David Letterman's retirement announcement has me mourning the end of an era.  Before he was my favorite guy at 11:30pm, he was my favorite distraction at work at 9am back in 1980. It was the precursor to his "Late Night" show and was in fact the original third hour of Today, with Edwin Newman reading the headlines, and then joining Dave to kibitz about whatever was on Dave's mind and watch the "Stupid Pet Tricks" or whatever was Dave's bit that day.  I worked with Ed from time to time and...

From time to time I will comment on things and past present in the TV industry, including personal remembrances of my Zelig-like view of the famous, infamous, powerful and inspiring people I have met along the way.  Hope you enjoy.

I am a foodie.  It has to do with my Italian heritage. I learned from my mother how important it was to cook healthy food for your family.  No matter what my hours were, if I was home, I always made dinner. At Today, I loved doing food segments, meeting some of the great chefs, and sampling their dishes.  I actually made every recipe for the food segments I produced to see if it was doable for viewers. Along the way, I met one of my heroes, the legendary Marcella Hazan, who died last year at...