An old comment from Ann Curry claiming that her final months on Today was torture is back in the news as a new report has revealed that Matt Lauer is soaring in the ratings.
Ann Curry‘s final months of torture has some wondering what is the definition of torture. According to vocabulary.com ,torture is:
the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason.
Weeks after being fired from the Today show in 2012 because Matt Lauer disliked her, Ann Curry told local media that she was harassed and mocked by her boss and co-workers.
In his book, Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, Brian Stelter said that a close source to the morning show confirmed that a picture of Curry wearing a yellow dress was plastered on the office wall, and she was compared to Big Bird. The insider told Stelter at the time:
“A lot of time in the control room was spent making fun of Ann’s outfit choices or just generally messing with her.”
It was also claimed that the executive producer of Today, Jim Bell, went on what he called “Operation Bambi” after a friend explained that terminating a journalist is like “killing Bambi,” where he “commissioned a blooper reel of Curry’s worst on-air mistakes.”
Another producer revealed that Bell once invited the cast and crew into his office to show a mistake Curry made while talking on the air with a local station. After getting fired from the program, Curry went into hiding and felt “profoundly hurt and humiliated,” according to Stelter. “She told friends that her final months were a form of professional torture.”
Since getting Curry fired, Lauer has seen the ratings for his TV show grow and his likeability with women improve.
“In 2015, however, ratings for Today are growing, and so too are Lauer’s numbers, particularly among women. Among women 18 or older, Lauer’s Q Score has moved from an 8 to a 12 over the past year,” said Henry Schafer, executive vice president of The Q Scores Company.
Lauer is a pompous ass and full of himself. If it is true that he caused Ann Curry to lose her job, shame on all women (or men) who give him good ratings. Curry was warm and sincere and I miss her. Savannah Guthrie sounds like she is reading a script. Very bad move on NBC’s part and shame on all who participated in humiliating her. It’s enough to make a die hard NBC viewer switch the channel……..
Could not have said it better myself!!!
I agree.
Still can’t and won’t watch anymore since Ann was kicked off!
hollyg: Agree 100%. Lauer was and still is a nothing. Katy Couric covered for him, as did Ann. Al Roker is a winner and Lauer knew he’d have a hard time if he tried any funny stuff with Al. Lauer knows he doesn’t add up, proverbial arsekisser. We stopped watching when Ann walked out; we look forward to her reporting on special assignments. She should have replaced Brian Williams, if the network had any brains. She’d bring ratings up and away.
Matt Lauer is a condescending bully. He should be fired. I despise him and can see through his phoney act. I remember when Tom Cruise told him off and said to get his manners back. That was great.
Matt Lauer is a 1st class PUKE. END OF STORY!
HOLLYg HAS IT RIGHT. THANKS, HOLLY.
I agree with everybody else I cant stand matt lauer I think he is tough and he thinks his sh8t don’t stink and I don’t watch him at all cant stand Savannah Guthrie either and I don’t like the other one on good morning America but they are tolable I will watch that once in a while
Won’t watch NBC because of what & how they did to Ann Curry. Lauer is a pompous ass and full of himself! Ann should be in there; NOT Savannah… yak yak yak
Lauer is a tool, I wouldn’t watch that A-HOLE if someone paid me.
The show misses Ann’s class. Savannah is just plain awful, I can’t imagine how she got this far? (Then again I probably can imagine)
Have not watched a second since Ann left and never will again.
So Matt is doing well with 18 year olds in the ratings, there is a surprise!!!! The same 18 year olds we allow to vote LOL.
Make my day.
I liked Ann Curry very classy, pretty,professional, looks like she was a good person, not so much Savannah in all catagories, i dont like her look, you can tell shes a script reader. Matt, no words well a few, never liked him. I dont watch the show, in fact i got alot of people to stop watching.
I have not watched the show since they let Ann go. A true reporter and a bright spot on that show – loved Al and Katie too – but I guess they wanted plastic people – all the real authentic reporters showed them up so they had to go – I am 81 and sad to see what was once my connection to a city I loved and admired fall to such a level of mediocrity-I now watch ABC.
I have not watched the Today show since Ann Curry left the show and I do not ever intend to watch it again. I can not stand Matt Lauer or Savannah Guthrie. I loved Ann’s reporting. She had heart and she was sincere and you could tell she was. They should bring her back for the NBC nightly news. She would be great. NBC lost me as a viewer a long time ago.
Yes, Janice, I want to watch Today but can’t get myself to like it anymore, I just watch my local morning news. Anyway, I don’t like Matt and some of the other hosts anymore and there are too many commercials to get through. I always view those people at the table as the people against Ann (well maybe not Al and Natalie). I’d like to see Ann and Lester work together for Today and Nightly News, now that would be great! I miss Ann and I want to see her make her presence be felt again.
I quit watching the Today Show when during an episode that Ann Curry was reporting, Matt Lauer visibly and verbally sneered her. My immediate thought was what a douche. Ann Curry was and is a total class act. The darkness hates the light and she was defiantly the light of that show.
Brenda, do you remember what date the episode was, like just before Ann was let go from Today?
I have not liked Matt Lauer since the Ann Curry dismissal.
It seems to me NSC made a big mistake. Any form of bullying
should never be tolerated.
My husband and I still miss seeing Ann Curry on tv and think she was a cutabove all the rest except maybe Natalie.
I haven’t watched the Today show since Ann Curry was publicly humiliated with no cause. I cannot stand the sight of Lauer; only someone truly arrogant would believe that his actions against her would have no consequences. I will NEVER watch Today again. I do, however, watch Lester Holt. He appears to be a true gentleman…Lauer would do well to watch him.
Let’s hope we can see Lester and Ann host together, I remember watching them host Today as substitutes for Matt and Meredith and I like both of them, hard-working, credible journalists.
While I was never a bit Ann Curry fan, I never disliked her. She was always kind and gentle…but there was something about her reporting that I didn’t particularly care for. Matt Lauer on the other hand is class A jerk and a bully. He’s pompous, arrogant and so incredibly full of himself he makes Donald Trump look insecure. I will never watch Today until Matt and those gummy moronic side kick woman who adore him are GONE! The entire show is them adoring Matt, and Matt adoring Matt.
I always thought Ann Curry was too capable and not cutesy enough for the fluffy Today Show. I liked her much better in reporting “in-depth” news pieces, even if it was a demotion. She was good at it and brought some credibility to her reporting. Savannah Guthrie, while educated and apparently having some “book smarts”, has little common sense. And her cast mates know it, they are always making fun of her. But she has the fluff they want.
I watched Today for at least 30 years, up until Ann Curry was fired. Haven’t watched a minute of it since. Ann was the real heart of that show, honest and genuine. Matt Lauer showed his ugly true colors.
I was so hurt when they took Ann Curry off the Today show.
She was so a great. Matt makes me sick, everytime I see him.
Natalie, I just don’t see what she sees in him. If the rumor
is true about her and Matt, shame on her.
Lost all respect for TODAY after Ann Curry left. Never cared for Lauer. But found that Good Morning America is a much better show without the drama at the news desk. So thanks Today for helping me find Good Morning America!
He was always a pompous ass, I have never liked him and never will and I find it hard to believe that his ratings with women are increasing. More so the leadership at that network promoted a culture of bullying and I hope they continue to decline in popularity.
I always felt Ann Curry was “A Cut Well Above” the others on the Today show. She was always very likeable, with a wonderful smile and a great personality. NBC was totally blind as to what they had in Ann Curry. What they had was a damn good reporter that just didn’t rattle off a story, she put her heart and soul into every assignment, and genuinely cared about the people involved in her reporting.
I no longer watch the Today show. I watched for many years. I noticed Matt Lauer was so ugly many mornings and fake. But after he became such a jerk off and on camera and nothing was done to get rid of him,(it was easier to kick the women to the curb)I had enough, so I found someone else to fill my early morning while getting ready for work.