Today

For the second consecutive week, the first two hours of the NBC morning program surged ahead of the show’s main rival, Good Morning America — not only capturing its usual lead among people 25-54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers — but among overall audiences as well. It’s the first time the venerable A.M. show has done so since late 2016, when it beat GMA among total viewers for the weeks of Dec. 12 and Dec. 19, 2016.

A source at NBC says that Kotb “will be in the co-anchor chair for the foreseeable future,” after Lauer was fired from the Today show lfor inappropriate sexual behavior.

It was the week’s top morning show. NBC also won the week in primetime, averaging 9.3 million viewers. CBS had 7.7 million, Fox had 5.4 million, ABC had 4.8 million, the CW had 1.8 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Ion Television had 1.3 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million.

The Nielsen company said Today had more viewers than Good Morning America all five days last week — the first time that has happened in nearly a year.

Megyn Kelly will take the helm of “Today’s” 9 a.m. hour later this month, but some are already managing expectations on what the $17 million anchor can deliver. Sarah Ellison looks at concerns that Kelly’s lackluster Sunday show performance will carry over to “Today,” which has only recently regained its morning dominance over “Good Morning America.”

A manufacturer of exploding rifle targets can’t revive a defamation lawsuit

NEW YORK (AP) — “Today” show host Hoda Kotb says she has adopted a baby girl. The co-anchor of the fourth hour of the NBC morning program said in an […]

After the dramatic departure of Tamron Hall from Today, TV insiders are buzzing that Megyn Kelly could next unseat Savannah Guthrie as the star co-anchor with Matt Lauer. Multiple sources say that Kelly is likely to take the lead role with Lauer when she starts in September. Guthrie, who recently signed a new long-term deal with Today, could be bumped to another role or even take over Hall’s 9 a.m. slot

Tamron Hall, a regular host on NBC’s Today and MSNBC, is leaving the network later this month. Her departure was announced today after days of contentious contract negotiations. Hall had been the co-host of the 9 a.m. hour of Today and a daytime anchor on MSNBC. Last week executives informed Hall and the Today staff that the 9 a.m. hour was being canceled to make room for a new program led by former Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

The network intends to launch the a new daytime show featuring Megyn Kelly during what is now the third hour of Today, according to a person familiar with the matter. Kelly is expected to join NBC News formally in May, this person said.

NBC News’ Today finished first among broadcast morning shows in total viewers and demos in December, celebrating its first non-Olympics monthly win in more than four years. As the programs all talked up their stats for the final quarter of 2016, Today topped the pack in the news demo, with 1.79 million viewers aged 25-54, besting ABC’s Good Morning America (1.53M) and CBS This Morning (1.12M).

Katie Couric is returning to the anchor desk at NBC’s Today — for a one-week stint as co-host. Couric will reunite with Today’s Matt Lauer during the week of Jan. 2, filling in for Savannah Guthrie, who is on maternity leave.

It took 16 years for ABC’s Good Morning America to end the historic streak by NBC’s Today as the most-watched program in morning television in 2012. But the race has tightened considerably over the last year. GMA is still the most popular show overall in the 2016-17 TV season, but NBC has topped GMA twice in overall viewers in the last five weeks and CBS This Morning is up 6% this season.

NEW YORK (AP) — ‘Today’ show co-host Savannah Guthrie has given birth to her second child, a boy. Guthrie’s co-host Matt Lauer made the announcement on the air Friday morning. […]

NBC is taking back more ground in the scorched-earth morning-news battle between its Today and ABC’s Good Morning America. Today wooed more viewers overall than its rival, as well as in the audience most coveted by advertisers, for the week ended Nov. 28, the second time it has done so in the last two weeks.

Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie has signed a new multi-year deal to extend her stay at Today for multiple years. There is some speculation her new contract puts her paycheck closer to that of the $20 million a year her co-host Matt Lauer is getting in his new deal.

Matt Lauer is staying put at Today. The anchor has re-signed his contract with the NBC morning show — it will keep him as co-host for at least two more years at $20 million per year.

NBC wasn’t talking Tuesday about potential replacements for Bush. Harry Connick Jr., the musician who launched his own syndicated talk show this fall, filled in Monday and Tuesday. Actors Christian Slater and Eric Dane are booked as guest hosts later this week. There’s no word on whether any of them would be interested in a permanent job, although Today made a point Tuesday of giving Hall a trivia quiz on Connick’s career — a getting-to-know-you step that seemed odd for a short-timer.

NBC made the announcement of his firing in a note from Today show top executive Noah Oppenheim to his staff. Oppenheim called Bush, who spent 15 years at  NBCU’s syndicated Access Hollywood, ”a valued colleague and longtime member of the broader NBC family. We wish him success as he goes forward.”

NBC is about to pay millions of dollars to Billy Bush to stop hosting the 9 a.m. hour of Today. Bush’s exit from NBC could be announced as early as today, another person with knowledge of the negotiations said.

After working to take some of the commercials out of its primetime and latenight shows, NBC wants to do something similar in the morning. The network said Friday it had extended a partnership with American Express in which the credit-card company will, next week, help to expand segments across three hours Today franchise, replacing time that would normally be filled with ads. On Today.com, the show’s web presence, pre-roll ads will be reduced. The 7 a.m. hour of Today, arguably the show’s newsiest and best-watched, will retain its original structure.

Billy Bush’s exit from NBC News isn’t going to be as amicable as many thought it would be. The embattled Today show host, who has been suspended for his role in the lewd Donald Trump tape recorded in 2005 when Bush was an anchor at Access Hollywood, has hired a prominent Los Angeles litigator to help work out his separation from the network. And that lawyer is now going on the attack.

His exit from the Today show is now a matter of “when,” not “if,” according to two sources with knowledge of the negotiations. One of the sources said his departure will be announced “in the coming days.”

Billy Bush has been suspended from the Today show “pending further review of the matter.” It is unclear if he will ever return to the broadcast. “He will never be on the show again,” an on-air source said Sunday night, reflecting what staffers are saying behind the scenes. A second source at the network confirmed Monday that his return is unlikely.

Today Executive Producer Noah Oppenheim said in a memo Sunday that “there is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape.” Bush, who hosts the third hour of NBC’s Today, has been suspended “pending further review of the matter,” Oppenheim said.

NBC’s Today has finished the 2015-16 TV season as the No. 1 network morning show among the 25-to-54 age group that matters most to advertisers. The win in the demographic is the first since the 2010-11 season, when Today was having its historic 16-year run as the top-rated morning program.

The NBC morning show sees ad dollars grow sharply with highly rated Olympics and widens its lead over rival Good Morning America on ABC. Just a few issues linger.

Finally confirming the worst kept secret in TV news, NBC News today announced Billy Bush would join its morning program Today in the 9 a.m. hour. He’ll begin his new stint during the Olympics in August.

Natalie Morales is moving to Los Angeles to host NBCUniversal’s Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live. She will keep a role at her current job, serving as Today’s West Coast anchor .

Veteran Today news anchor Natalie Morales, who also co-hosts the third hour of the NBC morning show, is weighing her options with her contract expiring in October. Among the options, she’s being discussed as a host for NBC’s sister entertainment show Access Hollywood, according to one source.

NBC is bringing one of its longtime stars onboard Today.  After months of speculation, Access Hollywood Live host Billy Bush is set to join the morning show, multiple sources say. A formal announcement about Bush’s new gig is expected to be made at NBC’s annual upfront presentation on May 16.

NBC’s Today claimed Thursday that it trumped the Walt Disney network’s Good Morning America in total viewers for the first time in a non-Olympics week since 2012, the latest twist in the scorched-earth battle between the two networks to dominate the morning-news audience and lock in millions in extra advertising dollars.