ABC’s Deborah Roberts (“20/20”) and NBC’s Al Roker (“The Today Show”) have been happily married for two decades. But perhaps the real test of their bond was collaborating on a new book, “Been There, Done That: Family Wisdom for Modern Times.” I spoke to both of them about the book. Here’s what they had to say:
Roberts: “We have such a different approach to things. Al wants to sit back and play ‘Words With Friends’ and my family always makes fun of me for being so controlling. We’re both very driven in network TV but in other things we’re clearly very different — taste in movies, food and exercise. Al said the two of us collaborating would be a recipe for disaster.”
Roker: “I have a very laissez-faire attitude about it all. The way it worked was that we didn’t write [the book] together — no good could have come from that.”
In “Been There, Done That,” Roberts and Roker — writing separate chapters — cover their respective upbringings (she in the segregated South, he in Queens) and topics including the realities of marriage, raising kids and encouraging their three children to pursue their dreams.
Roberts: “If anything we want the takeaway [of the book] to be that we’re just as imperfect as you are. We’re holding it together while figuring it out. While Al and I are different in so many areas of life, we do have some real nice magic between us and we work really hard trying to stay glued together and communicate and love each other.”
Roker: “We’re not saying, ‘Hey, do what we did.’ We’re not holding ourselves up like we’ve got the answers. We continue to change it up.”
Elsewhere on the news scene
Ch. 11 launches its new 6:30 p.m. weekday newscast this Monday, with PIX newbie Brenda Blackmon joining Kaity Tong at the anchor desk. It’s a return to weekdays for Tong, who’d been anchoring Ch. 11’s weekend newscasts for several years. “I didn’t have a co-anchor [on the weekend] — I like the back-and-forth — so I’m very excited about this newscast,” says Tong. “Brenda and I are two women of color of a certain age and have like 150 years of experience between us. I’d never worked with Brenda … but she’s truly one of the warmest people I know. We liked each other right away.”
Last, but not least:
Noonetime: SiriusXM’s Peter Noone (ex-Herman’s Hermits, of course) and Micky Dolenz share stories of their lives and careers in “Peter Noone In Conversation with Micky Dolenz” Thursday (The Space at Westbury, thespaceatwestbury.com), Friday (Tarrytown Music Hall, tarrytownmusichall.org) and Saturday (Memorial Auditorium, Montclair, NJ, montclair.edu). Brendan Gall, a writer/producer on NBC’s hit new series “Blindspot,” has written a play, “Wide Awake Hearts,” which begins performances Jan. 14 for a limited engagement at 59E59Theaters (E. 59th between Park and Madison). It’s directed by Stefan Dzeparoski and stars Clea Alsip, Maren Bush, Ben Cole and Tony Naumovski … The Lelands auction featuring items from “Saturday Night Live” (from former staffer Janine Dreyer) closes Friday (lelands.com) … NBC’s Hoda Kotb joins The Moms (Denise Albert, Melissa Gerstein) for a Mamarazzi event Friday (11:30 am.) at the Hunt & Fish Club (West. 44th). It’s for her new book, “Where We Belong: Journeys That Show Us The Way” … Donald Corren (Dr. Kurian on Syfy’s “Z Nation”) just returned to NYC from Syracuse Stage after receiving rave reviews for playing Captain Hook in “Peter Pan.” He’s got a new CD, “Away in A Hollow,” a story in rhyme for kids he wrote and recorded with the late theater icon Marian Seldes.