Vieira Stays True to Her View

NEW YORK (By Peter Johnson, USA Today) May 15, 2005 — Meredith Vieira is up at 4 a.m. these days, even though she doesn't replace Katie Couric on NBC's Today show until September.

Vieira, 52, has been getting Couric's nightly homework packet, and she's getting used to morning-show hours. But watching Today makes Vieira, a former 60 Minutes correspondent who hosts ABC's The View and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a little anxious.

"They ask much better questions than I would have thought of. I'll go, 'Damn it, where'd that come from?' " Vieira says over lunch. "I'm rusty."

Vieira says she doesn't intend to "fill Katie's shoes" when Couric, 49, begins anchoring The CBS Evening News in September.

A Brief History of Vieira

"If I think about that, I start to freak out because that suggests that I am trying to be her, and I'm not," Vieira says. "I just want to be me. People will either like me or they won't, but I don't want to try to be someone else."

Today, as executives unveil NBC's fall lineup to advertisers here, they'll introduce Vieira as NBC's best hope for maintaining Today's record 543-week winning steak.

With 6 million viewers, Today is comfortably ahead of ABC's Good Morning America (5.2 million) and CBS' The Early Show (2.9 million).

But anchor changes can set off seismic ripples, as NBC learned in 1990 when viewers defected after Deborah Norville replaced Jane Pauley on Today — a debacle that ended when Couric replaced Norville in 1991.

"Nobody takes lightly the challenges ahead of changing hosts, but in Meredith we are as confident as we could ever be," says NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, who once produced Couric on Today.

Keeping Today's engine running on all cylinders is crucial for NBC: With an estimated $500 million in revenue, Today is NBC's biggest cash cow at a time when the network is set to finish a dismal fourth in prime time for the second straight year.

Perfect baby-boomer choice

Veteran network news producer Erik Sorenson says Vieira was the perfect choice. "I would not be surprised if Today's audience actually grows" with Vieira, Sorenson says. "Baby-boomer women will relate to almost everything about Meredith — her challenges as a working mother and especially her courageous marriage."

That 20-year marriage, to freelance writer Richard Cohen, a former CBS News producer, is well-known to fans of The View, a chatfest in which Vieira, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Star Jones Reynolds and Elisabeth Hasselbeck kick around public and personal issues.

But for the uninitiated, Cohen has multiple sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disease, and he has fought two bouts with colon cancer, which killed Couric's husband, Jay Monahan, in 1998.

Cohen, who is writing a book about people with chronic conditions, is legally blind and walks with a cane. But Vieira says he has a knack for beating anyone he plays in pool, and he can invariably spot an attractive woman.

"Conveniently, he does not see the stuff he drops on the floor," she muses. "He'll say, 'I didn't know I dropped that.' 'Really? You saw those two breasts a mile away.' "

More seriously, she says that Cohen "taught me not to bitch. When I start to complain, I look at his situation. He's not complaining. What am I complaining about? Not that I don't, but it's a reality check."

Couric famously had a colonoscopy on Today to show the importance of screening for colon cancer. Vieira will make MS her cause. "I certainly want to educate people as Katie did, because when you're living it (MS), you want people to be aware and not be afraid."

Couric and Vieira are appealing because they are the same on- and off-air, says Today producer Jim Bell. "If you watch the Today show, that's Katie. If you watch The View, that's who Meredith is. They both can be serious and funny, and they have experience professionally and personally to draw on."

Vieira, with NBC's blessing, plans to continue to host Millionaire, although she'll leave The View in a few weeks. Rosie O'Donnell will take her place.

The security of a four-year,$30 million contract was a big factor in joining Today, Vieira says. "I'm the breadwinner, for better or worse, right now for my family. That's a big responsibility, and I take that very seriously. I don't know in four years what our life situation will be. Nobody knows, but I probably think about it more because we deal with it on a daily basis."

Vieira says Cohen and their three teenage children — Lily, Gabe and Ben — "were all very involved" in her decision.

"But now that I'm in, it's 'What can you do for me, Mom?' " Vieira says with laugh. "It's gone from 'We think you should take it' to 'Can I have tickets to Saturday Night Live? I want to go watch the NFL games.' It's not that they're not supportive, but they look at it as 'Who are we going to meet because of this?' " Gabe "loves golf, and Matt (Lauer) mentioned that he'd love to take him golfing. You think Gabe has forgotten that? He's on me every day. 'When is Matt taking me golfing?' I said, 'Let me get in there first.' "

Co-host Lauer, 48, says he liked Vieira when he met her in December at his Manhattan apartment and she gave him a birthday cake.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"It's mine, too," said Vieira, who was born Dec. 30, 1953.

Joining the 'Today' family

Lauer's relationship with Couric has been described as brother-and-sister. He says he is not sure what kind of on-air team he and Vieira will make, but he's looking forward to it. "Given the fact that we're losing one of the best people who has ever done the job, I don't think we could have made a better move."

Weatherman Al Roker says the word around Today is that Vieira is "low-maintenance, high-fun." Asked how she may differ from Couric, Roker says, "I don't know how heavily she is into karaoke," a nod to the hybrid nature of morning shows: part serious, part fun.

News anchor Ann Curry says, "There's an openness (on Today) to helping Meredith succeed."

Vieira says that because she's the new kid, she'll defer to her new family. "I just want to fit in, not be some big foot. They're the ones that made it good, not me."

She pauses.

"I hope there's some dysfunction. Maybe I'll bring the dysfunction: their crazy aunt who comes to town. I am a little whack-a-doo.

"I wasn't before The View, but it was like I was this caged animal that they released," says Vieira, who also had been a correspondent for ABC's Turning Point. "I think I am a little bit kooky. I've said some things — maybe because I hadn't been allowed to for so long — and I may have to contain myself (on Today) a little bit. I'm not a dingbat, but I'm a little ditzy."

There was the time on The View early on where Vieira revealed that she doesn't wear underwear, preferring leotards and pantyhose, a fact that resurfaced when she became a candidate for Today.

"Someone said it was in some article and 'Why would you give the job to someone who doesn't wear underwear?' What difference does it make? It's not like I'm sitting there with my legs open."

The bloggers weigh in

Then there was the peace rally she attended with Lily at the 2004 Republican National Convention, which conservative bloggers dug up when NBC announced that she would succeed Couric.

"I have a lot of issues with what's going on in this country, and I wanted my daughter to see what this process is like," says Vieira, who describes herself as "in the middle" politically. "I don't regret anything, but now I have to be objective. I won't preface an interview with 'I think you're a stupid idiot, but what do you think about ... ?' "

Actually, Vieira says, she's not very interested in politics and much prefers talking about Hollywood gossip or trying to get Ben into the college of his choice.

"I'm pretty much like every woman who is watching the show. I have my kids. I go home. I think the more I can bring that perspective to the show, the better. This is a job. If I blow it, I blow it. But if something happened to Ben and college, then I'd be real upset."

In this youth-obsessed age, Vieira says the fact that NBC chose a 52-year-old woman "speaks to the fact that they are looking at women who have experience in the business and not tossing them out when they reach a certain age. They're valuing experience and, hey, that's great for all of us."

It's inevitable, Vieira says, that people will compare her to Couric.

"Katie is probably more of a celebrity than I am or ever will be. Maybe that just came with the job and I'm kidding myself to think that that won't happen. But I am much more of a reclusive person."

Vieira says not a day goes by when someone doesn't mention the "pressure" of anchoring Today.

"Even if you don't feel the pressure, they say, 'Look, if you're not feeling it, you're crazy, because there's a lot of pressure.' Oy!"

"I'm just going to do it," she says, heading off to a bookstore. "Ask me in four years. Hopefully, I'll be really happy and say this was the best thing I ever did."