Who Wants to Be a Today Host? Meredith Vieira faces a balancing act, but she wouldn't be the first
Meredith Vieira, The View
History is about to repeat itself at NBC's
Today.
Any minute now, The View's Meredith Vieira will sign on as coanchor to replace Katie Couric after she leaves to join the CBS Evening News. But it looks like Vieira will keep her other gig as host of the syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. A game-show host on a news show?
Vieira took on the quizmaster role a few years ago after she was pursued by CBS to host The Early Show. ABC couldn't counter with a View salary as high as CBS' offer, so the network turned to corporate cousin Buena Vista Television, which sweetened the pot with Millionaire. Vieira's deal is up at The View in July, making her available for Today, but she is still committed to Millionaire for two more years. Unless Buena Vista releases her from her contract, Vieira could still be hosting Millionaire while she works beside Matt Lauer on Today.
Apparently it's no big deal inside NBC. The Biz hears it was never an issue in the negotiations to pursue Vieira. She would come to Today with a built-in following, a strong news background and lots of empathy from viewers who are familiar with her efforts to balance career and family obligations. That audience is more important than the TV journalism purists who may sniff at her crossover activities. "It doesn't matter," said one NBC News insider.
NBC types can say that with confidence, thanks to Hugh Downs, a Today host from 1962 to 1971. When he took the job, he was already the host of Concentration, a daytime game show on the network. It was pretty subdued compared to something like Let's Make a Deal, but it was still a game show.
"I remember NBC executives saying to me, 'You've got to make up your mind which hat you want to wear; be it entertainment or news,'" Downs told the Biz. "I said the public doesn't have any trouble deciding what hat I'm wearing."
He did both shows for six years and needless to say, Today's reputation as a news program remained intact. But Downs doesn't recommend the daily routine. "I marvel not only at how I did it but why I did it," he says. "I was chronically lacking sleep. When I took on Today, I said, 'This will be pretty good because I'm sure I'll have to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, but I'm sure I'll quit by 12. It never happened. The whole time I would do the game show, and then go back to the office until 6 or 7 pm and get things lined up for the next day."
As Vieira's likely hiring will further prove, game-show hosting doesn't seem to be a roadblock to journalistic credibility. Let's not forget that CNN's Anderson Cooper was the host of ABC's reality show The Mole as recently as 2000. When he took that job, folks at ABC News said something along the lines of "You'll never do news in this town again." Bet they're not saying that now.
One reason you're not likely to hear much criticism about Vieira's
Millionaire duties is that news divisions have made peace with the hybrid nature of network morning shows. "
Today is an entertainment show that has a news segment," says
Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. "I don't think there's any question that NBC sees it that way."
