Ann Curry Takes the Bullet for NBC's Today . . . Ok Bullets

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’s ratings rise.

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 . . .