Robin Red

They need to get Matt Lauer out of there. He is shrinking down Today show and NBC News. The more they keep him there, the likely that NBC will go down to third place. Today's show shrinking ratings is affecting all NBC news show. Al Roker is old news, he is not a meterologist he is nothing but a senile glorified clown. I go through days where I say to myself get this old clown off my television. I was very impressed with Dylan's coverage during Hurricane Harvey with Lester. I am okay with her being a permanent weather woman. The should phase Lauer out after the Olympics, they can rotate male anchors. It won't make much a difference cause Lauer is so unpopular.

I agree but I think NBC might be grooming Megyn to take Matt's job. To me Today show has been losing momentum the past 8 years but this the worse crew on Today show now. Al Roker needs to retire, talk about a played out character. Matt Lauer needs to go he is like a rotted fish.

Guys I speculate there might be more to the Megyn Kelly deal then just the talk show. I specualte that in reality NBC is probably behind her because they want to groom her for the Today show. Their main objective is getting Matt Lauer out of the NBC. He costs too much money, ratings decline and he is unpopular. Lauer has ruined people's careers who who were being groomed to replace him. NBC is behind Megyn cause they have a long term plan, she has a bit of name and she is a female. Whereas the rest of the other hosts being groomed in the past were male. Lauer can't play politics with her like he did with the previous hosts.

Savannah Guthrie celebrate five years at Today show.

The On Assignment newsmagazine had legs that NBC could work with. On Assignment on NBC did so much better then Megyn Kelly's newsmagazine. The problem is that NBC always wants to compete with 60 Minutes, they should give it up. There is only one 60 Minutes. Greta is a weak broadcaster, she worked at Fox News cause she was not threatening and she had that twang which appealed to a certain audience. She was placed in a bad time slot, the 6:00 time slot is the worse time slot in cable news. No show that is on the 6:00 hour does well on MSNBC. I am surprised Al Sharpton's show did as well as it did. Cable newsers are competing against evening news and evening news brings in millions of viewers a night. Greta had no chance and also she probably left cause she knew trouble was brewing with the scandals and she did not want to be a apart of it.

Katy Tur got her career started by dating Keith Olbermann. Peter Alexander ocassionally fills in and sometimes Kristen Welker. The one person I don't mind seeing on MSNBC is Harris Faulkner from Fox, she seems like a decent journalist who is just doing what she has to do. I don't get a radical nut job vibe from her like the loons on Fox.

Her ego and high confidence in herself. She will probably turn off people cause she is full of herself. She does not have a cool sister factor like Wendy Williams, a mother like vibe of Oprah or even a cutesy vibe of Kelly Ripa. I don't know what she will represent. They can give her the stars, the moon, the Today show or give her an Hollywood audition just don't mess with Lester Holt and his job security. He has been their blood, bones and vitality for that network. Highly respected among viewers, revered and history making journalist and possible historical figure in his industry. Lester has surpassed the level of his other peers in terms of his importance and significigance to their industry. Lack can't be stupid enough to play politics and push him aside like he can with the rest of his talent. If he does that, then he will risk boycotts and riots and viewers leaving in drove. That boycott outside of News Corp is nothing compared to what will happen if Lack decides to mess with Lester.

Megyn Kelly thinks she can be the next Oprah, she said that was who she looked up to and who she aspires to be. Andrew Lack is going to do whatever he can to keep her cause she is a huge gamble. How many Sunday magazine do well when competing against 60 Minutes. They are in over their head with their big egos. Lack has a big ego. At best, he probably promised her a job on Today show or Meet The Press. He will probably phase out Lauer in the next couple of years.

Nicole Wallace is cool. I am happy for her. Stephanie Ruhle, she is cool, like her show, passionate and can host her own business show on MSNBC. Am I the only who thinks that Hallie Jackson is a little overrated? I like Hallie but at the same time I think her fast rise is getting inside her head. She has been given a big push but I was listening to her the other day and she has a motor mouth.She works so much, she must be on speed. She talked way to fast and her story was all over the place. I don't think she is ready for primetime. Needs to go back to being a White House Correspondent before getting a show. What happened to Morgan Radford? She is intelligent and speaks very calmly. Lack should put her on tv. He has a serious lack of diversity issues on MSNBC.

He should keep Lawrence O'Donnell and axe Brian Williams 11pm spot to put in a open panel unrated discussion show. I have been hearing a rumor that Lack wants to give Brian Williams a primetime spot. That is very stupid, cause Williams is damaged goods and lucky to still be working. Williams is a ticking time bomb and all that Lack cares about is getting more juice out of Williams. All that Lack should care about is trying to put Williams into retirement the next few years. Lack has a diversity issue he is hiring all these white bread hosts but once the election rolls around the diverse electorate is going to come back into full force again. He needs diverse hosts, he should steal someone like Angela Rye on CNN who is very smart and great for television. This next election is going to be election for the millenials and MSNBC does not have the pulse of millenials who is going to be a predominant group in the next four years.

I think Andrew Lack and Megyn Kelly are in over their heads. Megyn Kelly's rise to fame is nothing but a mainstream media creation cause she was Trump's favorite punching bag and worked for Fox News. It was conservative vs conservative talk show host and the media ate it up and played the sexism card and she reaped the benefit from it. I think her star power is overestimated. Her show will benefit from a good consistent time slot following Today show but at part of me specualtes that was she signed on to get a big job. She may get Matt or Savannah's job. If NBC fails with her it will be the worse experiment since Katie Couric. Knowing how big an ego Andrew Lack has, he will do whatever he can to show justify her high paycheck. Megyn Kelly is over her head if she thinks she be can be like Oprah. She does not have the natural likability factor and Oprah is in her own legaue. What audience can Megyn Kelly hold onto, besides the conservative over 65 year old base. The only person at NBC who has Oprah like presence and appeal is Lester Holt. He is very likable, credible.

I never was a fan of the 3rd hour to tell you the truth.

Yup it was just a filler hour of the same thing.

Compared to where they were a couple of years ago, Today show viewership is down. GMA and Today have lost viewers dramatically and right now in a little bubble competing with themselves but they are not building new audience. CBS This Morning is building new viewers and is the threat.

Some reports circulating that Megyn Kelly might be Matt Lauer's replacement. And that Lauer was out of the loop when Kelly got hired. His press people are saying that he knew Megyn was getting hired and NBC inside sources are saying he did not know. A clash of two big egos, with Megyn Kelly coming in to NBC no doubt the executives are going to groom her for a top job. Some people say Savannah's job is in danger but I can't see Matt and Megyn working well together. They both are going to compete for big interviews. Some people are saying that Savannah might work with Chuck Todd on Meet The Press. It is possible cause I am sure Savannah outgrew the silliness of morning tv while working with Holt, Todd and Brokaw. I have a feeling that Lauer is going to get pushed out in 2018, the numbers are declining and he is not as popular as Today show producers think he is. I am so happy that Kristen Welker shined inaugration day then Al Roker. He is an overpaid sap who is losing his relevancy, they should move the road warriors over to NBC Today show.

Reason why cause heavy news journalists left the program. Despite what people say about Gumbel he brought intellectulaism to the show. Meredith has outgrown the program and feels forced for her to be there . The current team members is the weakest lineup I have seen. From Matt, Roker, Gifford, Hall, Geist and Kotb a bunch of lightweights. I am glad Jane Pauley is doing very well on CBS Sunday Morning.

The problem is that NBC has build the Today show so much around Lauer then everybody else. He is very overrated host, he is just an interviewer and not a well rounded journalist. That they can't focus beyond that. They have good enough hosts, where the show will be find without him. You don't need great journalism skills to run a show that focuses on cooking, clothes, celebrities and silliness. To most hard news journalists, hosting the Today show is like a day off. Lauer has conned people at NBC to believe that he is some great journalist at Today show when he is nothing more then a host . Since Lauer has so much control over the show, it is hard for journalists to rise. Look at what they have done to Hoda Kotb, she was a solid journalist and overtime she became a silly party girl. That is the problem and that is why Savannah could not rise. Also Savannah lacks certain elements to make her a good host. Savannah rises when she is out of the Today show element or when Matt is not there. She works very well when she is with Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Tom Brokaw cause she is surrounded by people who are hard news focused journalist. If they can focus on Today show not being so personality base then good journalists would rise there. Today show started to change when Katie Couric left, the silliness and fratness of the show started to happen. Meredith did the best she can, but she was pressured to make the chemistry work with Lauer then the journalism and she became very silly.Ann Curry's problem was that she did not want to do the entertainment aspect of the show. She felt the program could've gone a more serious direction in becoming a more informative morning show then a show that caters towards soft news and entertainment. That was one of her goals which is why she advocated for certain guests to come on her program like the Dali Lama. If Ann Curry had a host she was able to work with like Lester Holt, they she would've kept her job and Curry had a better partner that shared her philosophies then most of the NBC drama would've been avoided. That was the problem that Ann Curry had as well, she wanted the show to focus more on the news and less on the celebrities and the hosts acting silly. She was scape goated cause she did not want to flirt with Lauer and act silly, it is plain and simple. If you start to surpass Lauer or don't cater to him then you get pushed out.

Meredith Vieria has outgrew kiddie morning television, I can't blame her. The witless banter and stupid off color jokes gets tiring over time. Meredith tolerates Matt but Katie knows how to keep her distance from Matt to do what she has to do. When she was at the Today show, Katie always knew how to be her own person. Whereas with other co-anchors they have to play a second fiddle to Matt . Meredith should go and do a trial at CBS This Morning, it is a better show and better platform if you want substance.

Part of Andrew Lack's plan to rehab Brian Williams image. It won't work cause he is already a laughtng stock and Fox News continues to kick their ass.

Jeff Glor is not a terrible anchor but for a weekday gig, he is not cut out for it. Glor is a a good sub guy, he is not a clown, he is all about business which is possibly a reason why he is still with CBS. Glor from the Early Show was the best one if you look at the last team. I am not trying to say you have to be a Mr Personality to become a evening news anchor, but people have to be familiar with you and your work to get the job. Even when CBS had Katie Couric it failed cause Katie Couric was not a "serious journalist". What has Glor done, to make people remember his work.

People still watch the evening news, they get higher numbers then the network morning shows. I don't think that is the major issue, the issue is how being a network anchor is going to fit in during this age of cable news and partisanship. Network evening news will have to tweak and do different things, their jobs is to be the highest standard of news unlike cable. Network anchors are going to have reach out beyond their platform. CBS needs bigger platforms. I also think demographics plays a part, CBS will need people of diversity. NBC is by no means a superior news division but they have mutiple platforms, which is how they are able to get talent. CBS will have to create multiple platforms for their news division CBS could do a poach, but who can they bring in. I can't think of anybody on television who qualifies for CBS evening news. Jeff Glor is bland, a carrot got more personality them him. Glor is a leftover from the failed team at CBS Early Show. CBS overall has the strongest news division out the big three networks. ABC has GMA and NBC has Nightly News CBS has Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes and positive reviews with CBS This Morning.

Matt and Savannah are bland but Savannah is the lesser of two evils, if one had to make a choice. Savannah is not out there messing and backstabbing people. Savannah only needs a strong male anchor to make the partnership work. The Today show would be fine without Matt if they only got a likeable host like a Lester Holt or Carl Quintanilla type. They missed their chances too many times and petty politics at NBC. Matt would not have gotten anywhere if he did not ride on the female anchors who were more likable them him. From the way it is going, they will have a day care center.

Ann Curry is a solid journalist, the problem was that she did not want to do the entertainment aspect of the show. She felt the program could've gone a more serious direction in becoming a more informative morning show then a show that caters towards soft news and entertainment. That was one of her goals which is why she advocated for certain guests to come on her program like the Dali Lama. Matt Lauer and Ann Curry were apples and oranges with their philosophies, he wanted to do more soft content and she wanted to do more serious news content. Lauer is by no means a serious journalist, he is just an interviewer and he has a very plum job for doing nothing of journalistic standards you can't teach an old dog new tricks. If Curry had a better partner that shared her philosophies like Lester Holt, then most of the NBC serial behind the scenes drama would've been avoided. I fancied a Lester Holt and Ann Curry pairing which should've happened, and what viewers were trying to advocate for before her firing. That fear of ratings slippage if Lauer leaves is a myth, the program will survive without him. Today show ratings are declining with him still there, within the next couple of years CBS This Morning is slowly going to place a dent on Today's show ratings and they are starting to already. Ratings on both GMA and Today show have declined compared to a couple of years ago. Part of it is due to CBS This Morning's rise. The thing about Today show is that if you don't play the game or flirt with Matt Lauer, you will never be part of "club". It is well know that morning show like Today is like high school clique and it is part that culture. Today show started shifting more entertainment esque the last year Meredith was there. Today show is no longer a program for the serious journalists, they had serious journalists who hosted before but look at what happened to all of them, they either could not fit in, demoted or left to do new projects. Savannah Guthrie is someone who got ahead cause what she was, which was a lawyer. Lawyers move around pretty quickly in the news business. They will get a promotion quicker then someone who graduates with a journalism degree. A good portion of pundits, hosts, analysts and reporters are lawyers. If Savannah Guthrie was not a lawyer, she still would have been a journey woman anchor/reporter. Overall, not taking anything away from her, she did build her way up but it was unfortunate that she got the job at the expense of another respected journalist. Curry did not do anything wrong, she was scapegoated out of her job and it was awkward for Savannah to get the job that quickly. The optics was poor taste.

Be serious, nobody wants to watch Brian Williams. When he was demoted it was put in the contract that he can't have a slot where he competes indirectly with Nightly News.

Because Today show is kiss of death for male anchors that are not Matt Lauer. They have a bad track record of how they mismanaged replacement prospects. The only one that escaped unscathed was Willie Geist. Lester Holt probably was not considered a "front runner" for a long time, but he was viewers favorite also respected by execs and producers. He was his own man and wanted to protect his reputation as a serious journalist. The fact that he has yearly contracts show that NBC does not have much faith in him for a veteran and that he costs to much considering that their ratings have been stagnating. George.S and Robin Roberts have iron clad contracts, so they will likely keep their jobs for another 10 years.