Ann Curry is a warm, empathetic person who has toiled away for fourteen years as the news anchor at the Today show. She’s so risen in stature at NBC that she alternates with Lester Holt as the regular sub for Brian Williams on Nightly News, and has hosted Dateline for half a dozen years now. Basically, she’s built her chops as a newsreader, reporter, and as an amiable morning personality. Next week, she’ll ascend to what is perhaps the top position in all of morning television: co-host of Today. It’ll be nice to see a fresh face in the role. Did you know Ann is only 54? Talk about some good skin — somebody doesn’t smoke cigarettes! But we digress.
One of our most favorite things about the new transition is that in her new role, she won’t have those long solo segments where she reads the news straight off the camera screen anymore. She’s much better at off-the-cuff interactions and thoughtful interviews than she is with the straight head-on camera work (see video evidence from the past couple of weeks below and from The Soup), and it’s good she’ll be done with it. No more stumbling over hard-to-pronounce names of Israeli leaders. No more forgetting how many times you’ve said “Good Morning.” You’re free, Ann! Let Natalie Morales do all that boring reading. You just keep bungee jumping off bridges and meeting presidents and interviewing George Clooneys. It’s time to have all the fun, Ann. You’ve earned it.
(P.S.“Drought-Striken State”? Writers, that’s just not even fair!)
