The Today Show

With Ann Curry long gone, with Matt Lauer facing constant criticism and with Today ratings falling each week, producers are reportedly turning to their the only woman they see as a possible savior:

KATIE COURIC!

Yes, the same Katie Couric who co-anchored the morning program from 1991-2006.

“They’re calling Katie and begging for her to return, saying the morning couch on NBC is where she belongs," an insider supposedly tells The National Enquirer. "They want her to save Matt and the show.”

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Excerpts from a new book have been released and they echo a previous report regarding Ann Curry and her firing from Today:

Matt Lauer may suck, but producers were to blame for the horrible situation at that NBC program.

In "Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV," Brian Stelter writes that Curry received never-ending flak from those around her, with one staff members telling the author:

"A lot of time in the control room was spent making fun of Ann's outfit choices or just generally messing with her."

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Might Hoda Kotb be trying to jump off a sinking ship?

With ratings continuing to spiral for Today, and with Matt Lauer under constant siege by the press, sources tell Entertainment Weekly that Hotb has been talking to other networks about job possibilities.

Her contract expires this fall.

“Hoda loves her job... adores everyone she works with on the show," an insider tells EW. "Her contract is coming up and she’s just expanding relationships and having coffee with a few people.”

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The ratings are down.

The host might get fired.

But the folks at Today are still having a fun time, or at least they were yesterday when magician Rich Ferguson stopped by to offer up some April Fools' Day tips.

One idea? Place a fake spider on a roll of toiler paper. Another? Pretend to be the arms of a chair and then scare the heck out of the individual trying to sit on it, especially if said individual is reporter Natalie Morales.

Watch her get caught off guard now:

Natalie Morales Chair Prank

Elsewhere, did you hear about the Justin Bieber TMZ prank? It deserves some dap.

Don't believe everything you read about Matt Lauer and Today.

So says executive producer Don Nash, who recently sat in on a focus group filled with women and heard their response to the question of what would cause them to stop watching the NBC morning program.

"Every one of them said, 'If Matt Lauer were to leave,'" Nash says. "Their opinions didn't square with what we had been reading in the papers and on websites."

That's for sure.

Lauer has been under major fire over the past few weeks, from reportedly making sexist remarks about female producers... to being responsible for Ann Curry's firing... to apologizing to a former intern for not being very nice.

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With Matt Lauer facing unending criticism, and the decision to sloppily fire Ann Curry still reverberating around NBC, Today has lost its stranglehold in the ratings game.

Led by George Stephanopoulos and a returning Robin Roberts, Good Morning America is on top for the first time on ages, while Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell are pretty much just hanging out at CBS.

With these programs not just reporting the news, but actually making a lot of it themselves these days, it's time to take the pulse of our readers:

Which is your favorite morning show?

Just when you think things can't get worse for Matt Lauer...

According to the latest issue of Us Weekly - which features Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn on the cover - the embattled Today Show host was asked awhile back to help select one of three female producers to come in and turn around the program's dwindling ratings.

Lauer allegedly nixed all three and "told a senior staffer the idea of these women running the show reminded him of Lilith Fair."

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How would you like to wake up to the bluest eyes on television?

With Matt Lauer receiving more criticism than ever this week for the firing of Ann Curry - a New York article states their personal feud led to Curry's ousting - Deadline reports that Anderson Cooper was recently approached to replace Lauer as lead anchor of Today.

HOWEVER, Cooper balked when he learned Lauer was never contacted about his meeting with the network.

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A new cover story in New York magazine seeks to expose the mess that has led The Today Show to its lowest ratings in year.

And while author Joe Hagan reports that Matt Lauer nearly left for ABC last year, the most explosive passages document that anchor contentious relationship with Ann Curry.

"Everybody at NBC, everybody at the Today show, everybody understood that Ann was kicked out of her position because Matt didn't want her there," an important NBC staffer told Hagan for the story. "That's why it was so personal between Ann and Matt."

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Is Maria Shriver returning to the Today show?

That's the rumor going after the former NBC fixture reported from the Vatican on the program this week, leading the network to explore a permanent deal.

The question is whether she's interested.

Maria may tease (and give a ratings boost) to NBC by coming on occasionally for big stories like the Papal coverage, but beyond that, her role is unclear.

Shriver has turned down overtures from NBC and other networks in the past, and simply may not want a daily gig because she doesn't need the money.

The former wife of Arnold Schwarzengger is deeply invested in her charity work and raising their four kids, and has a net worth of at least $100 million.

Basically, she's reluctant to get back into the daily grind of TV news, no matter how badly NBC might want her to replace Matt Lauer's tanking Q rating.

Exhale, Matt.