Fans of The Today Show are anxiously awaiting the official announcement from NBC – expected in the next day or two – that Ann Curry will replace Meredith Vieira as a co-host on the show. After 5 years alongside Matt Lauer, Meredith chose to leave the show on her own accord – and Ann is expected to move up from her post as the news anchor (Natalie Morales, the 9 a.m. anchor, will step into that slot).
E! News reports that Meredith got emotional on the show Today when talking about leaving in a few weeks. “It’s a difficult day for me,” she said. “I’m gonna try and hold myself together here, but after months of personal reflection and private conversations between my family and my friends, I have decided to leave Today in June. Even as I say this, and I know it is the right thing, I’m really sad, because in the past—I like to say 10 years, but I know it’s only 5—this has been my second home.” She said she is “just humbled at what a great experience this has been for me.” Meredith says she is leaving to spend more time with her husband and her kids.
Ann has even more Today Show experience than Meredith; she has been the news anchor for 14 years. But is she as warm and bubbly as Meredith Vieira? As the New York Times reports, any shift is a risk for the show. The show’s performance is extremely significant for NBC, since it basically makes all the money to pay for the rest of the news department. “Something around $200 million a year in profit is a good estimate,” an executive said. Yowza!
Ann, 54, was born in Guam and is of French, Irish, Dutch and Japanese descent. She lived in Japan and Oregon before eventually settling in New York. She has received several awards, including three Emmys, one of which she was given in 2007 for her reporting on the crisis in Darfur.
NBC has yet to make the news official, but no other candidates are rumored to replace Meredith. What do you think of the Today Show’s plan?
I think this is great, I have been watching Ann Curry for over 20 years when she was doing the 5 am news. She is a class act if there ever was one. I think when Katy Couric left the show thats when Ann should have be placed in her spot.