When Craig Melvin stepped down over the weekend as Saturday anchor of NBC’s “Today” there was a buzz at the network that he will next be groomed to join Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb as an anchor on the weekday broadcast, TV insiders told Page Six.
Sources exclusively added that NBC News national correspondent Peter Alexander will be announced as Melvin’s Saturday replacement in the coming weeks.
A source told us, “The reason Craig Melvin was taken off Saturdays is to elevate him on weekdays.”
The source added that “Craig will eventually be [a weekday] anchor . . . You don’t leave an anchor job to be a reporter.”
Melvin, who’s a reporter and fill-in anchor during the week on “Today,” said on-air Saturday of his exit: “For the better part of the past year, I have been pulling triple duty here at NBC News.” He’s also an MSNBC anchor.
The source said, “He already plays a big role [on ‘Today’] Monday to Friday. The network is really high on him right now: He’s smart, charming, handsome and, perhaps most importantly, a family man.”
But another insider insisted on Melvin’s role during the week at “Today” will remain the same.
Said the source, “Craig has been working six days a week for about a year, between the ‘Today’ show Monday to Friday and on the weekends . . . So he stepped back from Saturday. He’s going to continue doing the weekday ‘Today’ show as well as his MSNBC show, and he’s not being ‘groomed’ for anything else.”
In January, Kotb replaced Matt Lauer — who was axed in November by NBC amid a sexual-harassment scandal — to star opposite Guthrie.
The pairing resulted in an initial ratings boost, with the show even beating “Good Morning America.”
But recently, “Today” has been posting year-over-year audience losses in the 7-to-9 a.m. slot, according to TVNewser (as has “GMA”). “Today” has lost to “GMA” in overall ratings while still winning the coveted 25-to-54-year-old demographic.
By Emily Smith, pagesix.com -August 28th, 2018
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