NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News opened the new year Tuesday by appointing Hoda Kotb as co-anchor of the “Today” show’s first two hours with Savannah Guthrie, replacing Matt Lauer following his firing on sexual misconduct charges in late November.
Kotb, 53, will continue to co-host the show’s fourth hour with Kathie Lee Gifford.
It will be the first all-female team headlining “Today” in the show’s 65-year history. Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts blazed that path for ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the 2000s, but morning shows have traditionally paired a man and a woman as host. With an audience dominated by women in an era where news of badly behaving men is frequent, the Guthrie-Kotb pairing may be particularly timely.
Despite making history with the appointment, Kotb's salary is not very noteworthy.
She is set to make $7 million a year, the same as her co-host, Guthrie.
Matt Lauer, the man she replaced, made $25 million each year.
Read the full stories at Associated Press and Page Six
"The Bachelor" season 22 premiere was on Monday.
Just stating it as a fact, since it looks like pretty much nobody watched it.
The episode only pulled in 5.5 million viewers, which is a 29 percent drop off from last year's January premiere.
Why the loss in viewership?
Well, it is quite simple.
Last year, the show aired on January 2.
This year, it aired on January 1.
What else was on TV that day?
A bunch of college football.
Read the full story at The Hollywood Reporter