Today Drags On
Today just moved one step closer to Tonight.
The NBC morning show has announced plans to roll out an unprecedented fourth, feature-heavy, news-light hour of the program starting in September.
NBC execs unveiled the extension plan at the Television Critics Association press tour Wednesday, adding that the expanded time slot won't be the only change in the long-running show.
Today's main man Matt Lauer will have limited face time in the new hour, comparable to his minimal participation in the show's current third hour.
Due to contractual obligations with her Who Wants to Be a Millionaire hosting gig, coanchor Meredith Vieira will not be involved in the fourth hour at all, as her deal stipulates she cannot appear on air after 9 a.m.
That may leave the hosting chores for Al Roker and Ann Curry, who already hold court over Today's third hour, though NBC News president Steve Capus said that anchors for the newly conceived fourth hour have yet to be determined and won't be announced until later this year.
While the new hour, which will shy away from hard news segments in lieu of more lifestyle features, will be produced live, it won't necessarily be attached to the current Today package. The final hour will air in just half the country (on all NBC-owned stations but not all affiliates) at 10 a.m. Some stations have even announced plans to pick up the fourth hour and air it later in the day as a separate show, albeit still under the Today banner.
As NBC execs are busy touting the strategic importance of the added hour, which can alternately be blamed or heralded for causing the cancellation of Passions, Lauer still has his reservations, saying he doesn't want to "dilute the brand," as the network did several years ago with the ill-conceived and short-lived Later Today show hosted by Florence Henderson.
Lauer told the TCA crowd that "at the end of the show, it's going to get to the point where I'm just going to hand it directly to Brian Williams."
"I understand why we're going in, and as long as we do the kind of segment we'd be proud of, I'm fine with that," Lauer continued. "I just don't want to get to the point where I'm asked to leave the party before I'm ready to go."
Unlikely.
Lauer recently celebrated 10 years as coanchor of the seminal morning show and says he has already fallen into a "boringly happy" groove with Katie Couric successor Vieira.
"I had a certain chemistry with Katie, and Meredith brings a different perspective, a different persona," he said. "We're in a different stage of our chemistry. You can't compare four-and-a-half months to 10 years...But we're not faking this one; it's gone really well."
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