2017 in Review: ‘Today’ starts year celebrating Lauer, ends without him

Then, in November, everything changed for “Today.”

On the morning of Nov. 29, 2017, staffers were informed that Lauer had been fired after a colleague came forward with sexual harassment allegations. “Today,’ which had an obvious advantage of knowing the news before anyone else, announced the decision at the top of the show — which then left its competitors at CBS and ABC scrambling to cover the story even as it unfolded on live TV.

‘Today’ competitors scramble to cover Matt Lauer news

As a result of Lauer’s firing, the show removed both his name and Savannah Guthrie’s from the open, a practice that continued through the end of the year.

‘Today’ open goes nameless after Lauer axed

Lauer’s name was also hastily removed from the show’s website and his image yanked from the show’s iOS sticker pack. Lauer’s social media profiles were also disabled, though the show missed removing at least one reference to him.

Also on Nov. 29, the Lauer firing also lead the evening newscasts and the following morning saw all three major morning news programs lead with the story.

Morning shows once again lead off with Lauer firing

By that evening, however, the story had lost some momentum and only “ABC World News Tonight” lead with it and by Dec. 1 the story was no longer leading the morning shows either.

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‘World News Tonight’ only network evening newscast to lead with Lauer