‘Today’ Changes Show’s Top Producer

Don Nash

Seven weeks after Matt Lauer was ousted from NBC’s “Today” amid allegations of sexual misconduct, there has been another shake-up at the morning show.

Libby Leist

The NYTimes reports NBC said on Wednesday that Don Nash, the show’s executive producer since 2012, would leave and would be succeeded by Libby Leist, a veteran “Today” producer with deep ties to Washington and a strong working relationship with Savannah Guthrie, a co-anchor. The move makes Leist the first woman to hold the top producing job for the show’s first two hours.

“Today” has surged in the ratings since Lauer’s firing, beating ABC’s “Good Morning America” for seven straight weeks, its longest such streak in nearly six years. Some people in the television industry have asked whether the NBC show’s rise reflects early interest in the post-Lauer era at “Today” — Hoda Kotb was named as his permanent replacement this month — or whether it signals a long-term shift. Even NBC officials have been caught off guard by the strong viewership figures.

The ratings improvement makes Nash’s departure something of a surprise, although changes in show anchors are often accompanied by changes at the executive producer level. Mr. Nash had a close working relationship with Lauer.

Shortly before Nash’s departure was announced, the former “Today” anchor Ann Curry appeared on “CBS This Morning” and discussed the issue of harassment at her former professional home. Curry left the show in 2012, a messy departure that some attributed to Lauer.