The show became known for celebrity interviews and gimmicky stunts sprinkled in between newscasts. For several years in the 1950s, “Today” gave a starring role to J. Fred Muggs — a chimpanzee co-anchor credited with boosting the show’s popularity among families.
Some hosts, however, who exemplified a goofy geniality on air engaged in bitter personality clashes and turf wars backstage.
In 1989, Mr. Gumbel wrote a confidential memo complaining that the show’s weather presenter, Willard Scott, was holding “the show hostage to his assortment of whims, wishes, birthdays and bad taste.” After the memo leaked, the two men performed a staged reconciliation on air, with Mr. Scott planting a kiss on Mr. Gumbel’s cheek.
“Today” dominated the morning TV ratings from the end of 1995 to 2012, when it started losing out to its ABC rival, “Good Morning America.”
As ratings sagged in 2012, Ann Curry was ousted as an anchor because she and her co-host Matt Lauer were deemed to lack chemistry. But her removal was deeply damaging for the show. After Ms. Curry said her teary goodbye, the show lost advertising revenue and viewers.
Ms. Curry had felt that the atmosphere behind the scenes at the show had undermined her and she told friends that her final months were a form of professional torture. Mr. Lauer’s indifference to her situation also hurt, she said.
The “Today” show eventually moved past that, however, and viewers returned. Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor, joined this year as a host.
Now, with the firing of Mr. Lauer, NBC News faces a different sort of crisis, one that will likely impact the network for some time.
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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/business/media/today-show-history.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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