When Katie met Jeff

By now, the story’s become part of the Katie Couric legend.

In October 1992, Couric, still a relatively new face on NBC’s venerable morning news program “Today,” was finishing a live tour of the White House with then-First Lady Barbara Bush when a surprise guest wandered into the Blue Room -- President George H.W. Bush himself.

Bush apparently had planned just to say a quick hello on national television, but a poised Couric kept him there for 19 minutes. She quizzed him about the burgeoning Iran-Contra scandal and his recent debate performance against Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, confirming her journalistic credentials in the process.

Though it was not apparent to viewers that day, another crucial dynamic was also at work: Couric’s symbiotic relationship with Jeff Zucker, then “Today’s” executive producer. From his perch inside a satellite truck parked in the White House driveway, he shouted questions into her earpiece, helping her turn the chance encounter into a newsmaker interview.

First paired in 1990 when he produced the segments she did as a national correspondent for the program, Zucker’s brash, hyperkinetic style and Couric’s unflappable charm quickly proved a winning combination. By the next year, they had risen to the top slots at “Today,” where the relentlessly driven wunderkind producer -- just 26 -- helped the novice anchor hone her “America’s sweetheart” persona.

Together, they helped catapult “Today” back on top of the morning-show pack, where it has remained for nearly a decade. Along the way, they forged one of the most successful and profitable partnerships in broadcast news.

That relationship continued after Zucker left the program to climb the network ladder in 2000, providing Couric with a strong ally in NBC’s executive suites. But since then, a persistent unsettledness has hung over “Today,” where yet another executive producer -- the third in five years -- was installed in April, after a harsh wake-up call from a suddenly surging competitor, ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Now president of NBC Universal Television Group, Zucker said the recent change in management was prompted solely by the show’s dip in the ratings this spring -- not by any demands by Couric.

But it’s clear that Couric has struggled to connect with his successors. An exacting professional, she has felt frustrated by the show’s leadership, unable to find an executive producer who shares Zucker’s eye for stories and manic commitment to the news, according to friends, colleagues and former network officials.

Meanwhile, her carefree “girl-next-door” image that Zucker so carefully cultivated has evolved -- and not always to public acclaim, especially after a $60-million contract thrust her into an elite world of celebrity and wealth. Now 48, Couric has shucked the traditional anchor coif for a sleek bob and sports trendy tunics, leopard-print skirts and chandelier earrings on the air.

Couric declined an interview, citing a busy schedule. (She was in Scotland last week interviewing “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.)

But others familiar with the program said Zucker’s departure left a hole at “Today” -- and Couric without a partner in the control booth.

“Since that time, they’ve not been able to find a new Jeff,” said Michael Bass, executive producer of CBS’ “The Early Show,” who worked as Zucker’s deputy for five years and then briefly served as acting executive producer of “Today” in 2001. “When you have something that works so well and you lose it, you’re constantly thinking, ‘Remember how it used to be?’ I think she really felt that.”

Added Wendy Walker Whitworth, a Couric friend of 26 years who works as an executive vice president at CNN: “Jeff is a hard act to follow.... There was an amazing amount of trust.”

In an interview, Zucker would not comment on Couric’s frustrations with his successors except to acknowledge that they likely suffered by comparison.

“Obviously, she and I had a unique relationship, and you can never duplicate something like that,” he said.

Some disagreed that Couric has measured Zucker’s replacements against him.

“Our staff has been quick to embrace other producers, and I think Katie has too,” said co-anchor Matt Lauer. “She knows Jeff is not the producer anymore.”

Still, Zucker and Couric continue to speak several times a week, bound not only by a shared history but personal challenges -- he survived two bouts with colon cancer, the same disease that killed Couric’s husband in 1998 -- and most recently, their own professional rough patches.

While Couric has fielded an uncharacteristic spate of criticism about her off-air style, Zucker too has been under unusual and increasing pressure to boost the standing of NBC, which has recently taken hits on several fronts. Once dominant in prime-time programming, the network fell to fourth place this year in the key 18- to 49-year-old demographic, a drop that forced NBC to cut ad rates for next year. Meanwhile, ABC’s recent gains in the morning threatened the supremacy of “Today,” the biggest moneymaker of the news division, prompting Zucker to fire executive producer Tom Touchet in late April.

Since the installment of a new executive team, the NBC program has widened its lead over “Good Morning America.” And Zucker -- who spent a week in late April back in the control booth, observing the production -- said that he’s confident that Couric is establishing a good rapport with Jim Bell, a former NBC Sports producer now at the helm of the program, a sentiment Bell echoed.

On the set, “Today” staffers said there is a palpable lightheartedness that had recently been missing.

“There’s a new energy,” said associate producer David Gelles, who works closely with both Couric and Lauer.

But it’s too soon to tell whether Bell will fare better than Touchet or his predecessor, Jonathan Wald, who was fired in 2002 after running the program for 16 months.

Couric often challenged their decisions and expressed frustration with the show’s direction, according to several current and former NBC employees familiar with the inner workings of the show.

She sometimes complained about the management while sitting in the studio, within earshot of the executive producer. Intensely competitive, she grew upset when “Today” got beat on exclusive stories -- one time quarreling publicly with Wald after “Today” lost a live interview to ABC with one of the nine men who survived a 2002 Pennsylvania mine collapse.

“If you’re smart and work hard and do things well, she doesn’t have issues,” said one former “Today” staffer who did not want to be named. “If people screw things up, she does.”

Wald declined to comment and Touchet did not return messages.

Several NBC employees noted that Couric was not the only staff member who was unhappy with their management, adding that others voiced their own complaints.

But as the morning-show competition intensified this spring, Couric’s demeanor came under particular scrutiny in publications including the New York Times, which called her a “mercurial diva,” and the National Enquirer, which claimed she was at “war” with Lauer.

Lauer dismissed that notion.

“The bottom line is that you can’t get up at 4 a.m. and work together on the air for three hours a day if you’re feuding and not have it show dramatically,” he said. “I’ve never had as good a relationship with any other partner.

“She is demanding, but so am I. I don’t see that as a negative. I kind of would hope that anybody that would work on this show or a show of this stature is demanding. I think the key is to be both demanding and a good person, and I think we both know how to do that.”

Brian Williams, anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” also called the reports unfair, describing Couric as collaborative and professional.

“I could and have been described as driven and wanting my broadcast to be excellent,” he said. “Why has that never been cast as a pejorative in my case? I see a ton of double standards at work here.”

Friends say that Couric has been surprised and stung by the criticism. What others see as overbearing, they view as diligence.

“The only thing she demands is excellence,” said Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey, senior executive producer of “Extra” and one of Couric’s closest friends. “There’s not one job there that she doesn’t know how to do or couldn’t do.”

Couric was a lot greener when she began working with Zucker in 1990. They spent almost a year on the road covering political stories and breaking news, including three weeks in the Persian Gulf.

Both energetic and hungry, “we had a very similar sensibility and we clicked,” Zucker said.

That bond was strengthened when Zucker was promoted to executive producer of “Today” in December 1991, just eight months after Couric was named co-anchor of the show.

He was single-minded in his devotion to the program, often subsisting on Pop Tarts and pizza to make it through the long hours. And he immediately recognized the power of Couric’s unassuming personality.

“She’s the kid on the playground, not the dolled-up, glamorous, ready-for-prime-time anchor,” he told the New York Times in 1992.

He sought to showcase that persona, having her do parenting segments in which she could muse about her own daughters and encouraging her to ask folksy questions in interviews.

Couric thrived off his energy.

“Without making it sound as if he’s God, he’s a real visionary,” she told the Washington Post in 1998. “Not only does he have his finger on the pulse, he has his finger on what the pulse will be.”

In many ways, colleagues say, two young broadcasters grew up together.

“They were almost one mind,” said “Today” stage manager Mark Traub, a 22-year veteran of the program. “I think Jeff understood very well that what was needed to make her successful was to have a woman who was a strong anchor who nonetheless had a personality people wanted to identify with, to not lose that great ‘girl-next-door’ character.”

Back then, Couric dyed her own hair and raved about the deals she found shopping at the Gap.

In December 2001, NBC signed her for more than $60 million over the next 4 1/2 years, making Couric one of the best-paid television broadcasters. Nowadays, she has her hair done at Louis Licari, an exclusive Manhattan salon. In March, Vogue featured the anchor in a multipage spread, draped in a Carolina Herrera black silk moire dress and an elegant Oscar de la Renta silver satin gown.

“Katie had that image of being very folksy, accessible and down to earth,” said Shari Anne Brill, programming director at the ad-buying firm Carat USA. “Now I think she comes across like she is a celebrity, that she is a star.”

Friends insist Couric has remained down to earth and frugal, noting that she flies coach for personal travel, still shops outlets like Ross Dress for Less and began going to a salon only at their urging.

“It’s all a little ridiculous,” Gregorisch-Demsey said.

“Katie has grown, and she looks better than she ever has looked. She’s tried to keep up with the times. You can’t blame a girl for trying.”

And Zucker, who helped propel both Couric’s image and career, disputed the idea that viewers now see her differently because of her wealth.

“She’s still the same Arlington, Va., girl at heart and still comes across as somebody you would like to have lunch with,” he said. “I do think that’s the secret to her success.”