TVNewsJunkie15

They might wait a while before naming a news anchor and do what they did in 2016 and 2018, where the co-anchors read the other quick news briefs. Perhaps they planned to name Shinelle for that role, but then, with her family emergency, they pushed it back, or maybe they are just waiting until she returns to decide (or announce) on that and the third hour. It is possible that Craig will stop appearing on the 3rd Hour once Shinelle returns. This has been the norm since 2004-2005, and I imagine they will continue. They should bring Amy Roach back to NBC as a News anchor and a role on Dateline. I know she was fired from ABC, but that had more to do with distraction and how it all played out. The network is owned by Disney, which emphasizes Family. Perhaps in the MeTOO era (I know it was not technically a MeTOO thing), it made her person non-grata on NBC and CBS, and NBC would probably get criticized for hypocrisy, but it would be a good career redemption.

I agree. He will never be allowed back on the show at any cost, which is sad, but it is all his doing, and he has himself to blame. Matt lives in the Hamptons full-time and has a new girlfriend (good luck to her). He has so much money that he doesn't need to work for the rest of his life. He occasionally attends social gatherings that other TODAY Shows and former hosts sometimes attend. The year before, he attended the wedding of a TODAY Show producer where T.J Holmes & Amy Robach (Two people who will never likely be allowed back at ABC so they can relate), Savannah, Hoda, Al, and Katie were also in attendance. To have been a fly on the wall at that party!

Tom Brokaw has been ill and battling cancer, and Meredith just lost her husband. As for Katie, she left the TODAY Show before Hoda became even the 4th-hour co-host in 2007. While they had been colleagues before that at NBC (she filled in for Ann occasionally), I'm not sure how much of a relationship they had. But do former co-anchors come back to bid and a departing one? I don't recall any making an appearance on Katie's last day. They probably don't have quite the budget they once had, then factoring in Ann and Matt's departures. Also, at the beginning of 2022, many COVID restrictions were still in place. Meredith was pretty lowkey.. Maybe not like Ann, but definitely compared to Katie.

Me too. He looks pretty healthy (more than ever) and could be there for a long time. I remember watching the show as early as the spring of 2010 and thinking that they were (or seemed to be) grooming Savannah for a future role. By the time Meredith announced her departure in 2011, I think it was pretty clear she was the next in line after Ann, even though Natalie Morales had been there since 2005 and in an official role since 2006 and had been the primary fill-in for Ann and for Meredith usually when Ann was not there (and Amy Robach on weekends TODAY being another fill in on the weekday show from around 2007) it seemed like they were putting their money on Savannah as the future as early as late 2010. They gave Ann the job simply because they felt they had to, as she had been a loyal employee for 14 years as the news anchor and had filled in countless times and so had earned her dues, being the main fill for Katie and Meredith also, how it may have looked if they passed Ann over again and to keep Ann happy for the moment anyway.

Ah, yes. You are right. I had forgotten about that, as I hadn't watched the show in a long time. He has guest-hosted on LIVE many times, so he is probably fine with a lot of it.

I wonder how much longer Al will be there. Savannah will likely be there for at least a few more years. I would not be surprised if she eventually moves to Nightly News when Lester retires. Or maybe she goes back to cable. That is where everyone wants to be, it seems or becomes an independent journalist or a news site like Yahoo.

I will say that Broadcast Morning Shows (and even Broadcast Network Evening News shows!) are going through a bit of a crisis. I know people will say they have gotten too fluff or diagonal, and there is truth to that. Still, I feel they have not learned to adapt to modern technology, 24/7 cable news, and social media, and I suppose they never will be able to unless they fix their content and become more unbiased in the news, even doing all that may not help much. CBS did that a decade ago, and while it dramatically improved, it did not help much. Its ratings reached a peak of 3.7 million but were still stuck in 3rd, and they flushed that all down the toilet after they fired Charlie and Norah and moved to the Evening News show. I suppose another issue I just thought of is that there are too many commercials too! The Big Network Morning Shows are becoming more irrelevant, and the Evening News shows don't seem far behind. They don't get the ratings they once did and make the money they used to, and so Networks really can't afford to pay big names to host them like they were once able to (unless that person is willing to do it for less money than their previous job) or give the ones already there a big raise unless they lay people off. These anchors are even taking pay cuts to prevent layoffs of lower-ranking staff members. We will likely hear about Lester, Savannah, George, Robin, and David taking pay cuts in the future. I imagine the Evening News shows will always be there until the end of time or television, but will the TODAY Show see its 100th anniversary or GMA?

Willie Geist would be a good replacement and was once considered a possible successor to Matt Lauer, but he's doing well with his Sunday show, which he enjoys and is unlikely to give up. Anderson Cooper is more focused on hard news and might be better suited for a cable morning show like CNN or CBS rather than the lighter fare of TODAY or GMA. It's possible he could grow into it, similar to how George Stephanopoulos transitioned to a morning show. Some people were surprised when George was announced as Diane Sawyer's replacement, seeing as he worked in the White House and was a hard news guy. At first, he seemed uncomfortable with some of the lighter fares of GMA (of course, it is way now), but over time, he became more comfortable with it and loosened up a bit, especially as Robin got sick. Bringing in Michael as the third news anchor might have been a way to balance out the lighter content with more serious news. Giving George a bit less fluff to deal with. When CBS decided to hire Charlie Rose to host its morning show, that was a deal breaker. There was no question that it would have to completely rebrand and remove 90% of the fluff, leaving most of the lighter stuff for Gayle King. Charlie is way stiffer than George and Anderson and even more of a serious news person.

They lucked out by going outside NBC and getting Meredith, but there was no guarantee that that would work, but it did that time! Although, the show was in first place back then and had more to lose.

The old format you speak of is somewhat dated now. They should dump the 4th Hour. If they want to keep Jenna, then elevate her to the third hour if they're going to keep her and if she still wants a full-time role. Savannah's profile has risen even more now as she is about to get her Third co-anchor and will have the top billing over the second one. Technically, Hoda was more senior as she had been on the TODAY Show since 2007. But soon, aside from Al, she will be the second longest person on the show in January.

I am not surprised that Hoda is leaving the show. She had left the Olympics several days before they finished. One of her daughters was recently, or a while back, seriously ill and in the hospital. I imagine she wants to spend more time with them, especially in the morning. Hoda said she just turned 60 and has two little girls. I imagined It would have been a different decision if she had been 40-50 and had no kids. It's good to hear she won't be leaving the network altogether, so we will probably see her on the show once in a while, perhaps even filling in the forms from time to time. About who will replace her: They will probably elevate Craig to co-anchor. They should bring Amy Robach back to NBC and make her the TODAY Show news anchor, along with a prime spot on Dateline. That would be a good redemption story. She left NBC all those years ago because her career was basically going nowhere. She was doing very well at ABC with the co-anchor job at 20/20 and would likely be Robin Roberts's successor on GMA at some point, but then she was fired. I don't see them permanently elevating Craig (to co-anchor) and Sheinelle (news anchor) in the 7-9 hours. Perhaps they have Sheinelle replace Hoda in the 4th hour. It would be cool if they brought Natalie back to be the news anchor with the Talk ending in December, but I doubt that will happen. She's pretty set in the California/Hollywood (not saying in a bad way) ways now, and I don't see her moving back to NYC at least any time soon. She also has a good correspondent Job at 48 Hours, which she seems to be enjoying, and once the Talk ends, she will probably focus more time on that and get a more significant role.

I was surprised to see Savannah in the studio this morning. I guessing she decided to come home for a couple days to see her kids (11 or 12 days a long time) and repack and get 'homework' Queen state funeral next wee. .

With Hoda and Savannah both testing for Coovid there will probably be no party or celebration this year. Even if they were there it likely was not gonna like in the past (40th, 50th, 50th) where all the former anchors and hosts show up, etc.,. There will probably bee a few clips montage I imagine but nothing major. They were all suppose to appear at The Paley Center this week on Thursday but I notice this morning the page has been taken down.

I thought World News was in 2nd?

I was kind of arise to hear this. after the controversy that led to his exit from Nightly in 2015, he had reinvented himself at MSNBC and form I heard one of the higher rated shows on MSNBC. I guess he was ready for a change. PBS is another possibility. Would Brian actually be willing to go to CBS and become the anchor of CBS Evening News? He would be going up against Nightly News. That would be like Tom Brokaw going to ABC to anchors Worlds News Tonight when Diane left. But I guess you never know, Ratings would improve quit a bit though, possibly even overtaking ABC. I doubt he leaving to go to CNN (obviously not Fox) unless they offered him insane amount of money money then MSNBC was offering. Otherwise why leave one Cable Primetime show for another? Or maybe ABC. that where everyone seem to be going.