Curry tearful as she bids goodbye to ‘Today’
NEW YORK (AP) — For a morning show used to celebrating family and a connection with its audience, the “Today” show’s farewell to co-host Ann Curry on Thursday was brief, tearful and sad.
It was tinged with the sense of failure, something NBC’s dominant morning show hasn’t experienced in a long time.
Curry, who was co-host with Matt Lauer for a year after several years as the news anchor, fought back tears on the air, saying “this is not as I expected to ever leave this couch.”
Her departure ended a week’s worth of awkward television. She came to work after word got out that NBC was looking to oust her, with neither she nor the network commenting on the stories until Thursday. “I’m sorry I couldn’t carry the ball over the finish line but, man, I did try,” she said.
While Curry was placed in a role to which she was unsuited, blaming her for the “Today” show’s troubles would be simplistic. Expecting her successor – most likely NBC’s Savannah Guthrie – to author an immediate turnaround would be unrealistic.
“There’s nothing wrong with Ann Curry,” said Shelley Ross, former producer for ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’ “The Early Show.” “It is not an Ann Curry failure.”
Her ouster, however, was NBC’s first visible response to the end of its historic winning streak this spring. Starting in December 1995, NBC had won every week in the morning show ratings – 852 consecutive weeks – until being topped by “Good Morning America.” The two shows have since traded victories, with ABC winning a total of four weeks.
NBC’s long decline in prime-time has likely affected the “Today” show, giving it less visibility among viewers. The network’s executives say that “Good Morning America” does particularly well when it features members of the “Dancing With the Stars” cast from ABC’s prime-time lineup.