NBC has announced that Meredith Vieira will be leaving the Today show and will be replaced by Ann Curry.
While the news was just announced, it doesn’t come as that big of a surprise. The New York Times reports that Today has been preparing for Vieira’s departure since last year when she opted to renew her contract for only one more year, rather than a longer-term deal. And rumors began swirling around the Internet the past few weeks that Curry would be her replacement.
(More on TIME.com: See 10 questions with Meredith Vieira)
Vieira, who will be leaving in June, said on air that she was looking forward to spending more time with her husband and children and her soon-to-be former co-host Matt Lauer said that he’d miss her. For her part, Curry, who has been the news anchor on Today since 1997, will likely have no trouble in the transition to principal host.
According to the Times, the line-up shuffle will also mean that “Natalie Morales, now a co-host of the 9 a.m. hour of ‘Today,’ will replace Ms. Curry as the program’s news anchor; and Savannah Guthrie, the White House correspondent and MSNBC anchor, will become a 9 a.m. co-host, effectively replacing Ms. Morales.”
The Today show has been the top-watched morning show for more than 800 consecutive weeks and in that time only two principal hosts have left. Vieira will now be the third. (via New York Times)