Getting fired sucks. Getting hung out to dry by your
employer in front of tens of millions of people really sucks. Poor Ann Curry.
She took the bullet for some faltering of the Today Show brand amid ABC’s Good
Morning America
Nevermind that the rumor mill was churning for some time
before her bosses made sure we all knew she in trouble . . . called too earnest
during the fluff segments of the multi-hour show . . . said not to get along
all that well with the recently re-signed (for a reportedly $25 million a year)
Matt Lauer . . . I don’t really get that part, since they’d worked together for
years, and it does take two to tango.
Curry’s career flopped about in the high-profile rating’s
game as every real news outlet and “celebrity” news outlet guessed at who would
replace her. Let’s not forget that Curry, too, was part of the multi-year team
that kept Today on top of the ratings
heap. And is it not possible that Good
Morning America has improved in recent months?
So the other day, after a few minutes of really awkward and
tearful goodbyes, Curry was gone . . . poof. So after 15 years at the Today show, and seven Emmys for her
reporting, Curry was booted.
Savannah Guthrie, continuing her meteoric rise within the
network, was named Curry’s replacement (though Friday’s show aired without the
usual lead-in host names on screen or audio). Guthrie certainly seems to have
the chops to make it as a co-host, but who knows. Viewers may put some of their
heat on Guthrie, though I’m guessing NBC’s malicious and inept handling of
Curry’s axing will take most of it.
Steve Capus, head of NBC News, apparently couldn’t wait to
get one more kick in when he told The
Hollywood Reporter, that NBC had “given her a year to prove herself.”
“We gave her a year to prove
herself, and ultimately we came to the conclusion that she had played at the
highest level she could," he said. "When you’re in the major leagues
of our profession, you’ve got to continue to be at peak performance in order to
stay there."
While he went on to say Curry had good hard news chops yadda
yadda, if I were Curry, I would have appreciated it if my employer could have shown
some restraint and his boots off my neck in public. All that said, the rumors
and leaks came from somewhere . . . my vote’s from inside the NBC ivory tower.
So now Curry will wander the land doing interviews and
stories as Today anchor-at-large
(whatever the heck that is).
She’s a good news interviewer, perhaps overly earnest at
times, and I look forward to seeing more of her work.
The takeaways? Business is tough . . . rating are all that
really counts . . . never trust your employer . . . no job is forever . . . and
keep a Kevlar vest handy . . .
