Posted on 11/09/2010 5:06:06 PM PST by Beaten Valve
One of the longest continuous on-air runs by anyone on a network program in the history of television is about to come to an end. After 40 years, Gene Shalit is saying goodbye to the “Today” show on Thursday — Veteran’s Day.
Known for his pun-laden movie reviews — and his out-sized hair and mustache and bow-tie — Shalit said in a statement obtained by THR, “It’s enough already.” Producers are putting together a retrospective which will air Thursday.
Shalit’s movie reviews have only been turning up occasionally recently, but as this YouTube look-back shows, Shalit once had a prominent role on the show.
“Today” show EP Jim Bell tells TVNewser: “Gene is not just a Today show treasure but a television legend and an American icon. We salute him for his unprecedented 40-year run on a single television program, a feat unlikely to ever be matched.”
Geez! I though he’d already left us. But, what would I know. I haven’t watched the Today Show in years and years and years. At least 15 years.
Did his hair resign?
I thought he was dead
Dateline NBC will probably translate this into a 2 hour special, just on his mustache alone.
He always gave me the creeps.
He’s still alive? Just think, he wouldn’t be the oldest communist alive if Karl Marx hadn’t died.
He was great on Spongebob.
>>He was great on Spongebob.<<
He was pretty good when he was reviewing Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton when their movies came out.
85 years old.
Gene Shalit is one of those prominent people who’s function in this world I could never figure out. Another such person is Tom Arnold.
I heard they offered him a role in Weekend at Bernies III.
... and always assumed he was on Good Morning America ...
... or maybe he got a hair-cut and became dictator of Iraq or something ...
“I haven’t watched the Today Show in years and years and years. At least 15 years.”
Sometime back in the 70s is when I last saw the show, even though I remember it back to the 50s, with Dave Garraway, and J. Fred Muggs, haha.
I do, however, now remember Shalit.
By the time I left the USSA in 2004, I was watching very few things on the idiot box, other then FOX news.
The “perky one” would be the very last thing that I would want to see.
I thought he was dead. But I haven’t watched The Today Show since forever.
Me, too! Maybe it was that other guy. Is Joel Siegel still alive?
LMFAO
I look pretty dopey, too. But, at least I’ve
always had the decency to keep my mug off of
TV.
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