Matt Lauer Begged Katie Couric To Come Back To Save The 'Today' Show

NBC/"Today" show/YouTubeAmid declining ratings, Matt Lauer wanted Katie Couric back at "Today" to relive their glory days.For the first time since Ann Curry's "Today" show ousting in June, Matt Lauer fully opened up to The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz about how the NBC demotion actually went down and why he isn't to blame.

While Lauer admits Curry wasn't his first choice as a co-anchor following Meredith Vieira's exit in 2011, he says he gave it his all — to the point that NBC brass told the two to "stop faking" their morning banter.

But before Curry even made it to the couch, turns out Lauer had made a move to try and get his former co-anchor, Katie Couric, back to the now-struggling morning show in hopes of improving both moral and ratings.

For almost ten years, Lauer and Couric ruled the ratings together with their very real chemistry.

And six years after Couric left "Today" to anchor "CBS Evening News," Lauer wanted her back — but NBC didn't warm up to the logistics that would require the hire.

Kurtz reveals:

Today, Katie has a reported $40-million contract hosting a self-titled daily talk show on ABC.

Lauer, meanwhile, has taken a ton of heat for the way he handled the departure of Ann Curry — causing ratings to also decline and "Today" to fall from its top spot for the first time in 16 years.

“I don’t think the show and the network handled the transition well," Lauer tells Kurtz. "You don’t have to be Einstein to know that."

But, he adds, “In some ways being No. 2 [behind "GMA"] in the ratings is a real shot in the arm, a kick in the pants. It makes you hungrier ... I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a fire lit under your ass.”

To read the full interview with Matt Lauer on The Daily Beast, click here >