It's not often that those that bring us the news are in the news themselves. For Katie Couric & the woman who replaced her on NBC News' "Today Show", this is their story. Both ladies are leaving their respective gigs.
For Katie, the anchor & managing editor of "The CBS Evening News", there was a great deal of publicity upon her hiring at CBS News in 2006 after some 15 years as co-host on NBC's long running morning news/talk show. Unfortunately for Ms. Couric, ratings for the the dinnertime newscast have lagged well behind "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" and "ABC's World News" in the ratings for quite sometime. This despite the fact that another high-profile female anchor, Diane Sawyer, succeeded the retired Charles Gibson only a few months ago on ABC's own dinnertime newscast.
Apparently, with Katie's contract about to expire in June, and Jeff Fager replacing Sean McManus as new Chairman of CBS News in February, the time to step down from the anchor desk has come for Ms. Couric. Although an exact date has not been announced as of yet, Couric will soon hand the reigns of "The CBS Evening News" to colleague Scott Pelley. Currently a full-time correspondent on CBS News' top-rated "60 Minutes" Sunday nights since 2004, Pelley will soon take over anchor duties on the weeknight newscast and is considered well-respected & trusted by Fager and many of his CBS News colleagues.
As for Couric's future, it may still be at CBS. The scoop from New York is that Couric wants to host a syndicated talk show, possibly under the CBS Distribution label, along with replacing Pelley on "60 Minutes" this fall.
Meanwhile, the woman who replaced Couric on "Today" appears to be on her way out as well. Meredith Vieira, who replaced Couric on NBC's top-rated morning show alongside Matt Lauer in 2006, is reportedly planning to leave the show when her own contract expires in September. Also the host of the syndicated "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?", seen locally on WGN's CW9 at 4p weekdays, TV Guide reports that mornings have taken their toll on Meredith and that she also wants to be much closer to her ailing husband, currently suffering from multiple sclerosis. She's expected to maintain her "Millionaire" duties.
Although talks are said to be ongoing with NBC News, should Vieira leave the show that has been atop the morning news/talk ratings for some 800 weeks, over 15 years and counting, the Hollywood Reporter adds that NBC bosses have contingency plans. It's believed Ann Curry, "Today's" news reader since 1997, "Today" correspondent/co-host Natalie Morales, CNBC anchor Erin Burnett & MSNBC "Daily Rundown" anchor Savannah Guthrie are among the in-house candidates to possibly replace Vieira. Stay tuned on this one.
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