The TV Zone

Well, I guess you could say the Miley Cyrus brain trust can breath a little easier now: They passed the first, most important and (possibly) the only-one-that-counts test -- "The Today Show." The program thought the whole "topless" thing so underheated that it played the story at the top of its second half hour, and it played it coolly at that, as if this whole flap will blow over by noon. (As it very well may.) Maybe NBC figured there's more important news to get to -- like "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" -- but Miley Unclothed was clearly not deemed a big deal. The two commentators who got up early to chew this over -- Donnie Deutsch and CBS commentator (former actress) Nancy Giles -- pretty much ho-hummed it too. Deutsch actually hit on the same thing that went through my mind -- this whole shoot is part of this "evolving image" strategy, and that Cyrus is re-focusing her image so that she morphs into something (or someone) slightly different, or the career is bye-bye. My sense is slightly different: That she's already moved past her 'tween demographic and is trying to target a bigger, or broader one. It's all about business -- it always is -- and anyone who doesn't think an Annie Leibovitz session can dramatically alter one's image to the point where it's very nearly beyond recognition is either willfully stupid or willfully lying. She's the most important photographer in the world -- this is what she DOES -- and the Cyrus brain trust knew exactly what they were doing, too -- they just forgot to tell Disney.

Another thing to keep in mind: I've often had the sneaking suspicion, though have no scientific proof to back this up, that those most eager to disrobe themselves for Leibovitz are those most eager (or desperate) to restart stalled careers. Not that Cyrus' is (it's not -- nor, I guess, was John Lennon's, when he posed in the pink a few dozen years ago) but Demi's was.

Keep in mind, "Hannah Montana" is not "superhot," as Meredith Vieira said at outset of the "Today" treatment. It's cooled off dramatically the past year -- not the appointment it once was, and that grand and reasonably accurate kids' bellwether, the Kids' Choice Award, recently deemed it less important than reruns of "Drake & Josh." Miley knows the bloom's off that rose and now she's tending another garden. She might first wanna speed-dial Britney to learn just how hard -- and precarious -- that can be.