These are days of transition at the “Today” show. After Ann Curry’s emotional farewell Thursday, Savannah Guthrie was seated next to Matt Lauer this morning.
Stripped from this morning’s show, the custom announcement with the anchors names, instead, this aired:
“From NBC News, this is ‘Today,’ live from studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza.”
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Lauer and Guthrie welcomed viewers then got right to the news.
As for the future of the show, there’s no news there yet. At a party for “Dateline NBC’s” 20th anniversary last night, NBC News president Steve Capus did not give the timing or details of Curry’s permanent replacement, expected to be Guthrie. (Alex will have more on the party later).
One more note: this egregious error in this morning’s New York Times. TV critic Alessandra Stanley wrote about Curry’s final show, and included this about a highlight reel, which never aired, not on the East Coast or in any other version of the show:
Highlight reels are the gold watch of television news, and “Today” showed a long, affectionate one of Ms. Curry, from her first days in local news to her trip to the South Pole, where she planted the NBC flag. It included goofy moments clowning on the set, and also a tableau that seemed — under the circumstances — somewhat insensitive. Ms. Curry, ebullient as ever, leaned in to Mr. Lauer, who was wearing an arm sling. “Don’t come anywhere near me with a hug,” he said, jokingly, but perhaps not entirely so.
A “Today” spokesperson tells us there was no highlight reel, not even on standby. For what it’s worth, the online version of Stanley’s story already has two corrections.
> Update: The Times has corrected Stanley’s story. What she saw, which is available on Today.com, was a highlight reel used on Curry’s first day, June 9, 2011, not her last.