YMMV / Today

• Awesome Music: The current version of the theme.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Willard Scott, oh so much. This article explains why he fits this trope.
  When [Willard] came to NBC, his contract, like the others on the show, forbid product pitches. The hosts of the show, Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley, as well as John Palmer, who gives the news, still aren't allowed to do ads. But, as Steve Friedman, the executive producer of Today, put it, "Nobody's going to confuse Willard for a journalist. Our viewers aren't that dumb. He's a guy who does the weather and entertains."
  • Gene Shalit and Al Roker count as well.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: A bit milder than most examples, but for some reason, the anchors - both past and present - seem to get quite a bit of coverage in the Daily Mail (at least on their website).
  • Industry-wise Today was really popular amongst BBC employees in the early eighties, which used the program as a template for Breakfast Time, which copied a lot in the early years. And then in turn the rest of Europe started copying the BBC, with the French, the Yugoslavs and the Russians being the first to jump onboard the breakfast news train.
• Harsher in Hindsight: On December 30, 2014, the show aired an original musical production involving both on-air personalities and off-air staffers. One scene involved Matt Lauer taking off his pants and ironing them in the hallway as the show's female anchors enter the hallway. Lauer, with his back to the camera, opens his suit jacket as if to expose himself to the women as they walk by in disgust, showing the shirt and tie he was wearing. This scene now looks cringeworthy in light of his 2017 firing due to sexual harassment allegations.
• Heartwarming Moments: Any anchor reunion, such as the 50th and 60th anniversary shows.
  • As tearjerking as they are, any anchors' departures will always have a moment or two of this (and at least one Funny Moment).
    • The music video they did when Meredith Viera was leaving the show definitely counts.
  • Anytime someone on the show has a birthday or anniversary, they will almost always run a Clip Show with the subject's finest moments, sometimes interspersed with clips of celebs and/or past Today anchors wishing them the best.
    • Ann Curry's 10th anniversary in 2007 comes to mind - after the Clip Show, everyone else led her to a wall where Cookie Monster popped out, pulled out a plate of cookies, handed Ann a bouquet, and called out "Lou" to bring out a case with an engraved necklace. She was quite flattered to say the least.
    • Months earlier, Miss Piggy serenaded Matt Lauer on his 10th anniversary on the show. After popping out of a four foot tall cake.^note Interestingly, he was going to be her New Year's date in 1998 but she dumped him on-air.
    • Willard Scott's 25th anniversary on the show in 2005. When they went to him in Washington, he was surrounded by a lot of his friends, including his daughter Mary who was standing next to him. The Clip Show they did for him, which includes clips of the current anchors gushing about him, is quite possibly the sweetest out of all the clip shows they've done. After it was done, Katie chimed in, "Willard, if you didn't feel loved before, you must feel loved now." View it here.
    • A bit of a blink and you'll miss it moment in that clip as well, but while Willard was talking afterwards, he leans over and gives his daughter a kiss - further proof that he's one of the most caring, sensitive and gentle people on television.
  • A lot of what Willard does can end up as this, since he's genuinely sweet and charming. For example, on Valentine's Day 1996 (around the time Al Roker mostly took over as the Today weatherman) he did a segment from the children's hospital in Washington DC (his cousin was working there) while holding one of the most tragically beautiful babies to ever exist. Happily, that baby is now doing fine, according to the poster's YouTube channel.
    • During the promotional run of The Muppets Take Manhattan, Jim Henson was being interviewed by Gene Shalit about said film. Willard introduced the interview segment, and Jim gave him a shout-out (they started their careers at NBC-owned station WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.).
    • One year, when everyone else greeted him on his birthday, he simply replied with "I'm still alive, God bless." A bit poignant, actually, since he's not too long for this earth. One can only imagine how they'll handle it on-air when he passes away...
    • His friendship with Al, both onscreen and off - it started when they were both employed at the same local station in The '70s and Willard took the then-22-year-old Al under his wing. They even got spotlighted in a late 2013 "#InspiredBy" segment, where Al notes that he wouldn't be on Today if it wasn't for Willard. When Willard passed away on September 4, 2021; Al Roker described Willard as being like a second father to him.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: At one point in 1994, Bryant and Katie were shown an email address and got confused since they had never heard of the Internet up to then (the mainstream Internet was in its infancy back then). Watching that clip nowadays becomes that much more amusing now that everyone and their dog knows about the Internet. So much so that it actually inspired a 2015 Super Bowl commercial for BMW with Bryant and Katie themselves appearing in the company's wind-powered car.
• More Popular Replacement: Katie Couric for Deborah Norville. Katie originally came on while Deborah took maternity leave, but since the ratings increased dramatically in her presence, NBC News president Michael Gartner made Katie a permanent anchor, doing so at the suggestion of Tim Russert, who was then NBC News' Washington bureau chief and moderator of Meet the Press.
• Replacement Scrappy: Everyone in the weekend edition. Also, when Deborah Norville signed on in the late 80's and early 90's, the show went through some very rough times.
• The Scrappy: Since the firing of Ann Curry in 2012, Matt Lauer became this. Which evolved into full-blown Hate Sink when his crimes came to light.
• Tear Jerker: Anytime an anchor leaves the show, they'll be given a big send off with montages and everything.
  • Anytime someone connected to the show dies, the most recent as of September 2021 being former weatherman Willard Scott.
    • The original host, Dave Garroway, was Driven to Suicide in 1982 - mere months after the show's 30th anniversary special that year.
    • Ann Curry's departure - she tearfully said something to the effect of "I couldn't carry the ball over the hill". Poor girl.
  • A few decades before joining the Today team in 1980, Willard Scott overcame an anxiety disorder. Yes, this adorkable Keet/Gentle Giant of a weatherman (briefly) suffered a crushing mental illness. He did the intro for a 1990's documentary about panic disorder and an article for People magazine, both perfectly illustrating how far he's come since then.
    • The passing of his first wife Mary. His interview with Larry King a few months afterwards is just so heartbreaking. There's no video online yet as of this writing, but a transcript can be found here.
  • Kathie Lee Gifford's first day back on Today following the death of her husband; former New York Giants running back and longtime Monday Night Football broadcaster Frank Gifford definitely qualifies as this.
  • The special piece on Sunday Today on September 5, 2021 commemorating Willard's life; while Smuckers - as a tribute marking Scott's longtime centenarian birthday shout-outs - published a picture on its social media with a picture of Scott (who was 87 when he died) on a Smucker's jar^note the Smucker's jar being used in the birthday shout-outs to mark the person celebrating their 100th birthday in his honor.

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