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Breaking News 101

(AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Today was one of those days where our show changed completely because of the breaking news story of the day – the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis. When something like that happens, we take the entire show that we have planned and rework it -- oftentimes as the morning is going along -- to accommodate different guests, breaking news, and different segments that we do. This is especially true in a case like today, where there is still so much that's unknown – not only about the cause of the collapse, but also regarding the number of dead and missing, which changed throughout the morning.

Just pulling off a show like today's requires a lot of concentration and flexibility and can be both exhilarating and exhausting. It's usually pretty intense in the time leading up to when we go on the air as we are finding out facts and pre-taping interviews… and then with this type of story we routinely stay later to do updates for the Midwest and West Coast.

It requires a lot of teamwork and patience, even on the part of some of our guests. This morning both Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway were in our studio to be interviewed and had to wait a bit because of our updates, but they happen to be two of the nicest celebrities around, and both of them could not have been more gracious. By the way, this also caused them to run into each other in the studio as we were busy taping segments after the live show -- and they met for the first time! You can check out Matt's interview with Harry on tomorrow's show.

I'm sitting on a plane right now, having barely made my flight, en route to Dallas. The day has already been a wild blur. We're headed there to do a live Kelly Rowland concert tomorrow morning for the Summer in the City tour. And even though it'll be a lot of fun, my heart is with the people in Minnesota this morning, and those who have lost or are missing their loved ones.

These kind of days, I always find to be pretty emotional, and I just can't help but think of the families involved. The images were so striking – I felt the scope of the devastation.

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