Feature

Duel at Sunrise

With GMA closing in on Today in recent weeks, there are rumors going around NBC that the unthinkable could happen—that Couric’s contract, which is up next May, might not be renewed. Griffin, a well-regarded veteran NBC executive, insists that the anchorwoman has the full support of the network. “Nobody is talking about that. We’re going to keep Katie,” he says. “She’s one of the most respected journalists in the business. People can relate to Matt and Katie; they can connect to them.”

The mantra at GMA is now, Stay the course, and don’t get smug. “Charlie, Diane, and Robin are clicking,” says Sherwood. “But we’re up against a mighty opponent.”

Today’s new team of producers, meanwhile, has decided to showcase Couric and Lauer more. “We’ve got the two best ad-libbers in the business—we’re giving them more room to talk so they’re not so tightly produced,” says Griffin. “We’ve got to be more aggressive. We’ve got to be stronger and get bookings.” NBC’s political stars, Tim Russert and Chris Matthews, have recently made appearances, but an NBC staffer quips, “If you have to book your own staff, you’re not exactly winning the booking wars.”

Day by day, as the overnight ratings come in this month, the tension is building as NBC braces for what is now perceived as the inevitable—the huge psychological blow when Good Morning America passes Today. There’s a built-in momentum once these kinds of viewing shifts occur, says Tom Wolzien, a former NBC executive who is now a media analyst at the investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. “If the feeling is that the Today show is stale, if everybody’s talking about it,” he says, “people will look for something different.”

In early May, NBC unveiled one of those wildly hyped new segments the morning shows roll out for the sweeps period. The shtick was that the show’s anchors and viewers got to live out a fantasy—jumping out of a plane, say, or whitewater rafting—on the Today show’s dime. On Thursday, the day the latest weekly ratings were due, a set had been erected outside the studio for a segment in which Al Roker was zipping through the air in a harness, Tarzan style. A giant backdrop promoting the bit loomed over the scene, with the name of the segment emblazoned in large, bright letters. What it said was LIVE FOR TODAY.