And yet it is: “Today” is deep into another anchor crisis. Only this time it’s the man at the desk, not the woman, who may be pushed out. To his credit Matt Lauer on Thursday gave little sign that his tenure at the NBC morning show is in question, despite a flurry of news articles this week painting him as embattled. Mr. Lauer was as polished and suave as ever, though perhaps a little preoccupied. At one point he stared so intently at his co-anchor, Savannah Guthrie, that she grew flustered. “Don’t look at me like that,” she scolded him. The closest thing to a tell was when Mr. Lauer tried to signal to viewers that he had not spent the previous night keening over reports predicting his ouster. “I had a huge smile on my face as I was reading about you last night,” he told a young guest. Mr. Lauer, who was at the top of his field only a year ago, with a newly signed contract said to be for $25 million a year and no obvious rivals in sight, has found himself under a growing cloud since his former co-anchor, Ann Curry, was clumsily cast aside in June. Anderson Cooper of CNN and younger colleagues like Willie Geist, who was recently recruited from MSNBC to prop up the third hour of “Today,” are being mentioned as possible replacements. Mr. Geist was away on Thursday — to appear as a guest on “The Tonight Show” — but other prospects popped up in what looked like running auditions. Ryan Seacrest, sometimes mentioned as a possible co-anchor, made a cameo. So did Carson Daly, who was filling in for Mr. Geist and brought along his mother. Networks never seem to absorb lessons of lineup changes gone bad, NBC most of all. A little more than 20 years ago the network replaced Jane Pauley with the younger Deborah Norville; that “Today” show shake-up was so calamitous that it became a founding fiasco of morning television. Ms. Norville’s career never recovered. But it took another change for NBC to get it right: Katie Couric arrived in 1991 and helped put “Today” back on top. NBC should never have appointed Ms. Curry in the first place, but her removal last year was as almost as graceless as that of Ms. Pauley, and it was a key in driving the show back into the No. 2 slot after “Good Morning America.” The spotlight is now on Mr. Lauer, who came off as the on-air bully in that debacle. He may not have single-handedly shoved Ms. Curry off the couch, but he never looked truly comfortable at her side — and sometimes couldn’t resist a dig at her expense. On her last day he looked more appalled than chagrined as she wept through her farewell and wouldn’t return his hug. And once a show pulls the curtain back on that tableau of dysfunction, no number of promos showing anchors convulsed with laughter and hugging one another can erase it. Mr. Lauer is good at his job. He’s self-assured without being pompous, and he’s a skilled, unflappable interviewer (notably in 2005 with Tom Cruise in his anti antidepressant phase). But right now he is stuck as the cad who made a woman cry, and the very qualities that made him invaluable to “Today” in the first place — confidence, urbanity, a needling sense of humor — don’t serve him well on the current course to redemption. It’s a cliché, but morning-show audiences do look at anchors as a family. Mr. Lauer may have started on the show in 1997 as the funny, smart younger brother; at the moment he looks more like a meanspirited rich uncle. He treats Ms. Guthrie more gently than he did Ms. Curry, but their chemistry looks more remedial than real. Ms. Guthrie is a capable, amiable and very pretty co-anchor with solid news credentials, but there is something generic about her affect; she could be any of a dozen anchors. And lately, for perhaps good reason, she seems a little insecure and jumpy behind the smiles. For female anchors, especially, stardom on “Today” requires a special quality, an extra layer of personality and idiosyncratic charm. Ms. Couric had it, and so did Meredith Vieira. Ms. Guthrie doesn’t stand out. At the moment Mr. Lauer stands out a little too much. And unfortunately for “Today” viewers have alternatives. “Good Morning America” has taken the lead in the ratings by doubling down on ebullient hosts, celebrity news and feel-good features. For people who prefer more fiber and less sugar in the morning, “CBS This Morning” has become much better, and its ratings have even improved a little. Charlie Rose and Gayle King are not exactly A-list anchors, but with the help of Norah O’Donnell, a former White House correspondent, they preside over a talk show that has more news and informed discussion and fewer silly features about shark bites, babies and runaway brides. CNN, which recently hired Chris Cuomo away from ABC, just announced a revamp of its morning show, pairing Mr. Cuomo with a relative newcomer, Kate Bolduan, and that combination has promise. For years the one immutable figure on “Today” has been its leading man. Now people are wondering where in the world is Matt Lauer’s replacement.
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