TVSquad

Meredith Viera and the new Today show studio made their debut this morning on NBC. I've been an occasional watcher of the Today show for a bit over ten years now, seeing Bryant leave and Matt taking his spot, so I did want to make the time to catch the show this morning and see another new regular host take her place. This was also the debut of the new Today studio, in HD no less (though, sadly, I don't have HD yet. Boo.)

The studio is quite different looking, and the layout itself seems to have taken a bit of an alteration as well. For one thing, there's an area that I swear looks a lot like The View's seating area, with a semi-circular layout of chairs and couches. I don't watch The View, but I have seem the set before. I really thought, "is that The View studio they're showing?" when the camera panned around to show how things were laid out.

I think I'm living some kind of weird Rip Van Winkle life lately. Suddenly, without warning, there are these bizarre promos running during the breaks on the Today Show showing Matt, Al, Ann and Meredith laughing, goofing and dancing together as if they'd been on the air for ten years with Meredith. Who are they trying to fool? Who are these people? What is going on here?!

Maybe they did an excellent video editing job and stuck Meredith's head on Katie's body, and this is an old goofy video they're using. And even then, when I say the promo's goofy, I mean GOOFY. I'm trying to imagine what the director was saying while trying to get the team to feel all chummy together, as if we're supposed to believe they're really that pally with Meredith: "OK now Al, you do a little hop and shuffle, then eat a beignet. Matt, you stick out your tongue, slap Ann on the ass and dip Meredith. No, on the ass, Matt. Meredith, you flex your biceps while Ann laughs hysterically in the background. No Ann, laugh. Like this 'hahaha.' There you go."

Fearing it might be losing Katie Couric to CBS, NBC apparently is trying to woo Meredith Viera of The View and Who Wants to be a Millionaire to take over Couric's spot on The Today Show, should the pixie-ish personality decide to head to CBS. Now, understand that none of this is official, and Couric still has until May 10 to let NBC know whether or not she'll accept the anchor position on the CBS Evening News. However, given Viera's many meetings with NBC execs, it looks as if it's probably going to happen. Unless, of course, it doesn't.

While most of us know Viera for gossipy fare like The View, she does have a background in journalism. She helped develop the short-lived but well-respected news program West 57th, and also worked at CBS News, spending part of her time there as a co-editor on 60 Minutes in the early 1990s.

[via Lost Remote]