Monday, September 11, 2000
Couric living for 'Today'
Morning show co-anchor busy raising daughters, raising awareness about colon cancer
By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Katie Couric is the sister that everyone wants. She's a candid, self-deprecating, compassionate, cheerful — I won't say “perky” — person who's just as comfortable talking to the first lady as she is with Today show fans who think of her as family.
After all, she's been America's most popular morning TV companion for nearly a decade — which has made her such an effective advocate for colon cancer awareness after the death of her husband, Jay Monahan, in 1998.
“Because they're (watching while) making their kids' lunches, or brushing their teeth, or exercising, people do feel sort of like you're a member of their family,” she says. “And people say things to you that they wouldn't say to their sister, mother or daughter.”
Soon Ms. Couric will be a bigger part of our family each day, as the Today show expands to three hours (7-10 a.m.) when the show returns from Australia, site of NBC's Summer Olymics.
The three-week trip, the longest in Today history, starts today (7-9 a.m., Channels 5, 22) for Ms. Couric, Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Ann Curry. Ms. Couric also will co-host the Summer Olympics' opening ceremony with Bob Costas (7:30-midnight Friday, Channels 5, 22).
|
'TODAY' MILESTONES
|
• Sept. 11-29: Three-week broadcast from Sydney, Australia, for Summer Olympics is the longest road trip in Today history.
• Oct. 2: Today expands to three hours (7-10 a.m.), as the show posts a record 250 consecutive weeks (four years, 10 months) as the top-rated morning news show.
• April 2001: Katie Couric's 10th anniversary as co-host.
• Jan. 14, 2001: 50th anniversary of Today.
|
It's a working vacation for Ms. Couric and her daughters, Ellie, 8, and Carrie, 4 1/2. The 15-hour time difference means Today will broadcast 10 p.m.-midnight Sydney time, after they go to bed.
“That will give me all day with the girls. Hopefully we'll be able to do a lot of fun things together and go to a lot of events,” she says.
Adding another hour to Today, which NBC executives have discussed for 15 years, “makes perfect sense. It's very cheap and profitable programming, let's face it,” she says with a laugh.
Could it be too much of a good thing?
“People don't sit down and watch all two hours or all three hours. They're generally too busy,” says Ms. Couric, 43, who will mark 10 years as Today co-host in April.
“I don't think it will be like, "Oh my gosh, enough of these people!' It's basically just another hour of morning TV. It's not going to change the world.”
Changing the world is something that Ms. Couric is trying to do. Since her husband's death, she has founded the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and promoted colon cancer awareness. Today broadcast her colonoscopy in March.
“All over the country there's a waiting period now to get a colonoscopy and I'm thrilled,” she says.
“It's been unbelieveably, indescribably gratifying for me to have that kind of impact, and to take something so tragic that happened to us as a family, and to help prevent it from happening to other people,” says Ms. Couric. (Her sister, Virginia State Sen. Emily Couric, announced she had pancreatic cancer in July.)
Ms. Couric has been overwhelmed with thank-you letters from doctors and viewers. One 43-year-old mother of four, who was diagnosed with colon cancer after her series, wrote to say: “I believe you saved my life.”
Her cancer crusade has even touched her daughters.
“Ellie is so cute. Sometimes when she gets to make a wish, like at a wishing well, she'll say, "I wish there would be no more colon cancer.' ”
Anchoring at Today, she says, is the perfect job for a mother — except for the hours.
“I have tremendous flexibility. When Ellie has a recital at school, and especially now that I'm a single mom, Jeff (executive producer Jeff Zucker) will say, "You can leave at 8:30.' I'm very blessed in terms of having a really perfect work situation.
“The hours aren't so great, but other than that, it's a great gig.”
Asked about her predawn wake-up call, she says:
“That's the best-kept secret. I'm always late. I'm like the Latrell Sprewell of the Today show,” she says, referring to the New York Knicks star who has a reputation for beingtardy for practice. “I usually cannot get my rear end out of bed until 5:30 a.m.”
Returning to work after her husband's death was the hardest thing she has done in 9 1/2 years on the show.
“It sounds sort of Pollyanna-ish, but I think our audience has been incredibly supportive in the good times and bad times. When Jay died, I really felt the collective embrace of a lot of people.”
She came back to Today because she didn't want to disrupt her daughters' lives any more.
“They've never known me as anything else other than co-anchor of the Today show. I was pregnant with Ellie when I got the job. It's hard at times. But we talk about it,” she says.
Ms. Couric replaced Deborah Norville as Bryant Gumbel's co-host in 1991. She joined NBC News in 1989 as a Pentagon reporter, after working for TV stations in Washington, D.C. and Miami, Fla. She worked for CNN from 1980 to 1984.
“I can't believe its going to be 10 years next April,” she says.
Being in the public eye has its downside. Ellie has been upset by tabloid stories claiming her mom was about to remarry, or in love with former Beatle Paul McCartney. “Someone with whom I've never spoken,” Ms. Couric says.
“In a way I'm flattered that people are interested, because I live a pretty boring life. But it's hard when my daughter sees things,” she says. (People reported last week that Ms. Couric is involved with Tom Werner, from the Carsey-Werner Co. that produces 3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show.)
Ms. Couric's family situation will dictate her next career move. Her $7-million-a-year NBC contract expires shortly after Today's 50th anniversary on Jan. 14, 2002. A year-long anniversary countdown begins in January.
“I have two more years left on my contract. I'm just going to see how I feel. I'm in a different period of my life, with my girls getting older. I might want to do some non-profit work.
Could she spend another 10 years on Today?
“Ugghh!!” she screams in mock horror. “I just have no idea. I don't really plan my life in 10-year increments.”
'Dr. Laura' TV show sparks protest
'Dr. Laura' makes Channel 9 debut
Undecided voters hold the key to presidency
SAMPLES: Man finds roadwork fascinating
KIESEWETTER: Couric living for 'Today'
'West Wing' scores 9 Emmys
List of Emmy winners
TV appearance stirs political row
Welfare protesters stage rally
City not helping Burnet, critics say
GET TO IT
Jazz legend lights up Music Hall
Pig Parade: Pig in a Poke
Boy, 12, facing sex trial
Fueling a downtown revival
Little campus in Lebanon
Local Digest
Long-dead soldiers get respect
New presidents take over Indiana colleges
No arrests in 2 fatal shootings
Rover Rehab turns strays into pets
Sharonville throws a party
Teen-ager died driving too fast
You asked for it
