good morning. unanswered questions. the affair that led to the resignation of cia director david petraeus. when was it uncovered? why did it take so long to tell the president? and why was this woman the target of harassing e-mails from the general's mistress? blown away. a neighborhood in indianapolis in shambles after a mysterious and deadly explosion. more than 30 homes may have to be demolished. what caused that powerful blast? and the pits, a fight breaks out between crews of two racing teams after nascar superstar jeff gordon intentionally crashed into another driver. he says he has nothing to apologize for today, monday, november 12th, 2012.

"today" with matt lauer and and good morning, welcome to "today" on monday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm savannah guthrie. possible to overstate how shocked those who know david betrars are over the turn of events and fallout from his surprising resignation is reaching beyond washington this morning. >> his admitted affair was first discovered when the fbi discovered threatening e-mails when sent to a woman in florida. she's now identified as a married mother who works as an unpaid social liaison on an air force base. she says she and the general are family friends. more on her straight ahead, and we'll have a live interview with petraeus' former spokesman who talked with him over the

weekend. and then we'll talk with the political fallout of all of this with the former speaker of the house newt gingrich. >> let's get to the news first and nbc's andrea mitchell. she is the one who first broke this story. andrea, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. law enforcement officials say that it all began with a complaint to the fbi last summer from a family friend of david petraeus as a woman who said she was receiving anonymous computer threat. that launched an investigation that eviolently brought down a storied military career, changed the leadership of the cia and has congress questioning just how the fbi handled this sensitive case. officials said david petraeus was not the target of fbi investigations into e-mails sent to broadwell. they were triggered bay family lend it of the betrays and nothing more, jill kelly, seen we are that the petraeus and their spouses. she complained about harassing and life-threatening e-mails

from someone she didn't know and officials traced the letters to paula broadwell and then officials stumbled on others that indicated a relationship between broadwell and petraeus. key members of congress are asking why the fbi did not number them or the president sooner. >> we received no advance notice. it was like a lightning bolt. i mean, this is something that could have had an effect on national security. i think we should have been told. >> reporter: officials say the president first learned of the investigation involving his cia director thursday. the intelligence chair's, feinstein and house republican mike rogers were not informed until friday, the day the president accepted petraeus' resignation but house majority leader eric cantor had known for more than a leak, tipped over, officials say, by a disgruntled fbi investigator who alerted republican staff members. >> obviously this was a matter involving a potential compromise of security, and the president should have been told about it at the earliest date. >> reporter: law enforcement officials say the fbi could not inform anyone until they

completed their investigation. that didn't happen, they say, until november 2nd. after they had interviewed petraeus and re-interviewed broadwell and concluded no laws had been broken. the woman at the center of it all, paula broadwell, was not shy about her friendship with petraeus. both are avid runners. >> ended up being a test for both of us since we ran pretty quickly but that was the foundation of our relationship, and we -- and when i was in kabul we would do a lot of interviews on runs. >> reporter: some of petraeus' former military aides told "nbc news sunday" they were uncomfortable about broadwell's action. >> it was a little bit strange that he would take someone who has never written a book and allow them such unfettered access and allow them to write what is really the first biography of him. >> reporter: this week house and senate intelligence leaders are going to be raising questions about why the fbi did not notify them sooner. and they are also opening a broader inquiry into the city's handling of benghazi.

petraeus' final overseas trip before he resigned was to libya last week to find out for himself what went wrong. nbc news has tried to reach paula broadwell. she has not been accessible. joe kell and her husband, that family in tampa, issued a statement saying they have been friends with the petraeuses for more than five years and are asking for privacy. savannah? >> colonel boylan was a spokesman for jen petraeus in iraq. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> what was his state of mind when you spoke to him over the weekend, and what did he tell you about all of this? >> he's keenly aware that he has injured his family to a great degree and also based on his poor judgment and a little bit lack of discipline has lost one of the best jobs he ever had. he is devastated, you could say, and you could also say that it's

going to take a long time for the family or sometime for the family to get through this, but they will. >> was he embarrassed? >> yes. i would say he is embarrassed, but he's keenly aware of the hurt and pain he's caused, and he is concerned that people understand that this, one, happened after he had retired from the army. the affair started approximately two months after he was in the cia, and it ended about four months ago. >> at least initially there were some questions about whether he had to resign. did he explain why he felt it was important that he leave his post as director of the cia? >> well, i think you have to know a little bit about david petraeus. this is something that would be near and dear to his heart about his honor, his integrity. he did bring forth the issue that there was an affair. he felt that he could not lead

the organizationhaving had that come out. >> you know general petraeus fairly well. sometimes people have a public reputation and a private reputation that is somewhat different. in this case can you characterize your reaction when you found out that, a, general petraeus was resigning, and, two, it was because of an ext extramarital affair? >> when i first heard about it, a colleague actually brought out it to my attention. i was shocked. i was surprised, a little bit in denial. didn't think it was true or even possible. i thought that perhaps in fact it had been somebody's attempt to bring him down which was happened in the past. >> let's be clear. i mean, you're a supporter of his. is there anything, do you think, knowing him as you do about his circumstances, about the fact that he had recently left the military, that would have made him, who is famously disciplined, somehow susceptible to this kind of thing? >> that may all play into it. we won't know probably for some

time exactly every circumstance surrounding this, but you have to realize he served in uniform for 37-plus years, plus the time at west point. he left a support system and people that had shared experienced, and in one day he's in uniform and the next day he's the director of cia, moved off of the military base in washington, and now out into the civilian community, so you could expect that that had some play into it. >> do you think there's anything that should have raised red flags about the extraordinary access miss paula broadwell had to general david petraeus while he was still in uniform so that she could write this book? >> well, have you to understand a little bit about him. he is a huge proponent of education. paula broadwell early on was working on her dissertation, and my understanding is she still is. that's how this started was work on a dissertation on leadership when he was the commander of the

101st airborne division. he went forward with that idea to help her with her dissertation and actually not until they were in afghanistan where she was making several trips over the span of his tour there that he found out that instead of the dissertation that was now a book project. >> bottom line, when you think about the man you know and the man you clearly admire, how do you square that with what you now know to be true about him? >> well, it's still a surprise. i don't think we can discount his 37-plus years of service. i don't think you can discount the time he spent at the cia where he had, even though it was a fairly short time in the span of a directorship, he had significant impact, and i don't think we've heard the last of david petraeus. he's come back from quite a bit of adversity in the past. parachute accident, being shot. the surge in iraq, trying to turn around afghanistan, so this

will just be another significant challenge that he and his family will need time and space to work through. >> retired army colonel steven boylan, thank you for your perspective this morning. thank you. >> thank you. >> now here's matt. >> what's the political fallout from all of this? newt gingrich is a former republican presidential candidate and speaker of the house and also co-author of the new book "victor at yorktown." good to see you. >> good to see you, matt. >> did david petraeus do the right thing by resigning? >> given where he is and where he was he almost had to do it. he did the right thing. that's like david petraeus. i think it's important on veterans day to remember this is somebody who served for 37 years. he and his family have sacrificed their entire adult lifetime for the country. he was the author of the surge which saved the war in iraq. he gave us the best possible chance to win in afghanistan. he's a remarkable human being. a tragic end to what is really a great career, and i hope he and his family can get this

together, and i hope he does have some future in some form of public service. he's very smart. >> another aspect of this. congress is opening testimony on the benghazi attack, an attack that claimed thef four americans. he conducted an libya, went there and knows things. should he testify? >> i can't imagine that petraeus wouldn't want to testify, and i can't imagine that the two house and senate intelligence committees wouldn't insist that he comes in and he will at an appropriate time. >> let's talk about the election that just occurred last week, mr. speaker. a lot of hand-wringing and soul searching it seems in the republican party about the loss of mitt romney. you wrote this. an intellectually honest and courageous republican party has nothing to fear from the current situation. what do you mean by that? >> well, i think we need to stop, take a deep breath and learn. the great thing about elections is they belong to the american people. if you -- and i was wrong last week, as was virtually every major republican analyst, and so

have you to stop and say to yourself, if i was that far off, what do i need to learn to better understand america? >> one of the lessons seems to be that mitt romney lost latino vote, the latino vote, the african-american vote, the woman's vote, and those groups are not going away. they are expanding. why not fear that if the republican party can't get its arms around that going forward? >> maybe it's because of my age. i lived through nixon losing in '60. goldwater being shattered in '64. the republican comeback of '66. nixon winning in '68. i mean, you go back and look at all these things. >> there's an ebb and a flow. >> there's cycles. you know, the president won an extraordinary victory, and the fact is we owe him the respect of trying to understand what they did and how they did it, but if you had said to me three weeks ago mitt romney would get viewer votes than john mccain and looks like it will be 2 million fewer, i would have been dumbfounded. >> real quickly, facing the fiscal cliff in the coming months. the outcome of this election will affect the debate over that

and the resolution of that how? >> well, the president faces the biggest choice since january of 2009. does he sit down in a room and honestly openly negotiate with speaker boehner, mitch mcconnell, or does he come in, give a set of demands and go hold a press conference? they can, i believe, hammer out -- >> same can the said on the other side, by the way. >> but if the president is willing to do it, the republicans have no choice. i mean, you can't turn down a president who just won re-election if he's sincere and willing to negotiate. >> going to take some bold initiatives which is my segue into your book, okay, because you've written this book about george washington and his bold moves to break the stalemate of the revolutionary war. so much has been written about george washington. what do you want readers to take away from this book that's new? >> well, i think particularly this morning is the launch of an american legacy book tour that calista and i are doing because she has two new children's books out for american history. the first thing is to say to people we have a long history of

overcoming adversity. george washington is probably the greatest example of that, and in "victory at yorktown" you see him faced with a strategic crisis, sitting right outside new york city and deciding that he will send half his army down to the south, draw the british into a long campaign, negotiate with the french for help and then take a huge gamble of leaving here. remember, these people are marching and have wagons. no helicopters. >> a different time. >> so he's taking the huge gamble of trying to trap cornwallis at yorktown knowing it could well fall apart and one more defeat could well break the morale of the american people. people underestimate what an extraordinary leader george washington was. >> do you find that bold leadership in washington, you optimistic? >> i'm optimistic we'll muddle through. more like the continental congress than we are like george washington. >> newt gingrich, thanks for your time. 14 minutes after the hour. now to savannah. >> important medical news this morning. a new study in the journal

"pediatrics" found that woman who had the flu while they were pregnant were more likely to have a child later diagnosed with autism. let's turn to dr. nancy snyderman, nbc's chief medical examiner. this study finds a link between flu and autism. >> looked at a couple of things. over 96,000 children in denmark, why is that important? it's a homogenous population, and they keep phenomenal medical records, and they asked women while they were pregnant, little things, colds, mild infections, antibiotic use, other infections. they didn't find a link between any of those things and autism, but women who had influenza, real viral influenza, fever, chills, cough, all those things we talk about with the flu, those women had a two times increased risk of having a child diagnosed with autism before the age of 3. >> so the question is if you're pregnant, can you, should you get a flu shot? >> yes, yes, yes, and i would say it now goes beyond that. if you're a woman of child bearing age, think you're going

to get pregnant, want to get pregnant, could get pregnant, yes, do it, because we know women who are pregnant are more susceptible to the complications of the flu, and now we know there's a really strong link between influenza with a pregnant mom and baby having problems afterwards. all around smart idea to get your flu shot. >> a little bit about antibiotics in the study but inclusive as to whether it caused problems. >> a lot of times a viral influenza cause a secondary bacterial infection. regular antibiotic use is safe. >> thank you, nancy. a deadly explosion came without warning in the middle of the night on saturday completely leveling an indianapolis neighborhood. nbc's ron allen is there with more. ron, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning to you, natalie. that neighborhood behind me is sealed off now because investigators don't know what caused the explosion. it was an incredible blast heard miles away from here. two people died. 200 people were forced to flee their homes, and now for many there's nothing left. without warning 11:00 p.m. saturday night, an explosion and fire completely engulfed a middle class indianapolis neighborhood. residents desperate to escape said they thought a plane crashed or an earthquake had struck, or a bomb had gone off. >> just one big bang, and then i ran downstairs, and the back -- our back patio door was blown away. it was gone. >> reporter: in the mayhem and confusion, residents tried to rescue trapped neighbors. >> he looked in a couple of houses and saw a girl and she was bloody in her kitchen and crying. he just went in and grabbed her and she kept saying my mom and my sister are in there >> reporter: at what's believed to be the epicenter of the blast where a home once stood

authorities found the bodies of two residents. they are a local schoolteacher, jennifer longworth and her husband dion. investigators say the devastation spread for blocks in every direction with at least five homes destroyed. more than two dozen badly damaged. some even knocked from their foundations and each and every one now being carefully inspected. >> they will work at each one of the houses and just make a new ring and work outwards. >> reporter: be careful to say it's a gas explosion because we don't know that right now. >> reporter: the gas company says it has checked for leaks and hasn't found any and says there were no reports of suspicious odors before the blast. some residents have been allowed to return home with police escorts to retrieve a few items and take a first look, but area is closed off until investigators can determine the cause of the blast and make sure the neighborhood is safe. natalie? >> all right. ron allen in indianapolis, thanks so much, ron. frustrations are brimming over in new york and new jersey where two weeks after superstorm

sandy some 120,000 homes and businesses remain in the dark. this as the american red cross fights back at criticism of its response to the storm saying its work has been, quote, near flawless, but in some hard-hit areas like breezy point, new york, residents say they have seen no sign of the relief organization. in a landmark vote this morning, greek lawmakers have approved the country's 2013 austerity budget. the approval is a major step forward in securing a $40 billion rescue loan to prevent greece from going bankrupt. finance leaders from across the eurozone meet and debate the greek bailout today in brussels. a full-on throwdown at the phoenix international raceway this weekend after nascar stars jeff gordon and clint bowyer got into a scrape-up. gordon slowed down allegedly to wreck bowyer on purpose after a week of on-track dust-ups. the pit crews from both crews got into a fracas in the pit

area. nascar is determining what penalties to inflict on the two. as you heard, matt, savannah and al, jeff gordon saying he's not going to apologize. >> might want to be a little careful when he gets in the car next time. that's not going to end that way. >> like a hockey game broke out. >> i know. mr. roker, what's the weather look like in. >> got a very vigorous cold front making its way across the country. it's going to be bringing not only rain and showers and thunderstorms, but first we want to show you what's going on across the ocean. this is venice, italy, that's right. look at this. a record breaking storm. rain, wind and wind and high tide. the highest in 150 years. this is the sixth highest in 150 years. it's all but shut down the canal city. closer to home, a front is bringing rain, but nothing quite like that. from the great lakes to the gulf coast, showers, thunderstorms, anywhere from about 1 to 2 inches of rain from montgomery to cleveland. then out in the pacific northwest, we've got more heavy

storms coming in. we're talking about 1 to 4 inches of rain. in the upper elevations, snowfall amounts up to 12 inches of snow. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> brilliant sunlight gleaming off the potomac on this sunday morning. i'm tom kieran. live view from the hd 4 city camera. we have some patchy fog in the rural areas. should be gone in a couple hours. highs today reaching the 60s. we're in the 40s to near 50 now. then rain moving in west to east this evening after 9:00, 10:00 >> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> all right, al. thank you. just ahead, the scandal rocking one of the most respected news outlets in the world. two top figures at the bbc stepping down overnight. we're live in london. and the growing number of families here in the u.s. stocking up for a doomsday scenario. but first this is "today" on

nbc.

just ahead, remember the video of the dragon baby? watch out. he's live in our studios. >> after your local news. [ male announcer ] we all like things how we like them, even medicare drug plans. that's why walgreens pharmacists will help you find the plan that works for you. and now that we're a preferred pharmacy with four of the top medicare drug plans, you can save even more money on your prescriptions. no arguments here. stop by for your free walgreens medicare review by december 7th right here at the corner of happy and healthy.

by december 7th right here some people put everything intotheir name on the door, and their heart into their community. small business saturday is a day to show our support. a day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors.

and do our part for the businesses that do so much for us. on november 24th, let's get out and shop small. good morning. it's 7:26 on this monday, november 12th. i'm aaron gilchrist. today's veterans day holiday is affecting the transportation in our area. metro is running on a saturday schedule. that includes no service at the boston and virginia square stations and there's no mark or vre service today. let's check in for the rest of the commute. >> still quiet on the road. not seeing reports of accidents. the earliest crash was blocking left side the roadway. it's nice and clear. beltway, issue free. i-95 hov lanes have been lifted in virginia so it's a clear commute as you head to the beltway. aaron, back over to you. >> we'll check your forecast after that.

good morning. sunny, in the 40s to near 50 degrees. patchy fog in the rural areas should dissipate in the next couple of hours. today, highs reaching upper 60s. after sunset, some showers from the west and into the metro area before midnight and off and on after that through the morning

commult on tuesday. then chilly weather moves in. afternoon highs tomorrow only near 50. cold mornings and chilly afternoons wednesday into the weekend. aaron. >> thank you, tom.

7:30 now on this monday morning. it's the 12th of november, 2012, and one direction mania has officially hit our plaza. the boy band will be here for a live concert tomorrow, and as you can see their fans are already here. they are already camping out, some since friday morning. >> that's crazy. >> they should just e-mail savannah because she's giving out tickets. >> exactly. >> i have received a few calls, i'll tell you that. this line goes all the way down the block, and they still have 24, 25 hours to go before that show. >> i have to say they are awake now and when i came in this morning in the dark of night i

had to be quiet. people waiting there in sleeping bags. >> problem because a motorcade. speaking of young stars, one coming up, the dragon bay du baby. the video has already 20 million hits on youtube, so how did his dad make this film? we're going to find out when the dad and the son join us live. >> all right. and then can you believe the holiday season is actually already here? thanksgiving is next week. so between all the festivities and the shopping, dr. oz wants you to take a moment and take stock of your family's health. he's got some good ideas and a seasonal check list, too. >> and are you ready for the end of the world? we're going to meet some regular families who are planning on it and stocking up today. why they do it coming up: let's begin this half hour with the scandal that's shaken the bbc. michelle kosinski is in london with more on this. michelle, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. today the bbc is changing its management structure.

two more top bosses have just resigned. the bbc, this bastion of journalistic excellence that's been an example for the rest of the world is going through a really bad time right now. part of its tin tellingity challenged. chaos, crisis, bloodbath and from rupert murdoch's "the sun" bye-bye chump. even the bbc itself has been forced to report on its own failings. reporters grilling their director general. >> people will have to answer for what they did, and if they got something wrong, that jobs will be at risk. >> reporter: finally he resigned. >> but the honorable thing to do is to step down. >> the whole thing has been thoroughly traumatic. it really is one of the most serious crises the bbc has ever faced. >> reporter: it started with jimmy shavelle, the wild eyed, wild-haired bbc star now deceased who police believe may be one of britain's worst sex offenders ever with possibly hundreds of victims over four

decades. they say some abuse may have happened on bbc property. bbc was working on an investigative report on this but dropped it sparking allegations against the bbc of a cover-up. their competition ran a piece about savile and then they ran another story of a margaret thatcher era politician. the bbc didn't run that and then later realized it was the wrong man. >> tonight this program apologizes, a key allegation in a report about child abuse was wrong. >> reporter: now there's an internal investigation and current and past employees are being questioned over child abuse allegations. the former producer was arrested over the weekend, and the fact that bbc's prior director mark thompson takes over today as chief of the "new york times" has led to questions there. what did he no and when did he know it calling him appearing willfully ignorant. >> he first of all said he knew nothing about jimmy savile or

any of it and later was told by bbc journalists and add mitt that had and it might be about child abuse and add mitt that had and further that than then he went and questioned senior bbc management to try to find out what had gone on. >> reporter: thompson has declined our request for an interview but maintained he did not know the details of what the savile investigation was about and probably should have asked more questions. now, all of that and more under deep scrutiny. the head of the bbc's governing trust said it might be time for a radical overall. britain grew up on the bbc. it's the state broadcaster, also the largest broadcaster here. its level of respect has been impeccable, but now shaken deeply. matt? >> michelle kosinski in london on a disturbing story. michelle, thank you cech. savannah? >> thanks. superstorm sandy destroyed homes and devastated communities here in the northeast, but there's a growing movement of people preparing for something even bigger. nbc's janet shamlian introduces us to the doomsday preppers.

>> let's have a family meeting. >> reporter: as a father of six braxton southwick wants to make sure his family is safe at his home near salt lake city and takes his safety very seriously. for nearly a decade the family has been preparing for a biological terror attack. >> boys, i want you to get your guns. >> reporter: they have regular drills to make sure they know exactly what to do if disaster strikes. >> i want it fast. you guys ready? >> yes. >> let's do it. >> grab the charcoal. >> reporter: inside the southwick home more than a dozen guns, chemical suit, masks, hundreds of gals of water, gas and diesel fuel and enough food and supplies to last a year. >> this is doomsday preppers. >> reporter: southwicks are part of a new season of "doomsday preppers" on the national geographic channel. >> a lot of people think if you're a prepper you're crazy, and it's just not true. there's so many families like us. >> just like going up an attic

except going down, it's in reverse. >> reporter: so many families. ron hubbard is able to make a living selling underground disaster cellars also known as doomsday punkers. there's a lot of secrecy in the punker business. i can't even tell you where this one is except to say it's somewhere deep in the heart of texas. >> the shelt worry add about $500 to the cost of a new home. >> reporter: a blast from the past when films like this encouraged americans to prepare for the worst. they are a lot pricier now, running anywhere from $10,000 to more than a million. this one is about the size of an 18-wheeler, has its own air filtration system and runs on batteries or a generator with enough power to last at least a week. some features aren't exactly necessity. >> got a 46-inch big-screen tv, a leather couch that reclines so can i lay back and watch my football when i have my satellite dish on, got my refrigerator, microwave. >> reporter: hubbard says business is booming with customers who want to be

protected. >> we'll definitely be better prepared to execute our game plan and be able to get through whatever gets thrown at us. >> reporter: years of planning, insurance against the unknown. for "today," janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. >> and "doomsday preppers" premiers tomorrow night on the national geographic channel. now let's get a check of the weather with al. >> and good morning, everybody. i've got to tell you, bigger than the weather. it's this line for one direction. it stretches all the way down to sixth avenue which is a good way. turns on to sixth avenue and then heads up 52nd street. i mean, that's unbelievable. we are talking about huge lines, people have been lining up. >> i love you harry. >> she loves harry. really pretty amazing. this line stretches all this way. people have been coming here

since friday. these young ladies what. time did you get here? >> 7:00 a.m. friday. >> 7:00 a.m. friday. >> what have you been doing since then? >> we've been chatting. talking about one direction. >> made this poster. >> where are you guys from? >> new york. >> from new york and new jersey. >> wow. >> what was the weather. what are you doing for like food and sleep? >> we have a cooler full of water and just going back and getting it when we need it. >> what are you doing about staying clean? >> we take shifts to go shower. >> okay. >> because you guys smell great. >> it's fantastic. >> you took showers last night. >> thank you for that. everybody in the line thanks you for that. let's check the weather. one direction coming in tomorrow. let's show you what we've got. this front is making a big deal. you guys have been lucky so far. temperatures are up in the 60s today in the northeast, but behind the front temperatures are anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees below where they should be for this time of should be f the year. and tomorrow it's going to be chillier here. into the low 50s. at night, it's going to get down into the upper 30s.

are you guys prepared? there you go. so that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your one direction. good morning, sun is up over some patchy fog in the rural areas. otherwise, mostly clear start from the blue ridge east. quite a bit of cloudiness. it's mild into the 50s and low 60s. farther east where it's cleared, we're in the 40s to near 50. the clouds should dissipate. we'll have is increasing clouds from the west and cloudy much of the afternoon into this evening. might get some showers moving in late this e >> don't forget if you're coming down, bring a sign like these young ladies. if you get picked, you get tickets to a one direction concert. pretty cool stuff. it even plays music. my gosh. savannah. >> yes. >> all right, al. thanks. coming up next, dr. oz on how to stay focused and fit through the holiday season, and more on the resignation of cia director david petraeus. a closer look at woman at the

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7:43. this morning on "today's health," making the most of the holiday season. ready or not, starts in ten days with thanksgiving. dr. mehmet oz says it quarterback an important time of year to focus on your health. >> good morning. >> a lot like using the clocks to change your batteries in your

clocks and smoke detectors. families getting together and now it's time to take stock of your health. >> it will help their health and your health. the holidays fundamentally are about love. what a better way than to getting a little bit of a story. >> get some information from your loved ones. got your family together. you think memory is something that can be very illuminating in terms of a person's overall health. >> the memory is something we don't notice when it starts to fail. i'll give you a little quiz. a quiz i want everyone to do at home when they sit down for their thanksgiving meal. stuffing, tree, snow. three words. i'm not going to say it again. can't write them down. in a few minutes when we're done the segment, we'll quiz you. at home everybody does the same thing. five minutes, go back to see if they remember the three words. >> again. if they don't remember the three words it's not the end of the world but it might send up a red flag. >> should warn that you there's some kind of memory going on. at the end of the spectrum there

ease alzheimer's. don't panic, enjoy the holidays. do one big thing make an important for your loved one if you sense there's a problem. >> eyesight, something else can you test very easily, very important. do it at the holiday, how do we go about it, and why is it so important? >> get a quarter inch tonight? pick an average paper, not the headline but the smaller sizes usually about a quarter inch. see that there. ask them from a ten foot distance. measure out ten feet, can they read that to you? if they can read that tow it indicates their eyesight is pretty reasonable. if they can't they are starting to lose their vision or could be things like glaucoma. when they can't see right they get disengaged from society. >> get the less than desired result, take simple results? >> an appointment with an ophthalmologist or ontition. >> get someone to walk up the stairs. >> my dad's test, use this all

the time in my practice. ask people to walk up two flights of stairs. if you can not walk up two flights of stands without getting really winded, that's a big warning sign. another big test, a quarter mile test, big data on it. >> and if you're exhausted after that it can tell you even that. >> if you can't watch a quarter mile in five minutes, chance of being dead is 35% chances higher. >> families being together is an important time to gather family medical history because that information can be incredibly valuable. >> check each other out, gossip about family members. make sure they are blood relatives and make sure that you're looking for problems that occurred before age 65. those are the two big tests for family history. remember, it's the best way not to assess your genes but how your genes protect you in the environment. >> ways to survive the holiday season. fight for sleep and stay one-handed. >> have one hand free to shake hands so get to drink with the

other hand or eat with the other but no two-fisted eating or drinking. >> the quiz? >> want to pay off the quiz. >> what are the three words? >> i remember the three words. >> what are they? >> stuffing, tree and snow. i was also about to cheat and scribble them down. i didn't. i'm very proud of myself. what's your name again? >> dr. mehmet oz. thank you very much. happy holidays. >> happy holidays. just ahead what, justin bieber is saying about the reported split with longtime girlfriend selena gomez and fear the dragon baby. we'll meet the father and son behind the wildly popular online video right after this. into their work,

their name on the door, and their heart into their community. small business saturday is a day to show our support. a day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors. and do our part for the businesses that do so much for us. on november 24th, let's get out and shop small.

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counting on youtube. patrick is here now with his son, the star of the video. romeo elvis. he's mesmerized. >> good morning, guys. how are you? >> good morning to both of you. >> we're good. >> are you a filmmaker by trade. >> yeah. >> how does this idea come to you? >> well, it's an easy idea. it's the kind of idea that i think everybody can have and probably the last one that did have the idea so i can do it and that's why i came up with this. >> you can do it because you know special effects, let's be honest. just about everything in here other than maybe that shot of him sitting there was done through special effects. how hard was that? >> it's a pretty long process. in fact, the way i did it is that i started by designing costumes. small ones and large ones, and then i shot two stunt men fighting doing the kung fu moves and shot my kid like right now, and i took the shoulders and the

head and slide it over the guy. >> lots of editing. >> you needed romeo's position so he could be in the right position. >> endless. >> how long does something like this take? >> would i say two months, yeah, because i didn't have a big team. i did pretty much by myself. a good friend of mine did the costumes, and -- >> uh-oh. >> you know -- >> now you did one with your daughter and went viral as well, marguerite, 16 million hits. this one has over 20 million hits. does that surprise you? >> i'm not suspecting 20 million in a week. i knew that this viral video that we did two years ago, i did it with a good friend of mine. when we were working on it, we knew that it would go viral because "iron man" was a big thing. >> can i borrow you to make a couple of videos of my kids?

great to meet you. happy holidays. >> and we are back after your local news, and we will officially welcome willie geist to our family. let's get to know him a little bit better, too, and get a check of the weather. prices on appliances at the home depot. we can upgrade to sleeker... larger and more energy-efficient at black friday prices... today. uh-oh. looks like the secret's out. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, get this maytag 4-door refrigerator for just $1698. save $800.

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7:56 is your time now on this monday november 12th, 2012. good morning to you. firefighters pull a man from the canal. it is not clear how he fell in. at least check, he was in critical condition. big changes in the forecast. we'll check when we come back. stay with us.

good morning. it's monday morn. we've got sunshine, patchy fog. it's chilly and humid. much of the region now climbing to around 50 degrees. later, want to hit the 60s this

afternoon with increasing clouds and some rain likely moving in late tonight and through the morning commute on tuesday. then much chillier weather after that. all the way into the weekend. could get some rain on sunday. now, how's traffic? >> checking on an accident, activity in wheatland, maryland. as you're traveling the intersection of rcola and georgia avenue. the crash is in the intersection but you're able to get by, follow police direction. nice and clear outer loop and inner loop. if you're taking the beltway in virginia, again, no major delays, no accidents.

we're back now at 8:00 on a monday morning. it's the 12th day of november, 2012. and that sign says it all. the countdown to our one direction concert is now about 24 and a half hours. the group will be here tomorrow to put on a show. that is very good news for the people who have been waiting in line, some for the whole weekend. >> that's right. >> because going without food, water and rest for 36 to 48 hours is not good. >> there's the line that is gathered. we expect thousands of people on the plaza tomorrow morning. if you are in the area and you're planning to come down, we suggest you get here very early.

>> yesterday. >> as you can see, you're already late. >> in fact, if you can get a time machine. >> i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie and mr. al roker. >> speaking of big events around here, today marks the official start for willie geist here at "today" show. we're going to do the traditional thing, embarrass him with old footage from earlier in his career and maybe a few other surprises in store as well as we welcome willie. >> and then this picture of a 3-month-old baby who has just undergone open heart surgery, look at the face, really captured a lot of attention of people online. that little fellow will be here along with his parents in just a little while. we'll find out how he is doing. >> he was fussing a little while ago, so i guess they decided to break down and give him a bottle. >> and we've got a couple of big names joining us coming up. in the next half hour oscar winner robert de niro will be here, and susan boyle will be also here as well to perform a song from her new album. >> look forward to it. a check of the day's top stories

with natalie morales at her post at the news desk. natalie, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah, matt and al. good morning, everyone. new details are emerge begun what led to friday's surprise resignation of cia director david petraeus. admitted to having an extramarital affair with his biographer paula broadwell. the fbi discovered evidence of the affair while discovering harassing e-mails sent to another woman, a petraeus family friend jill kelly. those e-mails were traced to broadwell. key members of congress are asking why they and the president were not informed of the petraeus affair until just after the election last week. deadly devastation in an indianapolis neighborhood has forced some 200 residents from their homes as officials investigate what caused a sudden explosion and fire killing two people. the massive blast came without warning late saturday night, and the area is off limits until police know what caused it. let's head to wall street and cnbc's courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange.

good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. greek lawmakers have approved the country's 2013 austerity budget, a major step forward in trying to secure a loan to keep greece from going bankrupt. the move will likely comfort u.s. markets, bringing europe back into focus on a day when the bond market is closed, and there is no major economic data in observance of veterans day. meantime, our own fiscal worries remain in focus for investors and the broader economy. many business leaders urging congress to work together to resolve that fiscal cliff before it's too late. natalie? >> courtney reagan at the new york stock exchange, thank you. and now for a look at what's trending today. our quick roundup of what has you talking online. judy garland's blue and white dorothy dress from "the wizard of oz" featured recently here on "today" fetched an over the rainbow bid at a hollywood memorabilia auction this weekend. it sold to an anonymous buyer for about $480,000. the reported breakup of

justin bieber and selena gomez dominated the internet. during an appearance on the radio show "open house party" justin was asked if he had a comment on the relationship. >> i don't know what to say. i don't know really what's really even going on in my life. so it doesn't make sense because i've not made any comment. >> and at a concert in boston, the beibs seemed to let his work do the talking with a performance of justin timberlake's anthem "cry me a river." ♪ cry me a river cry me a river ♪ ♪ cry me a river >> justin bieber and selena gomez started dating nearly two years ago. the sloppy swiss dance featured on "saturday night live" may be just the craze for

those of us too lazy to rock the "gangnam style" dance. >> take a look. ♪ his legend is a man ♪ where he is and where he comes from is hard to understand ♪ ♪ he's a creature like no other ♪ ♪ he crosses the island doing just one thing ♪ ♪ ♪ he does not respect personal space ♪ ♪ he's carrying diseases >> the sloppy swish and company are already burning up online. as the video said, it's literally contagious. one perhaps we all can do. it's 8:05 and now back outside to al with a check of the weather. >> all right. let's see what we've got for you. got some nice friends hanging out here. want to say hi to grandma and grandpa. >> hi, grammy and grabbed a.

>> all right. very nice. nothing better than that. let's see what we have for you. pick city of the day. oakland, california. nbc 11. sunny. 64 degrees. nice day there today. as we as we check our u.s. satellite radar. there's a front stretching from the great lakes down to the gulf coast bringing showers, a big change in temperatures, even snow in upper elevations. look for wet weather with some mountain snows there. you can see sunshine behind the system. 25 in fargo it look for rain along the east coast later today into tomorrow. ahead of that system, though, warmer conditions. snow back through the cascades and the wasatch mountains. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> we've got the sun up. mostly clear sky over washington. points west, there is a lot of cloudiness beginning to move in. that's ahead of a front that will bring in some rain likely late tonight and into tomorrow. between now and then, a rapid warm-up. it's chilly now, around 50

degrees, with some patchy fog will which dissipate shortly. later today, up eaper 60s. some showers tonight, then sun tomorrow afternoon, muc >> that's your latest weather. i wonder who went to ohio university. ♪ stand up and cheer ♪ stand up and cheer for -- never mind. coming up next, who is paula broadwell? more on the woman at the center of the scandal involving general david petraeus. plus, the 3-month-old baby post-surgery photo that is touching hearts all around the world right after these messages. [ male announcer ] there's chicken

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jaaack?! jack?! looks good ladies! jack! come on, stop the car. jack! no, no, no, no, no! the only thing more surprising than finding the perfect gifts.. niice. ...is where you find them. how did you know? i had a little help. this is how to gift. this is sears. back now at 8:11 with more on the surprise resignation of cia director david petraeus after admitting to an extramarital affair. nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker has more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. paula broadwell is a married mother of two who lives in north carolina with her family. according to her book she first met general david petraeus in 2006 when he spoke to her graduate class at harvard. soon thereafter, she was with

him on the battlefield writing his biography. petraeus' aides say they never imagined that later something more would develop. paula broadwell has never hesitated to talk about the connection she felt to general david petraeus right off the bat. >> i was fascinated with this individual. >> reporter: just a few weeks ago she described one of her first interactions with him at an alumni gathering at the university of denver. >> i started to write this dissertation and had unprecedented access in part because i was a west pointer and he was a west pointer but also because we were both runners. our first interview in person was on a run. >> reporter: broadwell soon turned her dissertation into a biography about petraeus entitled "all in" which came out earlier this year. on msnbc's "morning joe" she said his role as director of the cia was the perfect fit. >> and i have sources who have confirmed he absolutely loves the agency, and i think it's a great place for him, and i try to show this the book how well

prepared he was for that. >> reporter: broadwell has had a distinguished career. a research associate at harvard university's center for public leadership. she has prestigious degrees from the united states military academy at west point and harvard's kennedy school of government, and she has more than a decade of military service. >> my initial impression that was she was a very confident, sharp woman. >> reporter: peter mansour first encountered broadwell in 2009 when he was general petraeus' executive officer in iraq. he says broadwell, who described herself as a soccer mom, was not shy about her ambitions. >> maybe a little bit calculating, certainly very aggressive, and -- and very ambitious. she used her contacts with general petraeus and her writings about him to gain entre into washington, into the washington media circles. >> reporter: circles like the aspen institute where broadwell talked about her unprecedented access. >> i was embedded with general

petraeus in afghanistan. >> reporter: petraeus' friends and former aides say the extramarital relationship began once he became director of the cia and lasted less than a year. >> he would be the last person in the world that i would suspect would engage in this sort of activity. >> reporter: since this story broke, broadwell has kept a low profile but continues to be at the center of a very public firestorm. now broad well was scheduled to celebrate her 40th birthday this past saturday, but on friday those who were invited say they got an e-mail from her husband saying the event had been cancelled. we've reached out to broadwell and to general petraeus but have not heard back. savannah? kristen welker in was, thanks. >> now to a photo touching people all over the world. 3-month-old joey smiling broadly after undergoing open heart surgery. more than a million likes on

facebook. dr. joey is here along with his parents and dr. nancy snyderman. nice to see all of you. how is he doing after surgery? >> doing really well. >> you found out about this heart condition he had while were you pregnant which had to make for some nerve-racking months. >> yes. >> what exactly is the condition? >> it's called tetrology of flow. >> and what's actly is the defect he has in his heart? >> a combination of four defects, but the most common is a hole in his heart, and his pulmonary artery pumping blood to his lungs was too narrow. >> and he -- you knew he was going to have to have surgery. weren't exactly sure when. why was it decided he would have it at this stage? >> he was actually doing pretty well when he was born, and so usually if babies are doing okay when they are born, they like to wait until about 3 months when they are the right weight and everything. >> i want to get to this photo in a second. how common is this? >> 40 births in a million, not common but in the pediatric world really well-known and the importance of correcting those

defects without the heart surgery, life span is about 20, but with heart surgery and doing well, life expectancy, a normal life. he's going to be just like everybody else. >> folks, you guys took this picture of joey five days after surgery, and it shows him there with a great smile on his face, but that enormous incision in his chest. you put it on your facebook page. it was going to be private for friends and family. how did it get online? >> my brother thought that it was really cool looking, i guess, and he said oh, can i post it to this website that i go on and i said okay, sure, and it just took off. >> people have really reacted. there's something in his eyes. there's something in his face. and you can tell even at this age of almost 4 months this, kid's got game. there's no question about it. dad, you must be so proud. >> very proud. he's recovering well. >> you know what's cool, that scar is very long in proportion of his body but because the surgery was done so early in his life and his cells will divide

so quickly that scar won't look like much when he's a young hunk. >> can we take a real close-up of his face live and, mom, tell me what you think the expression is right now. >> i think he has to go to the bathroom. >> or maybe in the process. >> okay. it's great to see you. >> continued good luck to joey. i've seen that face before. >> up next, what you don't know about willie geist as we officially welcome him to the "today" show family. that's right after this. only six degrees separate the body temperature

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some people put everything intotheir name on the door, and their heart into their community. small business saturday is a day to show our support. a day to shop at stores owned by our friends and neighbors. and do our part for the businesses that do so much for us. on november 24th, let's get out and shop small.

[ man ] tell me about that. [ phil ] katie and i talked about really committing to making a difference in the amount of gas that we use. she was using 8 to 10 tankfuls. i was using 5 tankfuls. now i use one tankful a month, and she may use about two. it drives like a sports car. it handles very well. people are a little surprised that a hybrid zipped by them the way that i do. [ male announcer ] see phil's story and more at the camry effect. camry from toyota. as we have mentioned we're so delighted to welcome willie geist to our family on his first official day as the co-host of our third hour. >> that's right. before he gets started let's get to know him just a little bit better. >> oh, boy. >> willie was a little kid, he wanted to be a fireman.

i don't think he ever thought tv was his thing. i think he wanted to play shortstop for the yankees or possibly a power forward for the knicks. >> we met in sixth grade, mr. kaplan's home room, september 1986, and i locked in immediately. that was 26 years ago. was it love at first sight for you? >> i don't know. i mean, you're 11. how do you know? >> it was for me. >> you were memorable at first sight, but i can't say love at first sight. >> just because i was tall and gawky. >> this isn't the movies. >> he was a suburban kid who wanted to be a hip-hop guy. we lived in ridgewood, new jersey, and he called it the wood. >> playing off "boys in the hood" we were the boys in the wood. say something like quiet on the set because i'm about to begin and if you didn't hear me again. i'll tell you again. my name is easy. trying to gain fame off the name that i'm making.

i like lady gaga. not afraid to say t. i have two kids. >> big daddy is kind of like a super hero figure. i mean, he's 6'4" so compared to the average child he really is literally super hero size. >> a gentle giant, if you will. >> got a short fuse. >> not true. >> you are a disgrace. >> heard about a little anger management problem. >> get in the pool with the alligator, kid. >> certainly not appropriate for this forum. >> sometimes small electric devices end up just sort of like mysteriously shattered. >> angry about the remote control. >> are you way off our talking points right now. >> behind the cameras working on christmas and thanksgiving and all that. i mean, he really paid his dues. >> i did follow in my dad's footsteps. >> taught me by example that writing was the most important thing and if you can write you can do anything. >> willie geist. >> tucker carlson demanded i be on his show. >> what are you supposed to be? >> same thing i am tucker, a

hard-hitting journalist who asks the tough questions. >> would take my head set and run out of the control room and stand and talk with him in the commercial breaks. that's the first time i was on tv. >> willie geist, good to see you, man. >> and joe scarborough, when he created "morning joe" thought between him and mika that i would be a good third person. >> who do you go to? tv's willie geist. >> alarm goes off at 3:30, try to be out the door by 4:00, off to the set and get miked up and on the air at 5:29. >> "way too early," not meant to be a show title but a statement of fact. >> anyone who says being on the "today" show for the first time isn't a bit of a pitch-me moment is probably lying. >> natalie is shaking. >> oh. >> good morning, savannah, and -- and willie, sorry. good morning, everyone.

>> now back over to savannah. willie and al. >> how would i describe willie geist? i mean, charming. >> witty. >> wickedly smart. >> debonair. >> model parents. >> philanthropist. >> incredibly fit and buff. >> what? >> come on. >> really? >> come on. >> there's no doubt about it. when you first hear that music, that's a pretty heavy moment. >> this is "today." >> willie geist is officially joining the "today" show family as the co-host of our third hour. a talented guy but also i think what we've all come to know over the last couple of years here as an awfully nice guy and thrilled to have you with us. >> couldn't get an umbrella on the first day of the job. >> it's a place where we'll have a lot of fun. i think the three of us -- >> what's that smell? >> al, why do you look at me when you say that? >> we're going to have a good time. >> why are you sweating? >> it's nice to see people fall in love with the person that you've loved for your whole l e

life. >> wow. wow, very nice. >> we're excited to have willie for a lot of reasons. >> willie, we love for you. can't wait for you to get started. and he joins us in the studio. willie geist. good to have you here. >> welcome. >> and let me just say in keeping with the theme of the show so far if you take a nice tight shot of willie's face he is also pooing right now at this moment. >> going back to a segment we just had, a little child. >> i missed that part of the segment. >> robert de niro is -- >> i have to say your producers are beyond corruption because there's several photographs and moments that i offered cash payments to keep out of that feed and they ended up in there. >> we'll use them over and over. >> and the anger problem my wife describes, it's just her emot n

emotions. >> more after your local news. good morning. it's 8:26 on this monday, november 12th. i'm aaron gill greft. today's veterans day. track work continues today on the orange, red and green lines. no service on the boston and virginia square stations and there's no vre or marc service either. >> volume very light in the area. if you're traveling along i-95 in the virginia, for the holiday, hov restrictions have been lifted for the day. heading over to wheaton, heading westbound, arcola at georgia avenue, crash still there. >> we'll look at weather after this.

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around our region, temperatures climbing into the 50s. later today under this beautiful blue sky we'll warm up nicely into the 60s. tomorrow, much cooler weather moving in after we get showers late tonight into tomorrow morning.

tomorrow, some sun back. only near 50 and cold mornings and chilly afternoons all the way into the weekend, maybe some rain on sunday. aaron. >> thank you, tom. tune in to news 4 today tomorrow. [ female announcer ] welcome one and all to a tastier festive feast. so much to sip and savor, a feeding frenzy to say the least. a turkey from safeway will have everyone raving. there's fresh, natural, frozen, whatever you're craving. spend 35 dollars and get a frozen safeway turkey for 59 cents a pound. or spend 35 dollars and a frozen butterball turkey, just 88 cents a pound. so raise your glass, pull up a chair, grab a plate. this tastier thanksgiving is well worth the wait. safeway. ingredients for life. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions

are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. 8:30 now on this monday morning. it's the 12th of november, 2012. a beautiful day right here on rockefeller plaza. we have some great girls, boys, men, women all here to say hello. we want to remind everybody that there's one day until what i call one d-day.

new direction. people lining up. >> across 52nd street. >> how many calls have you gotten for tickets? >> a lot. >> and it's -- >> and cds, and can you get this autographed. on and on. i'll try. anyway, good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer, al roker and natalie morales. >> take this shot inside our studio right now. the one and only robert de niro. not him in our studio. that's him in our studio. gay's got a couple of academy awards. starring in a new movie called "silver linings playbook." it's getting a lot of great comments, and he's going to be here to talk about that in just a couple of minutes. always an honor to have him here. >> all right. and then do you want your politicians telling what you to eat, what not to eat? a city council in california

pa passed a resolution for no meat on monday. is that a good idea? >> what. >> we'll get into that. >> i want to stop this in its track. >> a recommendation. >> reporter: >> not a requirement. >> and we've got singing sensation susan boyle in our studio. she's got a new album coming out, "standing ovation." she's going to do a number for us. >> first we want to say hello to a very talented young woman, whitney cummings, star, writer, executive producer of "whitney" right here on nbc. good morning to you. >> hi, good morning. >> and season two is about to begin. we've got to catch up on where we were. last season your character absolutely was not going to get married. >> was totally against it. >> then we see her walking down the aisle. by the end of the season we decided to get married and in our own traditional way. decided to get tattoos. season two starts out with us having hepatitis from the tattoos. just kidding. we're in, we're married and sort of all of the things that happen when you're in a relationship but kind of going the

provocative way, all the taboo things that sometimes happen when you're in a relationship. >> you were surprised you were about getting past nbc standards. >> i don't think nbc reads any of our scripts. >> you think nbc had standards. >> guess not because we're managing to slide by. really provocative and fun stuff. >> you're a busy young lady. not only are you star of this show but you're also producer of "two broke girls." i've been looking for robert de niro. >> he's in the studio. >> and jane kaczmarek is joining you. >> she plays my mom. ev it airs wednesday night. >> you also have your own talk show on e. >> i am a hoarder.

>> took a second or two, but then bang. >> hoarder. yes, i'm going to be doing a talk show on e that chelsea handler is producing. i think she will be here this morning. i don't know if i should be a host on this show. i'm pretty good at this. >> good luck. >> wednesday night 8:00 right here on nbc. >> thank you so much, matt. >> whitney, good to see you. >> thanks, guys. >> al, a check of your weather. >> week ahead. we're starting off above normal in the east. the dividing line is the cold front. below normal temperatures, much of the country. by the time we get to the midweek, we're looking at chillier temperatures. and then the heat returns out west. and the later part of the week, things kind of normal out a bit. out wef, we're continuing above normal temperatures. and rain along the west coast. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> good morning. one more dreamy november day on the way later this afternoon. although it's chilly now.

we're in the 50s much of the region with sunshine much of the area, but it's clouding up now from the west and those clouds will move in during the afternoon with highs climbing into the 60s. and then some rain likely moving in tonight, off and on tomorrow night. and then some sun back tomorrow afternoon. and much chillier cold mornings and chilly afternoons the rest of the week into the >> don't forget check that weather any time you need it. go to the weather channel on cable or go to weather.com online. folks can't see the lovely little details in the back of your coat here. >> a little clip. >> that's because it was too big. thanks for outing me. >> just thought it was a deckration. >> no, just a clip. >> thank you, al. >> coming up next, a legend in our studio. robert de niro. but first this is "today" on nbc.

we are comeback now at 8:37

with two-time oscar winner robert de niro. he's covered everything from drammor, to comedy in his career. now he's combining the two in his latest movie called "silver linings playbook" starring opposite bradley cooper. de niro plays a father whose adult son moves home after spending time at a mental health facility. >> what are you so up about? >> no, i'm happy. >> you're so up, up, up. >> isn't that a good thing. >> you're up, up, up. i don't know what that is. are you taking the proper dosage of your medication? >> am i taking the right dose? of course, i am. >> okay. taking a little bit too many or something? >> no. if i was taking, that i'd be on the floor, dad. >> robert de niro, good morning. welcome back. >> thank you. >> the "d" in dna for this family stands for dysfunctional. this is an odd collection of characters. tell me about these guys. >> well, the son is-bradley ice character was in an institution. i guess you would call it a mental facility, whatever, and he's bipolar, and so he comes

home, but his mother brings him home earlier and the drama ensues, if you will. >> your character as the parrot crashing of this family is not all that -- it seems like he is straddling the line of sanity and insanity himself. you start to realize where the son gets the behavior. your guy has a lot of ocd behaviors. he is superstitious to a fault. do you play him as a guy who is a good guy or a little bit of a villain? >> well, no, he's not a villain. he certainly doesn't think of himself as a villain. he's dealing with life and everyday problems. his son has got the issues that he has to deal with, and he's got to make a living. >> but it requires you to kind of go in the funny direction sometimes, and in the very serious direction it seems in the next scene. >> yeah.

that's -- that kind of material i always like because that's what life all about, the irony, the humor is next to the tragedy, the drama, whatever. and that's what this has, especially with david. russell, the way he directs, it's got a lot of energy. immediacy that i'm glad that people like it because it was fun doing, and an experience. >> the "new york times" writes about it this way in. spots de niro's performance channels his comedic chops from "analyze this" and others. it can be "good fellas" style serious. i think are times in this audience is not sure which direction they want to go in. it keeps them a little off guard. >> well, exactly, as it should. i mean, that's the most fun, too, where things are -- you're not sure what's going to happen, as in life, especially with a family like this, a lot going on. a lot of families like this have things going on so it's, you know -- >> you star opposite bradley cooper. not the first time you've worked with him. you worked with him in

"limitless." when you a see a guy like this who is one of the it actors in hollywood right now. is it impossible not to think back to your early days in this business? >> oh, yeah, sure. bradley is very serious about what he's doing. and we've become friends. he's terrific, and it's fun to work with him, and we'll probably do other things together hopefully, and, yeah, sure, i see that. >> are you the kind of guy who gives advice? would you ever sit down with him in a casual conversation and talk to him about smart choices? >> absolutely, yeah, yeah. i like to give advice to younger actors or anybody who wants it. i mean, i -- it's funny. i'd love to give advice to my children. they are at an age when they don't usually want to listen, my younger ones but other people like bradley listens, and i -- when i was his age, i would talk to people older than me who were in my profession, who were in my profession and say what can i look out for?

what can i see? what are the things that are i can avoid or this or that so i enjoy giving advice, when asked. >> he, of course, is famous also for starring in "the hangover" movies, and you're shooting a movie called "last vegas" which the way it's been described to me is a bunch of older guys doing the "hangover" type genre, is that fair? >> that's i guess what it is. >> is it as inappropriate at "the hangover" movies? >> i'm not sure. it's different. it's a little more, i guess, tame in a sense. >> the cast includes michael douglas. >> yes. >> morgan freeman, kevin kleine. >> yes. >> and mary steinbergen. >> having a good time. >> you have shot or are shooting in las vegas and now in atlanta. i may get down there. spend a little time together. >> sure. >> vegas would have been good. i'll take that today. >> thanks. >> "silver linings playbook" is

opening in select theaters on friday, and in theaters nationwide on november 21st. coming up, meatless monday, coming up the new push to get you to go vegetarian once

back now at 8:45 with the food trend that's gaining some momentum. meatless mondays. a los angeles city council just adopted a resolution asking residents to go vegetarian on a voluntary basis on monday. "today's" nutritionist joy bauer is here with more. good morning. >> i love this campaign, it's creative and delicious. savannah, it has so much beneficial perks. >> it's been around a while but it's really catching on as we mentioned. l.a. has a resolution. >> right. >> doesn't require people not to eat meat, but basically recommends it. >> like a symbolic gesture, so to speak. if they have a burger they won't get thrown in jail or arrested. >> we're not there yet.

>> but we hope they are going to follow. >> as a health issue, can it really help to reduce your meat intake on one day? >> yes, it definitely. can we have some studies that show if you regularly do eat meat, red meat and particularly processed or fatty red meat, you are at an increased risk for serious health conditions. things like diabetes and heart disease, stroke, so it -- it's really worth your while to reduce your intake, and on the flip side we have a large body of evidence that shows when you embrace these plant-based meals, things like beans and lentils and whole foods, soy, you can reduce all those very same health issues. drive down your cholesterol and blood pressure so it's all good. >> you've got great ideas which i want to talk about in a minute. the american meat institute issued a statement, this is part of it. quote, if the sponsors of the meatless mondays campaign were truly concerned about nutrition, they'd host more veggie monday, but instead they target for reduction of a food that is already consumed in the proper

amount, and that is simply irresponsible. so i guess the point is we don't eat too much meat. >> but it's still a great thing to eat more vegetables and reduce our consumption of meat, and i'm not anti-meat. i respect and understand that people love their burgers and their steaks. we're not taking it away. we're just saying take this manageable small step, just give it up. again, talking about beef, pork and chicken on mondays. that's it. >> let's get practical about it because you have some ideas. let's say you sign on. i'm not going to eat meat on mondays. what am i going to eat especially if you've got kids? >> a few must haves. buy different colored lentils in the bag and also canned beans and if you can't buy the low sodium, just buy the regular and rinse it in a colander and you'll reduce about 40% of the salt. also soups. the heartier soups, lentils, black bean, split pea, meals and filled with protein and all of the great nuts and seeds. sunflower seeds don't get enough

love. >> we love you, sunflower seeds, thank you. >> they will be in the green room starting tomorrow, and also, of course, all the nut butters and take advantage of things like veggie burgers and quinoa. most mispronounced grain. >> such a fashionable grain these days. >> it's not just about your health. these vegetarian proteins, they are less expensive, so everybody is watching their budget. one pound of beans is $1.40. you have to pay twice as much money to get one pound of chicken breasts, four times as much to get a pound steak so you'll also help the pocketbook. >> if you wanted to splurge try a port bela mushroom that gives you the meaty feel without being meat. >> no hard rules. don't go vegan. nix the meat on monday, have fish, eggs, party. >> going crazy. >> food for thought. >> and it's monday so that means

tonight. >> if you haven't already had bacon for breakfast. >> still start right now. >> all right. >> and i say 30 rock signs up. next monday, green room, getting rid of the meats, the platters that we have and instead you'll see tofu stir fries. >> you didn't know in a? >> no. >> note to self. coming up, a live performance from susan boyle, but first this is "today" on nbc.

the world first fell in love with susan boyle back in 2009 when her audition on "britain's got talent" exploded online. to date that tape has racked up more than 100 million hits on youtube, and susan has gone on to sell more than 18 million albums all around the world. her newest is called "standing ovation." susan boyle, welcome back, good morning. nice to see you. how you doing. >> nice to see you, too. >> real well, thank you. >> for youout album in just about four years. that is an exhausting workload. how are you holding up? >> really good. >> doesn't seem overwhelming at times? >> at times it is a bit overwhelming, but the same with any job really. >> do you go in because of the success of the first three albums, do you go in with an

enormous amount of confidence? >> well, sometimes i think it's very difficult. each album expresses a different approach. >> this one is all about musical theater? >> that's right. >> and you do two duets with donny osmond, right? >> right. >> and i remember the first time you met him, one of the people you idolized as an entertainer, what was it like recording with him? >> well, it feels so surreal. >> so had you a chance to record with donny osmond and had a chance to perform for the queen on the occasion of her diamond jubilee. which one was better? be careful. >> have to be very careful, yes. i think they both were really cool. >> both. you're a diplomat, too, which is great. what are you going to sing for us this morning? >> "winner takes it all." >> ladies and gentlemen. susan boyle.

♪ i don't wanna talk about things we've gone through ♪ ♪ though it's hurting me now it's history ♪ ♪ i've played all my cards and that's what you've done, too ♪ ♪ nothing more to say no more ace to play ♪ ♪ the winner takes it all ♪ the loser's standing small ♪ beside the victory that's a destiny ♪ ♪ tell me does she kiss like i used to kiss you ♪ does it feel the same when she calls your name ♪

♪ somewhere deep inside you must know i miss you ♪ ♪ but what can i say rules must be obeyed ♪ ♪ the judges will decide the likes of me abide ♪ ♪ spectators of the show always stay in love ♪ ♪ the game is on again a lover or a friend ♪ ♪ a big thing or a small the winner takes it all ♪ ♪ i don't wanna talk if it makes you feel sad ♪ ♪ and i understand you've come

to shake my hand ♪ ♪ i apologize if it makes you feel bad ♪ ♪ seeing me so tense no self-confidence ♪ ♪ the winner takes it all ♪ the winner takes it all ♪ the winner takes it all ♪ the winner takes it all

>> thank you, susan. very beautiful, and the album is called "standing ovation" which seems to me is going to be a huge hit. susan, nice to see you. >> we're back right after these messages and your local news. 8:56 is your time now on this monday, november 12th, 2012. today is veterans day. metro rail service is operating on a saturday schedule and metro bus service is operating on a saturday supplemental schedule. here's your traffic. >> a really nice commute for most of the area here. let's held over to wheaton. had an earlier crash.

was blocking the right lane. it's now gone. travel lanes are open. leapt's head other to i-66 here at sully road westbound and eastbound. eastbound. clear outside the beltway and it's my coffee when i want it. you press a button, you have great dunkin' coffee. i got my coffee for the morning, i got my dunkin' k-cup packs for the rest of the day. only available at dunkin' donuts restaurants. america runs on dunkin' coffee.

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good morning. i'm tom kieran. approaching 9:00. temperatures into the 50s all around the region. on its way to the 60s later today with increasing clouds. rain likely moving in today late tonight and through the morning commute on tuesday. then some sun back tuesday afternoon. the big story, a chilly change moves in. will be chilly mornings for the rest of the week. maybe rain on sunday. >> don

we're back now with more of "today" on a monday morning, november 12th, 2012. got a nice audience. a beautiful morning, it's mild out. we've got beautiful warm temperatures. blue skies and that's going to stay the same for a little while. cold weather comes in in time for tomorrow's consigalecert. >> it's going to be cooler but not cold. >> a more important event. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie, al roker and the newest now official member of the "today" show family, co-hosting the 9:00 hour is the

one and only mr. willie geist. welcome, guys. >> happy willie geist day. >> everybody is saying happy first day of school. doesn't feel that way. been at this school for a long time. >> you've been matriculating. >> thrilled when i walked in and saw the line of teenagers waiting for my show. >> we know you got your start in television behind the scenes. we were very sorry to see that your rap career did not work out. >> not yet, not yet. >> certainly made something of yourself. so excited to have you. we'll welcome you more all next hour. >> looking forward to that. talking politics, something i cover in my other job. hillary clinton, a piece in the "new york times" yesterday, suggesting perhaps she has not ruled out 2016. yes, already talking about 2016. we'll talk about whether or not she could be the next president of the united states. >> and after the last two weeks of hurricane sandy and then the nor'easter, we've been seeing some heartbreaking pictures coming out of those ars. and who about the other victims.

these pets, some amazing people who have stepped in. >> all right. lots to get to, but first l's go inside. natalie is standing by with a look at all the headlines. natalie, good morning to you. >> good morning, everyone. the fallout is widening this morning following the resignation of cia director general david petraeus. officials say the fbi investigation into petraeus' extramarital affairs was triggered by a complaint by one of his family friends, jill kelly. kelly told the fbi she had been receiving anonymous harassing e-mails. the fbi traced those e-mails to petraeus biographer paula broadwell we developing their affair. intelligence officials and congressional leaders want to know why they weren't told about the affair sooner as aatter involving a potential security breach. deadly devastation in an indianapolis neighborhood has forced some 200 residents from their home as officials investigate what caused a sudden explosion and fire killing two

people. the massive blast came without warning late saturday night, and the area is off limits until police know what cause it had. frustrations are brimming over in new york and new jersey where two weeks after superstorm sandy, some 120,000 homes and businesses remain in the dark. this as the american red cross fights back at criticism of its response to the storm saying its work has been, quote, near flawless. but in some hard hit areas like breezy point, new york, residents say they have seen no sign of thenization. a new study published in the journal "pediatrics" find women who had the flu when they were pregnant were twice as likely as others to have a child later diagnosed with autism and those who had a fever that lasted at least one week appeared to be three times as likely to have a child with autism. the research involved 96,000 children in denmark. health officials say the findings reinforce recommendations that pregnant women should get their flu shots. bond has never been bigger.

"skyfall" debuted in the top spot at the weekend box office. it took in nearly $88 million, a record opening for the james bond franchise. disney's animated "wreck-it ralph" was second and "flight" with denzel washington was third. this massive fireworks show in kuwait just won a place in the guinness book of world records for the largest display ever. it was all in honor of the golden jubilee anniversary of the country's constitution. absolutely spectacular photos. it is now four minutes after the hour. let's go over to al with a check of your weather. hey, al. >> and good morning, let's see what we've got. a frontal system stretching from the great lakes al the gulf coast bringing big changes temperaturewise, that's for sure. wet weather from detroit down to

louisiana. with heavier rain, some as much as an inch of rain. in the pacific northwest, we're going to be looking at 3 to 4 inches of rain, from portland to see aelt and snow in the upper elevations. here's your neck of the woods. >> we have a chill in the air still but a rapid warm-up for the afternoon. we're in the 50s. now we'll be in the 50s early to midafternoon with increasing clouds. and then some showers likely moving in late tonight and off and on through the rest of tonight and into tomorrow morning. and sun back tomorrow afternoon but much cooler. highs only near 50s tomorrow. near freezing on wednesday, thursday, friday morning. and into the weekend. the chill remains. could get rain >> all right. time now for today's "take 3" where we give our take on the three stories that have caught our attention. you know what's caught my attention?

>> what's that? >> willie geist's first day. we are so happy to have you here. >> first official. >> first official day. >> you've done "take 3" a million tame. >> i'm a vet. >> let me ask you this. did you sleep in until 5:00 a.m. today? >> people asked me. i slep in until about 4:45 a.m. >> wow. >> it was a big night last night. i stayed up till like 9:30, it was wild. look out, new york city. >> did you set your alarm? >> sadly i woke up. i woke up without an alarm. >> you had a big day yesterday celebrating veterans day. >> today's the big observance. i was out marching in the parade here in new york city with a group that my wife and i have worked a lot with called operation manned, a great group out of ucla medical center who does reconstructive surgery for soldiers badly wounded by ieds and i was proud and honored to be able to march with them yesterday. very cool. >> wow. >> very cool. >> our next take two, if you

will, hillary's next move. >> there's this piece, a lot of people are talking about it in the "new york times" yesterday written by gail collins did, an interview with hillary clinton in which secretary clinton talked about life after her job as secretary of state. the first question everyone asks is will you run for president? >> right. >> and she said can i get five minutes to catch my breath before you start asking me this. >> deserves a break, right? >> she transitions into talking about hgtv around home improvement shows. >> the only way she relaxes is by watching home improvement shows but there's polls out in iowa, got 58% of the vote for 2016, so it seems a little inevitable. savannah, you covered politics for a long time, that she will run. not ready to talk about it yet >> i interviewed her a year ago and i asked her, and i was not the first or the last to ask her and i guess what i think, i don't have any special knowledge, but i think she really believes right now that she won't run. i think she's very tired. she's the most traveled secretary of state. she's constantly on the road, and as she said in this article,

she would like to get un-tired, but assuming she gets un-tired, if the head of the party comes to her in two years, everybody comes around her and says you've got to do it, could be the first female president, i think will be hard for her to say no. >> she's only 65. >> are we ready for a female president? i think most of america probably is. >> she would be -- she would break the glass ceiling that she talked about. >> can you think of a more qualified human being? she lived in the white house for eight years with another president, the united states senator, and now she's got every world leader on speed dial so there would be no questions about her qualifications. just a question of if she wants to run or not. >> and her significant other, too. kind of fun, too. >> they are set. >> imagine the excitement. >> oh, man. >> wow. >> who has the bigger spotlight, that's for sure, right? >> and got our take three. okay. weird wedding dances, father/daughter dances and some people have raised an eyebrow about that. a weird trend maybe developing. an article in "the huffington post" noting their wedding blog.

brother/sister dances. >> i guess it's the instance where perhaps the father is not part of the family or deceased, something to that effect and the brother steps in. some people are saying is it kind of strange, a little weird to see brother/sister dances. >> i don't know. >> not under those circumstances. >> i don't think so. >> exactly. >> especially, look, a lot of times your best friend, one of my best friends is my sister. i would have -- if i could have danced. >> do like a funny dance, one of those viral video dances. >> maybe "gangnam style." >> not the right one. >> but dancing cheek to cheek to sarah mclachlan with your brother or sister, let's not do that. let's not do that. >> some people don't like the father/daughter dance but i like it. >> i think it's beautiful. >> i think it's sweet. >> tradition a. people sort of expect that, and there's nothing more emotional i think ever a bride with their dad. >> some men are so elaborate, where did they get the time to do that? >> i feel like a slacker. >> fred astaire studio for a month before the wedding.

>> speaking of music, we're going to be hearing some of your music, deejay willie. >> no, no. >> not right now. >> "just the way you are." >> you're a big fan of billy joel. >> i do like billy joel, but this is not on my play list. >> your first song. what is it that you love about "kids" by mgmt. >> is that what we're listening to right now? >> oh, yeah. it's a good song. mgmt, you know, i get on pandora, and whatever they tell me to listen, to i sort of take their cue, so this is a band. these guys were friend in college, i think at weslian, a modern cool electronic sound. >> is this like you, you're channeling them? this would have been you if you had a band? >> no, no. i think i would have been the rolling stones in the '60s. >> in other words, he's just way too cool. >> i have to say i did look at your play list because we'll be playing some of your selections throughout the show. i didn't know almost one of the

songs. >> one of them i knew. >> you're obviously too cool for -- >> i mix it up. >> arcade fire. i do a little stones, go back with you. >> one direction on ere? >> there is sadly because of my 5-year-old daughter and i go a little late '80s and '90s pop. a huge variety. >> a huge hour of willie appreciation, and -- and -- >> willie appreciation. >> that's what i think it is. i call it willie appreciation dayor w.a.d. >> or look at this. >> he is sweating like a pick. >> no getting out of it now. >> okay. >> gave up the way too early. it's too late. >> you're in. >> that's it. >> you're committed. >> and we're back with much more right after this. the saying easy as pie? i get it now.

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oh, well, be careful! [ radio announcer ] only two days to go, and several of the elves were tossed around when they tried to wrap a pony. [ female announcer ] the keepsake countdown ornament. build anticipation every day till christmas. elves tried to wrap a pony! yeah, i might have ears like a rabbit... but i want to eat meat! [ male announcer ] iams knows dogs love meat. ...but most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten iams never adds gluten.

iams adds 50% more animal protein, [ dog 2 ] look at me! i'm a lean, mean flying machine [ dog 1 ] i am too! woo hoo! [ male announcer ] iams. with 50% more animal protein. [ dog 2 ] i'm an iams dog for life. not a rabbit. woof! superstorm sandy forced thousands of people to leave their homes and evacuate though many families couldn't leave their pets behind others had no choice. our animal advocate jill rapport is here with more on the animals left behind by sandy. >> amidst all the devastation and destruction the other victims included thousands of animals who owners were and are determined to keep them safe at

all costs. >> survivors of hurricane sandy are holding on to whatever they can find. >> everything is gone. everything. >> all you have is what's left on your back. >> and by your side. >> despite losing their homes and belongings, these people feel lucky. >> it's my heart. >> she's your heart and soul. >> yes. >> as sandy approached officials in the northeast told residents to evacuate. >> don't leave your pet at home because you don't know when you can get back. >> some didn't heed the warnings. >> most people did not think that they would be gone for this long. they thought they would be back within three days. so they are heartbroken. >> animal rescue teams spent days scouring the hardest hit areas. rescuing thousands of animals. in new jersey 200 pets are in a temporary shelter run by the humane society of the united states. many animals here are accounted for. but since not all evacuation

shelters allow pets it may be some time before their owners can reclaim them. >> we're going to reunite you in a second. >> some are waiting patiently. >> daddy missed you so much. my baby boy. >> others a little less patiently. >> then there are the four-legged survivors without owners, like max, who survived after a tree fell on him. tragically that tree killed his owner and her friend. >> we didn't think he was going to make it for the first 48 hours, and then his strength and his will to live just really, really shone through, and now he's going to bring some comfort and joy to the parents who have really lost everything. >> the ascca is helping this group of displaced new yorkers and their pets move to an animal friendly shelter. >> not having your pet here would be like not having a family member here. >> have these guys and each other. >> happy reunions after a

harrowing ordeal, as people count their blessings in the midst of devastation and loss. >> that's what they always do. >> thanks to the efforts of the aspca and the humane society of the united states, more than 10,000 animals have been rescued and reunited with their owners and pet smart charities has also been very involved with this and i have to tell you, natalie, so incredible. these people i spoke with literally have nothing but the clothes on their back and they are smiling and their animals are safe and warm by their sides and that's all that they are so grateful for. >> a member of the family for sure. hope for many more happy reunions. thanks so much. >> and as we go to break, a look at willie's early days in broadcasting as we welcome him to the "today" family. back right after this. >> the retro jersey craze has been a windfall. you kids almost ready? i've got breakfast waiting for you. wooo! uh oh. what? mom's doing her exercise video again.

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>> yeah. willie geist. go-to play list. >> that's big daddy kane. >> yeah. you're big daddy willis. >> that's right. >> we are back with the big screen adaptation of the best selling novel "life of pi." pi patel, stranded at sea with a bengal tiger after a ship carrying the rest of his family sikes. >> and famed bollywood actor portrays the adult version of pi. gentlemen, good morning. >> good morning, hello. >> i want to start with you because your story and your road

to this film is an incredible one. you didn't even go to audition for this part, and yet you got it. how did it happen? >> i basically just went with my brother, and i guess, you know, the costume director, he knows me and my family for a while, so he said, you know what, you should just audition. just audition so i did, and i didn't expect anything. things went on callback, callbacks and then i had to meet ang in bombay. >> and you said you went with your brother on the promise of a free lunch was the only reason you went. >> yeah. >> subway? >> and you play the older pi as he grows up. >> yeah. >> and has survived this shipwreck. did you guys talk at all? i mean, obviously you're not in any scenes together, but did you talk about how you wanted to portray this? >> we just talked, and, you know, he decided that he's going to cast my younger version and

that's the only day we met. after that we didn't meet. we are meeting after that. we never talked in the middle of the film. >> and you're on camera for a really the first half of the movie. you're the only human on camera. got to be like a lot of pressure? >> no? >> great confidence. >> it's like this, you know. if you're working with someone like ang and with the crew we worked with, and everybody -- and although i didn't get to spend time with him, it's just you don't feel any pressure, you know, because you're all in together. you feel a sense of, you know, family. >> "the film opens nationwide november 21st. back after your local news. thank you. she loves it. nintendo 3ds xl! nailed it. dad, i'm actually totally satisfied and have no complaints. ho, ho, ho! so smart with your money! plus free shipping at target.com.

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full of soothing essentials at kleenex.com. kleenex®. america's softest tissue. 9:26 on this monday, november 12. montgomery firefighters trying to figure out what started this fire in dierksen, maryland. the home was engulfed in flames. we're told it is a total loss. no one was hurt. good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. the forecast now. >> we're in the 50s now. later today, climbing into the 60s. the outlook showing a chilly pattern after today. probably get some rain late tonight into tomorrow morning. then drying out after that. cold mornings on wednesday all the way into the weekend and chilly afternoons. we could get some showers on sunday. aaron. >> all right, thank you, tom. we'll look at the roads right after

good morning. traveling in our area, the beltway looks excellent. not seeing any accidents. very light volume.

heading into virginia, nice and clear. look as you make your way on braddic towards the inner loop and outer loop, no accidents to robert. >> don't forget, tune in to n

another of willie geist's go-to playlist through his taste in music. a little mumford & sons to kick off the day here. >> one of those you can't get out of your head. hit repeat, repeat. >> a little rock and now a little folksy, a mix of everything. >> we try to go broad. >> i've seen "phantom of the opera" seven times in my life so i have that banging around in my head somewhere, not that i'm going to sing them. >> that and "les miz" on my

playlist. scene, last time one direction took over rockefeller plaza, that there it is, and can you bet it's going to be even bigger and better tomorrow if the lines around the block since thursday are any indication. you should see all the teenage girls outside. they have been there for days just waiting for the boys from britain, and they will be here live. >> coming down sixth avenue. and going up 52nd. >> well, they are going to be here. that's tomorrow on "today." it's going to be mayhem and pandemonium. >> mayhem and pandemonium. >> took a picture of that line, you wonder about the kids, how many days of school are they missing to wait in line? >> oh, willie, you killjoy. >> just saying, priority. >> parents point of view. i'm natalie morales along with al roker and al roker and willie geist on his first day as well. >> welcome. coming up, if your man needs a little style help we've called in the experts from "gq" to help update your guy's look with the latest trends. >> and willie, of course,

showing that travels on our stomach and a lesson on how to get scotch eggs, scotch in the eggs. >> hoping so. >> or eggs from scotland. >> or oatmeal as well, breakfast power for you. >> great april bloomfield is going to whip those up for us. >> nice. >> fantastic. >> a check of the weather. let's seve got as far as your week ahead. about normal temperatures along the east coast. western two-thirds of the country below normal temperatures. wet weather in the mississippi river valley. rain in the pacific northwest. midweek, chillier conditions here. warmer, western two-thirds of the country. the latter part of the week, we've got rain along the west coast. about normal temperatures. above normal temperatures out west. more normal conditions in the northeast. new england, gulf coast and on into texas. here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> increasing clouds from the west. good morning. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist

tom kieran. we have temperatures into the mid-50s much of the region. we'll climb into the 60s later today with the clouds rolling in ahead of a front that will likely bring some showers by late tonight and during the morning rush hour. it does look like on tuesday, much of the warning looking wet tomorrow. then in the afternoon, we'll get some sun back. but highs only in the 40s to near 50 tomorrow. the chill remains for the rest of the and that's your latest weather. >> all right. thank you, al. coming up next, how to update your man's style? but first willie's style on ice. we'll be right back. >> take a little poetic dance around the ice here. right here. >> i'm in manhattan. this year is pennsylvania, okay. pennsylvania. from bank of america. i choose the cash back deals in my mobile or online banking. i just use my bank of america debit or credit card when i pay. put in my account. this is cash back on top of other rewards we already get.

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you know, on "morning joe," you know he's a man of style. >> i think they do know that, al. means a lot coming from you. the knit tie and the pocket square, got it all. we all could learn a thing or two from the stylish folks at "gq." will welch is the editor and "gq, the style guide," looking your best and succeeding in the world." good morning. >> good morning. >> what's the overriding philosophy for guys who want a little makeover? >> the number one thing is not worry too much about getting fan fancy. really nail the basics especially in the business environment. >> for us cleaning up. bay a laugher, soap and you're done, but there's alittle bit more going on. >> you should spend more money on some things, face wash isn't one of them. cefaphil, 10 bucks in the drug store, cleans the oil off your face in the morning, number one. >> what have we got here. >> a little hair product, use it this morning and use it every

day. gives you shine and lets you style your hair without looking like you're on "jersey shore." >> not worried about that. >> eye de-puffer. >> had a couple of drinks. >> never. >> or didn't get enough sleep and got a little bags going under your eyes, a little stick and rub it under your eyes and off it goes. >> none of that is terribly expenseive. >> 20 buck skwlz let's move on to suits. >>yeah. >> what should we be thinking about? >> value and versatility. this is 399 from suit supply. three years ago you could not get a suit this nice for 399 bucks. the versatility part, a simple pale gray shirt, change the shirt, tie and shoes you can wear this a couple of times a wake. >> gingham shirts, been around for a couple of worse. >> important to get away from blue and gray every week. >> ties are getting thinner? >> getting thinner. >> do you like that, al? >> not for a chunky guy.

>> you can get away with these. this one tie here, you know the difference between a guy who just gets dress in the morning and a guy who has great style is someone who dresses seasonally. this wool tie is for fall and winter. the heavier weight tie keeps everything in proportion. >> what about combination, people worry about this. what kind of tie? say i've got a gingham shirt, is there a rule? >> a shirt like that with purple, don't want patterns clashing with patterns, but in general guys worry about that too much. more goes together than guys think. >> how about outer wear? >> yeah, this is really important. one thing that every man needs is a top coat. you know, you see guys wearing north face jacket and the tails of the suit are hanging out below it. don't be that guy. >> don't be that guy. >> wear the proper top coat. this is banana republic, $275, and the key is it will go with every suit in your wardrobe. don't want a top coat that goes only with certain suits. >> al's got to cover this

beautiful dome of his. what about up top? >> winter accessories, hats, gloves, scarves. >> this unone screams willie. >> chose that one just for him. >> the pom-pom hat. >> the key to the pom-pom hat. >> make this work. >> i can't, but you can. >> just need some curled shoes. world's tallest lab. >> is this in the setup my first day. these are cool. these are in. >> could i look any dorkier? >> my boss is going to fire me if i walk in like that and think i'm nuts. >> what about the casual look? >> well, this is the workout look. you know, if you want to see some scary style, go to the gym. >> oh, yeah. >> you know. >> got guys in pit-stained fraternity shirts and guys in allen iverson shorts. this is how you think you should dress at the gym at "gq." keep it simple. not a lot of logos. not a lot of fabric getting in the way.

our model all-star intern. >> looking good, george. >> american apparel shirt, plain, no logo, nike shows. >> in pit stains. >> please, no pit stains. >> will welch, thanks so much. >> and we're going to be cooking up something special for willie up in the kitchen as we get to know him better and try to embarrass him as much as possible on his first official day, but first these messages. >> hmm, deep fried. me... thinking my only option was the vial and syringe dad used. and me... discovering once-daily levemir® flexpen. flexpen® is prefilled. doesn't need refrigeration for up to 42 days. no drawing from a vial. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery... my way. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes and is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis. do not use levemir® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. the most common side effect is low blood sugar,

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this morning in "today's kitchen," foods to get me through my long mornings here on the show. april bloomfield is author and owner of a restaurant here in new york and co-author of "a girl and her pig." >> good morning. >> last time we were talking we were breaking down an entire pig. >> huge pig. >> nose to tail. not going to do that this

morning. >> making some scotch eggs because i heard you were a busy man. these are great to go on the go. >> nutmeg and a little bit of sage. this is a sausage wrapped around a soft boiled egg and the most amazing thing. >> scotch eggs, don't want to know, is there scotch involved, and if not why not? >> only when you talk scottish so just give that a little stir and we're going to form a patty. just grab that. great. >> you're a natural. >> all right. >> put it on your hand and flatten it out into a pancake. >> a bit more lake that. what all is in mere meat-wise is this. >> sausage meat, a little bit of sage and a little bit of nutmeg. once you got it in like this. put your egg in and then wrap the sausage around the egg. >> these have been soft boiled already. >> about six minutes. >> in england they used to come very hard boiled, and can you eat them cold which is amazing, have them at picnics. could you make this and have it after you've done your segmentist know you start quite

early. >> not just for breakfast. bring these at any>> exactly. >> want to coat that. that will help the breadcrumbs thick so throw it into the breadcrumbs once shape is into a night little ball. getting a little messy here but that's part of the fun. >> cooky is fun and messy. and drop it. have a spoon here. we'll drop it in a spoon and will gently drop this in the fryer. set at 350, takes about eight minutes. fridge rate them, make them the night before, fry them or bake them in the oven here. >> eat them had the or cold. >> i like both because i like a little of everything. >> okay. >> i don't know about you. >> i do. tell me about your cooking philosophy, because you sort of made a name for yourself with dishes like this. how do you describe your style? >> kind of earthy. i kind offully the between a little italian and a little british, so, you know -- i like everything. i like spices and, you know,

english food and everything. >> english food used to have a bad reputation. >> it did. >> but thanks to people like you no more. >> listen, so we're going to crack this open and it should be kind of nice and soft boiled. you see that. >> that looks pretty sexy, doesn't it? >> yes, it does. >> we'll sprinkle a wee bit of salt. >> you're really getting scottish here. >> can you do a scottish accent? >> a wee bit of salt. might have been australia. >> get a little bit of sage. >> oh, my gosh. >> look at that. oh, that's beautiful. and a little porrige on the side. >> another thing you can do on go, make a big batch of porridge, warm it up with milk, put it on the stove or microwave. this is great because it produces slow energy so it's kind of nice and gradual. >> beautiful. >> you'll be set for the day. >> scotch eggs, a little porridg

sg >> hoda and kathie lee in a trivia contest. >> oh, boy. trivia contest. >> oh, boy. >> kyou know how much grandma

wanted to be here for your fist christmas? you see grandma lives waaaay down here, and you live way up here. brian, your cousin, he's a little bit older than you, he lives here, in chicago. and your aunt lisa lives here, in baltimore. uncle earnie? waaay out in hawaii. but don't you worry, we will always be together for christmas. [ male announcer ] being together is the best part of the holidays and cheerios is happy to be part of the family.

you just ate dallas! oh, a little stones on willie's playlist. very nice. "gimme shelter," extending an official welcome to our new co-host today. want to know more about willie geist and what better way than a friendly competition all about willie. >> that's right. >> so kathie lee and hoda, we asked them to partake and help us along. they will be asking the questions. al and i will be competing against each other. willie, you're here to observe. >> why am i here? >> you're the fact checker. >> got it. >> i have a terrible feeling about this. >> no, no, no. >> let's get started. >> who do you think is -- >> natalie is going to clean up. >> absolutely.

>> question one. here's question one. hit your buzzers when you have the correct answer. here it is. where did willie meet his wife? >> no, let me do, the a, b, c. >> got it in the piece. >> it was in middle school, sixth grade. >> whose classroom, what was the school? >> home room. >> willie said home room. >> what was the school? >> oh. >> we don't have to name the school. >> elementally school. >> middle school. >> george washington middle school in ridgewood, new jersey. >> nobody got that one. >> give that one to natalie. >> why are you giving that to natalie? >> all the details except the name of the school. >> how was it meeting your wife at that young age? >> i was 11 so i don't remember a lot about it. >> don't remember. >> i do, actually. >> that wasn't the word i used at the time. >> said it was love at first sight. >> and i went back and proposed to her in the same classroom 20 years later. >> that's an interesting question. >> you do the next one. >> okay. all righty. in high school willie was a member of the following two

teams. chess and debate, football and basketball. >> swimming. >> got to give that one to al even though you are cheating. >> al roker gets. >> didn't say we had to wait until the end of the question. >> willie's team won the 1991 new jersey state football championship. he was robbed of a touchdown in the title game victory by an official's horrible call. >> great research. >> who was the official? >> his name was joe scarborough. >> we've got a 1-1 tie. okay. >> here we go. question three, when willie sits down at night for a drink or two, and we know something about that? >> what does he have? >> does he have a cold beer. >> we know. >> from london, bourbon. >> kentucky bourbon. >> who came up with these questions. >> and i can tell what you natalie likes from london, too. >> everything. >> whatever is in front of her. >> whatever is put in front of her, exactly right.

>> two for natalie, one for al. >> tie it up, baby. willie majored in college in political science, but what was his minor, geology, french, russian literature or finger painting? >> natalie. >> russian literature. >> finger painting, it sounds funny. >> you were both wrong. >> the correct answer, en. fr francais. >> we're in america. >> he even lived abroad in provenc sgle what's the score, 2-1? >> question five. when willie was a boy, he sent -- >> still a boy. >> postcards from family vacations to which of his heros. are they, a, michael jackson, b, knicks star patrick ewing, yankees slugger dave winfield or hulk hogan. >> dave winfield. >> you're good.

>> he wrote dear winfield postcards to keep the baseball star up to date on willie's summer vacation. >> i was very young so i would write dear winfield, played mini golf and made a hole in one and sent to to yankee stadium. >> why did you think dave winfield would care? >> because i was 7. >> it is 2-2. >> i love it. >> and it's 2-2. >> tiebreaker. >> age. >> how old is willie geist? >> i'd say 39. >> and al roker? >> 41. >> and the correct answer is 37. >> natalie. >> i was -- i said 39. >> if i go over, nobody wins. >> one more. >> what are the names of willie's children? >> he said it in the piece. >> they are girls. >> that's a tough one. >> they are girls. >> i know his wife's name

christina. >> that's not the question, natalie, and thank you. >> oh, okay. >> your girls names. >> lucy and george. >> yeah. >> i think nat mo wins. >> why don't you take the bourbon, al. >> you're the yankees winfield fan so, willie, this is your gift basket which is way too heavy. >> for me. >> i'll take it off your hands. >> objection everyone. >> congratulations and welcome, my friend. >> here you go, will. >> to a long and prosper out relationship. >> cheers. >> thank you. >> hoda and kathie lee back after your local news and weath weather.

9:57 is your time now on this monday, november 12. good morning. a man is in the hospital after being pulled from the casino canal. firefighters pulled him from the water around 11:00 last night. it is not clear how he fell into the canal. at last check, he was listed in critical condition. let's check the forecast now. meteorologist tom kieran is at the storm center. good @(t&háhp &h% >> we have clouds closing in, ahead of a cold front that will likely trigger some showers this evening and into tomorrow

morning. right now, the rain is into ohio and kentucky and it's advancing slowly east. and before that ought to climb into the mid to upper 60s and then tomorrow after the rain ends in the morning, we'll get some sun back in the afternoon and chilly the rest of the week into the weekend. >> i-56 had a crash. it was blocking at least one lane. it looks like lanes are open now. let's talk about lanes inside 66 because you're slow from the beltway. about 14 miles per hour. >> it's wedding week on news 4 midday. we'll look at the latest trends for fall weddings.

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1-a in rockefeller plaza. hey, everybody. it's funday monday, beginning a brand new week around here. big, big day november 12th. it's willie geist's first day here. >> hence the champagne. >> that's right. we love him. he's already brought a great energy to the 9:00 and we're really, really happy. >> there's a lot of happy people outside rockefeller center. >> we're not sure we've seen this quite so far in advance.

>> one republic is coming. usually doesn't start sunday night for a concert on tuesday. it stretches all the way down the block. usually a day or two in advance people come. sara haines is outside with these folks. hey, sara. >> this line wraps all the way around and up about four blocks. right now i'm here with a bunch of girls from pennsylvania that have been here since saturday, but you went home, can you tell us about that? >> we had a field hockey tryout, so it was mandatory. >> you took the bus back, then your mom and dad -- >> yeah, we took a bus back yesterday morning, got home around 11:00, our tryout was over around 5:00, we showered and my parents held us back. >> the mom that held the place by herself for the whole day, mom of the year maybe? >> thank you. i brought them in on saturday, stayed here all day yesterday so they'd have a place to come back

to, then i stayed again. >> why? >> because she's going away next year, she's my fourth child, so why not? >> a great mom. that sounds like something kathie would do for kat. >> i hope she's not hearing that. never would have happened in my house. >> i can't believe it. supposed to be a little rain, but you know what, when they are in love, they are in love. they are dedicated. >> we see this thing for one star, like a justin bieber, there were four of these gorgeous mygirls. exponen exponentially, the love. if you stand in a line and don't shower and all%qrthat, why woul they be interestedxñ in you whe they finally see you, you know what i'm saying? they are going to see you and you're going to look bad, smell bad. i guess it's not about that. it's about being there. >> when you're oozing love. there's going to be a lot of happy young girls too, because

apparently justin bieber is back on the market. >> big news on nbc. he's 18, she's 20 now. they were spotted apart, and, you know, these things happen. first of all, you know what, if i were either one of their parents and met her mother and his mother, i would be glad. >> they are young. >> very young. it's time to grow up and experience new things. >> you never know, too, they could be in a -- they've had their down periods and blips. they may be back together. >> it could be. we've heard glimmerings. >> we have. how's your weekend, by the way? >> my weekend was fascinating, actually. you know, i've been writing my show, i'm not the only author on the thing, i don't want to take credit for the whole thing. but for 12 years, it's been a 12-year journey. >> can we point out ts show finally is opening for real this thursday. so this thursday, the show opens. it's opening night. how are you feel something.

>> it's just bizarre. we are now in press performances, which means the critics are actually there, so they don't want authors to be there during that time. it was bizarre on friday night at 5:00 p.m., that was the last moment i could have anything to do with my baby. i could change a word, couldn't put in a new scene after 12 years, and i was just numb. my sister and her family came to see it saturday night, so i just came in on the end of our show after having come from another fantastic show, which i'll tell you about in a second. and people were cheering, on their feet, they were clapping in the aisles. it's like what do you do, as a parent, you can no longer impact your child. >> that's it. >> the best news, hoda, i got home at 9:00 that night and my daughter walked in the house five minutes later after being in california for two months. >> how sweet. >> i could be okay about it, you know? >> looking forward to thursday. thursday's going to be fun.

>> i want to thank every single person who's come in from all over the country just to be there to see it. it blows me away every time. i am so grateful. very happy for my friend rupert holmes who wrote "the mystery of edwin drood." when i was kicked out of the matinee, i went over to see the mystery. rupert, my friend, made history when he won the tony for book, lyrics, and music for this some 27 years ago. right after i'd first come to new york. it stands up like crazy. you want a great time after you've seen "scandalous," go see it. it's got its opening night tomorrow night. it's just sensational. >> terrific. i went to l.a. >> hardest working woman next to al roker, who is a man. >> i interviewed christina aguilera. i was in her house with her dog. >> and her house is where the

osbornes used to live. >> that's us cozied up on the couch. her dog nugget kept invading on the interview, i liked him. >> that's for "dateline" this coming friday. >> for "dateline." >> got to say this one thing, hoda, got to. last friday, frank was honored as hometown hall of famer in bakersfield, california. they've been asking him to come out and do it -- >> how cute is he? >> darn cute. >> a lot of young people and young stars. >> i wasn't there, so i have no idea what he's saying, but the kids were all really impacted by him being there. he was inducted into the pro football hall of fame in 1977, but even though he lived in 39 different places when he was growing up, because they were very poor, his father was an oil worker, they went to the work. he was a depression baby. he's always called bakersfield his home, because 39 places

before he got to bakersfield and actually got to go to high school the full four years there. he wants to thank the town of bakersfield and the drillers from bakersfield high. he looked really handsome. >> he did. we have to talk about general petraeus, it's a really big deal. anyway, this came out over the weekend, i guess, it happened friday. >> we first heard about it the day after the election. >> right, anyway, general petraeus stepped down. it's an interesting story on so many levels. >> if you're not personally involved, i guess. it's tragic if you're personally involved. >> there's a story of the general and his biographer having an alleged affair. >> he's admitted it, i don't know about her. >> you wonder, it seems there are so many men, powerful men, who end up in this kind of a situation. >> yes. >> telling this kind of a story. >> it's almost like the end of

our show, she sings what does it prophet a man if you gain the whole world and lose your soul. you get to that epitome of fame and fortune and success and you make a decision that is so disastrous to your entire life legacy that the whole world sort of looks at you and goes, what were you thinking? >> what was going on? >> if you think about it, we were talking about it in the make-up 7l/ñroom, last week lan armstrong, the week before that, arnold schwarzenegger. it's not always men, it's women as well. >> i feel so sorry for his wife, for a lot of reasons. number one, they've been married for many, many years. number two, she's moved with him 20 times. she's following him, uprooting, bonding and severing with friends. probably don't have that strong of a social network because you move so many times. that's kind of a sacrifice. also, to read your husband's book, to read the parts about your wedding and your

relationship with him must have been really sickening. anyway, now there's another person involved, another woman from tampa who's involved. >> no alleged affair, but she was getting very threatening e-mails from broadwell, and so it's a long convoluted story, of course, which you can follow in the newspapers, but there's a lot yet to come out. the alleged mistress's father says there's more to it. we don't know what happened in benghazi. >> this is the one kind of a thing if it happens to someone, they automatically say, okay, i got to step down. it's interesting how an affair is the thing that is the undoing. a lot of people have done a lot of terrible things in their lives, but for some reason when you have an affair, it's instant, you have to go. >> i have met his wife, holly, it was a dinner for the wounded warriors foundation out in greenwich, and she's a beautiful, beautiful, very faith-based woman. if she indeed feels her husband

has repented and truly wants forgiveness for this, i have a feeling she's the kind of woman who's going to stand by him. they always say once you see your pastor, second time you see your lawyer. let's see. we wish the family all the best. inspite of it, we can't let one episode define a person's life. we hope we remember this man's incredible service to our nation and hope we get somebody in the cia that knows what we're doing. we have never been at more danger in the whole scheme of things worldwide than we are today. we keep having great people drop like flies, we're running out of them. >> we sure are. let's give a kiss to our veteran, shall we? this is cool. they are coming together and want to send postcard kisses to our troops. the idea is get a blank postcard like this, which we have, then you kiss it. >> ready?

>> uh-huh. >> make it a nice kiss, not a nasty kiss. i know you. >> yours is good. mine you can't really see. >> anyway, then you send them. >> mine has a oogde. where can they get these, hoda woman? >> i don't know. somewhere dot com-ish. anyway, favorite things, shall we? can i tell you something, there's secret deodorant, then there's secret deodorant. this is the eucalyptus blossom, one of the natural mineral ones. it's $45 -- >> $45? >> $4 to $5. >> smells great. >> it's minerals, i don't know, it works. i'm into it. $4. >> all right, mine is called fontas green apple throat lozanges. >> are they good? >> yeah, i'll let you have them.

these are people that were in the broadway world. they now teach theater down in texas, but they know what it's like -- >> shoot. >> it's a brand new one. we haven't opened it yet. they know what it's like to do eight shows a week on broadway. once you get it open, try one of these, they are really, really great. really refreshing, really soothing. all natural, all that good stuff. aren't they good? >> love it. >> sara, what do you have? >> my favorite thing this week is hickeys and what they are is a rubber lacing system. rather than dealing with bows and tying, they are $19.99 for a pair with both shoes at hickeys.com. then i also did something really fun this weekend. >> what did you do? >> they come in pink. but this weekend i was able to host the gala for the friends of scott foundation. that was the one i did where they raise money and throw a prom for kids going through cancer treatment. >> i love this, yeah.

>> really neat event, that's carmen, the mom of scott who passed away. one life and she's making a difference to so many. >> what you said to us this morning in the make-up room about how nothing seems normal when you grow up a sick child. >> what i heard over and over from these kids is you just want normal. you can't pay for health, but you can donate and give normal. it was in san diego, yeah. >> thank you, sweetheart. she's one of hollywood's most hilarious and talented and crazy women. >> and successful. whitney cummings, we're going to chat with her. >> i'm skairted. hershey's bliss.

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we are back now on this funday monday and comedian whitney cummings is becoming one of hollywood's it girls. we love her. she's executive producer, star, and writer of the nbc hit sitcom called "whitney," which kicks off season number two this week. >> last week whitney almost walked down the aisle, but they decided to do something more permanent than a marriage certificate, so take a look. >> wake up. are you sure you want to be a roomie forever and ever and ever? >> i do. >> me too.

>> you know, mine itches. those that too needles did not look good. there's a very strong possibility that i have hepatitis. >> that means we have hepatitis. >> and what's more romantic than that? great to see you. >> hi, ladies. >> you are burning every candle at every end, and you look like a schoolgirl fantasy. >> a friend just told me i looked like slutty harry potter. trying to get that demo. >> only demo you don't have. >> trying to get those viewers. >> talk about season two. it's very exciting. >> it's very exciting, chris, of course, is on the show. he's more stonery than ever, hairier and more stonerry. >> why do you love the man that's stonery and hairy? >> i'm into it. i feel i can take care of him. i like having rug burn on my

face at all times. it's cool. it's good. we now have sort of committed to each other and play around and are in a committed couple. >> you're not married. >> we are in our traditional way. >> why are you lying about it? >> i'm a pathological liar, it's what works for me. >> you are writing every episode. please, have a drink. >> this dress is making me feel like i need to drink more. >> you're writing it too. hard to think about enough hours in a day, then we're going to talk about a talk show you're going to start up too. >> i'm on your heels, talk show too, sleep with one eye open. >> we're scared. >> i have amazing writers that help me out and come in with stories and stuff. our process is the writers tell us embarrassing stories and we make a story about it. someone comes in and says one time i was crying and my boyfriend got a boner. we're doing a show about that. we're doing a show about that. >> if i had a dollar for --

never mind. >> every time i cried. and someone came in they found out their boyfriend had faked it in bed. i was like, well, that's an episode too. >> is that true? >> yeah. >> how does she know? >> he was drunk. i think that was the problem. i was like we got to talk about that. i don't think nbc reads their scripts, because we are getting away with crazy stuff this year. >> what about the talk show? it's a weekly show? >> once a week show on e! >> perfect. >> chelsea handler is producing it, wherever she is. >> we have a question, tiny question. >> we have a boner to pick with her today. a bone to pick with her today. >> she was going to be here, then she got ill. >> i have an announcement to make, chelsea's dead. so sorry. she was out in new york last night, who knows what happened.

>> let's see if she shows up on jimmy fallon tonight. >> if i hold this up, i'm sure she'll come running, if we hold up the vodka. >> who are your guests going to be on the talk show? >> a lot of guests, will ferrell so far is doing it, jimmy kimmel. i want to have interesting guests, too, like malcolm gladwell, cool, sort of more cerebral people. >> you might have to think. >> i might have to learn to read before we start doing this talk show, but we're hooked on phonics, devry online, phoenix online. >> what were you like as a child, did your parents try to -- >> my parents didn't do anything, they didn't try at all. >> there you go. they did nothing. >> we're excited. >> see how important good parenting is? >> we're excited for your second season and talk show. >> thank you, love you ladies so, so much. >> "whitney" tonight, wednesday,

8:00/7:00 central. could it be you? >> probably not. >> we'll reveal our fan of the week. and curtis stone is here and tv's melissa francis, as well. first, these messages. caroline penry began using olay total effects in 2001. since then, there's been one wedding, 2 kids, and 43 bottles of olay total effects. so in spite of 185 tantrums 378 pre-dawn starts and a lot of birthdays, caroline still looks amazing. you can challenge what's possible thanks to the trusted performance of olay. 60 years, millions of women, real results. [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. ♪ werther's original caramels.

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holly musick from texas. tunes in on krm channel 4. a stay at home mom who insists she watches the fourth hour the way only real fans do, in her jammys. cuddles up with her son to watch the -óshow. they look forward to seeing our favorite things. she thinks if you saw her son, he might make your favorite things list. coffee tastes better in her kathie lee and hoda mug, we would agree. congratulations, holly, we are sending you to jacksonville, florida. you'll enjoy a three-night stay. also includes breakfast, 60-minute spa treatments, and round-trip airfare for two. >> jacksonville's a wonderful city. miami, tampa get more oppressed, but jacksonville is a wonderful town. nothing better to warm you

up on a cold night than comfort food. >> i can think of something. >> there he is, curtis stone is here. melissa francis spills juicy details. >> this is a great, great book. plus, bobbie thomas is around with things that make you go hmmm. you, hang up first. no, you!! [ female announcer ] after school, get to pizza pleasin' faster than mandy can hang up on mr. monday. you hang up first. [ female announcer ] in just 60 seconds, you've got snack-defying, satisfying totino's pizza rolls. [ ringing ] it's on. let's roll.

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that you actually get it. when you can see blades of artificial grass in their full glory, you get it. or the first time you download a 2-hour movie in 2 minutes, you get it. because once you've got it, you get it. [ female announcer ] it's faster. it's better. so, what are you waiting for? switch to fios tv, internet and phone for just $84.99 a month for a year with no annual contract. or get this great price and $300 back with a two-year agreement. fios brings you the best tv picture quality and internet ranked the fastest in the nation. it's 100% fiber optic, 100% different from cable. switch to fios for our best price online -- just $84.99 a month for a year with no annual contract. or get this great price and $300 back with a two-year agreement. go to got2getfios.com today. that's got2getfios.com. and see why millions have chosen fios over cable. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.

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back now with more of "today" on this funday monday. when she was nine years old, she landed a role on one of the most popular and beloved shows of all time, "little house on the prairie." >> today she's the host of her own business show on fox and author of "diary of a stage mother's daughter." >> first of all, congratulations. something good has come out of the makeup room all those hours. that's where you were writing this, right? >> i don't know if i can do this, i have two shows after this. this is the end of your day. >> that's all right. >> i read this, you gave it to me early. if you want a book that you

can't put down, i mean whether you know melissa or not, it's an incredible page turner, it's wrenching, and it's also uplifting. it's about your relationship with your mom pretty much. >> it is, it is. it's a story i've kept private my whole life, my husband and friends were all shocked when they read the book. even from them they were completely shocked. it's something i held really close. >> why, hon? >> embarrassing. if you have a tough childhood, first of all, you don't want to relive it and it's painful and embarrassing to talk about my family comes to a painful and explosive end. it's hard to talk about it. i have a 2-year-old and 6-year-old son and my husband asked if my husband's mom was my mom too, and the way i said it, he didn't ask a follow-up question. and i realized i wasn't ready to talk to him about that, but i needed to get ready. >> you grew up with a stage mother who was always there

to -- but not there the way a nurturing mother would be. >> i think what it it really comes down to is when i read "tiger for some kids like my sister who didn't respond and succeed. >> there's a scene where you and your mom and sister are driving down the street and she laps her and leaves her standing on the roadside. >> it happened so many times, it was a punishment and i had sort of always waited for my day, you know, i knew the day was coming when i would get that. i watched my sister sort of

amble along the side of the road, so pathetic, so humiliated so many times. sorry, so emotional. i thought when my time comes, i'm not -- it's not going to be the same. that's one of the scenes in the book, i go and hide so that when my mom comes back around the corner, i'm not there any longer. i thought, i'm different. >> you've been hiding all these years from this. does it feel -- do you have regrets? we reached out to your mom for a comment, she did not get back to us. >> she saw you on one of your shows. >> i took my show out to fox live and she showed up and confronted me. she grabbed me very fiercely and i was that little kid that she threw head first down the stairs all over again. and i just -- but, you know, the real reason why i wrote the book is i think there are a lot of people out there who have had

tough times in there past. even people who read the book, i have the same story and it's different. it's not at all similar, but they are relating to this idea i've had tough times in my past, but today is the first day of the rest of my life and i choose a different path. i choose to live life differently. one day i woke up and thought if i'm ever going to be happy and have a family of my own, i have to end this cycle and stop. >> it is a beautiful book. it's heart warming at the end. you're on a high at end. anyway, we wish you such good luck with this book. >> and peace. >> thank you, thank you. now i need this drink. >> okay. thank you, honey. one pot meal to warm you up. i think they meant hot. >> one pot. >> it's got one pot? >> it's made in a pot. >> anyway, curtis after this. [ female announcer ] there are lots of different ways to say get well to your loved ones. ♪

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it helps to have people around you... they say, you're much bigger than this. and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. [ humming ] [ babbling ] the cheerios bandit got you again? [ both laugh ] ♪ the one and only, cheerios back now. we are cooking with curtis today, our favorite celebrity chef from down under, mr. curtis stone. >> he's making chicken pot pie and celebrating the one-year birthday of his little boy just last week.

how are you? >> awesome, awesome. >> we're ready for comfort food, my friends. >> what are we making? >> in here i put in some veggies. we're making a thing pot pie, simplest thing in the world. sprinkle in some flour, onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips, turnips. >> beautiful fall vegetables. >> these are what you see at the farmers market all over the place, this is how you use them. the great thing about this, if you're cooking for your family and worried about them not getting their veggies in, put them into their same dishes. >> not getting the nutrients and vitamins and stuff? >> no, you cook them until just tender. this is chicken sauce, a little bit of wine. this is a family dish. speaking of wine, though, a nice chardonnay. >> aren't you nice? >> thank you, thank you. >> then you can do all milk or do a combination of milk and cream, which is what i'm doing.

>> uh-oh, there goes hoda. >> i'll taste it for you, hoda. >> excellent. >> you're on a diet? >> you sip your wine. >> that's okay. >> bring this to the boil, all right, what happens is this flour thickens up with milk and cream. >> how long do you simmer it? >> 15 minutes, until you get to this consistency, depending how hard. >> already cooked chicken? >> already cooked chicken. turn it off, you don't even have to heat this through, just mix it together. >> then you're going to bake it in a pastry shell, right? >> you are, going to put the pastry over the top. i'm impressed. doesn't happen often. once in awhile. >> once in awhile i do my homework. >> so delicious. >> instead of putting it into ramekins or dishes, this is what i do. >> look what's happening here. >> get yourself egg and milk, just brush the edges like this so it's going to stick to your actual pot.

we're going to cook this in the pot. when i say one-pot chicken pie, i mean it. it's all done in the same pan. >> what are you doing? >> pick this up and flip it. >> right in the same skillet? stop it. don't stop it, finish it. >> all the way over. let the steam escape. >> exactly. >> okay. >> then you put the whole thing into the oven. >> brush it with a little more egg wash. >> brush all that. >> bake it for how long, sweetie? >> until the pastry is done, about 25. >> look. >> thank you. >> look at that. >> all steamy and delicious inside. >> perfect fall dish. >> wow, delicious! >> thank you, i will have to try it. i'll take one for the team, hoda. >> curtis, we love you. >> happy birthday to your little guy. for beauty friends you can sink your teeth into.

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that looks like bobbie. >> it is bobbie, it's her graphic. things that make you go hmm. >> from a bloody beauty trend to new ways to improve your happy hour. >> bobbie.com's bobbie thomas is here with us. >> we love you. >> i love you back. let's get started. the bloody beauty trend. have you heard about the vampire facelift? there are ladies going in to inject blood to get rid of the wrinkles, but if you don't want to go that far -- >> does it work? >> i don't know, haven't tried it. vampires seem to live forever, but a brand lots of celebrities love and they've come out with a blood serum for an under eye sort of treatment.

>> who's blood is in it? >> there's no blood in it, but it helps work with the blood. this is an interesting concept called blood concept. it's a perfume based on your blood type. you get the perfume. it's supposed to work with that. >> what's your blood type? >> i have a strange one, o-negative or something. i'm weird. i have something in my wallet that says what i am. >> lady gaga was talking about putting blood in her perfume, so there's a whole craze. you're going to love this next trend, it's about vaporizing your vices. a while back i talked about having chocolate and caffeine you can inhale. now you can inhale your alcohol without calories. >> thank you. finally, science you can use. >> this is a carafe you pour your alcohol in. >> you inhale it? >> you pour it out. in the studio, it's hard to catch it in the glass, but if you want to try. this is vodka. >> it is? >> this is vodka. >> ready, one, two, three.

>> i'm sorry, but you do feel that. >> oh, my gosh. >> that can be dangerous. >> crazy, i feel it. >> make sure you're an adult. >> i do too. >> it's all about this wafting technique, and david edwards was an aerosol scientist. >> my goodness. >> he also teamed up with philip starks. these are sprays, this is an alcohol spray. >> what did we come to? give me that. >> it takes all the calories out of it. this is the first look in the u.s., it's in europe right now. >> oh, my gosh. >> if that doesn't have you buzzing, we have booze-infused pizza from boston. these are 21-plus pies. the drunken boozy pig and other ones, but take a bite. >> it's not nice to call my cousins. >> taste it, it's delicious. >> hoda, you can't have it.

>> take the onions and soaked it in the alcohol. it's not enough to get you drunk, but it's something that's been really popular online and in this town. >> i can't taste anything from that. >> this is something i think you can appreciate. cynthia rally on the runway, i had to snag them. these are bangle flasks you can wear around your wrist. >> sad. >> gone too far, i love it. >> these are the things that make you go hmm. >> are you serious? >> very serious. you can pour this in. >> you can close it up. >> opening night thursday, baby, mama's wearing one of these. >> hoda is going to wear the other one. >> talk about fashion and function. >> that is funny. >> i have recently discovered h herbal florists. it's a glass slipper in brooklyn delivers hangover bouquets, so the next day you can have this by your bed to help you put away the nausea. it was more fragrant, because we've had it here for a while.

something fun in the bathroom to help men with their direction. you put it in the toilet and it helps little ones or bigger guys aim and they get points. >> everything's a game with them anyway. >> shoot straight. >> everything's a contest. >> and then -- >> that came 20 years too late for me and cody. >> we don't pee standing up, but to make us feel better about sitting down, toletta toilet covers you can put in your purse. i think it's smart in terms of a good "hmm." something you can take with you. last but not least, to make men feel more secure, these are men's briefs with garters that will clip on to their shirt so they can keep their shirt tucked in instead of it coming up. >> look at that, he was sitting on a chair and the plumber crack thing was happening. i wish i had those to give to him. thank you, bobbie.

lee woodruff is in the house with a terrific book. >> first, this is "today" on nbc.

in her debut novel, lee woodruff explores one family's attempts to cope with the secrets and sadness surrounding a tragic accident. >> the book is called "those we love the most." it's already hit the new york times best seller list. >> congratulations. it's really a gripping story. >> the way you start, too, you rattle the cage right when you start the book. for some, you might have worried it was offputting, but you decided to dive right in. tell us about it. >> when i started writing, a bad thing happens, a child dies, but it happens in the beginning. >> on the mother's watch. >> this is about what happens when you take the eye off the ball, literally. >> it can happen any time, any

place. >> things go on in marriages, but i got it out of the way, the bad thing's gone. not like we're in an oprah pick book where you fall in love with a character and they are dead three quarters of the way through. it's about the love of a family. >> what is it that sparked the idea, when was the germ for this book? >> the germ for this book was a real-life story in a town next to me where a little boy was hit by a 17-year-old boy. i got the phone call from the friend saying will you talk to the parents, he has a brain injury, they are desperate to talk to someone. similar to bob's. i thought look at all those lives that have been affected by that one moment somebody wasn't paying attention. my son at the time was 17, just about to look at colleges. i thought what happens to all of those people in a family? >> is that why you wrote the book? people are looking for something to fill them up. >> people want hope. >> they do. >> they want guidance in how they can deal with their

complicated relationships as well. >> i think people want to not feel so alone. that was something we learned from our experience, healing with bob. when you feel like the circus freak and the person at the soccer sidelines doesn't know what to say to you, you want that connectivity. you want to say, gosh, kathie lee and hoda's been through that too. >> how is bob doing, for folks who don't know? >> he's awesome. i'm grumpy with him this morning, because he wouldn't walk the dog. >> maybe the dog would walk him. >> you had quite an event the other night, great musicians came out for a cause near and dear to you. >> stand up for heros here in new york. first time we've live streamed it. anyone can see the show at remind.org. every year bruce springsteen has come for the last six years with his wife patty. we fly in 125 injured service members and their families, and they are the stars. >> you did great work. it was interesting to see you write a novel. >> this would be your first, among many, obviously. you got a great gift.

>> thank you, guys. thank you. and coming up tomorrow, andy cohen has the celebrity scoop. >> and some thanksgiving cooking. >> have an awesome funday monday, everybody. see you for boozeday tuesday. [ female announcer ] introducing yoplait greek 100.

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