The Morning Show: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV

by Brian Stelter

CNN correspondent Brian Stelter reveals the dark side of morning television with exclusive material about current and past morning stars, from Matt Lauer to Katie Couric.

When America wakes up with personable and charming hosts like Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, it's hard to imagine their show bookers having to guard a guest's hotel room all night to prevent rival shows from poaching. But that is just a glimpse of the intense reality revealed in this gripping look into the most competitive time slot in television.

Featuring exclusive content about all the major players of the 2000s, Top of the Morning illuminates what it takes to win the AM -- when every single viewer counts, tons of jobs are on the line, and hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. Stelter is behind the scenes as Ann Curry replaces Meredith Vieira on the Today show, only to be fired a year later in a fiasco that made national headlines. He's backstage as Good Morning America launches an attack to dethrone Today and end the longest consecutive winning streak in morning television history. And he's there as Roberts is diagnosed with a crippling disease -- on what should be the happiest day of her career.

So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and discover the dark side of the sun.

Praise for Top of the Morning
"Mr. Stelter pulls back the curtains and exposes a savage corporate world that might have been inhabited by the Sopranos." -- Washington Times

"A troubling look inside an enterprise as vicious and internecine as a soap opera." -- Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Nonfiction, Tv, Journalism, Pop Culture, Business, History, Biography

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2013

About the author

Brian Stelter is the chief media correspondent for CNN and anchor of the show Reliable Sources. He was previously a staff writer at the New York Times and was featured as a subject in the New York Times documentary Page One. Before joining the Times in 2007, he was the founder and editor of TVNewser, the pre-eminent blog about the television news industry, which was sold to MediaBistro in 2004.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Ainsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should've been right up my alley. But it's poorly written and there really isn't enough content for a whole book. The author comes across as smarmy. And I find it hard to believe there was an editor involved, considering this sentence made it to publication:

But because, as any life coach worth her masters in Russian lit will tell you, you always learn more from losing than from winning, let us focus on what GMA, starting in the early nineties, got so gloriously wrong, for it was the size of the hole it dug that made the show's climb to daylight, sixteen years later, so amazing.

[Cathy Unruh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me admit my bias right up front here before writing a review of this non-fiction work. As a TV journalist and former morning anchor, I couldn't wait to crack it open. The information is deliciously insider, the tone delightfully snarky: "The subtle but sometimes strikingly weird effects of sleep deprivation can be seen everywhere in the world of morning TV and they make people do...interesting things." That early sentence gives you some idea of the semi-crazy state of the race to boast the biggest ratings, highest revenues, and most popular personalities in morning television. Stelter, a New York Times reporter, proceeds to dissect the rises and falls of the two biggies, the Today show and Good Morning America, concentrating on the driven personalities both on camera and off the set. The detailed and intricately reported work is likely most appealing to fans of morning television and other people in the business - but anyone who enjoys a good gossipy look inside some of America's most famous workplaces may also enjoy it.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I worked in TV news for more than 10 years, and I find this subject fascinating. However, Stelter's writing style is bumpy and a bit juvenile. (Curiously, his piece on Operation Bambi for New York Times Magazine was excellent, which tells me his book needed to be edited as seriously as the magazine article.)

The book essentially covers the fall of NBC's Today show and the rise of ABC's Good Morning America, with a few chapters thrown in about MSNBC's Morning Joe and the morning mess at CBS. I would recommend the book to fellow media wonks, but if you've read the aforementioned NYT Mag piece, you've already read the best parts of the book.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top of the Morning is a snapshot in time, exploring in-depth the circumstances regarding Ann Curry's bungled dismissal from The Today Show and Good Morning America's meteoric rise to #1 after more than a decade and a half of runner-up status. It does its job well, providing a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the surprisingly cutthroat world of morning television where producers sleep outside hotel rooms to prevent guests from being poached, animal guests are bitterly fought over, and staffers accuse the competition of exploiting a star's fight with a life-threatening illness. With millions in advertising dollars at stake, everything is fair game, at least to those in the trenches.

The book's main limitation isn't its fault: it was published in 2013. It was written before Me Too revelations rocked the world of morning television and the media landscape at large, and prominently features a number of now-disgraced individuals without touching on credible accusations of harassment and assault which were then considered rumour and spoken of only in hushed tones. While its take on the drama of the early 2010s is compelling, the spectacles of yesterday can't help but feel unimportant compared to what we now know are the real, criminal scandals of morning television. Still, the book does a good job of exploring its material, truncated though it is.

However, Top of the Morning isn't completely without current relevance. Its rich illustration of the culture of morning television sets the stage for naked immoral and seemingly inexplicable decisions made in later years. Why wasn't Matt Lauer shown the door years before his purported crimes became public? Because he was a cash cow who made millions of dollars for his bosses, and the blame for every problem always landed squarely on the shoulders of the woman sitting beside him.

[Alyssa Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a struggle for me. I've followed Stelter's tumblr and tweets for a couple of years and was really looking forward to this full narrative. However the book was a slow and sometimes agonizing read considering most readers probably come in knowing what's going to happen. I agree with other readers that it was not well edited or particularly well written. Stelter needed to devote more time to developing his writing for a full length book, but this topic wouldn't allow it. For now, he should stick to articles. However, the fact that he even happend to be writing about morning shows when all of these things went down is a credit to his journalistic instincts. Still, I wouldn't recommend it.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off very interesting and engaging. I liked learning about the issues facing morning shows and enjoyed the gossipy parts. However, this book suffers from a number of problems. This author uses every metaphor imaginable, no matter how convoluted and tortured. The author also inserts himself into the story, which is annoying and pointless. Also, the book is far too detailed on some points (I.e. weeks and weeks of ratings were discussed and analyzed ad nauseam). I literally am forcing myself to finish this book because I'm so close to the end, but it's a major slog.


Update: I had about 10 pages left and couldn't do it.

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was interesting to read this after certain morning show hosts have been caught up in the #MeToo movement. It really put some things in the book in perspective.

[May · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros:
- skips past the usual preamble of the history of morning TV, importance of ratings, etc. and gets right to what everyone wants to know--what really happened behind the scene of Ann Curry's departure from Today

Cons:
- if you don't follow morning TV and came to this book without an inkling about the Ann Curry's fiasco, this book will just frustrate you. The organization of this book is all over the place and would confuse and frustrate most readers.


This book was a total skim for me. While I was mainly interested in reading the whole Ann Curry fiasco, the thing that struck me the most is how NBC keeps sabotaging itself. By not innovating (e.g. sticking to the same tired old 'entertainment' formula) and not knowing how to treat its own staff properly (e.g. ask David Letterman, Conan O' Brien, Bryan Gumbel, etc.), is it any wonder that NBC is last in the ratings? Let's be honest here. Ann Curry was simply naive to think that by sticking around Today long enough meant that she was entitled to the anchor job. She may not have been suited for the role but then again, when you are not given the chance to improve by either your bosses or your colleagues, it's a little hard for someone to prove him/herself. Takeaway lesson from this book--never rest on your former glory, be aware of the talk around you, develop a professional support network and when cutting ties with employees, treat them with respect otherwise they will embarrass the sh*t out of you on national TV!

[Terron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, Brian Stelter is no Bill Carter. Everything starts off well with the immediate take on the Morning TV situation concerning Ann Curry and her ouster from the Today. He does a great job setting the scene and giving you some nice insider bits about your favorite morning personalities. The problem starts when he takes the historical view of morning TV among the big 3. It drags. And drags...and drags. I know morning TV is not as juicy as late night, if only for the reason that Leno, Conan and Letterman are more interesting personalities than Lauer and Curry. However, the chapters that deal with the current landscape are just as interesting and keep you well entertained, so the drop off is somewhat of a surprise. The historical and competition aspects between GMA and the Today show just don't work with Stelter's tone. His gossip blogger with a vocabulary approach doesn't really work as well in the "here's how we got here" chapters and the "fly on the wall" tidbits are too few and far between in these chapters. It picks back up towards the end (when we get back to current "scandal)but the middle sagging lessens the experience. Overall, a book that is initially going to draw TV junkies, like myself, to the table doesn't give you enough reason to recommend it to anyone who doesn't share the affliction.

[Josh McConnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who could have thought a book on morning television talk shows would be so interesting? New York Times journalist Brian Stelter has written an engaging book with a strong narrative. Arguably, there is even a villain or two.

NBC's Today Show has been the reigning champion of morning television for 852 weeks in a row, but ABC's Good Morning America has been slowly clawing back and is almost ready to take the crown. Whether it is perseverance from GMA, a perfect storm on the Today's show side or a bit of both, a lot took place behind the scenes to make it happen. Stelter paints a clear picture of just how much drama, sweat and money takes place when the cameras are off.

The style of the book is very conversational and easy to read, which helps stay engaged the entire time. My only complaint is some of the details/facts get repeated to -- I assume -- help remind the reader, but personally I found it more deja vu than anything else: "wait, didn't I read that already?"

If you are an avid morning television viewer, this book is for you. In addition, if you are someone who currently works or wants to work in broadcast journalism, this is also an excellent read as it shows you the many paths available inside media conglomerates.

Top of the Morning is an excellent read and well worth your time.

[Muffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so poorly written, wow! There’s a somewhat interesting story buried here, how the carefully-hidden rancor behind the scenes at the Today Show led to them being beaten in the ratings by Good Morning America, whose hosts appeared to genuinely like each other (that is, if the book is to be believed). Stelter’s prose is full of obnoxious and endless analogies that contribute less than nothing, and his descriptors of women are uniformly sexist. But here’s my favorite bit: after reporting behind the scenes at The Today Show AND at whatever CBS’s morning show is called for a year and a half Stelter apparently had no fucking clue about Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose’s sexual predations, or knew and chose to hide it. He’s not shy about repeatedly accusing Rose of being a drunk, but the sexual harassment doesn’t get a mention. In my opinion, this topic deserves a much better book, and Stelter’s work absolutely disqualifies him from being taken seriously as a journalist. Also literally everyone working in morning talk shows is completely unhinged, and that part is fun to read about, like the producer who literally designed a couch from scratch because he couldn’t find exactly the right couch for the hosts to sit on.

[Bean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm mixed on this one. I liked the content a lot - very gossipy and fun to read stuff about morning TV and the rivalry between GMA and the Today Show. The writing got on my nerves, though - way too many metaphors and flowery stuff. I think he was reaching beyond his ability in terms of prose.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting material; however very poorly written. Each chapter zig zagged back and forth making it very confusing to comprehend - towards the end I forced myself to finish since I had already invested time reading it.

[Cwelshhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fizzy, but already very out of date.

[Neil Pierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The morning network television shows--Today, Good Morning America, and whatever CBS is doing--are very insistent that the smiling, attractive hosts and I are part of one big family. I've always resisted this idea as creepy and cultish. They are NOT part of my family. (I know this because they're always in a good mood.) They are not my friends. (I know this because I don't owe them any money.) They aren't even acquaintances.

What they are is very good at their jobs, which consist of attracting millions of viewers by creating the illusion of personal attachment. And they're very competitive, for at least two reasons: (1) Ratings = money in the door. 100,000 viewers in the 25-54 age group generate ten million dollars in ad revenue each year. (2) If you're behind in ratings, you're going to lose your job. There is no being down, only down-and-out.

For years, NBC's Today won the ratings war. For over 15 years, they never lost a single week to ABC's morning show. But in 2011/2012, that began to change, and that's the period covered in this book.

There were a number of reasons for this. Today was complacent, stale, in don't-fix-it-if-it-ain't-broke mode. ABC found the right mix of programming and hosts. And then there was Ann Curry.

Meredith Viera was beloved by Today's audience. When she left, Ann Curry took her place as co-host with perhaps the greatest morning host ever, Matt Lauer. Thus started a painful time for NBC. Ann Curry was, in one word, awkward. She tended to hit the conversational ball into the net or over Matt's head or into the stands. Lauer became frustrated with Curry, and it showed. His engagement began to wane, damaging his own performance and likability. Meanwhile, ABC was moving steadily up in the ratings at Today's expense.

Rightly or wrongly, NBC decided it had to dump Curry. About that... let's just say that when you fire someone on live television, uh, things can go wrong.

But remember, we're all family. You may not be wild about your cousin, but you don't want to see her get canned and embarrass herself. A lot of viewers got mad and directed their ire at Lauer. Meanwhile, there was a love fest among the co-hosts of Good Morning America, and viewers couldn't miss the contrast.

The author takes a condescending attitude toward the shows, the people who work on them, and the people who watch them. Example: "Wisely--not a word you will see all that often in a book about television..." Makes you wonder why he wanted to spend 18 months and interview 350 people to write a book about it. His snarkiness is often funny, but you'll hate yourself in the morning.

[Gabriella Rusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

TOP OF THE MORNING is a bit cringe to read in the post-Matt Lauer era (this was published in 2013) and includes snarky writing and off-beat comparisons that don’t always hit their mark, but if you’re a journalist or someone who works in TV, there’s a lot in this book to appreciate. Brian Stelter truly goes behind-the-scenes of the set and newsrooms of The Today Show and Good Morning America diving into the nitty gritty of overnight ratings, broadcast sweeps, on-air chemistry, producing great content. If you can get past the ironically now outdated non-fiction book about news, it’s a great read for someone passionate about the television news industry.

[Caroline Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

On my flights to and from Italy, I binged watched the entire season one of Apple TV’s The Morning Show. I was addicted.

Sadly, I bought this book when I discovered it inspired the show. Luckily it was on deep discount. Had to DNF at 7% because I have never read anything so disjointed and unstructured in my life.

[Shannon at Siren Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m endlessly fascinated by morning television and the absolute cutthroat normalcy there. I enjoyed the book but can’t put my finger on what it was missing. I feel like there were parts that could have been explored deeper. In some cases the descriptions of events were clunky. Definitely interesting though.

[Fritzov]

I listen to this because i wanted to know more about the morning TV buiessness after loving The Morning Show on the Apple TV

[Bianca Bernhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat interesting, wholly forgettable story about the "cutthroat world of morning news." This seemed one of the few non-boring choices on a reading list, and the descriptions promised insane stories of how desperate news workers schemed and plotted to bring themselves to the top of the charts. However, what we really got was a moderately interesting story about the rivalry between NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America. It was informational for the first 100 pages or so, about the reality of working the mornings (waking up early), but didn't really stress about coming up with stories, and had only one or two really crazy stories about the stunts the workers would pull, like buying jeans for a rape victim, or sleeping outside a witness's hotel room. On the whole, however, it focused more on the TV anchors, and I've never been one for morning news: it seems too gratuitous, fleeting, self-congratulatory and uninteresting. The sets evoke thoughts of dystopias, and the banter between hosts is not funny. Stelter indulges the anchors in an overly flattering narration style, and took the topic very seriously, when, in fact, it wasn't that deep. Part of it is also the arrogance of TV news anchors. Another thing that was off-putting was his random expositions: he would remind you who this or that person was, even if he'd only mentioned them 20 pages ago, but things like Deborah Norville, etc. were explained once and then just referenced throughout the book. Maybe that's because he thought that people would've remembered those things, given a probably older intended audience. This book also wasn't so much a story of journalistic endeavor of the author, as his sources were, at least to my knowledge, pretty forthcoming and open, as opposed to the book She Said, which I recently read, in which sources refusing to speak was a constant roadblock. This story is now obsolete due to the internet - GMA is still beating Today, but my family watches Today and Today has had a 3 week lead and is forecasted to do well in 2025 (they had a good rebranding)- the two shoes are kind of tied, and the book is from 2013, so it's outdated. Nevertheless, it was an interesting little peek behind the curtain of morning TV. I rate it 12 The Voices out of 18 Dancing With the Stars.

Takeaways/Notable Things/Quotes:
- Morning TV is mainly aimed at women.
- "Even if it's serious it has to be entertaining."
- "The philosophical battle is over the mix - the exact proportions of light versus dark, of You Should Know This versus You'll Enjoy This."
- People are lazy - they want to see something happy in the morning, which is why GMA (Good Morning America) does so well. But, in my humble opinion, that reflects poorly on the general population, that pandering to more idiotic tales has boosted GMA - kinda giving propaganda vibes.
- People don't like a bragger, and people really don't like it when you try to prove yourself. It first seems insincere, and it's important that you actually ask the questions your viewers want to hear, not just about yourself. Curiosity is important.
- "You don't only help yourself to better ratings, you are also boosted by the sloth and incompetence of your rivals."
- "It was bad to be down and not much better to be up, the one sure sign you'd be down again presently."
- "[O]n the Web, where all links are equal, many people didn't distinguish between TMZ, which was sometimes wrong but often right, and NBC News, which was almost always right but occasionally wrong."
- Tragedy, however temporary, inspires. However, pity can't sustain an audience - you can't keep people interested forever because something else will come along, but on the flipside, boycotting something, however momentarily, or having a reputational stain, can be detrimental (like Today losing money and influence, especially as they kept quiet. Ann wasn't the sole reason, but was a big reason that they suffered a blow).
- In journalism, it's better to be right than to be first, but some networks are willing to do whatever it takes and sweep their ethics under the rug to get bookings and steal stories off of other people. Those people are called network scumbags, and when something happens, they think, "How can this benefit our channel?"
- "Morning, as a category, makes mere mortals of the best TV minds."
- "Personal dramas and adventures experienced by the hosts have always been viewer honey."
- "Executives like to keep talent in the dark - that's one way they maintain some power over the people who make vaults more money than they do."
- You can feed off the leftovers of other news programs, but it's not what gets you to first.
- "Morning needs patience. You're building an intimate relationship with the audience, asking them to tune in and give you two hours of their life each morning. They are looking for a long-term relationship." That's why authenticity is incredibly important, and introducing new people and having people take over can be kind of emotional - they're developing a relationship with you that you never experience anchoring. Part of that is also the chemistry between anchors, as exemplified by the Sound Off Test: does the cast look like they're having fun? Would you like to be with them on set? If no, they probably aren't connecting well. Furthermore, as part of that emotional connection, it makes it hard to cut out someone who isn't doing well. Ann Curry was apparently quite awkward, and her bosses didn't like that. People didn't want to see her fired, but playing devil's advocate, if you do a bad job, why shouldn't you have to leave?
- Silence is the food of rumor. And addressing the bullet directly above, Ann never got any feedback from her network, partly because the show's manager kept quiet about a lot of things, which made Lauer seem like the guy who forced Ann off. Another takeaway: the audience has no idea what is going on behind the cameras, who/what is going to happen next.
- Part of ABC's success is that their winning attitude stuck after they were winning, and the pride trickled down all levels of the organization, having a balance of charisma and strong leadership, whereas NBC twiddled their thumbs. It's a constant game of cat and mouse - when one gets into the winning mindset, and the other hasn't had to defend their title (i.e. Today), the more ambitious one usually wins out.
- Improv is an important facet to on-screen chemistry: you can't let the conversation drop.
- "GMA is purposely overbooked to make it seem faster and more brimming with great stuff than Today." This not only panders to the audience, but they frequently will tease the next segment, and will cut out a lot because they run out of time to talk about it all. According to them, "We want our viewers to wake up to something they haven't heard." This fast-paced, funsy, and novel form of news was revolutionary, especially as the audiences turned from TVs to smartphones, and helped land them their win. However, it made for bad content. According to Don Nash, important person at NBC, "I have the attention span of a gnat. I think one of the reasons why I got the job is, I'm always looking for the next thing." That's all cute and all, but some things need more attention than others. It's part of the reason that Ann never got any coverage - she became obsolete after the network got rid of her (although they didn't really like her in the first place).
- Morning Joe was popular because they could talk about what they wanted, and "The show also came together with a clubby sensibility that made viewers think the were listening in on a meeting of media elites."
- Even with everything worked out, networks are so ruthless that they can pull people out from you, get your witnesses, and whisk away your story before you can even blink. You have to be ready for people to cancel, which means you have to have backups, which can in turn, lead you to cancelling on them.
- "Part of one's job as a morning show host is to divine what the viewers are thinking." - balance of telling news ala reporter and ala curious viewer.
- You doubting yourself can often lead to setting the highest standard for yourself, and thus, the highest quality of work. This is evidenced by Savannah Guthrie's rise to TV prowess.
- Sometimes you have to take a journalistic leap of faith, such as when Joe Scarborough offered Mika Brzezinski a position on Morning Joe after very limited interactions and a few sassy comebacks.

The book was also quite funny (not comedic, but with some awesome one-liners and a ton of jabs thrown at CBS):
"NBC took dead aim at the foot it had not yet shot itself in."
"When the a.m. TV titans do battle, as we've seen, it usually comes to one show beating up on a show that is concurrently beating up itself."
"Rumor had it that every day at nine a.m. Paley's valet went into his crypt and rolled him over."

[Brent Leung · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was between 2.5 and 3 stars.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining enough but still left me with a somewhat unsatisfied feeling.

I kept thinking "So what's the point of all this?" Almost a 100 pages is devoted to literally chronicling the blow by blow of corporate minutia between Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and TV executives no one has ever heard of. So why am I supposed to care? What's the bigger takeaway.

I think the problem is that it reads too much like an article in the "media gossip" section of the New York Times which doesn't work quite as well for 300 pages.

Still I tried to see what I'd learned:
1. Morning TV shows are much more intense, cut throat and competitive than I'd realized. Not surprising when you think about it, but not something that comes up on most people's radar compared to say competition in sports or politics.

2. It seems completely absurd that Matt Lauer was paid 25 million dollars a year while his co-anchors were paid much less. Must be a great negotiator.

3. The mechanics of the shows are interesting: competing for the best interviews, timing the broadcasts down to the second, chasing down the latest viral video stars, etc.

4. Having a steady temperament is just as important or even more important than talent in order to succeed in this business. For example Robin Roberts had to deal with 2 cancer scares, several personal tragedies in addition to the relentless pace and stressful politics and still look chipper at 7am in the morning almost every weekday. I am sure I couldn't deal with that.

So overall, I did learn a few things about how morning television worked, but I would have liked it a lot more if I felt I was gaining some interesting insights and not just gossip on what happened on the Today show and GMA in 2012.

[Lorraine]

I really enjoyed the insider content and details in this book, but found the tone and unnecessarily snide comments off-putting. For example: “... the ratings were still shrinking faster than Al Roker after his stomach-stapling.” It doesn’t come across as clever or tongue-in-cheek.

The book can sound a bit condescending and dismissive of the producers, hosts, and audiences of morning TV shows. At times, I think Stelter missed out on providing some interesting insight into the people involved, because he just didn’t take them seriously.

For example, Stelter spends what feels like a quarter of the book emphasizing the importance of chemistry, but doesn’t reflect on Ann Curry’s argument that, “Chemistry, in television history, generally means the man does not want to work with the woman. It’s an excuse generally used by men in positions of power to say, ‘The woman doesn’t work.’” This comment is especially interesting because earlier in the book, Stelter writes, “What was special about Lauer ... was an ability to comfortably talk to anyone about anything. ‘Matt could talk to a fire hydrant for three hours.’” But Lauer clearly couldn’t do that with Curry, which might have been worth exploring more.

[Scott Porch · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is primarily the story of the simultaneous fall of Today and rise of GMA in 2012. But despite the zero-sum nature of the ratings battle and the intensity of the rivalry, Stelter structures the book largely as two separate narratives. That was a mistake that deprived the book of what should have been its singular, central narrative. Instead, you get a linear telling of the Today story with occasional looks out the window of GMA coming from behind and then surging ahead -- followed by what turns out to be an anticlimactic telling of GMA's rise.

Also, the writing is worse than you'd expect from a New York Times reporter. The too-numerous cliches ("casting a gimlet eye on the situation") and tortured metaphors ("going the way of the Mulvaneys in Joyce Carol Oates’s We Were the Mulvaneys") should have caught the gimlet eye of an editor.

The reporting, though, is excellent. Stelter followed this territory real-time as a TV industry beat reporter, and he had access to the principals' observations and opinions during the time that these stories were unfolding.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This non fiction book focuses on the shake up at the Today Show that occurred in 2012 when Ann Curry was fired, then switches focus to Good Morning America. Section one is essentially a rehash of an article I read some time ago in the New York Times, which talks about Operation Bambi--the plan to keep Matt Lauer, oust Ann and promote Savannah Guthrie. It wasn't horrible, but it was a little overlong. Section two is all GMA. I skipped it. Section three is about the fallout at the Today Show after Ann left. It was very flattering to Savannah Guthrie and made me like her much more than I did prior to reading the book, but overall, it just wasn't that interesting or enlightening. Matt came off like a bit of a pompous ass, Ann like a crybaby and Savannah like a lucky person who worked hard, was in the right place at the right time and someone generally above the fray.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first twenty minutes of the Today Show have been a part of my morning routine for about 15 years now, so it was fun to read about some dirt on morning television and also how it all functions. This is written basically like a tabloid – super-gossipy. For some that may be a negative, but it’s a plus for me! (ha!) But I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t particularly have an interest in morning shows as it would likely be pretty boring.

I knew ratings were a big deal, but it was interesting to see just how strong of a hold they have. I have a little second-hand embarrassment about it to be honest. I get freaking out about getting an interview with a real famous person, but there’s an awful lot of drama about getting an exclusive with an owner of an internet dog sensation or some such. I mean, “Dancing with Stars” interviews have made a serious impact on GMA’s ratings! Although I guess it reflects this country and it’s just the nature of the game.

For the record, I thought Ann Curry was god-awful and I was happy to see her go…Savannah is a huge improvement. I also like Matt Lauer (although I’m not all googly-eyed over him like apparently some women are); I think he was in a tough situation that I believe he didn’t really have much control over. But the Today Show probably made the biggest mistake in their history by having Ann say goodbye on air…man, the power of a woman’s tears! They will be paying for that for a long time.

[Javier HG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es curioso. A pesar de que apenas veo televisión, me encantan los libros que cuentan cómo se hacen los programas de televisión, cómo se gestiona el talento y cómo se atrae al público. Y como la televisión en España es muy, muy cutre siempre me ha tirado más la de los EE.UU. Ya escribí la crítica sobre "The war for late night" de Bill Carter, libro en el que se narraba los problemas de la NBC para gestionar su programa de las 2330h.

En este caso me meto en el mundo de la televisión matutina, empezando a las 0700h. Los programas "Today" de la NBC y "Good Morning America" de la ABC. Estos programas son auténticas vacas lecheras generando hasta 500MnUSD en publicidad al año, con sus presentadores estrellas cobrando millones de dólares al año. Con estas cifras en juego, la competencia es a muerte. Vamos, que lo Ana Rosa Quintana y Susana Griso es un juego de niños.

"Top of the morning", escrito por un periodista de The New York Times, consigue meter al lector detrás de las cámaras y en todo ese mundo: la planificación del programa, el rol de los productores, los piques y disputas entre las estrellas... Aunque se centra en los años 2011 y 2012, hace un breve repaso de lo que significa la televisión matutina en los EE.UU y en su cultura popular.

Un libro muy completo y, para los que les guste el tema, muy recomendable.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting look at how the different morning shows started, fought, and tried to be different. Also very telling on what 'journalistic' decisions go into hiring for these shows. Sounded more like charisma, chemistry, and appearance than actually journalistic superiority.
It was a little confusing because each chapter focused on a certain station/time then the next chapter would switch to a different station but over that same time period so there felt like a lot of repeat (while this happened at NBC remember this was going on at ABC...)
There are loads of people to keep track of. He doesn't just focus on the news anchors but all the producers, executives, etc in the wings and there's a surprising turnover in those positions. 1 person would work at MSNBC then move to NBC then go to ABC... Some of the end info about rating numbers got boring and I skimmed it.
I felt the author was a little critical against Anne Curry. While he did show both sides and talk about how bad her own studio treated her, he wasn't overly sympathetic and referenced her 'awkward' reporting several times. I went on YouTube and watched several of the clips he mentions in the book and I don't get the awkward. I get she's uncomfortable but that can't all be laid at her feet when you read what was happening behind the scenes.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so interesting to read about something so insignificant to my own life, but quite compelling! I couldn't put it down despite the author's paragraph-long sentences and borderline analogies/similes/metaphors. I watched The Morning Show TWICE and finally caught the quick credit at the end that talks about some of the research that's based on this book, so I bought it. These people are completely obsessed with their jobs and it's all because of money, advertising dollars, because before the Matt Lauer is a sexual predator stuff, nobody really cared about this and it's not like any of what they do has any deep global significance. On the other hand, I learned personal things about Robin Roberts that I found moving and inspiring as I had no clue what she has gone through. WOW....she is one tough cookie.

I was a little disappointed there wasn't any coverage on the allegations against Lauer, but I recommend reading this book for the personnel background info, then Catch and Kill (if you haven't already) for the real juicy (and disturbing) bits.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are no big bombshells here, if you read the news as it happened around 2011-13.

Every industry has its unique KPI game and for national TV shows it’s ratings. Initially it was just the Today show, during its winning streak no less, but eventually (in this story) Good Morning America began cutting out national ads during the low rated quarter hours that would lower the overall audience number for the show: so as far as ratings went, it was like that portion never happened.

It was by coincidence that the writer gained access to both Today and GMA amid the transition from Meredith Vieira to Ann Curry and then Savannah Guthrie, as well as for GMAs ratings takeover from Today’s decade-plus #1 streak.

What’s most fascinating while reading the book now is the list of people who’s careers have completely collapsed since the first and second editions in 2013 and 2014 (there is a 2019 Postscript for this The Morning Show tie-in edition but it’s quite short), Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose most notably.