When one thing goes askew on NBC's Today Show, it seems like everything starts going belly-up. Politics clearly had a role to play in the morning show's biggest changes over the past few months, starting somewhere around the ousting of Billy Bush. Megyn Kelly left her longtime home at Fox News to jump to NBC, and it was recently revealed she'd take over one of Today's hour-long blocks, with Tamron Hall and Al Roker's hour getting shafted by the deal. Now that she's had time to considering things, Hall has decided to exit both NBC and MSNBC.
NBC News definitely shocked a lot of people by announcing one of Megyn Kelly's new roles within the empire would interfere with the world of Today, and one can imagine Tamron Hall and Al Roker were among the most surprised. Even though Hall's contract expires this month, it was thought that she would stick with the company, since she would still be a part of Today's first two hours, along with all the other on-camera work she was doing for MSNBC. (She'd been filling in more than usual lately, even.) But her official last day was Tuesday, and she won't be back on either network barring some unusual circumstances.
It appears that the split between Tamron Hall and NBC wasn't one full of fireworks and turmoil. According to People and its sources, Hall's demeanor hadn't changed much on the set, and she remained in good spirits to everyone around her, with a team player attitude present throughout. But if those sources are correct, Hall found out about losing her Today spot just minutes before going on the air that morning, and that may have had a big part to play in why she's deciding to move on with her career.
Not that NBC didn't try to keep her around, as she was reportedly offered quite a bit of moolah to renew her contract for more years. Still, Tamron Hall turned down the offers, despite the fact that she doesn't seem to have anything locked down by way of another gig, which is another good sign that the way NBC News execs handled the Today deal was anything but pleasing to her. Hopefully she'll find whatever she's looking for in her next opportunity, and maybe we'll get to hear more behind-the-scenes dirt when it happens.
For now, Al Roker will continue to anchor the third hour of Today's telecast every weekday morning, possibly with someone else taking a seat next to him on occasion, with the bigger overhaul coinciding with the fall season. Head to our midseason premiere schedule in the meantime to see everything that'll be premiering on the small screen in the near future.
