This morning’s L.A. Times profile of Matt Lauer spends a lot of time talking about Katie Couric:
| After almost 15 years as co-host of Today, Couric is contemplating leaving the program for CBS, where executives are hoping she’ll become the next anchor of the network’s evening news broadcast. She’s expected to make a decision in the next few months. ‘Clearly, she is someone with options, and she deserves every single one of them,’ Lauer said. ‘I don’t know what her thinking is…. I would imagine challenge is very important to her right now, and clearly she’s being offered some things that present huge challenges.’ The Couric-Lauer team has arguably been the most successful pairing in the history of morning television, helping Today extend its winning streak for the last 10 years. Couric’s departure would not only alter the show’s chemistry, but it would also thrust Lauer — long the straight man of the duo — front and center. ‘It would be a major adjustment,” admitted Lauer, who said he hopes his co-host decides to stay. If not, ‘the best way to get through that would be to view it as an opportunity … and say, OK, this gives us an opportunity to bring someone new into the mix and to bring that person’s sensibilities into the show, which will naturally change the dynamic a bit and take us in a different direction. I would embrace it.’ Today executive producer Jim Bell sounded a little more anxious when asked how Couric leaving would affect the show. ‘It would be hard to just come up with an easy answer to that,’ he said. ‘Clearly, chemistry plays an important role on this show…. If she decides to stay — which I think we’re all working toward — it’s a question I won’t even have to answer.’ |
Advertisement