Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV [Kindle Edition]

Brian Stelter (Author)

Book Description

Like Bill Carter chronicling the late night wars in his classic The Late Shift, star New York Times reporter Brian Stelter reveals all the dish and dirt behind the polite smiles and perky demeanors of morning television in his much-anticipated...

TOP OF THE MORNING

When America wakes up with personable and charming hosts like Matt Lauer, 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 part of the intense reality New York Times staff writer Brian Stelter reveals in TOP OF THE MORNING--a gripping look at the most competitive time slot in television, complete with Machiavellian booking wars and manic behavior by the producers, executives, and stars.

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.

Featuring exclusive material about current and past morning stars like Katie Couric and 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. Among the questions Stelter answers for the first time: Why did NBC really decide to oust Curry from her chair? What was her replacement Savannah Guthrie's reaction? Was Matt Lauer really at fault?

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

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Near the end of this fight-to-the-death story of Good Morning America versus the Today Show, Stelter writes, “relatively few people knew who the warring executives were.” And that’s part of the problem with this book. Although Stelter, a media reporter at the New York Times, makes a heroic effort to identify the suits, it’s still fairly easy to mix up the players, whose machinations make up a big part of the story. More familiar, of course, are the stars of the broadcasts: Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Robin Roberts, et al. The focus here is on the decision (dubbed Operation Bambi) to get Curry out of the chair next to Lauer, who felt no chemistry with her. At the same time, Today, which had been number one in the ratings for more than 800 weeks, was beginning to hear the footsteps of second-place GMA closing the gap. After Today dumped—excuse me, promoted—Curry and Robin Roberts fell ill with a blood disease, the battle became more pitched. Stelter injects himself into the narrative, which aims for a breezy tone (“some crazy shit is going down”). With more than 350 interviews under his belt (though no Lauer or Curry), he does have insider props. In the end, however, while this account does have its fascinating moments, they would have easily fit into a long magazine article. Give this to fans of Bill Carter’s The Late Shift (1994) and The War for Late Night (2010) about a similar battle for nighttime ratings supremacy. --Ilene Cooper

About the Author

Brian Stelter is a staff writer at the New York Times, where he writes about television and the web, both for the paper and for the paper's blog. He was recently a subject of the NYT 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. He sold TVNewser to MediaBistro in 2004.

Product Details

• File Size: 802 KB
• Print Length: 321 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1455512877
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (April 23, 2013)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0092XN9FY
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,480 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #24 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Media Studies
  • #34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Humor & Entertainment > Television
  • #47 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Television > Shows

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A tale of two audiences April 23, 2013

By Ellie

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

I'd imagine that there are two distinct audiences for Brian Stelter's new book, Top of the Morning, and I'd think they'd have very different reactions.

The first audience, of which I consider myself a member, might be called the "media insider crew". Not only comprised of media professionals (I am not one), this audience consists of those who, perhaps like Mr. Stelter did years ago, rush to consume any media about the media. This audience would no doubt already be intimately familiar with the saga of Ann Curry's departure from Today, due to Joe Hagan's article, Howard Kurtz's interview, and Mr. Stelter's book adaptation in the New York Times Magazine last Sunday. This audience would have cut its teeth on the classics of the genre such as "The War for Late Night" and "The Late Shift".

The second audience might be called the "Barnes & Noble crew". This audience would consist of those who might spot the book at their local bookstore and think, "A book about morning TV! I love GMA! Let's check it out."

As I mentioned, these two audiences will, in my opinion, have very different reactions.

Let's start with the Barnes & Noble crew. If you're in this group, you'll be fascinated. The book reads like a person-to-person discussion of the goings-on in morning TV. Booking wars, job interview lunches, control room conversations. The tone is conversational, the content free-flowing and organized in somewhat of a stream-of-consciousness manner. Reading this might indeed convert some in this audience to the other group and get them as hooked on media inside information as Mr. Stelter himself is.

Now the media insider crew. Here, the reaction might be more mixed. Due to the Today show articles mentioned above, much of the Curry situation has already been reported. To be sure, Stelter ties it together in a complete manner which has not yet been done, but many in this audience thrive on tidbits, not story, as can be seen by some of the book review "here are the juicy bits" articles that came out today. Are there new tidbits about Curry? Certainly, but not many of the bombshell variety, and even those were released already in the NYT Magazine piece.

However, the redeeming quality for this group will certainly be the GMA coverage. Robin Roberts' illness was (sadly) overshadowed by the Today family dysfunction, and how Roberts even got the position has never been fleshed out. Stelter's book shines in this area, giving GMA, the current ratings leader, the storyline it has long deserved.

Stelter's style is not the same as Bill Carter's. Carter employs a narrative line, while Stelter's reads perhaps more like one of his Times articles. When Carter says "Zucker was faced with a dilemma", the savvy reader will realize that this means Zucker TOLD Carter that he'd been faced with a dilemma. Stelter's book would word this, "'I was faced with a dilemma', Zucker told me." My own preference leans towards Carter's style, with the narrator absent from the proceedings. However, as Stelter explains, his own reporting even affected the events in the book, so perhaps his style is warranted here.

In short - if this is your entrypoint into 'media about the media', enjoy! And you will. If you, like me, downloaded this to your Kindle at midnight last night, you may even want to read the GMA section first. The book is worth it for that alone, and you'll enjoy reading the rehashing of the Today show debacle as only Stelter can tell it. A section about "Morning Joe" is also particularly interesting and fresh. A book that straddles both of these audiences is not easy to pull off, but Stelter's done just that. Read more ›

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting read - watch out for that bus they'll throw you under May 21, 2013

By horse lover

Format:Kindle Edition

I'm having trouble looking at Matt Lauer the same way on TV this morning after reading this book. It's a fascinating insider story of what goes on in TV - I'm glad my kids never chose that field. Nobody likes a backstabber, and it looks like there are plenty of them in the TV world. Ann Curry was always a favorite of mine, and I don't care if her method of reporting seemed lame to some - I found her genuine. A genuine Matt Lauer? - I think it's an oxymoron. In the business field for over 40 years, I've worked with enough of those folks who'd throw you under the bus for their own personal gain. If you want to read the dirt on what goes on in the background in TV, I think you'll find this interesting. I've switched to Good Morning America since Ann left - Savannah Guthrie's more than likely a lovely person, but her face looks continually pained. Maybe it is due to the field she chose....watch your back folks. Nobody cares if you're financially devastated if you lose your job - it's all about the ratings. I hope the TV execs sleep well at night.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Inside scoop on how TODAY blew their morning dominance December 15, 2013

By Walter

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

At the end of this well-researched book, you can't help but feel sorry for Lauer, who became the fall guy for tremendous misjudgement by Comcast/NBC's management. Why nobody stepped forward and kept Ann Curry from getting the job in the first place is a mystery. In the end, Curry's self pity and ego, along with inept management, cost them the ratings lead, millions of dollars in advertising profit and mortally wounded Lauer, who really didn't have anything to do with the decision to let her go. A high school sophomore could see that Ann was just a flat, monotone interviewer, in a format that only works with people like Joan Lunden, Robin Roberts or Savannah Guthrie, who is also damaged goods because of this.

Every day, in TV stations around the country, men and women are told their contracts are not being renewed. How many 50-plus women OR men do you see on these shows ? Book shows that Curry should have been one of them, years ago.
Author clearly favors GMA, but did his homework. Interesting read.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars TODAY Show Fans will leave shaking their heads. GMA Fans will say "I told ya' so". April 27, 2013

By W. Runge

Format:Hardcover|Verified Purchase

If you have at all followed the war of the morning shows, especially after the public beheading of Ann Curry on live television, you will enjoy this book immensely. You probably won't find any new bombshells because most of the juicier parts of the book were leaked well ahead of its release. But you'll be able to fit a few more pieces of the puzzle together and form a better understanding of what really went on in the days leading up to Ann's dismissal and the fall of one television's greatest programs.

Ann Curry fans looking for some kind of sympathy from the author need look elsewhere. While I don't think Brian Stelter hates Ann, he forthrightly points out her weaknesses as co-host and reveals her painful blunders. As is the case with a lot of people, I think Stelter likes Ann and respects her as a journalist but knew she was wrong for the role. That is one part of the book that surprised me. Ann, too, questioned her ability to pull it off.

But Stelter knows how to give the TODAY Show viewer what they want. He answered many of the questions I had been asking for months. He even pointed out something I thought no one else caught. During the agonizing 4 minute and 30 second self-firing, Matt Lauer said "Can we just say this isn't goodbye?" It was at that moment that Ann looked down and sarcastically said "Nah." Almost as if she were saying "Yeah right. I'm being FIRED Matt. This is most definitely goodbye."

It will also give the GMA fans what they have known all along. They all really DO like each other and fought hard to put on a fun show. It's not my taste, but you have to give them credit.

Still, the biggest credit for GMA's success MUST go to the bumbling NBC Management team who had a broken, suffering, sad and emotional employee and said "Go out there on live television and tell them we're getting rid of you. Don't take too long, but just speak from the heart." Moronic.

I would have liked to have heard more from Matt and Ann, but to Stelter's credit he tried and they wouldn't talk. Read more ›