Now Steph's co-host is going to be in NY while she's by her lonesome in Atlanta (or in the field). It's Weekend View all over again, when she was an assignment reporter on camera maybe 30 minutes a week. Interacting with locals just wasn't the same as bantering with the OCMs at the desk. What a terrible way to use her. To me, Stephanie Abrams is THE biggest personality at the Weather Channel, and while she has great chemistry with Mike, the truth is she plays well off of anybody. Pair her with J.D. Salinger, and he'd come out of his shell and admit, yes, he's having a good time. If the Al Roker show's the only gig she's got, what a waste it will be.
As for Nicole Mitchell, I don't hate her and wish some lousy show upon her, but she'd be a fantastic co-host for something like this. Nicole is lovely, and change the name from "Wake Up with Al" to "Wake Up with Al & Nicole," and it'd actually feel like a promotion, an opportunity to increase her branding as a personality, not just another OCM (not that there's anything wrong with being "just" an OCM). Even though they gave them another hour, I can't imagine it inspired much confidence in Abrams & Bettes when The Powers That Be pulled their name off their own show. Now the network's biggest primetime star is a co-host on someone else's show airing before half the country is even out of bed. And Stephanie doesn't even know what the format will be, what she'll be doing, which makes it pretty clear there's no particular reason for the show to exist other than to get some of that much-needed Al Roker pizazz to jazz up NBC Universal's ugly new stepchild. Hopefully it's just a summer thing.
