Your Mornings Will Never Be the Same

Don’t look now, but soon your mornings will never be the same…

And your evenings too, for that matter…

Has it really been 15 years since we welcomed Katie Couric as the co-host of “Today”? I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was getting ready for school when the familiar “Today” show credits rolled. And then, Bryant Gumbel (who was my idol at the time) looked into the camera and said that Deborah Norville was no longer with us. I yelled so loud that I woke up my dad (I couldn’t stand Deborah Norville because she pushed out Jane Pauley).

However, as the years wore on, I learned to dislike Katie too and I stopped watching “Today” all together. But for the millions of you who still watch, not waking up with Katie will take some getting used to. If you missed it, Katie is moving to CBS to take over the “CBS Evening News” and contribute to “60 Minutes.” She’ll be the first permanent solo female evening news anchor in TV history.

So who will you be waking up with now? If the flashing bulletin that just came across my computer is to be believed, it will be Meredith Viera, of “The View.” Campbell Brown, the co-host of “Weekend Today” was thought by many to be the frontrunner, but in the last month, Viera has taken the lead. She has the journalistic chops (and the Emmys to prove it) and she’s able to handle the fluff with ease. And who could blame her for wanting to get away from Star Jones? The only problem is her “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” gig which doesn’t end until next year. NBC has apparently agreed to let her continue that show if she can’t find a way out of her contract.

But all of this leads to some interesting questions—especially for ABC. “Today” has long dominated the morning news ratings, but ABC’s “Good Morning America” had been gaining ground with its team of Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. But with the injury to Bob Woodruff, Gibson has been moved to “World News Tonight.” With Couric gone, ABC has its best shot at catching “Today,” but how will they do it without completely sacrificing their evening newscast and Charlie Gibson’s sanity?

Stay tuned…