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"Are Matt Lauer&amp;apos;s days on the TODAY couch numbered? A new piece in The New York Times delves into the morning show&amp;apos;s continued ratings slump as it languishes in the number two spot behind rival Good Morning America -- and suggests that the network is seriously considering replacing co-anchor Lauer, 55.\r\nDuring a recent staff meeting, the Times reports, an executive told the staffers of the embattled show: &amp;quot;What matters most is the anchor connection to the audience; what we need to work on is the connection.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;What they meant was Matt,&amp;quot; a staff member told the Times. &amp;quot;But no one would say it.&amp;quot;  Lauer, whom some blame for the messy departure of co-anchor Ann Curry back in June, has seen his &amp;quot;Q Score,&amp;quot; a measure of TV likability, plummet from 19 in September 2011 to 9 this January. Rumors continue to circulate that Lauer could be replaced by fellow TODAY stars Willie Geist or David Gregory.\r\n\r\nIn response to the Times piece, a show source tells Us Weekly: &amp;quot;NBC News has no plans to replace Matt Lauer. Everyone at the show hopes he stays for many years to come.&amp;quot; As for the account of the staff meeting, in which Lauer&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;anchor connection to the audience&amp;quot; was supposedly called into question? &amp;quot;The connection they were referring to was the connection viewers like to see between anchors and the stories on the show,&amp;quot; the source argues.\r\nPHOTOS: Nasty feuds\r\nIn a recent Daily Beast interview, Lauer finally opened up about Curry&amp;apos;s departure and the ensuing bad press, concurring that the network didn&amp;apos;t handle the &amp;quot;transition&amp;quot; as well as it could have. In the story, other network executives defended Lauer, and insisted he was not responsible for Curry&amp;apos;s exit.\r\nA rep for NBC News had no comment about the Times story."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/david-gregory-matt-lauer-will-geist-2013143>