Jump to content

NBC poised to fire Ann Curry from the Today show


dragonflies

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 253
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

That read like a long Gawker blog entry, not a good thing, especially the final part (about Lauer and Vieria meeting at a restaurant) which is sourced by someone eavesdropping. Lauer actually comes off much better in that article that I thought he would. It was Ann who came off as entitled and weird in the article.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

This sentence sums up how I feel, Carl. I especially commend you for the first part of it, since so few people are willing to acknowledge (their belief) that Curry wasn't the best fit for the job. (It's true that some people really enjoyed her, but it seems to me that many are now pretending that they loved her all along, when in fact many didn't like her prior to witnessing NBC's ruthless treatment of her.)

Even though I believe what was written in that article, I think it is poor taste for Curry to publicly say bad things about NBC. If she was not an employee, I'd have no problems with her trashing the network, but it's grossly inappropriate to be trashing NBC while--at the same time--receiving a fat paycheck from them.

If Ann Curry hates NBC so much (and she has good reason to), then she should leave them. If most people publicly criticized their employer, they'd be fired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Agreed again, Max!!! I just can't see Ann Curry as a victim in all this when her contract ($$$$) was honored by NBC and she actually has to do less work for the same money.

Yeah, she lost her dream job, and yeah, they were shady motherfuckers about it, but people lose jobs every day and bosses are shady motherfuckers every day. At least she GOT to have her dream job for 8 months. That is 8 months longer than 99.9% of people get to have their dream jobs.

That said, watching NBC and Lauer getting roasted by the media IS satisfying, I just hate the cycle of martyrdom/cut them down that must constantly repeat itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That was a great post, Juppiter.

It's interesting to contrast the huge amount of backlash that resulted from Curry's firing, when one considers that almost zero backlash is usually generated when those in show business get treated like s#it. I suspect that the main reason why the public reacted so strongly to this firing was because of Curry's tearful good-bye (and Lauer's awkward reaction to it). Actually, had NBC been even more ruthless--and not allowed Curry to say goodbye--the network and Matt Lauer would ironically be in better shape.

Shows like Today are able to build an audience (in part) by fooling the public that they are one big happy family. Of course, that illusion was shattered as a result of Curry's goodbye. Yet even other "we're all one big happy family" shows have fired people and not received the sort of backlash that Today is going through. For instance, CBS This Morning fired Erica Hill last year and replaced her with Norah O'Donnell. There was no backlash, and Hill was not given any opportunity to say goodbye. Aside from Dian Parkinson (who resigned and was allowed to give an on-air farewell), all of the long-running Barker's Beauties were fired (and the severance--if any--they received paled in comparison to Curry's current salary). Their departures were not even acknowledged, and while there was some outrage against Bob Barker and TPIR, it was nothing compared to what's happening with Matt Lauer and Today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think part of it is that Ann Curry was part of the Today Show for so many years before she was one of the hosts. People wanted to see her in the chair even if they weren't regular viewers as they felt she earned the job. The difference with what happened with TPIR compared to today has to do with the web. The outcry couldn't have been as severe as many people had no clue what was going on with the program.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'd say it has to do with Lauer's public image. I think he's very cold and smarmy, and this is something that has been apparent for some time. I also think that when women see a man on TV who is clearly hostile to a woman (which I believe Lauer was, at least in body language), they're more likely to empatize, especially since they'd "known" Curry for decades and she was non-threatening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Someone show me where in any of this is a DIRECT comment from Ann Curry. It's all heresay and speculation. Good grief Lauer is being given consideration but she isn't. And does anyone believe Ann Curry is allowed to publicly comment based on her current contract.

Sure she's still earning a paycheck but they went out of their way to tarnish her image and reputation. Who were the "sources" before her firing which led folks to believe she was going to be fired or was being blamed for ratings. Oh I'm sure its not the "innocents" at NBC right.

And whether she was the right choice or not(I don't think she was either) isn't the point. Today's ratings were dropping BEFORE she was given the cohosting job. But I guess NBC did have people believing she was the only issue, It seems to be resurfacing again.

This network has a PROVEN history of mismanagement and debacles and arrogance and it shows daily in the persona of Matt Lauer and others on and off screen. How soon everyone has forgotten the Leno/Conan debacle, lets forget the years of blaming the woman anchors at Today for their problems(Jane Pauley anyone?)

I did have to chuckle though on Katie Couric calling someone else fake. Now of course, I have no idea if she actually said it because again its all quotes from unnamed heresay sources.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Actually, Curry has criticized NBC to others. Here's a blurb from the NYT article:

Even before she was fired, she publicly criticized her bosses:

http://video.answers.com/ann-curry-claims-she-was-fired-for-her-choice-in-footwear-clothes-517438704

And while Brian Stelter's new book may not contain any quotes from Curry, he is a respected journalist who would be highly unlikely to exaggerate the complaints that Curry has made to others.

Of course, I believe that her criticisms are valid, but that is not the point. Regardless of how terribly she was treated, it's just not professional (for a high profile individual making tons of money) to be bad mouthing one's employer to others. If Curry wants to do something really commendable, she should resign from NBC ASAP and no longer take their money.

While Curry was treated very unfairly, I think that this sympathy has gotten to the point where it has become too much (when you compare it to the sympathy others have received who were also treated ruthlessly by their companies and bosses).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Miche, we'll just have to agree to disagree. Again, I have always thought that NBC has acted most reprehensibly in this matter.

I personally don't believe that a high profile celebrity should tell her friends about matters like this, because there is a danger that these "friends" (who are supposed to keep things like this confidential) could leak these comments to the media (which appears to be what happened). Moreover, some of the feelings she had about her bosses--which were expressed before she was demoted--were not just made to her friends, but to The Ladies' Home Journal.

Even as terribly as Curry was treated by her bosses and Lauer, I don't fully understand why she was blindsided by this treatment. (At least it appears to me as if this was the case.) NBC had rudely snubbed her when they were looking for Katie Couric's successor, and expressed back then why she "wasn't a good fit" for the job. Instead of choosing to leave NBC at the first possible moment (and go to a place where she would actually be wanted), she chose to stay at NBC. Much of that was indeed strong loyalty on her part, but it wasn't 100% selflessness, as she had a provision in her contract that allowed her to leave NBC if she wasn't chosen as Meredith Viera's successor. I wish that she realized just how much her bosses hated her (years ago), and further realized that they would probably be rooting for her failure if she ever did get her dream job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Except again thats not a direct quote. It says "what she was known to have said". If thats the case, I should believe every ugly comment about what Lauer allegedly said and Couric and all the others quoted. Outside of a direct interview Lauer made to the Daily Beast to help restore his image, I haven't seen any direct quotes from him either.

Let me ask you. Should NBC have honored their original contract with her? I have no issue with her taking a paycheck but someone needs to explain to me why the leaks at NBC. So the executives all the way up to the President of NBC Universal all acted professionally in helping orchestrate Operation Bambi right? All the leaks that came out about her poor performance and how NBC was unhappy you think was not planned?

I think the NYT except clearly explained why the public reacted so vehemently to what happened, Maybe its out of proportion.But when you read about how calculated her boot off of Today was orchestrated, its sickening. And imagine having to work with that. Are people treated worse elsewhere, yes but this is what generated attention. And yet again its a woman taking the fall for the multitude of problems at Today. And regardless of what people seem to want to believe, Lauer is one of the problems same as Bryant Gumble became one in his later years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The article explains why she stayed. She believed Steve Capus who was the President of the News Division and was one of her champions. He told her not to worry. He was the one who was beside her for years at NBC and it was the News Division the Today show reported into. Was she not to believe a person who championed her for her entire career at NBC and who seemed to be the person who had the final say?

What about Lauer. If I'm to believe the article, he didn;t act professionally, deliberately sabatoging his on air partnering with her. He has been alleged to have told friends about how he didn't like her and didn't think she fit the role. Is he supposed to now be lauded for that while she is chastized? I call it a double standard. Seems it not only exsists at NBC but in popular opinion also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Jane, I'm sorry that you are finding my comments so disagreeable. The quote from the NYT article wasn't 100% direct, but the author of the piece is a respected journalist. The quote that was from The Ladies' Home Journal (when she criticized her bosses before she was fired) was a direct quote.

I find NBC's conduct indefensible, so I won't even try to say anything in support of them. My main point is that this backlash has indeed become out of proportion, even though I am in the minority in thinking that way. Regardless, because of the huge public backlash, I just think there is a zero chance of Lauer's public image ever recovering.

Shoddy treatment of women at Today is sadly nothing new. There was of course the infamous Jane Pauley incident. And while this is another uncommonly held opinion, I felt that Deborah Norville was treated terribly as well (when it wasn't her fault that Pauley got fired; the fault lies with Bryant Gumbel and the NBC executives). In her final months, Norville seldom appeared during the first hour, and she never got to say goodbye on air. But strangely, I don't recall Gumbel's popularity nosediving this much as both women were treated so badly. (It's true that NBC and Today received a huge backlash for removing Pauley, but Gumbel's job never seemed to be in danger the way Lauer's is now.)

I'm certainly not lauding Lauer for what he did, since I have already criticized him for his conduct. NBC employees (and Howard Kurtz) seem to be the only ones singing his praises. While they have a double standard, I don't see any double standard in current public opinion, given that the public has huge amounts of sympathy for Curry, as Lauer's Q Score hits new lows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • To me, that made no difference. The point stands whether Eva wants to be a Dupree or not. Anita was 110% on top of things. Also it's a logical inference that Eva might be interested in having a place in her supposedly real family. Frankly though I wonder if Eva knows how to feel ... yet. She could really be confused.
    • Does Jack ever dress in drag during that early '00s period where he was trying to get Jennifer back...or does he just fake being gay around then?
    • Here you go, by special request! https://www.instagram.com/p/DJlXDnWJImW/ DAYS 9-26-90 Matt Ashford as Jack Deveraux in drag
    • Concluding 1976... Raymond Schafer arrives in Springfield and begins an extensive probe into Malcolm’s death, puzzling Ed, who wonders why most of Schafer’s question sessions keep turning back to Rita’s involvement with Malcolm. Ed assures the man that Rita’s only connection with Malcolm was as his nurse; he is unaware that Schafer knows a great deal more about Rita than he does. Just to protect Rita, Ed has Mike check on Schafer’s credentials, and learns that he’s a  well-respected criminal attorney. The waitress at the restaurant where Malcolm suffered his stroke tells Schafer that the woman who was with him reacted very professionally to the sudden emergency, as if she were a nurse. Realizing that her little sister has fallen hard for Tim, Rita warns him that she’s very vulnerable and innocent, but Tim tells Rita her advice isn’t necessary. But Tim then receives a plum job offer to be chief neurological resident at a prestigious Philadelphia hospital and can’t pass up the opportunity. Evie is crushed by the news and spends the next several days at home crying. Joe Werner, fully recovered, has accepted a post as a medical aide in a destitute village in India and leaves alone, with Sarah to follow him later. Justin asks Sarah to consider a partnership with him in private practice, but she explains that she thrives on the hospital atmosphere. When a call comes from India that Joe has had another massive attack, Sarah leaves on the next available flight and arrives only moments before he dies. The painful news is relayed back to Cedars at once. Sara returns from India a heartbroken woman, but the day-to-day involvement of raising T.J. and of her career seem to be her salvation. Justin shows a surprisingly compassionate and understanding side to Sara, but, ironically, Justin’s ex-wife, Jackie, arrives in Springfield with her diabetic father, who is suffering from a heart attack. In the process of consulting with Justin on her father’s condition, Jackie comes face to face with Sara for the first time since their college days. Evie’s heartbreak at Tim’s departure turns to fury and hatred when she inadvertently discovers a letter which Tim wrote to Rita just after he left. In it he concedes that Rita was right about Evie’s vulnerability where he was concerned but reminds Rita that he badly hurt her in the same way she feared Evie would suffer. Evie is now sure that Rita somehow forced Tim to leave town and is livid at the idea that Tim was Rita’s lover. She insists she’s cutting off her relationship with Rita and will pay her back for any help she’s received in the past. Ben and Hope’s wedding plans are off, as Ben, while still insisting he’s innocent, won’t explain why the robbery evidence points to him. Hope feels his unwillingness to tell her the truth makes marriage to him impossible, but confides to Ann that she is miserable without him. Ben has echoed these sentiments to Mike but won’t confide in him, either as Hope’s father or as an attorney.   Holly is trying very hard to build a life without Ed, but since she sees him virtually every day at work,she’s unable to put him out of her mind. She accepts a date with a member of the hospital administration staff but is unable to avoid making comparisons between Ed and this young man and winds up alone, sadly holding Ed’s picture and recalling how much she loves him. Believing that the hospital board’s conclusions on Grainger’s death have settled the question once and for all, Rita has regained her self-confidence, and her romance with Ed is growing daily. They admit their love for each other, and Ed confides that he intentionally  held back with Rita for fear of making another mistake. Rita then tells Ed she has never married because for her marriage must be forever. Rita’s mother realizes that Rita is truly in love when she confides in her that she doesn’t understand why she’s been so lucky in having him love her and how she wants to be the very best person she can be for him. Ed proposes marriage to Rita and gives her time to think about it before answering. Rita painfully realizes that her past could, if it rose again against her, make a life with Ed a lost dream. But Raymond Shaefer has been quietly but efficiently carrying on his investigation and has learned that Grainger argued with Rita at her apartment. He presents the evidence he’s compiled to District Attorney Eric Van Gelder, who decides the case warrants further investigation. Rita goes to Ed’s office to tell him she loves him but can’t marry him, that she doesn’t deserve him and “can’t do it to him.” As she turns from a confused Ed to leave, she finds the district attorney and a police officer outside Ed’s door, waiting to arrest her. Ed, insisting that a serious mistake has been made, calls Mike to help her as Rita, shocked and humiliated, is taken under arrest through the hallways of the hospital in which she works. Mike manages Rita’s release on bail only after she has had to submit to the degrading booking procedure. Mike sees her alone at her apartment, explaining he can help her only if she tells him the whole truth. Rita equivocates until Mike mentions Texas, indicating to Rita that he knows at least some of the story. Van Gelder has, in fact, let Mike see the bulk of evidence in the case against Rita, to convince him her arrest wasn’t a capricious whim. Rita explains to Mike that Malcolm believed she intentionally vilified him to his father, to do him out of his rightful inheritance, and then wanted his father dead to collect her money. Mike expresses his appreciation of Rita’s honesty, promising to help her. But Rita’s tormented dreams confirm that she hasn’t yet told all the truth, and after Peggy visits, expressing firm support, Rita tells Roger she has to reveal his part in the story. Roger painfully tells Rita about his being Christina’s father to show her that if Ed knew, it would end Rita’s chances with him forever. Rita, who was ready to tell Ed the whole story, now realizes how risky that would be. Adding to Rita’s pain is her forced leave of absence from the hospital until she’s cleared and the embarrassment of seeing her name in the headlines.
    • Please register in order to view this content

         
    • Yes, but the stories are all pretty awful Seeing Victor rehashing his hatred of the Abbotts  when he married one of them and has a daughter that is half Abbott as well as walking around with Traci's daughter's heart keeping him alive makes him look worse than he already is. And I remember he and Jack chatting amicably in the past few years. Victor interfering in Kyle/Claire is just repeat of Billy/Victoria. Sharon, Nick,Phyllis etc are around but again the stories are lacking.
    • I think Kevin's 1996 Emmy was fair enough. He barely appeared for his second. I don't think anyone else on the list is that deserving but I might have gone with Moore as he did try with the whole Keesha AIDS story. @alwaysAMC Thanks to slick jones' cast list I was able to see that Nikki Rene played Tina. Not much on her, as you mentioned. Tap and a few Broadway listings (it doesn't help that a younger actress with a similar name is in a lot of roles). Nikki Rene: Credits, Bio, News & More | Broadway World https://onceonthisisland.fandom.com/wiki/Nikki_Rene Nikki Rene - IMDb
    • Thank you. That does ring a bell. I remember Theresa and Julian's drunk, giggly fake wedding (with Julian asking "Whassup?" to the minister). Was Bruce tricking the pair as a prank, or did somebody put him up to it? I especially liked Katherine recalling how dashing young Alistair was when he'd pick up Rachel for dates, and how she wished she could be her sister, then feeling guilty once Rachel had her boating accident ...
    • And Kevin Mambo beat Shemar Moore for those two Emmys. I chalk up the wins to the voters not wanting Jonathan Jackson to eventually end up with a five peat (he won 1995, 1998, 1999). These were the 1996 and 1997 Younger Actor races. 1996: Nathan Fillion, Jonathan Jackson, Kevin Mambo (winner), Shemar Moore, Joshua Morrow 1997: Steve Burton, Jonathan Jackson, Kevin Mambo (winner), Shemar Moore, Joshua Morrow
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy