Weekend Today - History

History

The Sunday edition of Today (titled Sunday Today) premiered on September 20, 1987, hosted by Maria Shriver and Boyd Matson, with Garrick Utley as news anchor. The program was broadcast from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m., followed by Meet the Press.

Garrick Utley replaced Boyd Matson as co-anchor on March 20, 1988. Shriver, Roker and sports anchor Bill Macatee continued with the program. In 1989, Sunday Today moved to Washington so that Utley could also serve as anchor of Meet the Press.

On November 12, 1989, a special edition of Sunday Today aired, with Utley in Berlin covering the fall of the Berlin Wall earlier that week, Shriver in Burbank and Roker in New York. At the end of the broadcast, Utley mentioned that Shriver was leaving the show for maternity leave. NBC News national correspondent Katie Couric became substitute anchor during Shriver's leave.

Maria Shriver returned from maternity leave on January 28, 1990, but did not return to Sunday Today. Couric co-anchored until Mary Alice Williams became the new co-anchor on February 11, 1990. Production of the Sunday program returned to New York when Utley left Meet the Press in 1991.

On August 1, 1992, the Saturday edition made its debut, expanding the broadcast schedule of the Today franchise to seven days a week. The weekend editions were initially titled Saturday Today or Sunday Today, as applicable, in order to distinguish them from the weekday program. Since the late 1990s, all editions of the program have officially been titled Today, although Weekend Today is still sometimes used for promotional purposes.