TV quick hits: Matt Lauer’s new deal; Chris Christie, Robert Pattinson, Hodor videos

Matt Lauer stays put – We begin here with something that few would have expected a couple of years ago, and that is another new contract for Matt at “The Today Show.”

According to the New York Times, Lauer’s contract was extended by a number of years, and will not expire in the months ahead as it first was. At one time, Lauer was one of the most-popular men in morning news, but times have changed since the very-public fallout over Ann Curry’s exit, and also the ratings rise of rival show “Good Morning America.” This move to us suggests that NBC is still happy with the ratings they are getting; otherwise, why pay a huge amount of money to a man who is only going to get you second place?

Late-night highlights – The comedy shows are really going all out right now to offer up cheesy entertainment, and you see that in a number of different forms. We start with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who performed “The Evolution of Dad Dancing.” This is a follow-up to an “Evolution of Mom Dancing” that Jimmy Fallon did with Michelle Obama, and there will most likely be some out there who claim that this is a deliberate attempt to rehab Christie’s image a little. We’re not a political analyst, so we won’t even start to speculate on that. Instead, let’s just say that it made us laugh.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel aired a pretty silly sketch recently placing Hodor from “Game of Thrones” into a round of “Family Feud,” and the results were basically just as you would expect. Hilarity ensued, even if it was just the same joke repeated many times over.

Finally, we close here with an interview between Kimmel and Robert Pattinson, which proved to us mostly that Rob is one of our favorite celebrity interviews. He is extremely candid, a little awkward, but often funny. This is how we would describe him in the end here.