When “Today” starts up Monday morning, NBC executives and producers hope that it will look like any other broadcast of the long-running A.M. show.
Of course, it won’t. Yes, Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin will greet viewers, no doubt, with the top news of the day. Yet while Melvin has been a regular presence on the program, Monday marks his first appearance in the co-anchor role previously held by Hoda Kotb. The expectation is that viewers won’t blink much of an eye.
“People kind of know and expect what we give them every day,” says Melvin, during an interview last week. “We would be silly to tinker with that too much.”
Melvin takes the role while “Today” is enjoying a new bout of momentum. To be sure, traditional audiences for most linear TV programs, including venerable, decades-old morning shows are in secular decline, but “Today” has shown some interesting vigor. In the past ten weeks, “Today” has nabbed the most viewers of the three broadcast morning programs, something usually accorded to ABC rival “Good Morning America.” The show has, as it typically does, also snared the most viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers. “Today” is enjoying its best ratings streak since April 2012, just before Ann Curry was ousted with an infamous and tearful farewell in June of that year that sparked backlash from viewers.
Indeed, changes of personnel at “Today” haven’t gone so smoothly in recent years. Kotb took the co-anchor role in 2018 after a controversy around her long-running predecessor, Matt Lauer, forced NBC to oust him from the job. Guthrie came to the show after producers determined Lauer and then co-anchor Curry had not established a good on-air rapport. In the process, “Today” ceded its status as the nation’s most-watched broadcast morning program to “GMA.”
That was yesterday.
“We are really hoping that it is a seamless transition,” says Guthrie during last week’s interview. Kotb will “still be part of the family. People will see her,” she says, but “Craig has been there every single day, and our viewers know him and our crew knows him.”
“Today” has likely gained a boost from NBC’s successful telecast this past summer of the 2024 Paris Olympics and tends to gain a broader audience around the holidays. The weeks leading up to Kotb’s departure have also focused attention on the program. Now, Melvin and Guthrie will need to keep up the performance as “Today” heads into the first quarter — with the mammoth Christmas tree that lures people every year to the New York blocks outside “Today’s Studio 1A gone for another cycle.
“This show has set me up in a way that if something goes south, it will be my fault,” Melvin says. “They have done everything they can do.”
Producers are doing even more behind the camera. “Today” can’t just try to catch notice tied to singular events. The NBC News executive who oversees all hours of the morning franchise — about 23 hours each week — says her team also keeps a close eye on the basics. “I worry about putting on a great show every day and making sure that our content is topical, relevant and helpful to the audience,” says Libby Leist, an executive vice president at NBC News. “We know what our mission is, and Craig and Savanah are the lead of it.”
Producers have worked to ensure that viewers are familiar with all the “Today” personnel, which include Al Roker, Carson Daly, Dylan Dreyer, Sheinelle Jones, Jenna Bush Hager, Peter Alexander, Laura Jarrett and Willie Geist. “Our anchors are really gelled together. They have been together for a long time,” says Leist. “This is a very consistent show.”
There is also significant attention placed on connecting “Today” to the local stations that show it, she says, with a team in place to uncover stories that might have strong resonance in a particular region or market. Making affiliates aware of such stuff might spur audiences tuned into local morning news to hang around for “Today.” “Those relationships are so important,” says Leist.
Melvin and Guthrie expect to play a role in weaving more sports into “Today,” a reflection of not only NBC’s ties to the NFL, but the ones it will start to establish in the fall when it gains new rights to show NBA games as part of a new 11-year pact. Melvin is expected to travel to Milan in the coming weeks to report on the status of preparations one year away f for the 2026 Winter Olympics — also part of NBC’s sports portfolio.
The show is “doing more sports than we used to in the old days,” says Guthrie, who viewers might recall has interviewed tennis great Roger Federer on multiple occasions. “I would like to highlight even more of those kinds of stories,” says Melvin. Look for Guthrie and Melvin to make an appearance during the halftime show Sunday evening on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”
Melvin’s new job at “Today” comes after years of work for NBC News. For several years, Melvin anchored a daytime hour on MSNBC along with various “Today” duties, and he expects to continue to appear in the 9 a.m. hour of the program.
In the earlier days of his career, he says, “I didn’t think this was in the cards.” Working at WIS in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, Melvin recalls, “my dream was to get to a bigger market,” which back then might have been Atlanta or Chicago. Leaving for a new job outside the city was a big deal. “My entire family is in South Carolina — siblings, parents and uncles all lived within a 15-mile radius.” When he left for a new job at WRC, NBC’s station in Washington, D.C., “my grandmother was asking me if I was sure about the decision. I was fully prepared to retire there.”
Now, one might argue that the new morning pair has miles to go. “Today” is branching beyond its traditional morning roost with digital extensions, including a streaming outlet and a new wellness app. “We have really tried to meet viewers where they are,” says Guthrie. Monday’s greeting will likely serve as the first of many.
