My staff told me some horrible news: Erica Hill has been named as co-anchor on "Weekend Today." Errbody knows how much I love the weekend edition of the Today show. There's no Matt Lauer, no weird Savannah Guthrie. For years it's been Lester Holt and his magically receding hairline and some variation of a lady, mostly Jenna Wolfe. Well it looks like those days are over like the Jerk. The folks over at NBC are going to park Miss Wolfe behind a desk and make her report the news for mere spending change. I'm very sad inside.
While this is seen as an attempt to boost ratings, Hill's no surefire solution. Her last high profile gig was at the "CBS This Morning" where she was last seen pretending to laugh at Gayle King's stories and chit-chat with some guy named Charlie Rose. It was a disaster. Hill was "replaced" while she was on vacation. Erica also hosted "CBS The Early Show
" from 2010-2012. That's not only a lot of news programs, it's a lot of
unpopular news programs.
What this means for the Lester Holt/Jenna Wolfe team? Nothing good. After Amy Robach blasted out her chains and escaped NBC, it was assumed that Wolfe would get both weekend days. It didn't happen. While Wolfe had hosted some weekends with Holt, the same old complaints creeped up, most saying Jenna was "annoying" and "wouldn't let other human beings talk." Well I guess the "haters" have gotten their wish as NBC tries to minimize Wolfe's role to "just the facts." Erica Hill's first day as permanent co-anchor is November 3.
24 comments:
Referring to yourself as a titular idiot is quite accurate. Give Erica a chance and you might be won over with her charm and pleasant humor.
Titular? There's no need for that gutter talk!
Interesting blog.
http://adropout.blogspot.com/
Hey, what's the ratings for nov,dec? I think, tank! I see dull, boring, ...
The show itself is awful. Erica Hill's been so many places, it's hard to believe I'm watching NBC when I see her.
I was looking for the ratings and I can't find anything. But I did find this...
For the week of Dec. 10, 2012, “GMA” and “CBS This Morning” were both down -4% while “Today” was down -24% in the demo. “GMA” was up +5% and “CBS This Morning” up +2% in total viewers while “Today” was down -17% in that measurement.
I know it's not the weekend but there's little reason to believe NBC is going to do much better than. From what I've seen on the weekend stats, GMA is gaining, CBS is still tops and NBC is either 2nd and fading, it's very close between ABC and NBC....
Thx JE from A 12/29. I did find nov ratings under caption "GMA Saturday wins 1st Ever November Sweeps. For Sun Total viewers -CBS ABC NBC. 25-54 CBS 1.657M NBC 1.160M ABC 1.131M. I will keep looking for dec #'s. Weekend #'s are always hard to find. I do admire Jenna Wolfe a lot. I had been a watcher of W TS for a long time but I really became serious when Jenna became a co-anchor. Was not a fan of Amy, but she was just ok and as I think about it I don't think that she was motivated or challenged. Jenna seemed to put her heart & soul into her job. Every time she would be interviewed on location in connection with what she was doing, she would remark as to how much she liked her job. I believe there were people at NBC who have been out to get her & Erica Hill was the tool to make it happen. The backlash shocked those haters. They misinterpreted her #'s. JW's peeps have left in droves. I have very good ideas why Erica can't do any better than what she has & she will not do well at NBC. Hint look at Matt Lauer. The difference is that in this day & time she will be very short lived and will fall fast.
I agree with what you said about Jenna. I probably go back to the Jackie Nespral/Scott Simon days, seen a lot of teams. I like Jenna because she's interesting. She's smart and she's actually a good news person.
Amy's "ok" I did like her a bit more at the end--but really, having two people share a weekend gig is just asking for trouble.
Definitely believe "something' up" regarding NBC and Jenna. It's often uncomfortable to watch. Speaking of uncomfortable, Erica's not doing a great job, not at all...
I was shocked by jennawolfe's demotion. She and lester had real chemistry.... She made lester fun! Erica is a humorless corpse of a woman and the show is unwatchable now.
I totally agree. Lester was more fun with Jenna. He is kinda grim on the show. The three together: Forced and odd chemistry. Erica is just "there" more often than not...
Here we are a year later - Erica is still as awkward as her first day. She tries to be funny and reminds me of a middle-schooler looking around to see who gets her jokes - no one. She needs to go. I have never watched another weekend morning show, but as much as I love Lester and Dylan, I've got to leave NBC.
Erica is still out of place. She does not have the talent for TV. One must be able to prepare, present,& be presentable. Erica gets off script & when she does she causes the program to run long. One can tell when the last segment is rushed & they run thru the ending of the show. Some say that she can cook, but not for TV. Her presentation lacks a lot. She fumbles & mixes things up & she is not aware of the time for the segment. Dylan on the other hand has a very smooth presentation when demonstrating something that she has cooked. Dylan runs circles around Erica in everything that she does. Do you remember the BS that TPTB fed everyone about Jenna, that she would be a fill-in cohost. Never happened!! Reason Why? One would be able to really see that Erica does not belong on a national show in any capacity. Jenna has the experience of shooting & editing pieces. That's what one learns at a small market in sports. Erica has not learned those things. It also, shows in her interviews. Her questions are statements & it appears as though she is trying to show how smart she is. I bet that she would have a fit on air if she was to interview Bill Cosby & he did to her what he did to Jenna. It appears as though her haters are people who were at NBC who were envious & jealous of Jenna. Also, their friends who went along with that crap.
I totally agree. If anything I think Erica's gotten worse since she's been on Weekend Today. I'm still not seeing any chemistry--with anything on Today.
I just took another look at Dylan, she's great. She has good patter with Lester, doesn't overtalk like Erica does, etc. I really would put her as the co-host, they'll probably never do it--makes too much sense.
I didn't get a chance to see what Bill Cosby did to Jenna, I'm going to have to seek that out and watch--and laugh, ha!
The JW interview of Bill Cosby was 11/6/11 about his book "I Didn't Ask To Be Born (But, I'm Glad I Was)". Do you remember how everyone was saying that Lester got tired of the exercise segments & TPTB did not refute it. I can recall seeing Lester's face w/many frowns during those shows. Now, the cast has exercise class w/Jenna every Friday! Lester is more relaxed now that he can show that he & JW are indeed friends. Have you noticed that when Erica was on location & Jenna, Dylan, & Lester were in the studio, Lester stood between Jenna & Dylan, he looked younger, more relaxed, happy & full of fun? Lester looks old when he is next to Erica & he has not been on Weekdays! Also, Erica's twitter page only says that she is the co-anchor of Weekend Today & nothing else that has to do w/NBC! It used to say that she was also a correspondent for NBC News, not anymore! I wonder with these subtle changes, if Erica has been read the riot act? By the way the show could just drop Erica & have Dylan, Jenna, & Lester, similar to how the 3rd hour of Today was before Tamron was added!
Erica is a cold fish, and she does not have the personality for a morning show. She lost her looks, she can't even smile now. Her presentation is horrible, always stumbling and talking really fast.Erica Hill has not made a difference for Weekend Today. When she is absent the show flows better. Erica messes up to much and to many delays.They should of recruited Biana Golodryga instead of old and boring Erica.
The new girl Shenielle is on weekend Today and there is more chemistry between her and Lester then Shenielle has with Erica.
Lester and Dylan are great and really make Weekend Today good. With Lester holding down the fort for Nightly News during the weekday. Erica is going to be tested to see if she can lead and helm weekend Today.
Yep Anonymous 7:36 PM, I agree. Heh, Erica does look "different" that's for sure. And after all of this time, I don't think she has any chemistry with Lester Holt. My favorite w/ Lester was the lovely Campbell Brown--now they really had chemistry.
I know Erica was a bad idea. Erica used to zoom from job to job trying to get higher and higher but I think NBC is stocked full of female anchors and like you said, she might as well lead Weekend Today and set Lester free, ha. I don't think she'll get to the week day broadcast....
Lester has chemistry with practically every female co-anchor but Erica is such a cold fish and a smart alek she had no chemistry with any her co-anchors at CBS.
I tried to give Erica a chance and she has proved why CNN and CBS got rid or her.
She does not have the talent and with Lester at NN, they need to find a way to push Erica Hill out of the weekend Today chair at NBC. Jenna Wolfe was problem and that is resolved but is Erica Hill also a problem. Ratings has not gotten better with her there. Give Erica Hill a trial and look at Shenielle Jones, she did a better job co-anchoring with Lester.
I remember that about Erica Hill at CBS, she's very smart-mouthed, insular and not at all that interesting. In a way she reminds me of a well-traveled baseball player, you know a team signs her on expecting big things--and then nothing, again and again.
Yep, got agree about Jenna Wolfe. I swear she was a bit better earlier on and then she got insufferable. Now she's weekday Today's exercise lady. What...fun?
Shenielle Jones is very good, they should move Erica out regardless, she's done enough damage, ha.
The correspondent job that Jenna got promoted to was a way for her to save her career and give her a more stable job M-F job. It helps her because she will not have to play second fiddle to Erica anymore.
They need to mix it up and bring Shenielle in the program. She has had better results then Erica in her career with anchoring programs. Shenielle hosted the popular morning program in Philadelphia.
Erica Hill being a permanent anchor on Weekend Today will be a borefest. She is too vanilla and treats her viewers like idiots with the way she reads the teleprompter. You should might as well switch to GMA Weekend or just sleep late during the weekend.
I won't be surprised if the Weekend show gets cancelled.
Watching Weekend Today with the new team is like watching amateur night for news anchors.
I am not impressed with Erica Hill on Weekend Nightly News. She is quite strident and overbearing. Her facial expressions are over the top especially excessive eyebrow movement, I guess she is just not my cup of tea. I switch to another network when she is anchoring the news and I refuse to watch her on The Today Show. I hope she does not become the permanent weekend anchor!!
I agree, her facial expressions are irritating and she thinks she is cute by doing that. I am glad Kate Snow got the Sunday spot, there is a female anchor who is not irritating and full of herself.
They can just get rid of Erica she is expendable at NBC her flopping track record does not help her cause in getting promoted.
They got Shenielle who has personality. Dylan Dryer is cute and they can move Frances to weekend Today and there is you a new team for the Weekends.
Erica can audition to join a home shopping show.
Glad to see comments!!
I agree Anonymous from August 22. I've never liked Hill for all of the reasons you mentioned. To be honest, she just doesn't seem to be a good fit at NBC, she's more of a CBS broadcaster to me--if that makes sense, a bit bland, boring. I think she's going to be the permanent anchor, she's been there a while...
Yep, Anonymous October 1. Hill probably looks better on paper than what she delivers because this show is tough to watch, even more than it was. I like Shenielle Jones a lot both her and Dylan Dryer are very cute. They are going to have to do something with this show, it's awful...
@Jason Elias
This is Oct 1 comment person. It is funny you said that cause Erica flopped at CBS. I think she does not have the talent or ability to fit in any network. Anderson Cooper got tired of her when she was at CNN and lucky that Lester Holt is a nice person to tolerate her. Weekend Today has been boring ever since Lester left, no magic among the team Hill does not have the right air for leading a show.
I agree. Erica Hill carries a smug smirk, and works her eyes, as if she betters everyone, and they bore her. She's hard to take, and unwatchable. I'm no fan of the overbearing Jenna Wolfe either. Get rid of both of them, there's plenty of more likeable, qualified people. Dylan, for one, has that, without even trying. Just turned off Erica, btw
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