"Today" Show Flips Out, Brings in Sarah Palin, "Surprise" Guest to Ward off Katie Couric

From Forbes Magazine, Gossip section (i.e., Media and Entertainment Section): "Today" Show Flips Out, Brings in Sarah Palin, "Surprise" Guest to Ward off Katie Couric

NBC and the “Today” show are flipping out over Katie Couric guest hosting ABC’s “Good Morning America” this week. On Tuesday, “Today” will use Sarah Palin, failed candidate for many things, to try and blunt Couric. Couric, of course, is credited or blamed with derailing Palin with a famous interview on the “CBS Evening News” in which Palin couldn’t name a newspaper she read for information.

NBC is so angry that Couric–who co-hosted “Today” f0r years–is going to be opposing them, they’ve chosen this path. It may do them more harm than good since the average “Today” viewer is certainly not a Palin follower. She’s a Fox News creation.

But “Today” is suddenly being portrayed as in ratings trouble, and Ann Curry seems to be getting the blame. It’s very unlike the “Today” show to be defensive.

Meanwhile they’re touting a surprise guest for tomorrow– “A legend returns”–is how they’re billing it. Is it one of their prior hosts–Jane Pauley or Bryant Gumbel? Is it John Legend? Is it J. Fred Muggs? (You’re too young to know a chimp actually co-hosted “Today” in the 1950s. Really.)

And then, to make things more interesting, Oprah is coming to see Gayle King on rival “CBS Morning News.” This is after King swore to me in my Parade interview that Oprah would not be a guest there for some time. It’s been less than 90 days since King and Charlie Rose took over that show. So all bets are off, everywhere.