NEW YORK — It was clear just minutes into Thursday's news conference at Rockefeller Center that Meredith Vieira was going to inject a different sensibility into NBC's "Today" when she starts co-anchoring the program this fall.
"I'm my own personality, so I hope to bring whatever that is, for better or worse, to the show," said the moderator of ABC's "The View" and host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," who worked as a network news correspondent before moving to daytime television nine years ago. "I'm going to have to be reined in a little. It's funny; I had 20 years of news where I never said anything. Now every other word out of my mouth is 'orgasm.' "
That might have to change now that Vieira, 52, has signed a four-year deal at NBC that is worth around $35 million, said people familiar with the negotiations. She's set to start on "Today" in September, shortly after her contract on "The View" expires.
The lively chatter on "Today" is tame compared with the blunt and often bawdy girl talk between Vieira and her co-hosts. On "The View" Thursday, shortly after she told the audience that she would be moving to NBC, Vieira mused aloud about the time "my boob fell out my dress and nobody noticed it."
Even if she does tone herself down, the self-deprecating broadcaster still appears likely to spice up "Today."
In announcing that Vieira will replace Katie Couric, who is moving to CBS News this fall, NBC officials touted Vieira's varied career, which has included Emmy-winning pieces for "60 Minutes" and TV commercials for aspirin.
"When you think about the perfect prototype for a morning show host, you think of Meredith Vieira," said Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal Television Group, who first approached her about the post in October. "I just thought, there's no one who has that total range of abilities."
But Vieira's outspokenness has already provided fodder for critics. Just hours after NBC announced her appointment, conservative media groups assailed her as biased, pointing to remarks she made on "The View" in 2004 about the Iraq war being "built on lies."
Vieira, who describes herself as a political independent, said her past comments wouldn't hurt her credibility.
"I have every right to have those opinions," she said in an interview. "Now that I'm back in a news role, I put that aside. You leave them at the door. But there's not a person I know who doesn't have opinions."
