Today sees new tomorrows
NBC’s post-Lauer team finds stability at six-month anniversary
NEW YORK — Never let it be said that Savannah Guthrie doesn’t have her partner’s back.
Hoda Kotb left behind her glasses after a recent meeting so her Today show co-host scooped them up, although she’s not above pointing out that they needed a wash.
Guthrie and Kotb are marking six months together, a partnership thrust upon them by November’s firing of Matt Lauer on sexual misconduct charges. Their performance has allowed NBC News to recover from the shock with little apparent damage to its most valuable property, even as morning television in general adjusts to a world in which many people reach for smartphones instead of TV remotes upon waking.
“We’re falling into a rhythm,” Kotb said. “We understand when the other is going to jump in on something. It’s almost like jumping rope. You start getting the hang of it.”
You can sense the exhales in NBC corporate suites, where fear of the unknown was real. Lauer had dominated Today for two decades, the highest-paid talent in television news, and had disappeared with no notice. A former morning producer predicted in the Los Angeles Times that Today would lose between 10 to 15 per cent of its audience without him.
Instead, the 4.2 million viewers that Today has averaged since Lauer’s departure is down two per cent from the same period a year earlier, a smaller decline than rivals Good Morning America and CBS This Morning. Today typically runs a narrow second to ABC’s show in popularity and leads among the 25-to-54-year-old demographic, the measuring stick for most advertising sales.
“The partnership between Savannah and Hoda has worked out in wonderful ways that we expected and wonderful ways that we couldn’t have anticipated,” said Noah Oppenheim, NBC News president. “Building on their partnership, the rest of the show has taken on different colours and textures that are resonating with the audience.”
Yet after doing surprisingly well over the holidays and getting a boost from the Winter Olympics, NBC has fallen con- sistently back to second place. One worrisome number for a show that has two women as co-hosts for the first time in its history: Since the Olympics, NBC’s viewership among men in the advertising demographic has declined 14 per cent compared with last year, while ABC is up two per cent, Nielsen said.
Guthrie, a former White House correspondent for NBC News, has been co-host since 2012. Kotb is a news veteran, too, although best known to Today viewers for pairing with Kathie Lee Gifford on the show’s boozy fourth hour.
While each has an area of expertise, Guthrie’s political experience makes her a natural for those interviews — the morning demands versatility.
“I wasn’t looking to be the big man on campus,” Guthrie said.
“Big woman,” corrected Libby Leist, the show’s executive producer.
The hosts’ experience sent a message of stability that got the show through its difficulties, she said.
“That’s why I think the show has done so well, because you weren’t sitting there thinking, ‘Who’s that person? What kind of experience does that person bring?”’ Leist said. “You kind of felt that it was going to be all right.”
The phrase “looking forward” is heard when someone at Today is asked about Lauer.
“Some things you just carry,” Kotb said. “You go on about your life and you might turn something on or flip a page and see a story about it. It’s like picking at a scab. It hurts, but at the same time you know you have a big responsibility and you go on. But if you forget everything, maybe you never cared in the first place.”
Leist has tweaked the show, keeping its bones intact. She places special emphasis on explaining complex issues clearly to viewers, and isn’t seduced by the latest smartphone bulletins. Viewers don’t always need to know what’s trending or what video has gone viral.
Guthrie said a new team gives Today an opportunity to take chances.
“You can be joyful and light, but also substantive and not silly,” she said. “I think we’re all trying to move in that direction, to be fun and not frivolous.”