Seacrest... in? It's possible that a new generation will grow up with Ryan Seacrest as their Matt Lauer. According to the Wall Street Journal, Seacrest may be the Today show host's successor, if Lauer ends up leaving next year. Some top execs at the network just met with the 36-year-old, who was first really thrust into the spotlight back in 2002, thanks to American Idol. more ›

Roy Orbison eyewear fan and R&B "hipster" Chris Brown performed souped up auto-tuned hits from his album F.A.M.E. on the Today Show yesterday, and apparently it was the largest crowd to ever show up for a taping. But Brown, who trashed Good Morning America back in March and always has a chip on his shoulder, indignantly responded to a perceived "backlash" against his Today show appearance with the Tweet:


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This is depressing. This morning Chris Brown performed on the Today show, where fans had been lined up and camped out for days to catch a glimpse of his performance. One man on Twitter noted, "They're comparing the line for Chris Brown's Today show appearance to a Harry Potter midnight screening." Except with Harry Potter everything is magical, and with Chris Brown everything seems to be abusive and homophobic. more ›

A visibly emotional Meredith Vieira announced this morning that she is officially leaving her position as co-anchor of NBC's top-ranked Today show, a job she has held for the past five years. "I'm going to try to hold myself together here—but after months of personal reflection and private conversations with my friends and family, I've decided to leave Today in June," she said while fighting back tears. But what will become of her co-anchor, Matt Lauer, recently rumored to be reuniting with free agent Katie Couric? more ›

Earlier this month, amidst the hubbub about Katie Couric's departure from CBS, word started to spread that Couric's Today show replacement, Meredith Vieira, was planning on leaving the morning juggernaut in the fall. But now The Hollywood Reporter is saying that the former View host could leave Today as soon as June (three months before the end of her contract). She must really hate all that royal wedding coverage! more ›

Two days after a rumor that Meredith Vieira will leave the Today Show this year, another one popped up about Matt Lauer leaving the show when his contract is up at the end of the year! But TMZ claims that Lauer is just taking advantage of NBC's desperation to keep the top morning talk show team in place and wants $25 million/year, up from his current $17 million/year. more ›

Usually when Donald Trump appears on the Today Show, it's to promote Celebrity Apprentice. But now, as he's apparently a surging potential 2012 Republican candidates, the "You're Fired!"-er took the time to promise he's going to figure out the biggest "mystery" of 2008: Where President Barack Obama was born. Born again-birther Trump said, "Three weeks ago when I started, I thought he was probably born in this country. Right now, I have some real doubts," and added that he's got investigators on the ground in Hawaii, "I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they’re finding." more ›

While there are rumors about Katie Couric's post-CBS News moves, now there may be a shift at her old program, the Today show. According to TV Guide, Meredith Vieira "has been in discussions with NBC News executives for several months about extending her deal, which is up in September. But the co-anchor is said to be weary of the demanding early morning hours and is ready to move on. Vieira has often said that the health of her husband, who has battled multiple sclerosis and cancer, will be a factor in considering her future on the program." more ›

The hosts of a Today show had a brief scare when a man apparently lunged at them during a live segment on Rockefeller Plaza. According to the Post, "A deranged Brooklyn man lunged over a set of barricades and tried to approach them." No one was hurt, but "The program immediately went inside the studio where anchor Ann Curry began delivering the news as if nothing had happened." more ›

We realize that just by writing this post we're perpetuating the once-amusing-but-now-just-silly media coverage of the Icicle Audi (which is free of ice now, by the way), but when the car's plight is the subject of a Today Show interview and a NY Post political cartoon, it must be noted that this has totally jumped the shark. Not only was the car compared to the freaking economy and its owner equated to President Obama in the Post, but Matt Lauer conducted an on-air phone interview with owner Pete Helfer basically confirming that yes, his car was covered in ice two days ago and yes, winter sucks: more ›

Last month we noted that 110 Longfellow Avenue on Staten Island recently went on the market for $2.9 million—a price that reflects its Hollywood history. Belonging to the Norton family in real life, the home became the Corleone's on the big screen. The Godfather set up production there for a year and a half in the early '70s (giving the family a new roof in exchange). This morning on the Today show, realtor Barbara Corcoran gives a tour of the place and talks to the owner—who is also trying to sell off leftovers from the film set. (Warning: if you have somehow managed to go this long without watching the film, there are a lot of big spoilers in this clip.) more ›

America, we did it! The homeless man that was interviewed by a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch—Brooklyn Native Ted Williams, the man with the golden voice—now has a slew of job opportunities, and will be in New York later today to make at least one big television appearance. more ›

In the course of a heated political race, storylines change frequently; politicians treat their gaffes like mass hallucinations, or a bad bender they shouldn't be reminded of. One week, they may be accusing their opponent of extramarital affairs, and nearly coming to blows with reporters, but the next week it's all about the economy. Carl Paladino is certainly trying his darnedest this week to change his rage-filled storyline, blaming Cuomo for starting the negative campaigning: “We’ve left that gutter politics. We’re interested in talking about the issues,” he said on the Today Show, a week after gleefully rolling around in a mud-caked gutter. more ›

Last Friday morning when Lady Gaga took the Today show stage, she had over 20,000 fans in attendance. According to the Post's NYPD police blotter, at least one of those fans was sexually abused while waiting in line for the show at Rockefeller Plaza. 38-year-old Jesus Romano of Queens "allegedly unbuttoned his pants and rubbed against the 19-year-old woman." But he should have known not to mess with the monsters—she grabbed her camera and videotaped the man before reporting the incident to the police; turns out he has a 2007 sexual abuse arrest on his file, and now he's been charged again with sexual abuse, forcible touching and public lewdness. more ›

Bright n' early this morning, almost too early for such a spectacle, Lady Gaga's monster masses converged on Rockefeller Plaza for a free show as part of the Today show's concert series. If you missed it, or even if you were there and somehow survived the madness (at least two fans were taken away by EMS), here's a little audio/visual recap! more ›

Where's the animated siren gif when you need it: Avoid Rockefeller Plaza this morning! You'd think Justin Bieber were in town or something. But the record-breaking Today show crowd has congregated for Lady Gaga, who will be performing later this morning. more ›

(Whatever, it's better than an air quality alert.) New York City had a brief vacation from Lady Gaga's antics, but now she's baaaaack. Last night she brought her Monster Ball tour to Madison Square Garden (earlier this year it was at the much more intimate Radio City Music Hall), and she'll be there two more nights this week. more ›

Justin Bieber mania continues to sweep the city as his Twitter followers got a nice surprise last night: a secret show in Queens! After his "Today" show set, which NBC producer Melissa Lonne called "one of the biggest concerts we've had in our 15-year history," he reportedly took to Twitter to announce a secret show he was holding under the 59th Street Bridge. And sure, 800 fans got to swoon over her perfectly manicured coif, but how many hearts did he have to break along the way? more ›

This is our youth, ladies and gentlemen—the swarms of shrieking young girls and their parents who were at Rockefeller Plaza to hear teen-and-tween dream Justin Bieber perform during the Today Show. One 14-year-old girl from Pennsylvania convinced her grandmother that she and a friend should camp out over night with the time-old tactic of flattery. Bailey Hosterman told the Daily News, "I told her how awesome it would be and that she would be the best grandma ever." more ›

Transportation Alternatives asked the Today Show's Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Al Roker to participate in the Commuter Challenge—and they agreed! In a segment that aired this morning (it was taped last week), you can see Al ride his bike, Meredith take a car, and Matt hop on a subway to Rockefeller Plaza from West 72nd Street and Broadway. more ›

Michael Douglas is speaking out about his 31-year-old son Cameron's recent 5 year jail sentence, which he received after dealing methamphetamine, conspiring to sell crystal meth and for heroin possession. With some saying his son should have received a 10-year sentence, the actor insinuated on the Today Show that he didn't receive any special treatment, saying, “I don’t think a lot of people said [that Cameron received a celebrity sentence]. One particular newspaper here in New York was pretty mean-spirited and vindictive about the whole process.” Guess we know which newspaper he's talking about! more ›

Is the media frenzy over the balloon boy stunt making you sick? You're not the only one! Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene are very busy pimping themselves out to the networks, and they're not about to let their li'l star's stomach virus stand in the way of their precious 15 minutes. This morning Falcon—the six-year-old boy who was hiding in the attic while America was voyeuristically titillated worried sick that he was in a runaway helium balloon—vomited twice on two different talk shows this morning, just like a pussified wus. Here's the Today Show spew, at 5:50 in: more ›

Matt Lauer gave it the old college try with Caroline Kennedy today, using her appearance on the Today Show (to plug the Kennedy Profiles in Courage awards) as a chance to solve the ongoing mystery over why she dropped her bid to occupy Hillary Clinton's vacated Senate seat. A Vanity Fair excerpt of the forthcoming book Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died cited an unnamed "family adviser's" assertion that Kennedy's children had intervened and begged her to drop her campaign, telling her "that if she was getting this worked up just getting the job, they didn't want to see what she would be like in the trenches of a political campaign or a fight in Washington." more ›

The Post (of course) has fun with former governor Eliot Spitzer's Today appearance: Regarding Spitzer's explanation about his hooker flings, "I have tried to address these gremlins, confront them," the Post says Spitzer made it sound "as if he were battling the furious furballs from the '80s horror flick." So the tabloid offers helpful visual aids explaining "This is a gremlin" and "This is a hooker," plus a graph comparing gremlins and hookers. The NY Times also mentions Spitzer's "gremlins" quote but leads with how the getting caught in the act did cross the Steamroller's mind. more ›

Lately, former governor Eliot Spitzer has been edging back into the public eye, perhaps beckoned by the siren song of public unhappiness with financial firms. He was, after all, the "Sheriff of Wall Street" during his Attorney General days, so he's parlayed that into a column for Slate, a Washington Post editorial, an appearance on Fareed Zakaria's CNN show and now a one-on-one with Matt Lauer on the Today Show. more ›

In case there has been any ambiguity up until this point, Michael Mele is not a nice person. One of his employees at the Quizno's he manages in Orange County recounted to the Post today about how her boss berated her, screaming into the phone at her for revealing to police where he lived when they came by investigating the disappearance of Laura Garza. more ›