Matt Lauer is gone, and his likely replacement is not going to be Megyn Kelly. She must be smoking something great if she thinks that could happen.
No, the likely successor is Willie Geist, who is the current host of “Sunday Today.” Indeed, “Sunday Today” was created for Geist after Lauer’s last contract renewal. That show was designed to give Willie something to do until Lauer left, possibly in 2018 when his contract was up.
Lauer has had two tough re-negs in the last few years, Each time, Geist was waiting patiently.
But now Geist is ready, and he will be warmly welcomed. In fact, I’m told it may be in his NBC contract that he’s Lauer’s successor. That’s the happiest sounding agreement in history.
Geist is the son of former New York Times star writer William Geist, who still appears on “CBS Sunday Morning.” He’s a nice guy, much liked and not remotely like Lauer. With Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on either side, he’ll be just fine. Also, he lives with his family and is no player. That will be a headline for NBC.
I don’t think NBC will wait too long to make the announcement. And why wait? Geist has been with NBC for over a decade. The audience already likes him, and he has the bona fides.
