Christa Pike is awake and speaking, Aaron Gilchrist reports for TODAY
The Short on the Tennessee death row inmate's hospital recovery shared the day with a second fast-moving news report, on Republicans and Trump.
TODAY
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 78,283 views a day, 15 times a normal first day on this channel (5,272).
Christa Pike is Awake and Speaking Following Failed Execution
Six days after Tennessee twice tried and failed to execute her by lethal injection, Christa Pike is awake and communicating from a hospital bed, her lawyers say. That is the news in TODAY's latest Short. NBC's Aaron Gilchrist reports on what doctors say about her chances of a full recovery, and on the dispute over what should happen to her now.
The clip passed 50,000 views in its first twelve hours, far beyond what a TODAY Short usually gathers in a whole day. The comments moved faster still. More than 260 arrived in those hours, on a channel where a Short's first day typically brings a single comment. Much of the discussion goes back to the crime that put Pike on death row and to whether the state should try again. Others ask who carried out the procedure and whether they were qualified to do it.
It was one of two news Shorts running well ahead on the same day. The other, Gabe Gutierrez's report on Republican candidates in close races putting distance between themselves and President Donald Trump, as voters name the cost of living as their main worry, was not far behind. Both stand out on a channel otherwise running below its usual daily pace. The day's celebrity conversations, with Brandi Carlile, Jeremy Allen White and the stars of One Chicago, drew far smaller crowds.
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- Channel
- TODAY
- Subscribers
- 5,110,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 8,002,431
- Channel views, pace per day
- 676,331 (on a normal day: 1,246,166)
- Video published
- October 7, 2026
- Video views so far
- 53,392 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 78,283
The numbers
The Short's first hours, set beside how a TODAY Short usually starts.
