Once upon a time, those who wanted to see Carson Daly on TV during the daylight hours had only to turn on MTV in the afternoon and watch him present the hottest music videos to the masses. But the words "music videos" should be an indication of just how long ago that was. The TRL host has since moved on to the late night game, hosting NBC's late-late talk show Last Call with Carson Daly. He also hosts The Voice, and now it looks like he's aiming to carve out another spot during the day for himself by joining NBC's morning show Today, which he refers to as "TRL for grown-ups."
NBC announced today that Today will be returning to a band new Studio 1A on Monday, September 16, and part of that will include the launch of "a first-of-its-kind" digital studio, the Orange Room, which will be hosted by Carson Daly.
Situated directly within the new Studio 1A, the Orange Room is the nexus point between the TODAY audience and the show, embracing the many ways that viewers seek out and share news across all media and allowing the show and its fans to connect in a variety of new ways. In a casual, lounge-like setting, the Orange Room will also be a hub of emerging technology, equipped for everything from social media hangouts, to extended live-stream interviews with TODAY guests, analysis of real-time social data and reactions from the web, as well as the home for TODAY’s original digital franchises.
Today show executive producer Don Nash says this new "Orange Room" is where the newsroom meets the living room, " In this space, we will evolve the way news is gathered and delivered by creating a direct and meaningful relationship with our TODAY audience on any platform." From what the intro video indicates, the Orange Room will place a heavy emphasis on social media. Daly will stay on The Voice as host, and we already know NBC's keeping his late night show Last Call around.
Daly has increased his presence on NBC quite a bit over the years. Not only does he host his own late night show at the network, and has appeared on Today in the past, he also hosts NBC's popular singing competition The Voice. And then there's NBC's New Year's Eve special NBC's New Year's Eve with Carson Daly. All of the above pretty much makes the guy NBC's own personal Ryan Seacrest. Actual-Seacrest tends to spread out his gigs over a variety of channels, but these days, it seems Daly's determined to focus his talent at the Peacock. On that note, NBC also states that Daly has extended his relationship with them with a first-look development deal for scripted and alternative programs, so we may be seeing him producing new material for NBC soon enough. In the meantime, he has late night and primetime covered, and now he can add the morning to that list.
Here's a snippet of a previous episode of Today that featured an appearance by Carson Daly:
