Ann Curry Almost Appeared in Emmy Award Comedy Sketch Mocking her Exit from Today Show
Ann Curry almost appeared in an Emmy Award comedy sketch on Sunday night which mocked her exit from NBC's Today show. The sacked host was reportedly "totally game" to make appearance with the cast of Modern Family which jokes about replacing its youngest actress Aubrey Anderson-Emmons who plays Lily Tucker-Pritchett (daughter of Cam and Mitchell) in the sitcom.
At the end of the sketch, Ed O'Neill, whose onscreen character is Jay Pritchett, spoke to someone about replacing Lily. The camera showed O'Neill speaking to actor Ken Jeong who wore a dark wig with pigtails (depicting Lily).
According to Page Six, the original concept of the sketch was to have Curry play the re-casted Lily, with O'Neill telling her:,"You'd be perfect.. you've had some experience at this...", and having the camera showing her seated with him.
However, when NBC bosses heard of this, they did not let Curry go ahead with it. A source said: "The idea went to NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke, who then kicked it to NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt, who nixed it."
Ann Curry's controversial exit from NBC's Today show stirred a national backlash. The Today show has been falling behind Good Morning America as the most popular morning show. Despite sacking Curry and replacing her with host Savannah Guthrie, the Today show still continues to lag behind GMA.
Curry's co-host Matt Lauer is believed to have had a major part in having Curry replaced. With the ratings continuing to decline, it has been reported that Lauer may be forced to take a pay cut from his huge $25m salary.
According to Nielsen figures, "TODAY" averaged 4.94 million total viewers in the 10 weeks before Curry's exit. Of that figure, 2.1 million of them made up the core audience in the 25-54 age category.
Less than three months after Curry's departure, viewership fell to 4.6 million total with 1.9 million in the core age group.
Curry remains on her $10 million contract as "Today" anchor-at-large and an international and national correspondent for NBC News.
