Though he's jumping from the policy-heavy Morning Joe to the lighter, lifestyle-oriented Today, we sense that Mr. Geist will have little trouble fitting in. As a regular guest on Watch What Happens Live, Bravo's late-night chat show, Mr. Geist interrogated Lil Kim over her rivalry with Nicki Minaj and slow-danced with a teenage crush from the cast of Saved By the Bell. Hope to see you after our second cup of coffee, Willie!

Apparently, Mr. Lauer is trying to fix the show by “basically executive-producing,” berating staff for “not trying hard enough” and not letting anyone even mention Good Morning America. Today is expected to lose out to their ABC rival for the third week in a row.

“Matt’s turned into an anchor animal,” a network source told the Post. “He’s making all editorial decisions, he’s running the show and he’s not listening to anyone . . . it’s a huge problem.”

“Please print this story — it’s the most interesting and dangerous I’ve ever sounded!” Mr. Lauer urged the Post.

We don’t know about Mr. Lauer, but an “anchor animal” doesn’t sound very dangerous to us at all. It sounds more like an impeccably groomed animal that wears a suit, sits behind a desk and alternates between reading the news and chatting with celebrity guests.

Kris Jenner, blithely blathering on about some bullshit. (NBC)

While every other major network today chose to interrupt its normal programming in order to cut to the president observing the annual moment of silence for the fallen heroes and victims of September 11th at Ground Zero and the Pentagon, NBC decided to go an alternate route ... by skipping the matter entirely and having Today interview Kris Jenner about breast implants.

Only the New York affiliate, WNBC, chose to air live coverage of the somber event, while the rest of the country took to Twitter to freak out:

While the CBS and ABC cut into their normal programming, NBC instead showed the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star discussing her decision to let camera crews film her 23-year-old daughter change her breast implants.

"I thought it was such a great idea to film that," Ms. Jenner told Savannah Guthrie. "The reason I went in and did that was because I had had my implants in for 152 years ... you know, a long time, way longer than their shelf life."

Keep it classy, guys.

Al Roker, spicy (NBC)

Who would have thought Al Roker had a snarky side? During Today’s segment this morning on the Olympic women's rowing team, the usually jolly Mr. Roker made a thinly veiled dig at Matt Lauer for not standing by their co-star Ann Curry when she was abruptly fired in June.

http://youtu.be/VvgrlyWrU5A
Mr. Lauer noted: "The tradition here in New York is that you throw her in the Hudson River."
To which Al "Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner" Roker: "Which is different than in our tradition, which is to throw one of us under the bus. But that's another story."

Then everyone chuckled uncomfortably and Mr. Roker segued into the weather report.

Campbell Brown (Patrick McMullan)

At yesterday's luncheon for Makers, the series of online videos on ground-breaking women, we ran into onetime NBC News mainstay Campbell Brown, who departed the network for CNN in 2007. Given that Ms. Brown was a member of the Today family, we asked her about the departure of Ann Curry, which was at that point less than 24 hours away.

"Here's the thing!" she told us--she had been out of the country for two weeks, and needed us to present a primer. After being informed of Ms. Curry's fate at Today, Ms. Brown contemplated. "I've known Ann Curry for years. She was so kind to me when I left NBC that I'm really sorry that she's going through that--I don't think it's fair."

This morning, Ms. Curry was given a brief send-off, during which she cried while discussing how she was unable to "carry the ball to the finish line." A fifteen-year veteran of Today, Ms. Curry recently stated she hoped to make it to 20.

GLAAD spearheaded the effort to change NBC's policy, and thus level the playing field when it comes to humiliating yourself for money.

[via Media Decoder]

He is not there to creep on Sarah Palin, the subject of his forthcoming book, he says. In fact he feels a little creeped on himself.

"Surreptitiously they photographed me standing on my own porch," McGiniss told Matt Lauer, referring to photos that Ms. Palin posted on her Facebook page when she realized the author had moved in.

Mr. McGiniss stressed the fact that he was only interested in being in Wasilla to research his book, and does not plan to observe the Palins in their backyard as part of his research.

"The fact is I would be living on this house if the Palins lived on the moon. $1500 per month for a house in Wasilla!" he said.

[via NBC]

Mr. Spitzer will be sitting down with Matt Lauer on Monday, April 6. Presumably, he'll be talking about the financial crisis, as he has recently for Slate, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, and Newsweek.

The release we were just sent doesn't say exactly what he'll be talking about, but it's his first interview on broadcast TV since he resigned as governor in March 2008.

As we wrote last week, "And maybe this is exactly the job Mr. Spitzer wants. To serve as a Sunday-style talk show pundit. An attorney general without the subpoena power, or the political headaches."

It's been working gloriously! Newsweek editor Jon Meacham told us that he always "admired him," and Slate editor David Plotz said, "He’s really invigorated." (Incidentally, Mr. Spitzer was at Mr. Plotz's book party last night at Slate Group editor's Jacob Weisberg and ex-Domino editor's Deborah Needelman's Tribeca loft.) Now let's see what Mr. Lauer thinks as Mr. Spitzer makes by far his biggest splash back into the public's eye.

Here's the release:

ELIOT SPITZER WILL TALK TO MATT LAUER IN HIS FIRST LIVE BROADCAST INTERVIEW SINCE HIS RESIGNATION

Interview to Air Live on "Today," Monday, April 6

NEW YORK - Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will sit down live with Matt Lauer, Monday, April 6 on NBC News' "Today."  Spitzer, the
hard-charging New York attorney general who then became the governor of New York, took down titans on Wall Street. Then he had his own
well-documented fall from grace. He will talk to Lauer in his first broadcast interview since he resigned as governor.

Jim Bell is the executive producer of "Today" (Mon. - Fri., 7 a.m. - 11 a.m.)

Members of the media can get more information about NBC Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web
site at www.nbcumv.com.