Screenshot of the hosts showing their rapport. Peter Kramer / NBC

If you watched the Today show earlier this week (and the ratings indicate that fewer of you are) then you certainly noticed that Hoda Kotb was sitting in for Savannah Guthrie for a few days, putting her on camera much earlier than her usual fourth hour with Kathy Lee. We caught her a couple of times and thought she did a great job — engaging, funny, relatable, all the things that a morning show host should be. It’s been so long, you almost forget that she started out doing the news completely sober, without a sip of wine in sight. Apparently, we’re not the only ones who were impressed with her work beside Matt Lauer.

The New York Times’ media reporter Brian Stelter saw lots of tweets from people singing Hoda’s praises, many asking that Kotb stick with the job for the long-term. The Huffington Post notes that Kotb’s name had been in the running to replace Ann Curry when she was ousted from the program. However, the article says, Guthrie is in the chair and the network wouldn’t want to go through another major change so quickly.

But, Today has been thirsting for good news. A recent New York magazine feature went into great detail about the meltdown at the show in the wake of Curry’s removal, and the show lost the top spot in the ratings to GMA a few months ago, the first time that happened in 16 years.

HuffPo says the positive feedback will increase Hotb’s standing at the show, which we agree with. We’re, no doubt, going to see her sitting in for Guthrie more often. And who knows. Hoda’s great foil for KLG, but a more serious position could be in her future. The Today show blog has a montage of all the fun she had.

MARIE HAVENS / PatrickMcMullan.com== == (PatrickMcMullan.com via AP Images)

Deadline Hollywood added even more intrigue to the situation over at the Today show when it reported that they heard that CNN’s Anderson Cooper was asked about replacing Matt Lauer. Our silver foxy fake boyfriend (he’s already got one) every morning on NBC? I’ll take that.

“After their initial approach to Cooper, I hear NBC reached out to Lauer to get his blessing about the changeover. But I heard they got pushback from theToday veteran, who contacted Cooper to express his disapproval,” writes the blog. Other names that have been floated around are Ryan Seacrest and Willie Geist, who’s already got a spot on the show during the third hour.

However, NBC execs — who seem to be doing a lot of this lately — deny that Matt Lauer is being pushed out of the anchor spot, Ann Curry style.

“Matt Lauer is the best in the business. We want him in the ‘Today’ show anchor chair for many years to come,” Alex Wallace, the executive in charge of the Today show told the AP. The AP also confirmed a meeting between Cooper and the network through an anonymous source.

Lauer has seen his popularity drop precipitously since the Ann Curry debacle. Though he says he tried to convince the network to handle that differently, another story in New York says otherwise. Today has five million viewers, the majority of them are women. And many of those viewers were just as upset about the way Curry’s ouster was handled, and have turned against Lauer and the show as a result. The ratings have dropped behind GMA, and Lauer’s popularity have fallen behind that show’s host, George Stephanopoulos.

“The cyclical nature of television is also likely hurting Lauer. It’s a rare personality that stays beloved forever,” the AP continues.

Lauer’s contract with NBC is up in 2014. Would you like to see the Coop in that anchor chair instead?

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Even though the Academy Awards were last Sunday, we’ve learned quite a bit throughout the week about the people nominated, involved with the show and who just happened to show up. For instance, who knew that there was all this Anne Hathaway hate? Seriously, what’s up with a “Hathahater”?? Also we learned that Jack Nicholson is a bit creepy when it comes to the young gyals (just ask new Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence). And of course, some people weren’t too pleased with seeing Michelle Obama at the show, presenting the Best Picture award at the end of the night for the Ben Affleck directed movie Argo.

An Iranian news agency wasn’t feeling her gorgeous gown, so they Photoshopped her dress to make her look more covered, but mostly, the usual bitter suspects didn’t think she should have presented at all (even if she wasn’t physically at the show) because she has nothing to do with Hollywood. One Conservative we saw on a morning show this week said her appearance made the White House look “small.”

Haters. All of them.

Anywho, while making press stops to get people enthusiastic about her Let’s Move Campaign, an initiative to combat childhood obesity, on Today she commented on all the critics who always seem to have something to say about every move she makes.

“That’s just the nature of life. I mean, we live in a time when there are bloggers and tweeters and 24-hour news and everyone has a voice in this town square, and it’s a big one. That means at any point at a given time, somebody’s not going to like what you do. That’s the nature of things. It’s not really about me. I just happen to be in the public eye and along with everybody else in the public eye, you’re subject to conversation, opinion and all that sort of stuff. There’s nothing new about that.”

That Michelle, always keeping it cool as a cucumber. And from checking out the comments to her response via E! News, I can tell most of the people griping about her showing up at the Oscars are the same people who gripe about her doing everything else. From the clothes she wears to the places she goes and just being fabulous and chilling in the White House with her husband for a second term that they clearly didn’t want to see happen. I’m glad that the FLOTUS realizes that somebody is ALWAYS going to have something to say, but while they waste time doing that, you just have to continue to do you. Boom! Take that “critics.”

Suit and tie swag! 2013 is the year of Quvenzhané Wallis, the youngest Oscar nominee ever (at just a wee nine years old), and to kick off the Oscar race right, the star of Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of three actors to get a cover panel in the magazine’s new Oscar issue. She’s in good company, smiling amongst legendary actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and new “It” girls like Jessica Chastain. Wallis was on her cover panel wearing a suit and tie, and inside the magazine she looked absolutely adorable in a floor-length halter gown and top hat. Too cute for school.

Wallis also had the chance to sit down with Ann Curry (yes Ann is still making moves, no need to shed any more tears for her) on the news program Rock Center to discuss her favorite music, how she felt when she got the call that she would be nominated for an Academy Award , as well as her future. The cutest part of the interview is definitely at the end when Wallis talks about her love for Demi Lovato, Beyoncé, and Justin Bieber and sings “Boyfriend” for Curry. Because Wallis’ singing skills wound up being pretty strong for a nine-year-old, Curry told her that she is a triple threat. And when asking if Wallis knew what that meant, she replied, “That means you do three things and try to do it at once. Like a 3-in-1 shampoo. Yup, I’m a 3-in-1. Triple threat!”

If you can’t get enough of this cutie, pick up the Oscar issue of Entertainment Weekly which is on stands now, and feel free to check out her full interview with Ann Curry and Wallis’ Beasts of the Southern Wild co-star, Dwight Henry down below.

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Ann Curry returned to TODAY this morning. Via ScallywagandVagabond.com

Many people were upset with the unceremonious way that NBC literally dumped Ann Curry out of the co-host chair in June and replaced her with Savannah Guthrie. Now Curry has given an interview with Ladies Home Journal  in which she says her clothes were criticized while she was on the show.

“One day I wore a multicolored dress [on Today] and someone asked if I was trying to be Toucan Sam,” she told the magazine. She also says she was encouraged to wear sky-high heels and chooses not to dye her grey hair.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where women are judged much more harshly than men based on the way they look. The Grindstone, following the Ann Curry story, asked a few fashion experts about Curry specifically and office fashion etiquette in general. Corporette founder Kat Griffin points out that news anchors are generally a conservative lot, so Curry’s wardrobe stood out.

“That said: she was on a morning show, covering everything from serious news to puff pieces — and I’ve often heard her criticized for being TOO serious, and not ‘warm’ enough.  So I actually think the colorful clothes were a smart decision on her part,” she says.

The rules of office fashion vary depending on the industry and the office. Some offices are totally fine with jeans every day. Others prefer they be saved for Fridays. It’s important to take the temperature of the room.

“Just look around your office and if you stand out like a sore thumb, exercise good judgement,” said another blogger, Marion Green.

Certain industries are also going to emphasize appearance more. If you work in one of these areas — fashion, television, and public relations might be industries where your attire matters more — you have to be mindful about looking the part.

Many companies have relaxed their dress codes, making the ease and comfort of getting dressed a perk of being an employee. Overwhelmingly, what’s appropriate has become a sliding scale. Certain things are never acceptable — too much skin or stained clothing, for example. But for the most part, if you’ll wear an outfit to your friend’s house to watch Netflix, on a beach vacation, or to the club on Saturday night, it’s probably not the right thing for work.

One minute, working moms are loving the time they spend at home on the weekends playing with their little ones, running errands–having that good ‘ol quality time. But it’s funny, because according to moms who participated in TODAY and Parenting.com’s Mom Secret’s survey, when Monday comes and it’s time to go back work, many are excited to get out of the house. You know, leave the 24-hour stresses of motherhood behind for the 8+ hour stresses of work. Or “freedom” of work. It depends what mother you ask.

26,000 mothers took part in the survey, with a whopping 74 percent of participants being those who work outside of the home. Safe to say, results were VERY interesting, but it was clear that many mothers like the balance of working outside of the home, while others might like it a little too much…

Some findings include:

• 42 percent of moms said they’d rather get a 50 percent raise at work than spend 50 percent more time with their kids.
• 20 percent say they judge other moms who work too much
• Nearly one-third of moms admit to using work as an excuse to get out of child care.