Today with Hoda & Jenna


Today with Hoda & Jenna is an American daytime talk show on NBC, hosted by Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. The program airs as the fourth hour of NBC's Today at 10:00 a.m. in all time zones as a "show-within-a-show" with its own hosts, opening sequence, theme music, and website. The Monday through Thursday editions of this portion of the program air live in the Eastern Time Zone and on tape delay elsewhere; the Friday edition is pre-recorded.
The program originally began as an expansion of Today, hosted by Ann Curry, Natalie Morales and Hoda Kotb. For 11 years, the program grew as its own distinct entity as Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda, after Kotb was joined by Kathie Lee Gifford on April 7, 2008. On December 11, 2018, Gifford and NBC announced that she would be leaving Today. On February 26, 2019, it was announced that Jenna Bush Hager would be succeeding Gifford as the new co-host.

History

2007–08: Start of the fourth hour

On January 17, 2007, at its press tour sessions, NBC announced that Today would be expanded to four hours beginning that fall. To make room on its schedule for the expansion, NBC – rather than take one hour of programming time allocated for syndicated or local programming away from its stations – made the decision to cancel the low-rated daytime soap opera Passions.
The fourth hour debuted on September 10, 2007, originally hosted by Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, and Hoda Kotb.

2008–19: ''Kathie Lee and Hoda''

replaced Curry and Morales as co-host on April 7, 2008, and over time became more of its own distinct entity, and was being referred to more as simply Kathie Lee & Hoda, with its own website and social media presence. The fourth hour does not have news or weather segments or input from the earlier hosts and is structured virtually as a standalone talk show, with an opening "host chat" segment reminiscent of the one popularized by Gifford and Regis Philbin on Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, as well as interviews and features focusing on entertainment, fashion and other topics aimed at female viewers.
and Kathie Lee Gifford in 2008
Kathie Lee & Hoda competed with ABC's The View and CBS's The Price Is Right in most markets in the Central and Pacific Time Zones, but most stations in the Eastern Time Zone air it live one hour before those programs, as ABC and CBS's late morning daytime programs are not tape delayed for each time zone. Not all NBC affiliates carry Kathie Lee & Hoda live. The program airs on tape delay in some markets that may air it later in the morning or early afternoons at the station's discretion to make room for local news or syndicated programming.
On September 26, 2011, NBC began to rebroadcast Kathie Lee & Hoda as part of its overnight lineup on weekday early mornings at 2:05 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, as a replacement for Poker After Dark, which was canceled due to legal issues involving that show's sponsor Full Tilt Poker and televised poker in general.
On December 11, 2018, NBC and Gifford announced that she will be retiring from her position of anchoring the fourth hour in April 2019, her 11th anniversary since joining Today. Kotb would continue anchoring the fourth hour.

2019–present: ''Hoda and Jenna''

On February 26, 2019, NBC announced that Jenna Bush Hager would replace Gifford on the fourth hour of Today after her departure on April 5, 2019. The renamed Today with Hoda & Jenna premiered on April 8, 2019. Joanne LaMarca, who previously served as senior producer and left in January 2017, returned to NBC to become the new executive producer. Tammy Filler, the executive producer for Kathie Lee and Hoda since July 2017, left Today to become executive vice president and editor-in-chief of E! News.
In the fall of 2019, a number of NBC stations and affiliates also carrying the syndicated NBCUniversal Television Distribution program The Kelly Clarkson Show began to carry a repeat of that show instead of Hoda & Jenna to give the former an additional cumulative ratings boost; those stations that do not air Kelly or prefer to air it only once per day continue to carry Hoda & Jenna.
It was revealed on the 2019 Halloween show that Kotb and Hager had only hosted five shows together since the premiere of the revamped hour in April 2019, due to both women being away for maternity leaves. On the same day, Hager announced she would return on November 11, 2019.
On January 16, 2020, Kotb and Hager announced that the Thursday and Friday editions of Hoda & Jenna would be recorded in front of a live studio audience starting February 6, 2020, and called Hoda & Jenna & Friends. The revamped editions will be recorded inside Studio 6A instead of Studio 1A.

Recurring elements

The show's signature element is its opening "host chat" segment where the latest entertainment headlines and stories are discussed. This segment was called Today's Talk during the Kathie Lee and Hoda era of the program, however that name has not been used since Hager joined the program as co-host.
The show is most notable for its frequent use and display of wine on-air. Speaking about the wine, Gifford, in an interview with Variety, said: "People just assume we are drinking wine the whole time, but the reality is most days it just sits there." Gifford has also said that they have a sip once or twice but the wine is used mainly as a prop to be funny.

Segments

The show has had many recurring segments throughout its years. They include:

Current