Today show pariah Matt Lauer poised to replace Alex Trebek, kill off another American institution
For nearly 30 years, Alex Trebek has been the man with all the questions, leading Jeopardy!, the brainiest game show on television, through dramatically changing times without fundamentally changing a thing. But Trebek has suffered some health problems, including a mild heart attack last summer, and he’s expected to retire from the post in 2016. Meanwhile, Matt Lauer is the $25 million captain of the sinking ship known as NBC’s Today show, which has recently hemorrhaged viewers to ABC’s Good Morning, America, now the #1 morning show in the country. On Wednesday, the New York Times’ Brian Stetler broke a juicy story about the terrible dysfunction at the Today show, with one anonymous source after another blaming Lauer for fostering a toxic relationship with both staff members and the public at large. Lauer’s fingerprints could not be wiped from the messy departure of co-host Ann Curry, and segments like this skeevy interview with Anne Hathaway have chipped further at his likeability.