Today Show | Promo | 1987
0Today Show | Promo | 1987
Today
Today logo 2013.png
Also known as The Today Show
Genre Morning news/talk
Created by Sylvester Weaver
Directed by Joe Michaels
Presented by
Savannah Guthrie
Hoda Kotb
Al Roker
Carson Daly
Natalie Morales
(See full list)
Narrated by
Fred Facey
Les Marshak
Theme music composer
Les Brown (1952–1961)
Django Reinhardt (1962–1963)
Erroll Garner (1963–1971)
Ray Ellis (1971–1985)
John Williams (1985–2013)
Adam Gubman (2013–)
Opening theme 2012 Today AGOpen1
The Choice (Election Open) (2013–present)
Ending theme "Energetic Today"
"Slow Today"
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 66
No. of episodes 17,624 (as of January 2, 2018)[needs update]
Production
Executive producer(s) Libby Leist,[1] Tom Mazzareli
Location(s) Studio 1A, NBC Studios
New York City, New York
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 4 hours (weekdays),
2 hours (Saturdays),
1 hour (Sundays)
Production company(s) NBC News Productions
Release
Original network NBC
Picture format 480i (4:3 SDTV)
(1952–2006)
1080i (16:9 HDTV)
(2006–present)
Original release January 14, 1952 – present
Chronology
Related shows Early Today
Hoy
External links
Website
Today, also called The Today Show, is an American news and talk morning television show that airs on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television and in the world, and after 66 years of broadcasting it is the fifth-longest-running American television series.
Originally a weekday two-hour program from 7-9 a.m., it expanded to Sundays in 1987 and Saturdays in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and to four hours in 2007 (though over time, the third and fourth hours essentially became their own distinct entities). Today's dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the late 1980s, when it was overtaken by ABC's Good Morning America. Today retook the Nielsen ratings lead the week of December 11, 1995, and held onto that position for 852 consecutive weeks until the week of April 9, 2012, when Good Morning America topped it again. Today maintained its No. 2 status behind GMA from the summer of 2012 until it regained the lead in the aftermath of anchor Matt Lauer's departure in November 2017.[2][3] In 2002, Today was ranked No. 17 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[4]
The entertainment magazine Variety reported the 2016 advertising revenue during the first two hours of the show was $508.8 million.