Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV

by Brian Stelter

  Guthrie and Orchard were married in 2005, but they divorced after three years. By then Guthrie had moved on up to NBC, thanks in part to Court TV’s publicity strategy. As a way to generate attention for itself, the channel sought to book correspondents like Guthrie as guests for legal news segments on other networks. So Guthrie started appearing on MSNBC and on the Today show. “That’s how I think I came to the attention of NBC,” she said.

  When her Court TV contract came up for renewal in 2007, NBC snapped her up and made her a correspondent in Washington, as well as an occasional fill-in daytime anchor on MSNBC. Her first experience in that latter post came on March 10, 2008, the day of New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s spectacular downfall. “Someone handed me a piece of paper and it said, ‘Eliot Spitzer involved in a prostitution ring.’ And they said, ‘Go’ and I said, ‘There is nothing here. Involved in? What does that mean?’” Her years at law school and on Court TV had borne fruit. She chose her words carefully on the air, making a smashing first impression.

  Later in the year, after briefly covering Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s vice presidential campaign, Guthrie was made an NBC correspondent at the White House, backing up Chuck Todd. She was obviously being groomed. Todd and Guthrie hit it off, and a year later they started cohosting a post–Morning Joe morning newscast, The Daily Rundown, on MSNBC. Not long after she got the White House beat, however, she’d started looking for a way out of it. The reason, she said, was hard to put into words, but it’s clear that she internalized the stress of the position. “You can never feel that you know everything, that you’ve talked to everyone, that you have enough sources. I just put a ton of pressure on myself,” she said.

  The toughest career move she ever made, though, was probably the one she made by not fleeing Studio 1A after Curry had her on-camera meltdown on June 28.

  Guthrie’s ascent at Today had started slowly, with a morning or two reading the news on Weekend Today; then a morning or two filling in as a weekend host; then a morning or two reading the news on the weekday show. Baby steps. At first she didn’t see Today as a career trajectory for herself. She was looking for a way off the White House beat. But for a while in 2010, Guthrie feared telling Steve Capus about her desire to get the hell off Obama’s lawn. Although those around her knew that Guthrie was a rising star at NBC, someone the network wanted to keep happy, she, in full Debbie Downer mode, was afraid he’d say, “Well, that’s your job—it’s the White House or nothing.” If she wanted out, she said, “I honestly thought, ‘I’m going to have to leave TV.’”

  As usual, her worst fears about herself weren’t realized. “To my surprise and happiness, when I finally confessed, ‘OK, I kind of think I want to be moved off the White House at some point,’ he didn’t say, ‘Get outta here,’ he said, ‘OK, we’ll have to come up with something for you.’ I was relieved.” That “something” became the nine a.m. hour of Today, cohosted by Curry, Morales, and Roker. With Curry being bumped up to cohost in June 2011, the hour needed a new cast member.

  When Capus came to Guthrie’s office in Washington to talk through the possibility with her, she was leaning back in her chair, reading a law journal.

  “Really?” he asked.

  “This is catnip to me. I love this,” she told him, though when interviewed for this book she added, “Don’t get the wrong impression—People magazine was probably hiding inside of it. I’ve fully reconciled my flighty side and my nerdy side.”

  When offered the nine a.m. hour and then a second title, that of chief legal analyst, Guthrie didn’t hesitate. She loved the mix of stories on the show—“It fits all the different facets of my personality”—​and all the opportunities to apply her law degree to boot. “The reason I love the Today show is because we do real news, we cover politics, do legal things, but it’s really fun to clown around on a cooking segment, too, or to go to a concert and dance,” she said. Guthrie’s ability to dance and profound inability to cook became running jokes on the nine a.m. hour. She quickly bonded with Roker (despite his playful tendency to call her Samantha instead of Savannah) and Morales.

  Guthrie said that when she was given the nine a.m. job, “There was no part of me that thought, ‘Oh what’s the next thing?’ I was so happy to be there.” Not only wasn’t she striving for the top job on Today, her friends said, she feared the perception that she was. Yet when Capus told her that Curry had failed her yearlong stint in the seven and eight a.m. hours, and asked her to move up, she knew she had to accept his offer. No network journalist says no to the president—certainly not when one of the most prestigious jobs in the television world is there for the taking, no matter the circumstances.

  * * *

  Four minutes after Curry signed off, Guthrie took her place on the couch, right near where the tissue box should have been. It was time to start the nine a.m. hour of the Today show.

  Normally the super-soft third hour starts outside on the plaza, with the cohosts surrounded by a sea of adoring fans. It was a handoff of sorts, a time when Lauer and Curry would say goodbye and Morales, Roker, and Guthrie would take over. On June 28, though, Curry had already left and Lauer chose not to participate. So Guthrie, Morales, and Roker sat on the couch and pretended nothing out of the ordinary had just transpired.

  Part of one’s job as a morning show host is to divine what the viewers are thinking (“This fat cat may be cute, but what about his health!”). Guthrie sensed right away that Curry’s sign-off had gone not quite as well as Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump, but she had no time to figure out even what her own feelings were, or to compose a proper face. She wrapped up the nine a.m. hour by leading a cooking segment, then immediately joined Lauer at the anchor desk—which, if Curry’s supporters had had anything to say about it, would have been sealed off with crime scene tape at that very moment—for a network-wide special report at ten a.m., when the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Obama administration’s health care overhaul was announced. Guthrie’s versatility reminded a lot of people at NBC why they’d elected to go with a legal analyst and former White House correspondent rather than a red-carpet chatterbox from the E! network. As Capus pointed out, “If we wanted to pursue someone perhaps flashier from the show business world, we could have. But we weren’t aiming for an immediate ratings surge. We were thinking long-term.”

  The next day, Friday, Guthrie cohosted Today with nary a hint of how awkward she felt. A few hours after the broadcast, NBC confirmed with a press release what everyone already knew: that she was the chosen one. She’d start the new job on July 9, a schedule that allowed for emotional recovery and the banking of some sleep. Under the terms of her new contract, Guthrie would be paid about three million dollars a year to cohost Today, one-eighth as much as Lauer, the show’s veteran, who, it turned out, had renewed his contract and gotten his raise during the very last week of the Today show’s streak back in April. Guthrie’s lack of long tenure was one of her most attractive qualities in the eyes of NBC execs. At age forty, she could have a long career. If everything worked out.

  * * *

  In the immediate wake of the Ann thing, as it became known around Studio 1A, the mood around NBC was…well, a mixture of numerous emotional elements, but perhaps most notably relief. Yes, the nasty messages continued coming in to Lauer, who was wrongly seen by many as being 100 percent responsible for his cohost’s departure. And yes, Curry herself was in hiding: her closed office door bore a red Post-it note that read, “DO NOT ENTER.” Yet as horribly as her send-off had gone—and as sure as a lot of people at NBC were that a lot of other people at NBC were to blame for the on-air debacle—there had been almost universal support for the change itself…which was, let us thank the Lord, now behind them. Lauer “looked relieved,” said a staffer, “because he was.” And why shouldn’t he be? He would no longer need to load his eyes with daggers before each broadcast. Guthrie, a woman who cared deeply about turning the Today show around, was now on the case. “It’s like the weight of the world ha
d been lifted from his shoulders,” said another staffer.

  In a memo to his twelve senior staff members dated July 10, Jim Bell tried to rally his troops and find the bright side of his show’s fall to second place in the ratings:

  FROM: Bell, Jim

  SENT: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 7:30 AM

  SUBJECT: Private

  IMPORTANCE: High

  Because I think they can be an unnecessary distraction, I’ve asked research to stop sending metered market data [early ratings from the major cities] for now. This information is wildly unreliable, almost comically so at times, and every minute that it fuels chatter, phone calls & e-mails is time that could be spent focusing on the next great show idea or coming up with fun ways to highlight our new team and get others, like Hoda [Kotb, the ten a.m. cohost], Tamron [Hall, a fill-in host], Willie [Geist, a fill-in host], Ryan [Seacrest, a special correspondent], into the mix. It’s time that could be spent mentoring junior members of the staff. Hell, I’d even prefer it if we spent this time on personal business, call a loved one, get some balance, whatever.

  We’ve allowed ourselves to be somewhat manipulated by the noise of the last 3 months and it is completely understandable; the streak was a big deal…Matt’s contract was a big deal…and the Ann situation has been a big deal. Those things all had negatives attached…losing the streak…the concern that Matt would leave…and Ann’s last day as anchor. But there are positives here too; we are freed from the burden that the streak had become…Matt’s committed and is here for a while…and Ann was out of position and we now have a much better show. And you are a very strong, talented and experienced group. There have been times when I think we, and I start with me, have acted like careful custodians of a legacy instead of bold shapers of that legacy’s future. We should all now feel motivated, invigorated and engaged about getting the chance to create this show’s future at a critical time. Who is coming up with Savannah’s first big interview? Who has an idea that will get Matt excited? Whether it’s graphics or bumpers, contributors or trips, politics or pop culture, let’s take some chances…we are the underdogs now.

  We have a tough road ahead to be sure and, though it won’t happen overnight, I know we are entirely capable of meeting the challenge. We are featuring the best co-anchor team in the business and their excellence should eventually drown out any residual bad vibrations caused by recent times. But we are tackling this challenge at a time when GMA is using Robin’s illness and the accompanying public interest in her health as a new weapon in its arsenal. In addition, our competitors have already shown that they are prepared to use the press and social media in combative ways previously unimagined. Let’s make sure there are better things for everyone—the staff, the viewers & the press—to focus on, and we are going to leave this chapter far behind us just as quickly as possible. We can and should take reassurance from the fact that if we are judged on our merits, we cannot help but win.

  * * *

  It was six thirty a.m. on Monday, July 9—Savannah Guthrie’s first official day as cohost. The Today show had tied GMA during the week of Curry’s departure and, with Willie Geist and Natalie Morales filling in, had lost the following week by an average of 243,000 daily viewers. Still, as Lauer strolled into Studio 1A he looked happy and relaxed. Inside he chatted with the crew and read the morning’s teases for local stations. Twenty minutes later he was joined by Guthrie, who had picked out a dark-blue Diane von Fürstenberg dress for the occasion. Lauer and Guthrie had done this together dozens of times, when Curry was on vacation or off interviewing refugees, but this time was special.

  A makeup artist walked in at 6:56 and applied a little blush and powder to Guthrie’s face. Lauer took off his reading glasses and practiced his introduction for the show. “Bright and early, it’s a big day around here as Savannah Guthrie takes her place at the anchor desk,” he said.

  No one mentioned Curry or the travails of recent weeks. The new duo smiled while an NBC photographer snapped a picture of them at the anchor desk. With a minute to go before airtime, Lauer suppressed a cough and Guthrie sat up straighter and brushed back her hair. Then, holding a script, she placed her hands on the desk and looked straight into Camera 1. “Have fun,” Don Nash said in her ear. The clock struck seven a.m.

  For those who remembered the elevation of Curry to the cohost spot thirteen months earlier, the opening moments of the broadcast brought on a feeling of déjà vu. Lauer celebrated her arrival and had the control room replay the audio clip of her name. “We’re happiest,” he said, “because you bring a great attitude and what we like to call a weird sense of humor.” Guthrie played along, and immediately showed an ease with Lauer that many viewers thought Curry had lacked. “Seven oh-two,” she said, gesturing to the camera, “and he’s already calling me weird.”

  The whole broadcast on Monday was designed to show off Guthrie without seeming to say, “Look, we’ve upgraded!” to the show’s many confused and angry viewers. Jim Bell, who’d been away over the weekend on Olympics business, flew back from London for the day to supervise. Guthrie was given the first interview of the morning, with the Obama campaign advisor Robert Gibbs, who talked about possible tax hikes on millionaires like Lauer and Guthrie. Later the cast moved over to what is no doubt the only couch in America that could itself get a mid-six-figure book deal, for a long segment welcoming Guthrie to the family, including a highlight reel reintroducing her to viewers. There was Guthrie the legal correspondent, Guthrie the interviewer, Guthrie the jokester, Guthrie the amateur guitarist. She cracked up when the video included a clip of her singing Bob Dylan’s “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.”

  The Today show knew how to do this kind of thing—and maybe that’s why some people found the tribute hard to watch: it was slick and professional, but a little by-the-numbers, as Curry’s had been the year before. After the video, Guthrie smartly acknowledged the odd circumstances of her promotion. “I just want to say, in all seriousness: this was a little unexpected, as we all know. But I just want to say, I’m so proud and honored to be in a place occupied by so many women that I admire: Ann, Meredith, Katie, Jane, Deborah, Barbara.” As her official welcome came to a close, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds in midtown Manhattan and shone straight into the windows of the studio. Those NBC people think of everything. Later in the show Guthrie was surprised by one of her musical idols, the singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin, who invited her to play the guitar and sing a song with her. (Unbeknownst to Guthrie, her boyfriend Michael Feldman had helped a Today producer sneak into her apartment and pick up her guitar after she’d left for work.) The whole show went off without a hitch. And the Olympics were only three weeks away!

  Operation Bambi?

  As that infamous banner above George W. Bush’s head read, “Mission accomplished.”

  * * *

  Or, actually, as more than a few people said back to George W. Bush, “Maybe not.”

  On Monday, Guthrie’s first day, Today lost to GMA by 356,000 viewers, and it lost again, by 151,000, on her second. It lost in the demo, too. Her third day was even worse, a 582,000 viewer margin. “Killed them yesterday,” read an e-mail from Schneider, the ABC spokesman. Guthrie turned off the Google Alert for her name and tried mightily to ignore the daily ratings reports.

  Kopf, the Today spokeswoman, reminded reporters that Stephanopoulos had had a tough go of it when he started on GMA in December 2009, and no one should expect anything different of Guthrie. But no one in the business thought that the viewers were rejecting Guthrie per se—they were rejecting Today for hurting Curry. Kopf was blind to how severely the show was damaged. “This,” said a top ABC executive, “was always the real bind these guys were gonna find themselves in. Ann was taking them down. But actually taking her down alienated a whole other group of people. They were damned either way.” Could Guthrie repair it? Clearly she was a more comfortable companion for Lauer than Curry had ever been. But there were a couple of knocks against her—patently unfa
ir ones, maybe, but knocks nonetheless. Guthrie was unmarried and had no children. Every time she cracked a joke about knowing nothing—nothing!—about cooking, she reminded moms at home how little she and they had in common.

  With GMA pulling ahead among viewers ages twenty-five to fifty-four, Cibrowski began, for the first time, to contemplate whether—and how—he should celebrate a weekly win in the demo. When I asked whether he’d hold another rooftop party for the staff, he admitted, “I was thinking about that last night in bed.” It was Thursday of Guthrie’s first week. “We gotta wait till that happens, though. It’s very close, it’s very close,” he cautioned. Then he looked up at the monitor in the GMA control room showing Today, and saw a tease for a story about Jesse Jackson Jr., the charismatic Illinois congressman who had been hospitalized for depression. “We did that story yesterday,” he said with a chuckle. Cibrowski said he wasn’t surprised that Today was losing to GMA every day, despite the press hoopla around Guthrie’s arrival. “Nothing, zero, has changed on that program,” he said. “They’ve offered nothing new.” GMA, meanwhile, continued to push hard. Although she was in the midst of twice-weekly chemotherapy treatments, Roberts, who’d been in Atlanta the night before for a ceremony honoring a local anchor there, flew back overnight on a charter flight to be on GMA by seven.

  At seven thirty Cibrowski and Denise Rehrig looked up at the monitors and saw that all three network morning shows were simultaneously teasing the same amateur video of a South Carolina couple who were shocked when they reeled in a shark on a fishing trip.

  “Look!” Cibrowski exclaimed. “All three shows. A trifecta.”

  “Oh my God, amazing,” Denise Rehrig said.

  GMA was the only show that would bring you the couple live, though. They were going to come on via Skype for a short chat at 7:47. The Internet video connection was ideally informal for such a segment. “To roll a truck to them for two minutes, it’s just not worth it. It’s too much money,” Cibrowski said. Through his earpiece, Cibrowski instructed Josh Elliott to brag on air about the exclusive nature of his upcoming chat with the still-astonished anglers.