Matt Lauer was a goner.
The host of NBC’s “Today” show came so close to jumping to rival ABC last year that everyone close to the situation — Bob Iger, CEO of ABC parent Disney; ABC News boss Ben Sherwood, and even Lauer’s agent — thought he was signed, sealed and delivered to the alphabet network, according to an exclusive report.
Lauer would have been an ABC News personality and a co-host on the Disney-produced Katie Couric talk show with an occasional role on “Good Morning America,” according to the report out today.
But then Lauer decided to stay — and things at “Today” quickly got troublesome.
That decision played into the dismissal of co-host Ann Curry and left a bunch of disgruntled Disney execs in its wake.
“Iger was infuriated, as was [Jeff] Zucker [former executive producer of ‘Katie,’]” according to the report in this week’s New York magazine. The writer, Joe Hagan, reports that Sherwood “would not soon forget: In the months to come, he would spend an inordinate amount of time poking at Lauer and reveling in schadenfreude.”
Lauer’s un-magical misery tour started in late 2011 when he was irked by reports that NBC was discussing entertainer Ryan Seacrest as his successor. Then, with his contract about to end, he had a friendly lunch with his old pal Couric.
Most people close to Lauer thought he’d jump to ABC, but he didn’t. Instead, NBC execs, including uber-boss NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke, decided it was Curry who’d be going — while Lauer didn’t fight for her.
Instead NBC reupped Lauer, who agreed to a four-day work week and a $25 million-a-year raise.
So far, that decision doesn’t appear to be paying off. The handling of the Curry firing created a viewer backlash against “Today” that has knocked the former No. 1 morning show to a poor second to “GMA.” The latest Nielsen ratings, until the week ended March 11, show “Today” has lost 15 percent of its audience compared to the same week in 2012.