host all new snl this week on nbc. from nbc news, this is today. with kathy lee gifford and hoda, live from studio 1 a in rockefeller plaza. hello, everybody. it's booze day tuesday, november 29th. yesterday we here in new york broke a record in central park. it was 70 degrees. >> i can't believe how it feels today, but today may be among the last hurrahs. >> but it's "hot in cleveland." we are so excited. where is betty? hi, ladies! >> this show's hot. they're hot for many reasons.

one it's just a hot show on tvland. it is also hot because guess who is going to be on the season premiere tomorrow? >> don rickles. >> not exactly. >> yes, he is. >> and you. this is a behind the scenes shots. we are going to sit with the entire cast of "hot in cleveland." >> they are such unbelievable pros, these ladies. they are fun and made me feel so at home. very generous. >> is there a studio audience? >> yes. it's shot like an old time -- it's anything but old time. it's so current and relevant and so much fun. a lot of the writers are from the "frasier" days. they are sharp. >> betty's here. >> betty's in the house. yes, she is. >> let's see her. >> yes. >> none of them get along at all. >> i heard they hate each other. >> the cat fights. enough about betty. betty was pulling their hair

out, grabbing their bra straps. she gets wild. >> i can picture that. she doesn't know we are here. >> i want to ask them why women fake it. >> this is a big question. we talked about this on our program before. women fake it, you know what we are talking about. the question is why? >> they fake being in poughkeepsie. >> yes. i was sure, i was certain and still am certain the reason women fake it is because they are tired and want to go to sleep. >> that's the reason you fake it. so you assume all women fake it for the same reason. anthony is listening intently. >> according to a study, women fake it for one reason, to boost our man's ego. >> who cares? >> that's why we fake it. they interviewed a ton of women. >> they are so loving and caring and unselfish that they only care about assuaging a man's ego?

>> yes. that's the whole reason. >> i think it's your reason. >> you don't think mine's fatigue? >> that's your reason. not ego boosting. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. they say that's the same reason women dress up and keep tabs on their guy. >> i disagree with all this stuff. i think dressing up for your man is a loving him and wanting to please him, but keeping tabs on him? that's a little warning sign. that's a little flag. >> that's a red flag. >> yeah. >> i think women who keep close tabs on their men end up, like what we talked about with sand. if you hold sand too tightly it all falls away. you have to hold it gently and trust it. >> anything you want to keep you have to keep open. >> who's been on planes lately?

if you noticed, there is no dress code on flights. you can get on wearing whatever you want, p.j.s and pants hanging down. there is a group that wants to have a dress code for planes. >> it doesn't seem outrageous what they are asking. >> they are tired of seeing people with short, short skirts or their pants hanging down. >> could i have that? there you go. i'm wearing my new soma bra and love it. i showed it this morning. >> i know you did. >> anyway. i'll do that again. we have a lot of you guys in the prisons that like it when we do that. that was for you guys. happy holidays. >> on a plane, has to do with an issue on a plane. there was a 400 pound man who got on a plane. he got in a seat. then there was the person sitting next to hill. it was a seven-hour flight and the person sitting next to him sat in his seat for take-off and landing and stood for seven hours because the guy was spilling over into his seat. >> the guy apologized about his

bulk. he said, i'm your worst nightmare. nonetheless, the man had to stand. he said he literally couldn't breathe. i thought they had to buy two seats if they were so heavy they couldn't fit into one seat and buckle their seat belt. >> then they said there is some discretion there it has to do with whoever the ticket person at the counter can make that determination whether you should have one seat or two seats based on them eyeballing you. >> we were talking about that earlier. our heart goes out to everybody. this is a man who is 400 pounds. he knows he's overweight. he knows it's going to be an inconvenience. this man has to go through life like that. >> i feel sorry for him. >> i feel bad for him, too, but the gentleman who doesn't weigh that has rights, as well. >> if you are 400 pounds and get on a plane, everyone is looking at you funny. probably looks you get all day long. >> it's sad. >> an overweight person's issue

is never the food, it's always something else, we never know what it is. all those joy fit people we meet, it's always something else, it's never about the food. they wear theirs on the outside. everyone has something that is a way to fill up. theirs is visual. >> i get that. i understand compassion for them. at the same time you have to have compassion for the other person who had to stand seven hours to get to anchorage. >> he's got a seven-hour problem and the other guy has a lifetime of issues. >> would love to know how you feel about it. this is not just an issue about an airplane. we have a pandemic of obesity. americans are now 20 pounds heavier than they were in 1990. i went to my doctor yesterday and it's true. gallup survey says the ideal weight is ten pounds heavier than it used to be. now we say ten pounds less. it used to be 20 pounds less. >> women used to say the ideal

weight or the average white was around 135 pounds. >> for a woman -- >> they said average, we are talking about 5'4". now they surveyed a bunch of different women of different sizes and heights and stuff. they all were in the 160 pound range. >> that is too much weight around your heart if you're 5'3" or 5'4". >> if you're 5'4", the average woman should weigh 135 pounds. it's hard because it's after thanksgiving and we all feel crummy. everybody is in the gym now. >> everybody starts out with the best of intentions. you are the kind, you're in there every single morning no matter what at 5:00 in the morning. >> i know. >> we had a guy on yesterday in our joy fit, tony pashet. we got a whole lot of ladies looking at tony. that was his before. >> he said women did not look at him. people made fun of him. >> there he is now coming out. >> this is the new tony.

>> he is looking for a date. he is single. he weighs 230 now. he lost 145 pounds. he is on the market. a lot of people wrote in on facebook and said, hey, i want to date tony. >> i think we are going to have him back and we'll play the dating game and let's find tony some true love and maybe one of our viewers out there, as well. who doesn't like to watch tony walk out? >> he said when girls look at him now he looks behind him to see what they are looking at. >> he was a nice guy, too. >> 'tis the season to give back. the american red cross program, holiday mail for the heroes is cool. these are just little cards. they encourage americans to think about the servicemen and women not with their families these holidays. you send them holiday mail for heroes, p.o. box 5456, capitol

heights in maryland. >> we'll put that on the website. >> these are cool. these are celebrity-designed dog bowls. this one is cindy crawford. you can tell, number one, because her name is on it. but because inside you see her mole. >> this is william shatner. he is a big horse guy. i wonder where the betty white one is. nobody loves animals than betty white. >> nobody. >> hoda is on the cover. yes, she is huge. who is bigger than hoda? long island woman. >> and it's free. it's free. you can get as many as you want. f-r-e-e, free. >> we have a cocktail. it's spring fling. >> i can already feel it. >> they are hot and here. we'll talk with the ladies of the hit show "hot in cleveland."

you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. it's spring fling.

the emmy-winning sitcom "hot in cleveland starring betty white, valerie bertinellie, jane leaves and wendy malick gets a kick-off this wednesday. that may have something something do with our own kathie leave. >> no. don rickles. i hopped on the plane to la la land. and gave the character my best shot. >> why is my coffee mug empty. it's tipsy tuesday. why me, people? good. >> i understand that the producers are looking to add a fourth co-host. not to toot my own horn, but beep-beep. i have a wildly popular local show, oh hi, ohio." i'm the oprah of the middle east. >> i thought ohio was in the midwest. >> you're thinking of a different ohio.

>> and they're all here today. i had a ball, thank you, thank you. and congratulations at the premiere of your third season. still getting along. you haven't pulled each other's hair out. >> that's what you think. >> what's the truth, betty? >> betty tells the truth, right? >> yes, always, except to other people. >> when you do sign on for a sitcom, you sign on for five years, used to be seven. now it's five years you sign. that is a long time in your life. first of all you want a hit, but you better darn get along or you would be miserable at your job like wendy. >> what? >> wake up. >> i'm totally awake. i think we are at this point, we are hoping it goes beyond seven years. this is for all of us the sweetest job we ever had. we go to work and get to laugh and play with each other all day. we all really genuinely like each other. it's one of those gifts that

particularly as you get older, you don't expect to be given to you. >> valerie, was the chemistry there among you all from the beginning? >> immediately. our first table raid, we all looked at each other and went, whoa. this is great. every character clicked. everybody was in the right part. i should be playing elka, but i'm over it now. >> writing is so critical. >> you could be the greatest actress in the world, but the writing. >> you can't do it without the writing. no matter how actors always take all the credit, yes, well, i did this, i did that. if it isn't on that paper, you can't do it. >> what people don't realize is, and i memorized my part the night before and got there the next day and it was completely changed. you guys are used to that. as we were doing it, they would go, try this line or this line. >> how much of it is improv? >> none of it. >> it's all rehearsed. they would change. >> during the show in front of the audience, they'll come and say, you've got a new line here or new paragraph.

i hope it's not for me. >> if you come up with something, they'll let you give it a try or say on the second pass, try it. that's one of the amazing things about our writers, they wrote four specific women and found what all of us do well and they write to that strength. >> for people just joining us this season, tell bus your characters and describe them for us. what's yours, wendie? >> i'm a rhodes scholar. >> no. >> he just fell down over there. >> i'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. i am geographically challenged victoria. i play a former soap opera actress whose series was canceled after 27 years and i'm trying to figure out the rest of my life. thankfully have two very dear friends who talk me into going off on a trip and we end up with cleveland with this one, the care taker.

>> yes. >> i'm the cynical, former eyebrow queen of hollywood. >> you've all fallen on tough times. >> she had the worst love life. >> yes. i had the worst. >> and elka had the best. >> i'm recently divorced mother of two. empty nester and i just find i'm moving to cleveland because i have nothing left. that didn't come out right. >> no, it didn't. >> i love cleveland. >> she's the sweet one with -- if you take the sparkle out of her eyes, we would be better off. >> and what about elka? >> the pain in the ass. >> wonderfully so. >> we have these wonderful men on the show. three gorgeous women, we have steve lawrence, john mahoney --

>> these are all yours so far. >> age has its advantages. >> i went on regis' last show and suggested that would be his next. he should become the new morning talk show in cleveland and you sit there with the remote going, i am hot for him. regis needs a job. come on. >> that would be brilliant. on "ohio, ohio" your co-host. >> come on. the man needs work. >> who is your audience? is it women our age, young, old, everybody? >> all of the above. we have a great demographic. >> we knew we had a show women would love, celebrating women of all ages, but the more mature variety. >> the interesting thing is how many young men and women watch this show. it's i quite amazing. >> a very big part of my male, 12-year-old boys. >> it's because you're hot.

>> it's not a joke. "i watch this show with my grandmother." >> oh! >> they say, i'm so and so, i'm 12 years old, my grandmother and i watch this show. it's surprising, it's not just one or two, it's a stack like this of 12-year-old boys. >> i don't get any mail. >> we'll write you. >> when did you know you guys had a hit? the first season was fun and great. was there a point where you said this thing's got legs? >> well, flying home doing our first tour. we landed and all our phones lit up. we had almost 6 million viewers or something like that. it was huge. >> that's what's so smart about tvland. a lot of networks discount that demographic out there they want the young, hot thing. if you get those people, they stay with you forever, don't they, betty? >> tvland was so smart. they knew their audience. they had been running the

classic mary tyler moors and those. they knew their particular audiences didn't want one of the new strange shows. they put us on and we did the pilot and you wait a while to see if the pilot gets picked up. they picked us up in three weeks. >> that's unbelievable. >> i think people just like to laugh. >> i think it's short sighted to think young people don't want to watch older people and don't find us interesting. >> that's true. >> betty, can we talk about your book for one second? we opened up "usa today." big article about your book on animals. >> she writes them out long hand. >> so do i, what's wrong with that? >> congratulations on that book. >> you are amazing ladies, wonderful actresses, you were so good to me.

it's tomorrow night at 10:00 on tvland. you think you're the only funny women over a certain age? >> way over a certain age. >> thank you. >> way over a certain age. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. all day pain relief you go next if you had a hoveround power chair? the statue of liberty? the grand canyon? it's all possible with a hoveround. tom: hi i'm tom kruse, inventor and founder of hoveround.

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let's see what's going on with miss sara. >> fix your bangs. >> they aren't going too well, sorry. a lot of love for betty white. sign me up for a date with tony, seriously, hope i'm not too late. a lot of tony love on here. >> he's the hot ticket. >> still to come, the little boy that says heaven is for real. >> so glad he and his family are back.

we are back with more of "today" on this tuesday. if the name colby doesn't ring a bell, his story does. he had a burst appendix that went undiagnosed for days, colten says he went to heaven. >> he has a new book version for kids. colton burpo is in the house. you bright yepen the place up. . did you like coming to see us? >> what did you like the most about it? you don't have to answer that. this book has been an amazing publishing phenomenon. the little book, it was on "the new york times" bestseller list, number one, was on the list for years, still is and 44 weeks at number one, colton. is that a miracle? different kind of miracle? >> yeah. >> what do you think resonated

with the story of you telling your mom and dad when you got back from heaven what it was like? >> well, i really don't know how they wanted to write a book. well, god pushed my dad into it. >> god did that? >> yeah. a lot. i just told them my experiences. it ended up healing the hurt also. >> this is a book where you remember -- this happened eight years ago. you're 12 now. it must be hard to remember, but because you and your dad talked, you remember. what are some of the big things you remember from heaven? >> the big things are my family members and jesus. >> you saw which family members? >> my great grandfather pop and my sister who was miscarriaged. >> dad, when he originally told you about this stuff, did you shake your head and say, are you

sure this is what you're saying is true or did you automatically believe what your son is telling you? >> he could explain to us when we were in the hospital what we were doing while he was in surgery. i couldn't explain that away. maybe embarrassingly so we doubted and kept questioning. he kept giving us answers and the right answers. kids can't make up stuff and be right. >> what was he telling you? you were in separate rooms, right? >> he could tell me i was in a small room praying by myself, she was in a waiting room on the phone asking people to pray. most of the time we were together, but he knew at that moment we were apart and separated. he nailed it. >> do you know how much time you were actually there? did it seem like a certain amount of time? >> i don't know how or why, but for some reason i said three minutes. >> what's interesting, i read the book and talked to you guys not only here but for "dateline" but to put this into a children's book is cool. it's got great illustrations.

why did you decide to do that? >> i think from the very beginning, a kid knows what a kid wants to know about heaven. as a child, we go to adults and say the streets are gold. kids don't care about that. what a kid wants to know, colton is going to tell them in that book. >> i love when you were trying to figure out what title the book should be. they asked you and you said? >> i just want them to know heaven is real. >> that's where it came from. >> you've gotten some criticism. there are a lot of cynical people in the world who think you're doing this for financing gain. how do you feel about the criticism? >> i think there are a lot of people that say thank you. they contact us all the time. we did this so people could have some peace, the peace we found when he talked about his sister, my granddad. a lot of people are finding peace. when people criticize we look past them and we look to all the people being helped and that's what we choose to focus on. >> this is an audio book.

we get to hear your voice on it? >> well, it's going to come out very soon. >> okay. >> we are not sure when. it was supposed to come out around thanksgiving. >> you recorded it. >> it's an app. >> look at you fancy with your ipad fancy. you can tap on it and what happens, you're talking? >> you can have me read it because i've already been prerecorded reading the book or you can record up to three other voices to read it. like a grand parent can read it to their kids. >> more and more people come to your church now? >> we are waiting. it's interesting. when we travel, it's amazing the people that want to hear colton's story. everyone in our town heard about this for a long time. it's old news for them. >> we wish you a merry christmas. >> colton, come see us again. >> i'll try to. >> you will. up next, your nutrition questions answered. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping.

where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then get lunesta for $0 at lunesta.com. there's a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. i'm more active, i eat right, as i get older, i'm making changes to support my metabolism.

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it is time for today weighs in when we answer your questions about diet, nutrition and overall health. >> madelyn reached into our mail bag. >> maria in newark, delaware. can fruits and veggies rich in antioxidants help fight sun damaged aging skin? if so, how long will it take to see the difference? >> when you look at this, sometimes food is just food. we can't expect miracles from things we are going to eat. things like the antioxidants in berries and omega-3 fats in salmons are good for overall body health. you can't translate that into saying my skin is going to start to pop from years of sun damage. if you eat it or rub it on your skin. if you've got severe sun damage, you need a dermatologist.

the concentration of antioxidant things or vitamin c are going to be stronger in a pharmacological thing. you both have gorgeous skin, what do you do? >> laura and mary. >> a lot of shellacking. here is one from ivy in washington. i had a baby four months ago and i am finding it hard to lose the baby weight. is there a simple thing i can do to jump-start my weight loss? >> simple thing, get more help with the baby. that's just a joke. the issue is onof us have a lot of time. the new baby extra weight is the number one reason women have weight creep over decades and it become as huge health problem later on. get structure. it's hard with a newborn. the first thing has to do with eating. that is a way to trim calories. grab a fruit, easy sandwich, not too much they have to worry about. it's hard to be more physically active. use the baby. get a carrier, take the baby for

a stroll outside. the other thing is don't be too hard on yourself. have slow, steady weight loss. you hear crazy things. lose weight quickly. over a period of six months to a year is when most women can get back down to their shape. be mindful of not to eat more food. >> i did an exercise video after cassidy was born. i incorporated laying there and using they'll. you spend time with the baby and you tone up. >> you can do it every day. >> made the tape, made a lot of money. just kidding. you're doing it anyway with your child and having fun. >> that makes sense. i'm wondering what are the best yogurts to eat for digestive problems. >> that assumes you don't have digestive problems with dairy products. even people with lactose intolerance contain a dairy a day.

you want tang to it. the more tang, the more healthy bacteria. sometimes people will have a yogurt and say it seems too strong in taste. it has more of these helpful bacteria. stay away from the fruited varieties. there are a lot of extra sugars. low fat, nonfat, greek yogurt. add your own fruit to it. a serving or two a day helps your digestive track. it's flooding your intestines with healthy bacteria. we think bacteria is bad. don't add all these extra sugar. >> i take the flora-restora. >> that works for you and a lot of people. if you don't like yogurt, don't force yourself and those supplements can be help. >> these are interesting bits of information. thank you so much. >> now that you know what's healthy and what's not, we'll make holiday-worthy appetizers.

wreer going to we're we're going to eat. >> that's how we roll. good morning to you. i'm chris warren with the weather forecast for the day. we will show where you we can see some of that messy weather. we are looking at either rain or snow throughout parts of the ohio valley and parts of the northeast will say reason, mainfully new england but look at suns shines from new york to washington, d.c. if you go out in the morning when the sun comes up and you don't see sunshine, give it it sm time. it will be arriving. more sunshine for the south. we have that next system brewing in the northern rockies. we will see cool air down into the south. daytime highs today in atlanta. only 49 degrees. not too far away from where we will be in seattle, at 46. that next system starting to push off into the plains now, bit time we see thursday.

gorgeous looking day here in the northeast. a fair amount of sunshine. but we will see the cool air move in, some areas like denver to billing is, not getting above the freezing mark for a daytime high. we start to rebound in the south. we have another system taking shape here in the southwest. we will see a chance of rain or snow or mix of precipitation while a good portion of the country remains dry. still cool in minneapolis, just getting up to 1 degree above the freezing mark. on saturday we will see the threat of snow throughout the plains as we have yet again another system that is working through and then on sunday, more like rain from the gulf coast on up the ohio valley. but a chance of snow north of chicago. billings will see a high of 32. on monday. next week, we do have a system that will be pushing through the northeast. temperatures during the day only in lower 30s here in kansas city to denver. middle part of the country in the plains, it will stay chilly.

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we are up in "today's snflt "holiday kitchen learning how to make hors d'oeuvres for a cocktail party. whose, we don't know. >> we don't care. rebecca goldfarb is chef and owner of the social table, a dinner club, right? >> we do some hands-on cooking classes. it's more about getting strangers together and drinking a lot and cooking dinner and not having to do dishes. >> right out of junior high school. >> don't tell my mom. >> what are we cooking? >> we have to start a holiday party the correct way. >> is she old enough? >> cheers. >> what are we making?

>> we are going to start with an easy one. we are going to do a spice rub flank steak over crispy pita chips. you're starting with a nice dry rub. you're talking about no advance notice, you don't have to marinate. cumin, coriander, white pepper, salt. >> you can get prerubs. >> i've got to stay classy. we are going to -- you can do this in your home. you don't need a grill. grill pans are an amazing revolution. >> they are easy to clean up, too. >> exactly. get on there. if you want to be fancy, flip it 45 degrees to get good marks. we are going to do seven minutes total for medium rare. we'll keep moving this way. pita you get in your general grocery store. brush them lightly like this

with olive oil. both sides. here comes the fun part. you can buy your pita chips. you can buy them already made. >> i'm thinking of the people out there who want to get it done quickly. >> all you do is this, salt, put them on to a sheet tray, bake them under the broiler two minutes. they come out looking like this, crunchy and delicious. >> move hoda out of the way. >> this is our nice flank steak. cut across the grain so it doesn't get chewy. people cut it this way and get a big hunk, nobody wants that. >> a little angle. >> so you can see what's on the inside. >> looks good. >> all we do is slice it this way. you get this nice piece, throw them right on here. >> what is this? >> this is our ginger tomato chutney. that spice rub we made is earthy and deep, has this nice winter flavor. >> thank you.

>> i'm going to go next door. what you've got is the chutney is a nice kind of sweet vinegar. thanks, sure. good service around here. >> chutney actually is rice vine gar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger. it's got this nice sweet flavor to offset that good, deep are they flavor. >> come on back. >> don't forget your drinks. you've never forgotten those in your life. now move on to another easy one. these are puff pastry. puff pastry is your best friend. you buy frozen in a grocery store. super easy. you can make cheese straws. we'll do caramelized apples and onion. this is our onions. take our apple and grate it in

here to get nice pieces going. really easy. apples and onions are a classic mix. they go great with pork, really good for a pork roast. hoda, you're going to drop in fresh thyme for me. >> the whole thing? >> why not? >> we've got 30 seconds. i have to move faster. from here all we do is take a little bit of this and go right on top of your puff. just like that. >> that's it? >> you don't have to brush them. >> ends up tasting like this. >> a little cheese. easy. >> thank you. >> we'll be back with more of "today" on nbc.

our 18th annual holiday gift drive is off to a great start.

>> the toy industry foundation is one of the many philanthropic organizations helping to make the holidays brighters for families who can't afford toys for their children. jean butler in the executive director. >> we love her and we like her cow. >> this cow lets it all hang out. we are embarrassed. we think she should be covered. >> she is a modern cow. >> good morning. we are so excited to be here. the toy industry foundation is donating $226,000 worth of toys to the "today" show toy drive. >> what does this guy do? >> this is a squishable moo cow. you hug him. >> i like that. >> may we hug him? >> i love that. >> i could get used to this. nobody hugs me any more. >> this is terrific. you do a lot of philanthropic work. >> we do.

the toy industry foundation, we are the philanthropic arm of the american toy industry. we give more than 500,000 toys every year to children in need. that's sick children, improverished children, children in military families and kids entering foster care with nothing of their own. >> it doesn't have to be a lot. one thing. >> one toy makes the difference. >> are you noticing more needier families this time around than years past? >> absolutely. the demand is so great, but the toy industry has really come through. we have plenty of toys for the kids who need them. >> you do great work. thank you so much. >> thank you for having us. >> we love you. >> we wanted to show your dress. >> we thank everybody. the toy industry foundation and you can donate gifts to children up to age 18 from now until december 21st on the plaza. come here and drop it in at the nbc experience store or amazon.com/today. >> come back tomorrow.

>> we are lonely. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> announcer: it's "the tonight featuring rickey minor "amazing animals" with and now, jay leno! captions paid for by captions by vitac [ cheers and applause ]