Today (American TV program)
| Today | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | The Today Show |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Pat Weaver |
| Presented by |
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| Narrated by |
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| Theme music composer |
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| Opening theme | Today (2013–present) |
| Ending theme | "Energetic Today" "Slow Today" |
| Composers | Adam Gubman & Non-Stop Music |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 74 |
| No. of episodes | 27,000+ |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Tom Mazzarelli |
| Production locations | Studio 1A, NBC Studios New York City, U.S. |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 4 hours (weekdays), 60 or 90 minutes (Saturdays), 1 hour (Sundays) |
| Production company | NBC News Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | January 14, 1952 – present |
| Related | |
Today (also called The Today Show) is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television and in the world, and after 74 years of broadcasting it is fifth on the list of longest-running American television series.
Originally a two-hour program airing weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., it expanded to Sundays in 1987 and Saturdays in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and to four hours in 2007 (though over time, the third and fourth hours became distinct entities). Today's dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the late 1980s, when it was overtaken by ABC's Good Morning America.
Today retook the Nielsen TV ratings lead the week of December 11, 1995, and held onto that position for 852 consecutive weeks until the week of April 9, 2012, when Good Morning America topped it again. Today maintained its No. 2 status behind GMA from the summer of 2012 until it regained the lead in the aftermath of anchor Matt Lauer's departure in November 2017.[1][2] In 2002, Today was ranked No. 17 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[3]
The entertainment magazine Variety reported that 2016 advertising revenue during the first two hours of the show was $508.8 million.[4]
On July 15, 2020, NBC launched Today All Day, a 24-hour digital streaming extension of the program available through its website and Peacock.[5]
History
[edit]Founding
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The show's first broadcast aired on January 14, 1952, as the brainchild of television executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, who was then vice president of NBC. Weaver became president of the company from 1953 to 1956, during which time Today's late-night companion The Tonight Show premiered. In pre-production, the show's proposed working title was The Rise and Shine Revue.[6] The show was first supervised by Jerome Alan Danzig.[7]
Today was the first program of its genre[8] when it premiered with original host Dave Garroway. The program blended national news headlines, interviews with newsmakers, lifestyle features, other light news and gimmicks (including the presence of the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs who served as the show's mascot during the early years), and local news updates from the network's stations.[9]
National availability of the program expanded gradually during the 1950s. As late as January 1955, the show was not yet carried in markets such as Denver; the network feed had not extended west of Omaha until the autumn of 1954. At that time, to reach the Mountain Time Zone, the signal was transmitted to the West Coast, kinescoped, and then distributed to affiliates in cities like Salt Lake City.[10]
It has spawned several other shows of a similar type, including ABC's Good Morning America, and CBS' now-defunct The Early Show. In other countries, the format was copied – most notably in the United Kingdom with the BBC's BBC Breakfast and ITV's Good Morning Britain, and in Canada with Your Morning on CTV Television Network.
Scheduling history
[edit]When Today debuted, it was seen live only in the Eastern Time Zone and Central Time Zone, broadcasting for three hours each morning but seen for only two hours in each time zone. Since 1958, Today has only broadcast live on the Eastern Time Zone, and has been on broadcast delay for the five other U.S. time zones (Central, Mountain Time Zone, Pacific Time Zone, Alaska Time Zone and Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone). Partly to accommodate host Dave Garroway's declining health, the program ceased live broadcasts in September 1959, opting instead to broadcast an edition taped the previous afternoon punctuated with live newscasts each half-hour. The experiment, which drew criticism from many sides, ended when John