Meredith Vieira has played a vast variety of roles in TV news, but come September 2014, the Emmy Award-winning journalist will get the chance to helm her own eponymous daytime talk show, The Meredith Vieira Show, NBC Universal announced in a statement on Tuesday, July 9.
Vieira, 59, will join the ranks of fellow bold-faced names like fellow Today show vet Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, Bethenny Frankel and Jeff Probst in trying to woo the midafternoon viewership, according to the release. And, based on the chipper host's varied experiences, she may just be the perfect candidate.
"As a journalist on Today and 60 Minutes, I learned how to really listen to people and help give them a voice," she says in a statement. "On The View, I unleashed my own opinionated self and discovered the empowerment that comes with sometimes heated, but always respectful, discussion. And on Millionaire, I relished the joy of changing people's lives while having pure fun."
"All of these experiences, along with being a wife and mom, have led me here because they all share one common denominator … this fundamental need we have to connect with and find inspiration in each other," she continued.
Vieira's show, which Us Weekly exclusively reported on in May, will feature a mix of celebrity and real-life human interest stories, and will be taped on a set built to resemble Vieira's actual New York home, according to the release (the talk show host will lend her actual furniture and family photos to the stage).
At present, Vieira is a special correspondent for NBC News after having left her seat as the host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire earlier this year after nearly 11 years of hosting.
The popular TV journalist was also previously an anchor on the Today show, replacing Couric in 2006 but leaving her post in 2011 to spend more time with her husband, journalist Richard Cohen, and their three children.
