Robin Red

Welker has been showing up more often now, never seen her on Nightly but she is intelligent and prefer watching her on weekend Today over the primary hosts Erica Hill and Shenielle Jones.

They are in no rush for an evening news hosts during the weekend. Weekend news wars are gone now that Lester Holt and David Muir have been promoted to the weekdays.

Carl has branched out and he appears on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. I don't think Diaz Balart has the connection and he can talk kind of fast which is a turn off.

Harry Smith would do a good job on Weekend Today, I don't know if it is official but they seem to have gotten Craig Melvin as the regular co-host.

MSNBC has gone back to being a strict news format, giving leeway for NBC news talent to be on MSNBC. Kate Snow is going to be the shoe in fill in when Lester is away during the week on non holidays.

Diaz Balart is being used to bring a sought after demographic and he is competing against Cecila Vega on ABC News.

I prefer Hoda Kotb as the host more then Savannah. I don't like Matt Lauer but she makes him more tolerable on the show.I have nothing against Savannah but she is bad matchup with Lauer, she needs a better partner.

Not attacking his credentials but I think it is no coincidence he was pushed cause he caters towards the Hispanic demographic who are rapidly growing population in the US. NBC and Telemundo have an agreement with each other .The changes in news business sometimes can reflect the political/cultural mood in the US. MSNBC has lost the white blue collar demographic, they all went to Fox News. They can tap into the Hispanic demographic who can possibly help MSNBC's viewership. MSNBC's change to just a news format helped in keeping them away from bad publicity. I respect your opinion and I agree that she is better off filling in. I can't take any on air personality seriously who change jobs as much as she has. I understand how fleeting the business is but she was given chances to make it at the big time and did not live up to expectations. She is trying to rebound her career now that she is at Weekend edition of Today and at 40 years old, a floating anchor and her days in that business are closing in unless she becomes smart like Chris Jansing and become a correspondent.

She was on CNN and I remember during her stint there she was with flirting with Anderson Cooper. I don't think CNN wanted her, she lasted there for a couple of years. I don't enjoy watching as an anchor, I lost my interest in her when she was fired from CBS. I thank her for giving us Norah O' Donnell from CBS This Morning, who I enjoy watching. Erica Hill talks like a cartoon character in my opinion. She tries to act like she is Megyn Kelly/Kennedy all rolled into one.

GMA still claims total viewer spot but Today show has demo wins. What has Today show been doing to keep getting demo wins. I would figure GMA would be getting the demo cause they seem to get the better guests.

Erica Hill is on MSNBC filling in more often. She is awful! She makes Don Lemon from CNN look like John Chancellor. Hill is just a disaster, fast talker, unprepared, can't ask good questions, seems lost, doubt she reads about stories she is covering. Who is she sucking up to keep her job?

It is a quota system caused they have plenty of qualified reporters who could've got the Saturday gig with respectable resumes who people recognize. Peter Alexander, Carl Quintanilla, Harry Smith, are considered logical shoe in anchors for the job. Jose is being used as quota, they have a woman hosting the Sunday edition and now they have a spanish speaking Latino.

Jose Diaz Balart is okay but I have a feeling that he is there to satisfy the Hispanic demographic who are becoming the largest minorities. NBC does not have many anchor Hispanics expect for Natalie Morales so they an extra one to reach their quota. I can't see him being vetted to become a potential fixture evening news anchor. I don't get that instinct that he ever going to be "next big thing". When Lester was coming up on MSNBC you can tell by seeing him and how he presents the news that he was going to become a future main anchor and "next big thing" for NBC News. He was likable, respected, got people watching and last of endangered group of classic journalists. I don't see that kind of thing with Balart the quota system is to transparent where people will just see him as another political pawn. No offensive to Balart but that is how the optics is presented.

Thanks for the info and summary of the book. Out of all the people who left Today, I miss Amy and think that she deserved to move up to weekday Today. Compared to today's new members, I miss the old team from the Today show when it was Meredith, Ann, Lester, Amy, and Campbell. That was when the adults were running the show, the new members are okay but so lightweight.

I think Jenna is moving onto to focus on her fitness career and she is going to be promoting her own book.

I always thought Amy Robach was going to get the Today show spot then Savannah but NBC liked Savannah and maybe impressed with her resume. When Ann Curry debacle happened, they wanted a female anchor who can mirror Matt Lauer and not afraid to stand up to him.They also wanted a cutesy Katie Couric clone which Savannah Guthrie is. Natalie has hindered her promotional chances when stories about her affair with Matt Lauer is still circulating. As long as Matt is still married, the wife will have a say over what happens and Natalie will continue to be the newsreader. This never came out but one insider said Lester actually thought about leaving Today show and possibly NBC because he was not elevating anywhere.It was written in his contract that he could leave NBC if he did not get the top spot of any major NBC show. He was doing the dead end weekend job for 12 years and wanted a change in his schedule. He was the only guy at NBC who paid his dues , working hard and not getting anything to show for it. I speculate that NBC panicked over Lester possibly leaving, and circumstances with Brian Williams embellishments was a blessing in disguise for NBC to keep Lester at the network. If Lester did leave, it would have been an shell shock/nightmare for NBC.If NBC is smart they will do whatever they can to keep Lester Holt content and that includes bumping up his salary cause he is NBC's saving grace. He was the only guy at the network to insiders that never had an ego and never brought drama with him to the network.

I agree about Al and think that he needs to go, he is boring and outlived his stay. Today show's best replacement was Lester Holt and he has moved on and part of evening news and Dateline. Carson Daly is just a good sidekick, Willie Geist is a blank and nor has he paid his dues to really get the spot. If they were to find a replacement they would probably get someone on the outside with name recognition like Don Lemon or Anderson Cooper.

Natalie has been doing more assignments then anybody and she does not get along well with NBC News President Deborah Turness. Turness believes that she does not have enough personality and she favors Tamron Hall. Natalie has been up down in her career cause of stories about her affair with Matt Lauer. The possible affair has hurt her chances of ever ascending to becoming main anchor as long as Matt's wife has control over the situation and Matt Lauer is still at NBC. Sheninelle was hired by Turness so she is going to be used in the coming future. As far as Natalie being a Dateline host.If you have been on Dateline's social media pages, they love Lester Holt as their host and won't give him up without a fight.

The names have been dropped, cause right now Weekend Today is a rotation with different anchors. I don't think Craig Melvin will be a solid replacement, he will always be the fourth wheel. Craig Melvin is too anxious and can't stream through a show smoothly. I have a feeling he will be a polarized figure the longer he stays a host on Today show. He should just stick to reporting. Harry has been on the show more often doing those stories around the end of the show. Since Lester has left, the show needs a stablizing player that people are familar with. When Lester was at Today show he was a stabilzing presence that people liked and respected. When Matt was not around, Lester was there to keep stablilty there and often it was a treat to have him fill in. Erica Hill is a hit or miss,Harry Smith knows her better then any anchor on NBC since they both worked at CBS and can possibly work better with her and keep her in her place.

I figure George's sucessor would be GMA Weekend's Dan Harris, he does a good job on the weekend edition.

I think it's cause Kathy Orr cost too much at KYW, they were losing ratings and she was still getting a big contract.

GMA neeeds to change their content/ the variety fan fare is not working anymore and they need to stop using Lara Spencer all the time.

I was never a fan of Jenna Wolfe and believed that she was never promotable to become a key player for NBC, her asthetics and optics were all wrong. She was loud, abrasive and lacked grace. I believe her co-anchoring with Lester helped flourish her career then anything especially the workout segments. If she was co-anchoring with anybody else then highly doubt she would have stayed at NBC as long as she has. I knew that as soon as Amy left that Jenna was not going to get two days, she was too polarizing. Right now being promoted to weekday and getting to talking about her passion is win win for herself. She may no longer be the anchor, but she still has a job and she is doing what she loves. Hiring Erica Hill was a fail! She is more grateful to have a job but she is not valued player, with any real skills and even when she appears on the weekday show you can tell that she does not fit in with the rest of the anchors.She is the type where she looks the part but her results has shown otherwise.She tries to be funny and reminds me of a middle-schooler looking around to see who gets her jokes - no one.

I like Harry Smith and think that he is good stable player for Weekend Today ever since Lester left the show. The weekend edition has been lite weight and does not really have the magic anymore, no chemistry among the three women. Erica Hill is ratings disaster and flop, she is kind of boring, they better groom another female anchor in the next couple of years to take Erica's place.

I don't think Thomas Roberts has the gravitas for evening news, he fits more into cable realm.