You Look So Much Better in Person

May 18, 2020
Today cohost Roker (Ruthless Tide) recalls his 40-year broadcasting career in a sweet memoir sprinkled with homespun advice. A Queens, N.Y., native, Roker talks excitedly about working as a weekend weatherperson in Syracuse in the 1970s while still attending college; taking a job in Washington, D.C., then in Cleveland, Ohio, where he had his first weekday gig in a major market; and returning to N.Y.C. to work first at WNBC, the local news channel, then at the Today show. A self-described nerd who has a stuffed animal collection in his office, Roker specializes in light on-air banter, and the book’s tone mirrors his TV personality. He’s most amusing when he shares goofy career mishaps, like the time he wore contact lenses instead of eyeglasses during a broadcast and blinked so much that concerned viewers started calling in, or the one and only time he slept through his alarm and was almost late for his Today segment (the incident made the news the next day). Throughout, Roker shares innocuous bits of advice (always work hard, he stresses) and encouragement (“It doesn’t matter that you’re not the star; it matters that you’re part of the constellation”). This sunny, pleasant book is perfect for Roker fans or anyone in need of a quick pick me up.

Al Roker, the well-known "Today Show" cohost and weatherman, offers a career-centered memoir that also includes several humorous stories supporting his "Al-truisms"--suggested techniques for success. Despite decades of media experience, the narration is noticeably uneven. Principally, bleeping tones, familiar to listeners from television, are plentiful even within the same sentence for words that the listener can only assume are in place of words generally accepted to be curses, epithets, oaths, or otherwise objectionable. There are so many of these bleeps that listening is too often disjointed and confusing. Some passages are loud, perhaps for emphasis, but the rationale for the increased volume is not obvious. This is an otherwise charming series of reflections and suggestions that, sadly, suffers from its narration. W.A.G. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine