Today’s fourth hour began where the third hour left off, with Matt Lauer in studio 1A declaring “we’ve had a lot of firsts here on Today, and this morning…I have the pleasure of being part of one more. This morning we begin bringing you a fourth hour of Today.” Lauer then took viewers up two flights of stairs to a waiting Ann Curry and to the fourth hour’s set, where co-anchors Natalie Morales and Hoda Kotb were seated and ready to go.
With Curry and Morales each saying “we’re going to have a great time” the show began in earnest, with a slight technical glitch, (a slate reading ‘Hoda Standup SOT’ remained on screen for a few seconds). After that, it was time for the much-promised, behind-the-scenes look at the show: shots of the control room, makeup room and green room via the Action Cam.
And upon returning from the first commercial break, we got a sense of the kinds of stories the 4th hour will be covering: “Growing Gray Gracefully” was the first segment. The question now: will the fourth hour grow on viewers?