Deal, or no deal?

Here's a question for anyone who works in entertainment, or who is just as obsessed with pop culture as I am: What is up with the overly-gratuitous promotion of Fox's American Idol on NBC's Today Show?

There's the obvious question in my mind - why is NBC promoting a show on Fox? Don't they have shows of their own to promote? Aren't they, in a sense, driving viewers away from NBC programming over to Fox, at least on Tuesdays and Wednesdays? I checked the NBC schedule for both those days, and while I suppose I can see them skipping over promotions for Tuesday's Dateline and Deal or No Deal, it boggles my mind why they'd prefer to drive viewers away from the critically-acclaimed but ratings-challenged Friday Night Lights on Wednesday.

When the Today Show's Idol coverage started in excess last season, I thought maybe they were just trying to position themselves as frontrunners in pop culture. After all, they had started doing weekly segments with VH1/Viacom's Best Week Ever, so I thought they were trying to develop favor among a more youthful market. But BWE, which runs all weekend on cable, isn't a direct competitor or a threat to NBC. Fox, as the number four network, isn't exactly a threat, but I thought this kind of promotion was a basic no-no in the business.

Even if I could understand NBC promoting another network's show, I really don't understand the AMOUNT of promotion they are doing for it. I only heard bits and pieces in the background yesterday, but this morning, as they spent never-ending minutes "dogging" Randy Jackson and recapping last night's rejects butchering ballads, I got so annoyed I had to put the television on mute until the commercial break. While I did tune out towards the end, I would estimate that the entire segment lasted at least 7 minutes - which is huge. The average segment runs 4 to 6 minutes, and I don't think they even spend that long on The Apprentice. (Although they have certainly covered the Rosie and Donald war to death.)

I assume an exchange of money must have taken place for such superfluous coverage; however I am confused as to how that works with journalistic integrity and pay for play and all that. And if money isn't the issue, what on earth is NBC getting out of this deal?

On my drive to work this morning, I was turned to Ryan Seacrest, and who was he interviewing? Matt Lauer! What on earth does Matt have to offer KIIS listeners? Those of us who listen to the radio on our morning drive certainly aren't the audience for the upcoming fourth hour of Today. And a radio interview doesn't seem like a fair trade for two days of excessive coverage on the number one morning TV show.

What am I missing, people? (Besides a life...)