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Today show: Meredith Vieira Taking Katie's Spot
A day after Katie Couric announced she was leaving for CBS, NBC has chosen Meredith Vieira as Matt Lauer's new partner on the "Today" show.
NBC chose Vieira over several internal candidates, including weekend "Today" anchor Campbell Brown, newswoman Natalie Morales and "Today" newsreader Ann Curry. Brown and Morales had subbed for Couric on "Today" while she was on vacation at the end of last month.
"Meredith's vast experience as an award-winning journalist, as well as talk show host, make her the ideal candidate for this job," said Jeff Zucker, CEO of the NBC Universal Television Group.
Vieira told her audience on "The View" Thursday about her decision.
"I'm thrilled, I'm really thrilled," she said. "You would love these people."
With her background as a former "60 Minutes" correspondent and co-host on "The View," Vieira's experience matches a morning show host's need to do serious news and interview Hollywood celebrities and do cooking segments. Vieira has also won a Daytime Emmy award for her job as host of the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
She's expected to join Lauer on "Today" in September. It will be the first anchor change on morning television's top-rated program since 1997.
"Meredith is a real pro, and I think it speaks volumes that NBC has brought her here to 'Today,'" Lauer said. "I have been her fan for years and I can't wait to be her partner. She has the perfect background and personality to make a real mark on this show and in morning news in general.
I'm thrilled to welcome her aboard."
Couric announced Wednesday, her 15th anniversary on "Today," that she was leaving next month to join CBS. She'll become anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News" in September.
Vieira had been reluctant in the past to move back to news, despite other offers, for family reasons. But "Today" gives her the chance to join a broadcast that has led in the ratings more than 10 years in a row.
"I believe in growth, but right now I'm feeling terrific growing pains," Vieira said, fighting back tears.
She made the announcement while sitting next to Barbara Walters, a former "Today" personality herself and creator of "The View." Walters said "The View" would continue with the same format.
"This is a very sad day for us but a very happy day," Walters said. "I know this is a wonderful new chapter for you."
If Couric is to make her dawn-to-dusk move a success, she'll need more people like Amy Lindgren.
"I really love her," said Lindgren, a 27-year-old mother of two from Denmark, Maine. "I watch ABC now, but I'd rather watch Katie than the person doing the evening news (at ABC) now. She's outgoing, she's energetic and she seems to relate to the people nicely."
Lindgren is among the 29 percent of people responding to an Associated Press-TV Guide poll this week who said they preferred Couric in the evening. Forty-nine percent of the people said they favored Couric in the morning.
Despite the public's initial wariness, the poll suggests Couric has a chance to catch on at night, or at least lift the CBS broadcast from third place behind NBC's "Nightly News" and ABC's "World News Tonight."
About half of the respondents said they'd be willing to give Couric a try in the evening. One is Dian Miller of Shepherdsville, Ky., who is a loyal CBS viewer.
"I like hearing Bob Schieffer," she said. "I liked Dan Rather, but I think a change is in order. I think it will be a lot better for other women coming up."
During a time of transition in television news, Couric at least has a chance of making an impression. Brian Williams, who with only a year in the job at NBC's "Nightly News" is the longest-tenured evening news anchor, was judged most popular in a list of nine TV news personalities that also included Schieffer and Elizabeth Vargas of "World News Tonight."
That's the good news for Williams. The bad news is he was named by only 6 percent of the respondents. More than two-thirds didn't list a favorite.
Paul Wendel, a 30-year-old accountant from Newtown, Pa., said he associates the evening news with a somber, older person.
"It doesn't mean she couldn't do a good job," he said, "but it isn't a person I would associate with the evening news."
Only veteran broadcaster Diane Sawyer of ABC's "Good Morning America" received higher marks than Couric, with more than seven in 10 viewing her favorably. Unfortunately for Couric, she also had 12 percent of the people who flat-out didn't like her, higher than for any of the news personalities tested.
"I don't like her phony perkiness," said Desiree Dillon, a writer from Benicia, Calif. "I find her to be rather patronizing. Some of her guests she just talks down to, and she wears her opinions on her sleeve."
The AP-TV Guide poll of 615 adults was conducted by Ipsos on Monday and Tuesday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Six in 10 women said they would watch Couric in the evenings, compared with 38 percent of men.
"She kind of bugs me," said Ethelene Fortner of Tulsa, Okla. "I watched Bob Schieffer. He wasn't cocky and a know-it-all like most of them are."
Couric turned down an offer of about $20 million a year to stay at NBC in order to take CBS' five-year deal at near her current salary of about $15 million, according to people close to negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because networks do not speak publicly about salaries. She's also agreed to do "60 Minutes" stories and prime-time specials for CBS.
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