutsch's recent week of hosting MSNBC's 3p slot came to an abrupt halt two days into his gig after he lumped Keith Olbermann into a segment on angry media men that included Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

Thin-skinned Olbermann went batshit to MSNBC boss Phil Griffin and Donny vanished.