BRYANT Gumbel is soft-peddling his apparent feud with “Today” show host Katie Couric.
“We’ve never exchanged a bad word,” Gumbel said yesterday about his former co-host .
“As far as I’m concerned, this is not personal. I know it would make for a juicy, ongoing story – but it’s not personal,” Gumbel said
An article in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine about Gumbel’s latest project, CBS’ new “Early Show,” the former “Today” show host dissed Couric when he was asked about his reputation for being difficult to work with.
“I’ve had one assistant for 18 years,” Gumbel said. “Somebody who shall remain nameless went through five in five years. I had one makeup and hair person the whole time I was at NBC. Somebody who shall remain nameless went through three or four.”
Gumbel – who said he doesn’t even watch “Today” regularly – has now changed his tune.
“It would be wonderful if [Couric and I] could do a steel-cage match,” he joked yesterday, “but we’ve always had a good relationship.”
CBS – which yesterday unveiled the new street-level, $30-million studio at 58th Street and 5th Avenue from which the show will originate – is working around the clock to finish its new high-tech facility. The new broadcast debuts Monday morning with co-host Jane Clayson and its own Mariah Carey concert.
The still-unfinished Studio 58 was a tangle of loose wires and scaffolding yesterday. The facility’s centerpiece, a lavish 5,000 square-foot bullet-proof-glass enclosed studio will also be used for WCBS/Ch.2’s morning and noon news broadcasts.