Browsing articles tagged with " Will Hoda Kotb Replace Savannah Guthrie?"

Ann Curry Feels ‘Vindicated’ by TODAY Show Ratings Decrease, Hoda Kotb to Replace Savannah Guthrie?

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Poor Ann Curry who got fired the pink slip by the NBC network last month after she was blamed for the ratings decline on The Today Show, both by the network and her co-anchor Matt Lauer.

Well, fast forward to today and the ratings continue to decline despite the fact that Savannah Guthrie has replaced her. Yes, TODAY’s biggest competitor Good Morning America continues to win the ratings war, beating them for the last four straight weeks. During a week in mid-July, GMA averaged 4.57 million viewers, beating out TODAY by 357,000 viewers.

“Ann feels completely vindicated by the TODAY show’s poor ratings since she left,” a source tells Radar Online. “She feels she was fired completely unfairly and wasn’t given a fair shot at the gig.”

Ann, 55, who continues to work at NBC, is reportedly secretly delighting in the fact that the show is still struggling following her departure.

“Ann feels she was made a scapegoat by the network and that it’s the whole show that needed an overhaul, not her replacing,” the insider reveals. “She feels they should have booked better guests and had a more exciting line-up and better stories to cover and better writing. Ann believes that point has been proved by the show’s ratings declining even further since she left.”

Ann however has no hard feelings towards her replacement Savannah, 40, though Matt is a whole other story. ”There’s definitely no love lost for Matt Lauer though, who she feels threw her under the bus completely,” adds the source.

And speaking of Savannah, she is now feeling the heat.  In fact, the NY Daily News is reporting today that NBC is starting to panic a tad, hence their decision to call up Hoda Kotb to come to London and help cover “Today” show’s Olympic coverage because audiences are not connecting with Savannah.

While NBC is insisting it always planned to send Hoda to London, an insider insists Hoda’s departure was always up in the air.

Quite frankly, I’m not surprised the ratings have continued to slip. Following Ann’s departure, the show needed someone fun and exciting to breathe some life back into. And that someone would have been Hoda, who is not only very likeable and similar to former host Meredith Vieira, but already has a built-in fan base due to her hosting duties on the fourth hour of the Today Show.

Hoda should have gotten the job over Savannah. I mean let’s face it, is there really a difference between Ann and Savannah? They’re practically the same person! Savannah and Ann lacked the “IT Factor” which both Meredith and Hoda possess. Plus I thought handing the job over to Savannah without even testing Hoda or others was a huge mistake.

[Photo Credit: PR Photos]

TELL US – THOUGHTS ON THE LATEST WITH THE TODAY SHOW? SHOULD NBC HAVE HIRED SOMEONE ELSE OVER SAVANNAH?