Today (also referred to as The Today Show) is an Australian breakfast television news and current affairs program, with an infotainment base, hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo and includes news and weather updates. It broadcast weekdays on the Nine Network. The show also has a weekend edition called Weekend Today.
Today airs each weekday after Nine News: Early Edition and runs from 5:30 am to 9:00 am before Today Extra, an extended light entertainment program, hosted by David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys. The show is broadcast from the Nine Network TCN studios in North Sydney, a suburb located on the North Shore of New South Wales. Although not affiliated with, the program shares a similar infotainment format and title of the long running United States program.
History
Officially launched as The National Today Show, Today is Australia's longest running morning breakfast news program. The show premiered on 28 June 1982. The original hosts, Steve Liebmann and Sue Kellaway, spent four years together before Liebmann left to present the evening news for Network Ten in Sydney.
Former 60 Minutes reporter George Negus took over the male presenting role, but after four years, Liebmann returned to the Nine Network, hosting Today for a long tenure with co-presenter Liz Hayes and subsequently Tracy Grimshaw. However, in December 2004, Liebmann suffered a mild heart attack, and decided to retire. prompting him to retire from breakfast television.
Karl Stefanovic, a National Nine News reporter replaced Liebmann in 2005, whilst co-host Tracy Grimshaw left Today at the end of 2005 to replace Ray Martin as host of A Current Affair. While it had been widely speculated in the Australian press that Seven News presenter Chris Bath would co-host Today with Stefanovic from January 2006, the position instead went to former Ten News presenter Jessica Rowe. Rowe had mixed beginnings as the co-host of Today with some viewers and commentators criticising her because of her dress-sense and her apparent over-happiness, citing her constant nervous laughter. Following her court case against Network Ten, Rowe was subjected to comments from the media and viewers that she should be sacked and was not right for the role of Today. Rowe's replacements while on maternity leave were Sarah Murdoch and Kellie Sloane, who both saw a significant increases in ratings. They both presented until Rowe's departure from the show, with the Nine Network releasing a press statement on 5 May 2007 stating that Rowe had left the Network to "take up other opportunities for her career".
In May 2007, former Weekend Sunrise co-host Lisa Wilkinson was appointed as Jessica Rowe's successor. In October 2017, Wilkinson resigned effective immediately from the network due to contract negotiations failing. She finished on the show on 16 October 2017. It was later announced that Wilkinson would join Network Ten and The Project as a senior host and editor. Deborah Knight temporarily replaced Wilkinson until Georgie Gardner, who previously regularly appeared on the program as its news presenter, was announced as a permanent replacement host. Gardner commenced hosting Today in January 2018.
In December 2018, it was announced that Karl Stefanovic would not be returning to Today after 14 years as host.
On 5 January 2019, the Nine Network announced that Deborah Knight would join Georgie Gardner as co-host replacing Stefanovic. It was also announced that Tom Steinfort would replace Sylvia Jeffreys as news presenter and Tony Jones would replace Tim Gilbert as sports presenter, whilst Brooke Boney would become entertainment presenter, working alongside Richard Wilkins. The new team began on 14 January 2019. In February 2019 it was announced that Natalia Cooper would not return to the show after her maternity leave, with Steven Jacobs becoming weather presenter once again.
The revamped line-up attracted constant media scrutiny and struggled to attain viewers – at times recording record-low ratings. It has been noted by some commentators however that the viewership gap with Sunrise was actually higher in Wilkinson's first year as co-host in 2007, with the audience building over time to eventually overtake Sunrise. The lower ratings were also attributed to the fact that overall television audiences had decreased in comparison with prior years.
In November 2019, the Nine Network announced that Karl Stefanovic would return to the show as co-host alongside Weekend Today co-host and 60 Minutes reporter Allison Langdon from January 2020. Both Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight remained with the Nine Network with Gardner leaving the show immediately.