While it won’t technically be a brand new show when it arrives among other 2025 TV premiere on the small screen, the revised third hour of NBC’s TODAY will certainly look different in the new year after Hoda Kotb makes her already announced exit. Rumors immediately started swirling concerning who might end up replacing her, and it wasn’t long before NBC News confirmed the anchor filling her soon-to-be-vacant seat at the desk. Now, audiences have a slightly better idea of what to expect overall.
A Name Change Is Coming
At this time, the long-running morning program will be officially changing the name of its third hour starting on January 13, 2025. The new title? TODAY with Jenna & Friends.
In spite of reports pointing to the idea that Jenna Hager Bush was interested in setting up her exit before Kotb announced her own, she’ll indeed be sticking around for the long haul, at least for the foreseeable future. She won’t be inviting her closest personal friends onto the show, of course, but rather a lineup of other respected journalists and personalities who will help bring both an entertaining and informative spin to the hour.
Who Will Be Replacing Koda Kotb?
As previously revealed, Hoda Kotb’s final day behind the TODAY desk will be on Friday, January 10, with the new iteration of the news hour starting the following Monday. At that time, Craig Melvin will officially step up to join Savannah Guthrie as a co-anchor across three of the show’s four hourlong blocks, expanding his current position alongside Al Roker, Sheinelle Jones, and Dylan Dreyer in Hour 3.
Melvin, who’s been a mainstay since 2018, will also be joining Jenna Bush Hager in the fourth hour, and will apparently earn a big pay boost in doing so. He won’t be the only “new” face that will be seen each broadcast. Fans will watch as a revolving door of talented familiars coming and going for the foreseeable future.
Hager compared welcoming the new co-hosts to entering the dating pool anew after being next to Kotb for the past decade. Pointing out to NBC News that she’s long been a serial monogamist who hasn’t dated in 20 years, Hager said this about the new plan:
Y’all know the new trend, roster dating? That’s what I’m gonna be doing. . . . [Expect] amazing guests and friends and family that are part of this DNA of this show. And they are gonna be coming along for the ride.
At this time, none of the planned guest hosts have been announced, but hopefully some of those names will be revealed before the holiday season has come and gone.
Will TODAY Stick With Guests Hosts?
Even with Hoda Kotb announcing well in advance that she'd be exiting her TODAY gig, finding someone to permanently head up a morning show like this is obviously a difficult choice, so it will take time to make sure execs have found the right choice. But NBC did previously confirm that the end-goal will be securing a long-term replacement, saying in an Instagram post:
TODAY’s fourth hour will become TODAY with Jenna & Friends starting Jan. 13, 2025. The show will feature a rotating cast of fill-in co-hosts until a permanent host is named.
TODAY airs weekday mornings on NBC from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and can be streamed with a Peacock subscription.
