Entertainment

‘Today’ Bumps Tamron Hall For Megyn Kelly, Is Savannah Guthrie Next?

Published on: February 3, 2017 at 2:01 AM
By Amy Feinstein

With Tamron Hall out of the way, and Savannah Guthrie still out on maternity leave, Megyn Kelly might find it easier than she thought to ascend to the number one spot on Today next to Matt Lauer. Just yesterday, Tamron Hall left NBC and MSNBC without any notice, even after the network allegedly offered her more money. Tamron Hall was said to have been blindsided, learning about the Today schedule shake-up just before going on air Friday.

On Today , Al Roker announced that Tamron Hall was gone, and not returning to any of her shows on NBC or MSNBC, says the Inquisitr . No mention was made of Megyn Kelly being added to the Today family, but Roker wished her well, and read a statement from Hall that said she had enjoyed her time at Today . But rumors off-set confirmed that after finding out that she was being bumped from the nine o’clock hour for Megyn Kelly, Hall decided that that was the last straw, and announced that she was leaving, even before her contract expired next month.

But if NBC was willing to blindside Tamron Hall, who had been with NBC for a decade, what do they have planned for Savannah Guthrie, who is still on maternity leave and has been with Today for only a few years. According to PageSix, Savannah Guthrie might have had the position alongside Matt Lauer before, but now it belongs to Megyn Kelly . Kelly and Guthrie have a lot in common professionally, as both have law degrees, and spent time doing hard news before coming to more of a chat show format.

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Though Tamron Hall might have been blindsided, Savannah Guthrie should have figured out by now that NBC was not going to pay Megyn Kelly the big bucks to just work an hour a day. Though Savannah Guthrie reportedly just signed a new long-term deal with Today , sources say that she is not being paid Megyn Kelly money.

“NBC is not paying Megyn $12 to $15 million a year to be on at 9 a.m. The word is that Savannah could take the 9 a.m. slot and Megyn will go right in at 7 a.m. Andy Lack is completely behind all of this. There’s no way Megyn would have signed with NBC unless she was promised a big role down the line.”

But sources are adding that Savannah should pay attention to what is going on politically behind the scenes of Today, so that she doesn’t also get the shaft.

“If you’re Savannah, you’re looking over your shoulder every minute. The first time Savannah is out, Megyn will fill in, sitting next to Matt Lauer and NBC will go to great lengths to capitalize on it. It doesn’t make sense to pay Megyn that kind of money unless she’s on at 7 a.m..”

Rumors started flowing on social media of NBC whitewashing their Today cast after Tamron Hall made her exit, but others added that it’s more likely that women are expendable, rather than purely people of color.

But Forbes is also wondering aloud about what adding Megyn Kelly to Today will mean to Savannah Guthrie . But Andy Lack of NBC said that the rumors are not credible, as they just signed a healthy five year deal with Savannah Guthrie (though in fairness, NBC just offered Tamron Hall a multi-year multi-million dollar deal while bumping her out of the way for Megyn Kelly).

“We just signed Savannah to a massive deal that is longer than Megyn’s. A lead anchor role at Today isn’t part of the conversation for Megyn. The goal was simply to get someone of Megyn’s talent and caliber through the door at NBC. We have not made a decision on her daytime slot. It is being discussed.”

This statement seems to have just been refuted by the new plan for Matt Lauer and Megyn Kelly to pair up, but Lack has not confirmed this new pairing.

Megyn Kelly seemed very eager to leave Fox behind, as Mediaite said that the network had offered Kelly as much as $100 million to stay. Megyn Kelly was the number two at Fox (behind Bill O’Reilly), but only time will tell where she lands in the NBC hierarchy.

Do you think Savannah Guthrie should be worried about her tenure at Today now that Megyn Kelly has been hired?

[Featured Image by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]

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