Matt Lauer may soon get a male co-host as part of an effort to beef-up chemistry on the TODAY show set. If Mail Online source claims area accurate, NBC executives are eager to get a “bromance” going to stop the ratings free-fall. Putting another guy on the couch next to Lauer could harken back to the chemistry of days gone by when Matt and best pal Bryant Gumbel led the morning news show. Gumbel left the TODAY show in 1997.
A plethora of changes are rumored to be coming when new TODAY executives Alexandra Wallace and Don Nash start their new positions, according to Radar Online . The Mail Online source had this to say about what is going on behind the scenes at the once extremely popular NBC morning show:
“If you look at Josh Elliott and Sam Champion on Good Morning America , they are really great friends and that shines through on air. Not since Matt and Bryant have we seen chemistry like this on morning TV. Matt is on a huge deal, he’s hugely important to NBC – he’s not going anywhere. Of course, there are huge issues at TODAY and the big problem will be when the affiliates who pay all the money to air TODAY start complaining about ratings, they’re never afraid to call a spade a spade.”
Matt Lauer and Al Roker allegedly do not have a very cozy relationship, so Roker is not likely to be a contender for a Lauer bromance coupling. Roker and the recently removed Ann Curry are allegedly good friends. Will a male co-host buddy help the TODAY show’s ratings, or will the move merely amount to paying someone to be Matt Lauer’s friend?
