Vieira Talking to NBCU About Daytime Talk Show
No deal signed, but show would target 2014 launch
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2013 6:08:19 PM
NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution is considering a development deal with Meredith Vieira to do a new daytime talk show, according to sources.
Vieira will depart Disney-ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire after this season. Prior to that, Vieira co-anchored NBC's The Today Show with Matt Lauer. She left The Today Show in 2011, but continues to have a relationship with NBC News, serving as a special correspondent for Today during last summer's Olympic Games in London.
Sources cautioned, however, that any deal is in the very early stages and no contracts are signed.
The most likely time slot for any new show on the NBC-owned television stations is 2 p.m., the slot currently occupied by CBS Television Distribution's Jeff Probst, which is averaging a 0.8 live plus same day household rating in its rookie season. Probst is cleared in two-year deals on the NBC-owned stations, but not in the rest of the country, and many do not expect the show to return next year.
Meanwhile, NBC has had success this year with The Steve Harvey Show, produced by Endemol USA, recently confirming that show would return for a second season. NBCU also is actively renewing Steve Harvey through 2015-16, and would like to produce a companion show for it.
That said, any project starring Vieira would not be ready until fall 2014, leaving the NBC stations with a hole to fill next fall. Some sources expect NBC to fill that slot with Access Hollywood spin-off, Access Hollywood Live, or a double-run of another show.
A spokesperson for NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution had no comment except to say that the company does not comment on development.
The New York Times first reported this story.
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