A conference call arranged by NBC so that reporters could talk with Today anchors Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker about their new "Ends of the Earth" feature was a lot more interesting than the norm. According to the New York Post, a potty-mouthed prankster infiltrated the ranks of press peeps on the line not once but twice and asked the hosts some seriously off-color questions. Afterward, Mitovich was given a bar of soap and told that he knew what to do with it. — Ben Katner
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Hoda Kotb, the coanchor of the fourth hour of NBC's Today show, announced today that she had a mastectomy earlier this year after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Kotb, who has been with NBC News since 1992, revealed her personal story Thursday morning on Today, sharing excerpts from a video diary she kept during the days before and after the surgery. "Cancer gave me the gift of being fearless," Kotb told colleague Ann Curry on Today, in the first of two segments presented today (the second is planned for Friday). "What I get from this whole horrible ordeal is 'You can’t scare me.'" Kotb said she was encouraged by a stranger she met on an airplane to share the experience with viewers. "I’m six months after a mastectomy and I feel great," she said. "There’s hope out there."At the end of the first part of the tear-filled segment, Kotb jokingly asked for makeup. —Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
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NBC is expected to announce on Tuesday that Ann Curry, Natalie Morales and Hoda Kotb will cohost the fourth hour of Today, sources tell the Hollywood Reporter. This added hour of the morning show, premiering Sept. 11, has been cleared in some 96 percent of the country and will air at 10 am/ET in most markets. Today proper's Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira will be MIA from the overextended portion, save for Lauer appearing briefly at the top of the hour to turn the show over to the new team.
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Back in 1997, Steve Capus was executive producer of The News with Brian Williams, the prime-time flagship newscast of NBC's fledgling cable news channel MSNBC. At the end of each broadcast, the show's staff often had the same thought: Is anybody out there? Nearly a decade later Williams is seen by 10 million viewers of NBC Nightly News, where he has finished his first year as anchor and where Capus also served as executive producer. On Tuesday Capus, 42, was named president of NBC News after filling the role on an interim basis when Neal Shapiro departed in September. While NBC struggles in prime time, under Capus' watch it has remained the leader in the evening news and in the morning, with a resurgent Today show. Now that his job is permanent, Capus talked with The Biz about the challenges ahead.
TVGuide.com: Congratulations on passing the audition. What do you think made this happen?Capus: When (NBC Universal Televis
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Matt Lauer's latest "Where in the World" adventure kicked off this morning on the Today show. His first stop: The isolated South Pacific paradise known as Easter Island. It's apparently so isolated that they've never seen or heard of Ann Curry. In related news, I'm moving to Easter Island.
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