- This is "Today." - In the '90s...
-Good morning, America!
-...Americans wake up to a war
being fought for their hearts and minds.
-People ID the '90s as one of the fiercest times
in morning television ratings wars.
-TV networks battle over morning show treasure.
-One of the network morning shows brings in
about $500 million a year.
That is an enormous amount of money.
-Heroes will rise.
-And I still can't decide whether I'm Katherine or Katie.
-Others will fall.
-Good Morning, America. I'm Joan Lunden.
-I remember being very upset when I learned
that "Good Morning America" was going to replace Joan Lunden
with Diane Sawyer.
-The onscreen fun and games
makes a hyper-competitive world of pirates...
-"I fully am aware that a tornado came to your town
and killed everyone in your family,
but it's so important that you come on our show."
- and predators.
-Where in the world is Matt Lauer?
-[ Laughs ]
-Yeah, I think it left a bad taste
in a lot of people's mouths.
No question.
♪♪
[ Dial-up modems screeching ]
♪♪
-For decades, America starts its day with two things...
Coffee...
- And good morning, everyone. - And morning TV news.
-Amidst all that, uh...
- Furniture. - Furniture.
-By the late '80s, these programs
will have the largest audiences and generate
the most profits of any show on network TV.
-This is the new day we've been talking about for so long.
-Thank you, darling. I appreciate it.
Some of us already have worked the weekend.
-But behind the happy talk is a serious, cutthroat competition.
-Oh, isn't that nice?
-At stake... a billion dollars in annual ad revenue.
[ Crowd cheering ] That's billion with a "B."
- "Good Morning America" is brought to you by
Outback Steakhouse.
-Morning shows are the cash cow of networks.
-With a sizable premium paid for being number one.
-Uh-oh. Really hot, huh?
-Whether it's "Good Morning America"
or the "Today" show, it brings in about $500 million a year.
That is an enormous amount of money.
And you're gonna fight tooth and nail to be number one.
-This is opening day, today on NBC.
-As these shows battle to attract viewers,
it will make pawns out of the guests and their hosts...
-Well, it seems like every day, it gets worse and worse.
- with the networks pulling out all the stops
in pursuit of the top spot.
-Let's put it this way... It's war.
And however you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it.
-Here's the news and weather now from Lew Wood. Lew?
-But morning TV wasn't always a battlefield.
Up until the mid-'80s,
the two shows maintained a peaceful co-existence,
each occupying its own territory in the cultural landscape.
- "Today" show was the first out of the gate,
and they kind of set the format for morning news.
-The "Today" show is the granddaddy of all
morning news programs.
NBC launched it in 1952.
-Hosted by Dave Garroway and his sidekick,
chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs, "Today" spends 25 years
as America's go-to for early-morning information.
-There is today in capsule form, just about this big,
so as you leave the house, you know where you are
and what's gonna happen to it.
-It was an accidental experiment
that ended up being very popular.
It was just a camera turned on live at 7:00 in the morning.
And the idea was to just tell the people
what the stories of the news was.
-From the '50s through the '70s,
the "Today" show mirrors back changes in American society,
with Barbara Walters evolving from a "Today" girl
reporting from the Playboy Club...
-I enjoyed seeing you as a bunny.
- Thank you. - We have a station break now.
And thank you, Barbara Walters. - Thank you.
- to the first woman to co-host a morning show.
- for the details of a story that many of us are
still having trouble believing actually occurred.
-Walters helps boost the "Today" show's appeal to the people
making up the majority of morning-show viewers.
-The homemaker or the woman who, if you're not a homemaker,
she certainly has a big say in how the family's being run.
That's the viewer, they kind of think about when they are
coming up with all their different permutations
of news, programming, and strategy.
- "Today" 's status as the sole morning news show ends in 1975,
when another network climbs into the ring.
-ABC wants to get into the morning game itself,
sees the "Today" show has been on the air for 20 years.
You know, "Why don't we have one of these?
And ABC decides to start trying something else.
-Monday, in this hour...
Jonathan Winters, our critic on the loose,
Rona Barrett's "Hollywood Worldwide,"
and in our family-living feature, Dr. Vivienne Tenney...
-Turning on "Good Morning America," or "GMA,"
viewers were immediately struck by how different it looked.
-It was sit in the living room on a couch,
and it was less about a news show,
more about a show in the morning.
-When "Good Morning America" started in the 1970s,
It turned out to be a successful hit because what it did
is it took on the "Today" show by doing something different,
by being more folksy, by being more America.
I'm Albert Lewitinn, and in the mid-'90s,
I was a snot-nosed producer who thought he knew everything.
So I went into morning TV.
-I guess if you really want to get to the heart of a town,
you'll let the people who live here tell the story themselves.
-It's all about mom and pop and their fun little shop
downtown in Springfield, and, like, isn't this great?
And that was the idea. "I'm so-and-so.
Good Morning, America."
-Hi, I'm Amy Redman from Gloucester.
-I'm Gladys Fiddle from Rockport.
-Good morning, America!
- ♪ Scooby-doo-bee-doo-bee ♪ - Or, or...
-Where today is produced by NBC News,
GMA is part of ABC's Entertainment division,
the same folks making "The Love Boat"
and "Fantasy Island."
But like a dog and their owner, "GMA" and "Today"
soon start to resemble each other and, by the mid-'80s,
share more similarities and differences.
-Everybody had to kind of figure out,
"How do we maybe do it better
or maybe just do it differently?"
I'm Jane Robelot, and in the '90s,
I was waking up when you were going to bed.
-By the late '80s, CBS will join the fray
with their own morning show called "This Morning."
But the self-titled Tiffany Network,
once home to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite,
will approach morning news quite differently
than NBC and ABC.
-CBS, at the time, in the '70s and '80s
was an older audience, really wasn't into like,
the entertainment stuff that the morning shows did.
-CBS was hard news all the way through,
but with news-oriented interviews.
- that says that housing is not the problem
with the homeless,
but that they are disabled by severe mental illness.
-It was really slow, and while the "Today" show and "GMA"
were fighting it, CBS was like, "Eh, we're on the air."
Like, "You're lucky we're here." Like, "We're here."
-What do you. Think this means?
-Morning, Harry.
-It means CBS's commitment to hard news
will put the network firmly in third place for, well, ever.
- professionally.
-Meanwhile, with the sets on "GMA" and "Today"
looking more and more alike,
what sets the shows apart are the hosts.
-He's going to take a walk on a California beach
with a "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit cover girl.
-I didn't get to go.
-Yeah, we knew better than to send to you.
Also, Whoopi Goldberg.
-People watch morning television because of the host.
They either feel comfortable with that personality,
they like them, or they don't.
-You're inviting somebody into your home
when you haven't really started your day yet,
you've still got on your pajamas,
you're just kind of thinking about what's ahead,
and you really want somebody who's going to be
warm and credible
and take you gently through this morning.
-In 1987, after a decade of finishing behind "Today,"
"GMA" trades in David Hartman
for a young White House correspondent.
-Charlie Gibson joins us to continue our daily adventure.
-Adventure. [ Laughs ]
-Gibson will work alongside
the show's veteran co-host, Joan Lunden.
And together, they will go head-to-head against "Today" 's
power couple... Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley.
-When Jane Pauley was the host of the "Today" show,
she was America's girl.
America's girl.
Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel... Fantastic team.
Bryant Gumbel was a fantastic host.
-Bryant Gumbel is a master of the form.
-You, I saw New Year's Day. Good seeing you.
-What a way to start the year, with you. That was terrific.
-Well, thank you, sir.
-He is also a dominating alpha male who,
when first hired, demands to be named head anchor,
despite Jane Pauley having already been co-hosting the show
for six years.
-The budget negotiations and the game of Beat the Clock
that's being played in Washington
is our top story of this morning.
John Palmer is gonna give us an update in just a moment.
-He was a great interviewer,
always very well-studied on everything,
ready to go, great improv, right down to the second.
-The battle for morning TV supremacy is on
with both shows featuring a male anchor
paired up with a female co-anchor
who is smart, warm, beautiful, and blonde.
-It's a certain look that all of a sudden
becomes the look, the archetype.
It's a family atmosphere.
It's fun.
-It felt very much like a family.
That's how the show was structured.
I'm Rita Barry-Corke.
When I went to work at "Good Morning America,"
the hosts were Charlie Gibson and Joan Lunden,
the dynamic duo of morning television.
-We will look back at "Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band"
two decades later, if you can believe that.
- Got a free album here? - No, there's nothing in it.
See this? [Laughs] Just a prop.
-That's the way it works in television.
-How could you not fall in love with them?
People did. Charlie was always such a total gentleman.
And Joan... she was your sister,
your mother, your girlfriend, your daughter.
And that formula worked.
You know, we took over in the first slot for quite some time.
-With weatherman Spencer Christian,
Charlie and Joan's onscreen chemistry
leaves "Today" show executives in unfamiliar territory...
Second place,
and with the gap widening between their show and "GMA."
-Over at "Today," there's some concern.
"What's going on here? Why is this happening?"
And producers asked Bryant Gumbel,
then the kind of lead anchor, to offer his own diagnosis
of what's going on with the show.
He lets loose.
He says that Willard Scott, the weather man,
the guy who is always, you know,
honoring people who are turning 100 years old,
is dumbing down the show and ruining it.
-Aren't they fantastic?
These are a special breed of onions... a cheese onion.
-He thinks Gene Shalit is causing problems.
He's very blunt about what he thinks the problems are.
- No New Year's resolutions? - Yeah, to be a good boy.
I always said once I get away from you.
-You got your problems.
-Suddenly, the private dysfunction at the "Today" show
goes public when someone leaks Gumbel's memo to the press.
-Gumbel was critical of his colleagues,
including weatherman Willard Scott.
-The audience loves the family,
and now, all of a sudden, the family is squabbling.
Dad doesn't like the weatherman.
Dad doesn't like what his assignment is every day.
This creates the perception that the family is fighting.
-Gumbel tried to reassure his viewers
that the "Today" staff is a happy family.
-But rest assured that our "Today" family is intact
and still smiling, albeit through some pain.
We'll still be here
long after the recent headlines are forgotten.
Enough said.
-But not everyone will still be there.
With its morning show still trailing "GMA,"
NBC decides to break up
the "Today" family by engineering a divorce.
-All of a sudden, they bring in Deborah Norville
to kind of bring us a new presence to the show.
And this creates the perception
that they're trying to get Mom off the show,
that Jane Pauley is being pushed off by executives
and by Bryant Gumbel.
-You're a tough act to repeat, and I'm not even gonna try.
-And it creates bad perception on the program.
And viewers don't like that.
-There is evidence that women journalists
are now getting fairer treatment, but are they given
the same credibility as their male counterparts?
-Of course not.
We haven't come to a point
where two women can be treated in a professional context
without the word "jealousy" coming up.
"Jealousy" is a gender-specific word.
-It's hard to recover from that
when people already feel you put the knife in.
Whether this is all true or not,
Jane was a beloved presence there before Bryant Gumbel,
and viewers just could not take that,
and they would not accept her.
- You're feeling better, I trust? - I'm over the weather today.
Since I've been under the weather now for a couple days.
-As a war continues to simmer at "Today,"
another boils over on TV screens across America.
-Iraqis also claim to have downed 33 missiles
like these Tomahawks on the battleship...
-During the Gulf War, CNN's 24-hour news cycle
makes it the home for news junkies
looking to keep up on the fighting.
Morning shows can't compete, so they begin to offer
an alternative to CNN's round-the-clock Iraq coverage.
-Don't be afraid. Keep with us! [ Laughs ]
-The advent of cable news in the '90s
was an absolute tectonic shift
in how morning shows got produced,
because they saw the news cycle was changing.
Networks got smart.
They realized that morning TV was entertainment,
and so they adapted their programs
to make it more entertainment.
-ABC's "Good Morning America" becomes a surreal oasis
of positive vibes.
-The Army is out scouting for chocolate
that melts in the mouth, not in the sand.
That is to say, chocolate bars that can survive
the 100-plus-degree heat of Saudi Arabia.
-Sample you just ate came out of 140 degrees
before you arrived here.
-It's good.
-While Life Is Sweet at "GMA,"
"Today" quickly sours on its newest co-host.
- "Today" show is sinking, and the hot rumor
is that they may drop anchor again.
-In February 1991, a pregnant Deborah Norville
takes a break from the show.
Her fill-in is a plucky reporter who got her start in cable news
and who will go on to become one of the most celebrated hosts
in morning TV history.
-Today, Friday, February 22, 1991.
-By the start of the '90s,
morning television is an American staple.
But for those who make it, it comes at a cost.
-The only thing wrong with morning TV
is that it happens in the morning.
Welcome to "This Morning." I'm Jane Robillard.
-And I'm Jose Diaz-Balart.
It is Friday, the 23rd of August.
-You can't wait to find out about that alien life form.
-I've met a few of them, I think.
-It was brutal.
I was suddenly waking up at the time of day
that I used to actually go to sleep.
-For anyone working in morning TV,
the early hours are the price you have to pay to stay on top.
-I got up at 4:00,
and I had to be on the set every day at 5:15.
I'm Gary Stein, and in the '90s,
I was a producer of "Good Morning America".
And I lead with that no matter where I am.
That's the first thing I say.
I never thought, when the alarm went off, that it was for me.
Not in seven years.
[ Alarm clock beeping ]
I was thinking, "My poor wife. You must have to go somewhere.
What a terrible thing. Oh, my God, it's me."
I had my briefcase in the bathroom,
my clothes in the bathroom,
and I would try not to wake my wife up
and then go downstairs and get out.
We had to figure out how to get through a day in a coma
but behaving like an awake human.
-This is a very interesting pair of shoes
that we have on this morning.
-You get dressed in the dark, you try not to wake up
the family, and sometimes you slip up.
-Let's talk about brain cells in the morning shows, shall we?
You'd get up at 1:30, you'd have to come into the office at 3:00.
Review wires,
look over the script, make sure it was all fine.
That was done by the staff previously.
And then you had to present the show to the anchors at 5:30.
And boy, that better be perfect.
And if not, you would sit there for the next hour
and rewrite the entire show in time for air.
-Two hours of live TV a day.
You're shoveling coal into that furnace
that burns up and it's gone.
The only time people are gonna talk to you
is when something goes wrong.
-And everything goes wrong for "Today" co-host Debra Norville,
who, while away on mat leave, gets replaced by someone
the executives believe will be better for ratings.
-This is "Today" with Bryant Gumbel,
Katherine Couric, and Joe Garagiola.
-Katherine Couric... Called Katherine at the time...
a former CNN Washington correspondent and producer,
is brought up to New York and does very well opposite Brian.
-I still can't decide whether I'm Katherine or Katie.
Alex, re-rack it for us. - Katherine Couric.
- Thank you. - One more time, Alex.
- Katherine Couric. - Thank you very much.
-When Couric starts to attract higher ratings,
Norville's five-month maternity leave
becomes never-ending.
-In case you haven't gotten the message,
Katie is now a permanent fixture up here,
a member of our family, and an especially welcome one.
Deborah Norville is not.
We had some good times here.
-Katie Couric was America's sweetheart.
She was the girl in high school that you had a crush on,
that you enjoyed, that you had fun with.
She was good girl, cheerleader, "life is good" America.
And that's why she did so well.
-Couric will quickly prove to be a better foil
to Brian Gumbel's masculine jocularity.
- How long are you gone? - I'm gone for nine weeks.
- Why so long? - [ Sighs ]
-Her first test comes just a few months into the gig,
when the head anchor puts the rookie on the spot for,
like Norville before her, taking maternity leave.
-Not to sound like a martyr, but it has...
-Uh-oh! [ Imitates whip snapping ]
-It has been quite a while since I've had any time off.
-Couric proves she can hold her own
by giving it back to Gumbel as good as she gets it.
-How many vacation weeks do you get a year, Brian?
- What is this? - And you don't even have a baby.
-I got two of them at home.
-Well, you know, you don't have to...
- I don't have to what? - Forget it.
[Whispers] We'll talk about it during a commercial.
- The guys have the harder part. - They do?
-Sure.
8:29. We're gonna...
- "Today" now has a female co-anchor
whose charms can diffuse the often overbearing Gumbel.
But the show still has a behind-the-camera move to make
before it can once again challenge
"Good Morning America" in the ratings.
-Dick Ebersol, the man behind the Jane Pauley,
Deborah Norville switch, stepped down from his job
as overseer of the program.
-His replacement...
An ambitious young producer named Jeff Zucker.
Every time I see your name, it is "26-year-old Jeff Zucker,
26-year-old Jeff Zucker."
It's almost like... - Have it legally changed?
- if people start calling you 26-Year-Old Zucker.
-It's part of the territory now.
-Hired just four years earlier by NBC
to intern at the Seoul Olympics,
Zucker is promoted to the top spot
on the network's most profitable show.
-When he was named the executive producer,
we were kind of surprised, you know.
But Jeff had a vision, as well,
and he was able to address a younger audience.
-He wants to be a news guy.
And I think you see this kind of first half hour
of "Today" gets very intense
on breaking news being on the story of the day.
Whether it be O.J. Simpson
or something happening at the White House,
Jeff wants "Today" to be there
and to be there ahead of his competitors.
-And he finds a willing accomplice in Katie Couric.
-Look who wandered in... President Bush.
Can you stick around and talk with us?
-While in the White House interviewing
First Lady Barbara Bush, Couric is prompted by Zucker
to switch her focus to the nearby president.
Couric then challenges Bush on the role he played
in America's unlawful sale of weapons to Iran.
-Do you have any knowledge
of the Iran-Contra arms for hostages deal?
-Absolutely not. And no one has suggested I did.
-Couric's "Today" show exclusive traps the president in a lie,
and she's celebrated as a journalistic hero.
Coming just weeks before the election,
her interview with Bush contributes to him losing.
-It looks to me like what George Bush thinks
he can do is kind of breeze in and say hello to you
and be very gracious and very cordial and supportive
to and for his wife Barbara and breeze on out.
And then you dropped him, just like boom, boom, boom.
-Zucker's plan is to own morning news
by beating out his "GMA" competition
on the biggest stories of the day,
making "Today" the must-see morning show
for an information-hungry audience.
-Start by saying "Exclusive on 'Today, '
first on 'Good Morning America, ' first on the 'Today' show,
nowhere else but..."
These are important parts of their morning preamble.
They're kind of set-ups every morning.
-For the bookers and the producers, it's life and death.
It's life and death
to be the TV morning show that got whoever.
-We ripped and read all the stories
from AP Newswire's service.
We'd run down the hall, pitch them to our line producer,
senior producer, executive producer,
and they would say yay or nay.
One of the prerequisites for the job
was to have a suitcase under your desk,
because if the news was in Albuquerque,
that's where we went.
If the news was in Florida, that's where we went.
So the object of the game was to get the story first,
find the principles that you wanted to talk to
who could tell that story, and get there.
-Jeff Zucker's news-first approach quickly starts eating
into "GMA" 's ratings lead.
-He was competitive to no end
and not only had to be first but had to be best.
And I don't care how much money we spend, it's got to get done.
There was no fighting it. What he wants happened.
Benevolent dictator.
Um... [ Chuckles ]
There is a skill to that.
-Zucker doesn't just demand good news stories.
He always wants to upgrade how they're packaged and presented.
He leans on NBC brass to let him turn "Today" into a spectacle.
Literally. - Christening a new studio.
Studio 1A on this 20th morning of June, 1994.
Day one of our studio on the windows... Studio 1A.
-The live-audience concept with "Today" was so brilliant.
-So, we're test-driving this as everyone's watching.
-People who already knew these folks
because they invite them into their home every day...
Now they can see them face-to-face.
What better connection with viewers is there than that?
- "Today" 's, you know, on-the-street studio
is a seismic change in the world of morning TV.
This is a big deal, adds a whole new element to the show.
It creates all kinds of interaction with live audiences.
It adds a certain burst of energy to the "Today" show.
-Along with the Plaza Studio,
Zucker starts to redefine what constitutes news,
doubling and tripling down on uncovering tantalizing stories
that once lived mostly in supermarket tabloids.
And he does so just in time to help
transform a C-list celebrity and former professional athlete
into the decade's biggest newsmaker.
-Later today in Los Angeles, O.J. Simpson
is expected to make his first court appearance.
-Jeff Zucker aggressively covers the so-called trial
of the century, packaging it as an exposé
on race, crime, and status in America.
-You talk about a gamble that backfired.
-I was gonna say, that was quite a risk.
-And with "GMA" purposely avoiding daily O.J. coverage,
the "Today" show's ratings soar.
-We've been speculating on what we might hear.
-When NBC executives see the success Zucker is having
with his expanded interpretation of news coverage...
-Rachel, you've gone to some of the real puppy mills.
What do you see?
- they make a decision that will change "GMA" forever.
-When "Good Morning America" first started in the 1970s,
it was run by the Entertainment division,
and rightfully so, as an entertainment program.
But as more and more stories kept creeping into the show,
at some point, it became more news than entertainment.
And at some point the News division said,
"Wait a minute, that's got to be ours.
That can't be the Entertainment division.
That... we need to run that."
- "GMA" goes from being part of the Entertainment division
the News division... It doesn't go well.
News division doesn't know how to get out of their own way
and make a lifestyle show that has some news,
rather than a news show that may nod to lifestyle.
And viewers start leaving.
-With Zucker behind the wheel and Katie riding shotgun,
"Today" motors to the top spot in the morning-show ratings.
-The suddenness with which it went down was just stunning.
-I guess we're gonna try to make some sense of it all
this morning, if that's possible.
-So when Bryant Gumbel's contract comes up
for re-negotiation
and he balks at a 50/50 split of screen time
with his more popular co-host,
Zucker chooses not to re-sign him.
But in a case of "Be careful what you wish for,"
Gumbel is replaced by a man
who will forever cast a shadow over the show.
[ Crowd cheering ]
-This is "Today" with Katie Couric
and Matt Lauer [Echoes] and Matt Lauer.
[ Laughter ]
-That's your version.
-Matt Lauer is already the newsreader on the "Today" show.
People like him. He's got great energy on set.
It's one of those examples of the person you think
is already there just gets more of a role in the job.
-He's a handsome guy.
I mean, you have to admit he's a handsome guy.
So they said, "Okay, how do we play that up?
He's the cool guy, but he's also kind of sexy and he's smart.
And so what do we do to kind of, like, play off on that?"
-Has anybody seen Katie?
-Yeah!
-Matt and Katie really took off.
[ Crowd cheering ]
-Two American kids doing the best they can.
Like, that's... that's them.
So they played off on that. Why not? Why wouldn't you?
-There is this thing called chemistry.
You two have it.
Why did it happen for the two of you?
-You know, I like this guy. There's something about him.
I knew he had that SQ that my dad says... star quality,
and I just thought he was fun.
-We're gonna meet a couple of wrestlers this morning.
We're gonna have a safety program
to help kids stay safe when they try wrestling.
-But before we get to all that... That's good.
A safety program that helps them stay safe.
-Otherwise it would be ridiculous, wouldn't it?
-Right, exactly.
-With success riding on the audience
feeling connected to the hosts,
"Today" 's executive producer, Jeff Zucker,
creates gimmicks to strengthen those bonds.
-♪ Where in the world is... Huh! ♪
♪ Matt Lauer? ♪
[ Laughter ]
-Katie, it's kind of a catchy tune, isn't it?
Where in the world am I? Well, before I get to that,
let me give you a couple of hints.
-You want to see your anchor... Your friend in the morning...
Going on adventures.
You want to see them trying new things.
-On "Today," the games and stunts
take over more of the show...
-Smooth landing!
- leading critics to question
what the antics have to do with reporting the news.
-At "CBS This Morning," we were paying attention to the fun
and the stunts that they were enjoying on the "Today" show,
whether it was getting dressed up in full makeup
with all kinds of crazy costumes
that you couldn't even really recognize
who the anchors were on Halloween,
or "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" or Katie Couric
dressed as Peter Pan, flying across the stage.
I don't remember ever wanting to be that.
I think it was fun for their audience.
But we're news.
-Yet being relatable hosts isn't all fun and games.
When Katie's husband, Jay Monahan,
is diagnosed with advanced colon cancer,
Zucker asks her to share her family's ordeal
with the audience.
-Words, of course, will never describe
how devastating this loss has been for me
and my daughters and all of Jay's family, as well.
-Katie was in mourning for a while.
I think she was actually... Was off the show for...
For several weeks at a time.
These things become part of the audience's daily story.
"How is my friend doing? How are they feeling?
What's going on with them? Are they feeling better?
How are they getting through this?"
This becomes part of the the daily saga of the "Today" show.
-I speak for everyone in this building
and I'm sure everyone at home when I say
it's great to see you and great to have you back.
- Thank you. - Thanks.
-Katie and Matt's onscreen authenticity helps keep "Today"
solidly number one.
And that success makes it the first stop for newsmakers.
-From NBC News...
-If an American president had an adulterous liaison
in the White House and lied to cover it up,
should the American people ask for his resignation?
-If all that were proven true,
I think that would be a very serious offense.
That is not gonna be proven true.
-What is true is that the "Today" show
is now beating "GMA" by its biggest margin
since the 1970s.
-At one point, the "Today"
had 6 million versus "GMA" 's 3 million.
But at one point, "Good Morning America" saw CBS
beat it very, very, very briefly.
That means a loss of ad revenue very quickly.
You can't sit around and wait for things to get better.
You need to take action right away.
-ABC said, "Okay, we've got to fix this.
We've got to do something."
So, what "Good Morning America" did in the '90s
was tweak and fix.
-Joan Lunden's 17 years as co-host ends.
Charlie Gibson soon follows her out the door.
-They went through anchor team after anchor team
because they were trying
to figure out what is the new magic.
And so year after year,
it was trying to chase an elusive audience.
-In the '90s, every problem at ABC News
was solved with one of two words...
Diane or Barbara.
For the "GMA" ratings problems,
they pick "Primetime Live" 's Diane.
-Good evening and welcome to "Primetime."
Ellen DeGeneres will leave ABC.
Her show canceled, her feelings bruised.
-This is the former Nixon speech writer,
seen as a very elegant, cool under pressure newscaster
and the combination they feel is gonna move things forward.
-Again, we're making a judgment
about what our society is comfortable with
and what they might not be comfortable with.
-Aren't we then just enabling a prejudice in the audience?
-Well, I was going up against Katie Couric
and Diane Sawyer, really.
I mean, yeah, I was up against some pretty big star power.
-ABC News also needs someone tough enough to compete
against the men running the "Today" show.
They settle on Diane's friend and news producer Shelley Ross
to be "GMA" 's new executive producer.
-This is a woman who's probably as much of a
behind-the-scenes maverick as Jeff Zucker.
-She was an investigative producer who did fantastic
for O.J. Simpson's story,
and she pitched the idea that she would run the show.
Frankly, you have to have a little bit of balls to be like,
"I'm gonna run this show. I'm gonna run this show."
-Her first order of business is run across the country
to personally convince Charlie Gibson to come back.
-She had the vision of what the show should be.
She was able to take relatable, news-oriented concepts
in everybody's daily life and put that on television.
-Melody has a little battle plan
if you're one of those who do get laid off.
-So, whether it was problems with money, finance, family.
-Three sisters on the same police force
at the same time.
-Education. Child raising.
-Did you know there is an epidemic of ecstasy use
among eighth graders?
-All of those issues that people have in their hearts,
she said, "Wait a minute. That's... That's the show."
And that's what made the difference.
-Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson
are a breath of fresh air for "Good Morning America."
Plus, Shelley Ross behind the scenes,
pushing, pushing, pushing.
This combination
starts eating into "Today" 's lead with with Katie and Matt
and puts things on more of an even keel.
-But Shelley Ross and Diane Sawyer
aren't content to being a closer second.
They want to win and strategize how to end Jeff Zucker
and Katie Couric's dominance of morning television.
-We sat in meetings at "Good Morning America"
and we said, "Holy crap, they did that?
How did they do that? We got to do that.
I don't care how much money it is.
We have to go figure out how to do that.
We have to better them at their game."
-Shelley Ross's commitment to toppling the "Today" show
from its reign at number one will transform
the morning show battles into an all-out shooting war.
-Good morning, America.
-We're here again. It's Wednesday, June 16, 1999.
-In the summer of 1999, with ratings on the rise,
"GMA" executive producer Shelley Ross
singles out one of "Today" 's huge advantages...
Direct access to their audience
with its Rockefeller Plaza studio.
- "Good Morning America" looked at that and said,
"Wait a minute, we can do the same.
Where are we gonna do that?"
Disney owned a building in Times Square,
so let's just do it there.
Created a duplex street-front studio,
so it was was twice the size of the "Today" show.
-It was amazing. I mean, we had an upstairs studio,
state-of-the-art control room, the audience was downstairs.
It was great. It was a... It was a playground.
-They had a beautiful panoramic shot of Times Square
in every opening of the show.
So, being competitive, being Jeff Zucker,
he was like, "Okay, let me see how I'm gonna... with them,
and here's how we're gonna do.
I'm gonna go buy that billboard across from them.
So anytime they take a pan shot,
they have no choice but to hit my billboard."
-That's a real... That's a real poke in the ribs.
Suddenly, cameras that may have "Good Morning America"
on the air have Katie and Matt on the background outside.
-Yeah, it was a bit of a "...you"
to "Good Morning America", but it was also,
like, a way of saying,
"Okay, you want to play our game?
Here's how we're gonna play the game."
-Despite Zucker's billboard stunt,
there are signs "Today" is losing ground.
In just over a year from Diane and Shelley taking over "GMA,"
The show gains an additional 1 million viewers,
cutting into "Today" 's lead and revenue.
- We thank them. - We do.
We love you for coming out in the middle of this soup.
Now that Ross has leveled the playing fields logistically,
the war between her and Zucker
comes down to the number-one rule in the mornings.
-When we come back, the renowned scientist Jane Goodall.
-Be first.
-Rosie O'Donnell breaks her silence to Diane Sawyer.
A "Good Morning America" exclusive Thursday.
-We would persuade them to come on "Good Morning America"
to tell their story and give us their story exclusively.
We would always ask if they would go on "GMA" first
and only first.
-Under standards and practices,
you weren't allowed to pay for stories.
So what you would have to do is figure out a way
to kind of convince the guests to come on the program
without actually paying them.
There's a skill to walk up to somebody and say,
"I fully am aware that a tornado came to your town
and killed everyone in your family,
but please, it's so important that you come on our air
and tell us why it's important that people need to hide
when the alarms go off."
The way to get the guests to come on sometimes is to say,
"Oh, is that Grandma's picture of the entire family?
And wait, two of those members
of the family aren't around anymore
because the tornado came in through your house
and destroyed your house?
Can we buy that picture from you for like $10,000?
It'll pay for a new house."
-Some of these bookers stop at nothing to get their guest.
And that means even when you say you're going to
"Good Morning America" or the "Today" show, that's not...
They don't take no for an answer... they'll keep trying
till you're added... Till you're on the set
of the competitor, onscreen, making the first appearance.
These are intense things that people will not give up on.
And I think they felt that ratings,
and therefore millions of dollars,
can go up or down based on who you can book first.
[ Horn honks ]
-The two shows even resort to espionage.
-There were some times when you'd arrive at that hotel
with your guest to check them in,
and standing right there in the lobby of the hotel,
you would recognize a booker from another program.
It was always amusing, but it was also a hint
that it was time to make sure that you watched that guest
really carefully.
-I would put you in a hotel by the airport
under my mother's maiden name so that nobody would know.
And then I would post a security guard on the floor
because I didn't want anyone
coming in and stealing my guests.
I don't care who the... you were,
you were not coming anywhere near my guests.
-A guest would be waiting at a hotel for a car
to pick them up to bring to the studio.
And another show would show up with a car and say,
"Come on, get in." Before you know it,
they'd be in the chair giving the interview.
-I would hire a PA to do nothing but show them around New York.
I'd be like, "Okay, get them on one of those
double-decker buses,"
because if I see them on the 'Today' show,
I'm gonna... kill you and I'm gonna fire you.
Probably... kill you and then fire you."
-As the war between Zucker's "Today" show
and Ross's "Good Morning America" intensifies,
so do the lengths the producers will go
to sabotage their rivals.
When "GMA" puts on an early morning concert in Bryant Park,
Zucker orders a helicopter to buzz the crowd.
And when "Today" books a bride from
"Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?"
"GMA" swoops in, pre-taping
an earlier interview with the coveted guest.
-What we would do is say,
"Oh, you should come do our newscast
and then we'll take you to the other one. It's fine.
We'll take... We'll take you to the other one.
I promise you, we will. It'll be fine. It's not live TV.
It's just you and I talking on camera."
-How many nights have you cried yourself to sleep since this?
-How many nights has it been since the show?
-We would do that. We would do a 6:15 pre-tape.
And then, "So you didn't make it in time for the other newscast?
Oh. Well, that's too bad." [ Chuckles ]
-Eventually, the antics between the two shows get so heated
that EPs Zucker and Ross connect to hash things out.
-What I've heard is that Shelley and Jeff would get on the phone,
basically Reagan/Gorbachev style,
and say, "Okay, all right,
let's figure out how we're gonna do this,
properly and civilly."
She was on the phone with Jeff a good chunk of the time saying,
"No, you can't do that," or "Yes, okay.
You know what? I'll do it this way.
Just you got to back your people off."
-Despite her ruthless passion to win, Shelley Ross
is never able to fully close the gap on her rival.
In October of 2000, NBC adds a third hour of "Today,"
banking an additional 70 million in annual profits.
Two months later, Zucker caps off his six-year
winning streak on "Today" with a promotion
to head of the network, ending the biggest
producer-on-producer grudge match in TV history.
Leaving the "Today" show, he became the CEO of NBC Universal.
He has changed TV as a genre
many times in his career by trying new things
and never being willing to kind of end the games.
He never, never lets it go.
-As the country enters the new millennium,
the future of morning TV remains with Katie Couric,
Diane Sawyer, and Shelley Ross.
But behind the scenes, there's a male toxicity
that's been brewing for some time,
and it's about to boil over.
-Absolutely the most amazing man
that America has ever created, ever.
-Okay. I have got to interrupt you right now.
We want to go live right now and show you a picture
of the World Trade Center, where I understand...
Do we have it? No, we do not.
-We just got a report in
that there has been some sort of explosion.
-At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001,
the morning shows find themselves
in the middle of an unprecedented American tragedy.
-As Matt just mentioned,
we have a breaking news story to tell you about.
-9/11... one of the nation's biggest tragedies.
You're in unchartered territory on both morning shows.
Never before has a crisis
of this magnitude happened during broadcast hours.
-Oh, another one just hit! Something else just hit.
A very large plane just flew directly over my building.
-To see two planes hit the Twin Towers at 8:45
in the middle of a cooking segment?
Wait, what?
-In the days and weeks following 9/11,
the Today show is consumed by the story, and ratings lag.
-I think it impacted our show even more than our competition.
We didn't have that chemistry
because all we were talking about was death and heartache.
We didn't then turn to each other and say,
"Wasn't that fun?" Or, "What did you do this weekend?"
-And at "GMA",
audiences are eased into a more prosaic future.
-So, you think forward a little bit and off you go.
And then you turn to the left. You just come back around.
Oh, I'm sorry. Gonna run into you.
-Worried about losing Katie Couric
during the ratings slump, the now president of NBC,
Jeff Zucker, signs her to a record-breaking contract.
-Katie Couric signed a five-year deal
at more than $16 million in total.
Hosts can become really entrenched in their positions.
They need to have them. They're the center of the show.
Their salaries go... Get quite high.
I believe, at one point, Diane Sawyer is making
about $12 million per year.
Those are big numbers.
-But the numbers that count are the ratings.
And while Shelley Ross and "GMA"
continue to close the gap on "Today,"
she never quite manages to win the top spot.
Her brash management style
leads some to celebrate her departure in 2006.
-Shelley Ross did shake up the culture quite a bit,
and I think, by the end of her tenure,
was seen as maybe pushing too hard,
being too much of a tough boss to take.
The culture was getting a little too rough-and-tumble,
and it was not where they wanted to be.
-Ironically, in Shelley Ross's time at "GMA,"
we did not become the number-one show.
But I think because of a lot of things
that she brought into the show,
it ultimately led to us going back to being number one.
-Finally, in the spring of 2012, "GMA" earns its first one-week
ratings win over the "Today" show in over 17 years.
Katie Couric has long since retired from morning TV,
leaving the show in the hands of her long-time
headline-grabbing co-anchor, Matt Lauer.
-There have long been whispers of Lauer
not having a happy marriage.
Tabloids are always on him about,
you know, was he seeing somebody or not?
Was he... Was he dating someone on the side?
It's documented now that Lauer was perhaps having relations
with people on staff at "Today" show.
-Despite the off-screen drama,
the show's troubles are blamed on long-time newsreader
and recently promoted co-host, Ann Curry,
who's abruptly shuffled off the anchor desk.
-This is not easy to say, but today is going to be
my last morning as a regular co-host of "Today."
-It's a move that shocks not only the audience,
but Curry, as well.
-This is not expe... as I expected to ever leave
this couch after 15 years, but I am so grateful.
-Around the time of her departure,
Curry says she warned NBC executives about Matt Lauer,
saying, "I told management they had a problem
and they needed to keep an eye on him
and how he deals with women."
Five years later, Matt Lauer would be fired from the show
following allegations of sexual misconduct.
-I think the idea that you had a morning show host
whose off-screen behavior was unpleasant,
unsavory, hard to hear about, hard to listen about...
Yeah, I think it left a bad taste
in a lot of people's mouths.
No question.
-Shelley Ross finds herself at the center of
the MeToo movement reckoning when she accuses
Fox News icon Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.
-It's everywhere.
It's everywhere I worked, and it has many levels.
You think, since we report on it,
that our colleagues should know better,
that they should be a little more elevated,
and they're not.
-Yet despite all the turmoil, morning TV marches on.
-These days, it's neck-and-neck.
I mean, "Good Morning America" and "Today."
-And it is a back-and-forth
now between the "Today" show and "Good Morning America".
It's still a constant fight.
-Albeit in a somewhat reduced capacity.
-Everything changed when the smartphone came into the game.
No longer needed morning TV.
I no longer need to turn over
when I wake up in the morning and turn the TV on.
I turn over and look at my phone.
"Did the world explode? Oh, good, it didn't explode.
That's fine. That's good. Thank you."
That's the difference.
"Today" show and "GMA" have gone into the streaming world
because they see that people are cutting the cord.
The future is on the phone, the future is mobile,
the future is digital.
"Oh, did so-and-so die? That's terrible.
Okay, fine. Great. Thank you." Slide.
"Oh, did that fire happen?
Oh, my God, I didn't know that. All right, good."
That's morning show.