Ryan Seacrest finally appeared on NBC's Today show Wednesday morning after recovery from elbow surgery
delayed his first scheduled visit
and announced he would be joining the NBC family as part of its primetime coverage
of the Summer Olympics.
"It's been something that I've been very much looking
forward to and I'll be doing a lot of fun things at NBC and this is the first
of it, the Olympics," Seacrest said.
He said he would continue to have a role at E!, where he
currently hosts E! News, though did
not specify what that role would be (his production shingle also produces the Keeping Up With the Kardashians
franchise for the network).
In an interview on the show, Matt Lauer pressed Seacrest to
say what conversations he has had with NBCUniversal about becoming part of Today, alluding to press reports that
Seacrest could one day take over Lauer's job, though Seacrest said that any
conversations were, "mostly about filling in to do weather."
When Lauer asked if Seacrest could see himself being a Today anchor someday he replied, "I
don't know. I see you doing this for as long as you want to."
For his part, Lauer told Seacrest "I think you'd be great at
this job," adding, "There is no tension here" between the two.
As for the other part of Seacrest's career up the air, his
hosting gig on American Idol, he said
Wednesday he plans to stay there, saying, "I think I'll have an official
announcement very, very soon."
