... is that your final answer?

NBC? Are you sure you want to pick D... Meredith Vieira?

Don't you want to poll the audience or call a friend or something?

Aren't you worried that she's too matriarchal for your morning show? Don't you see that she's a crow's foot away from Diane Sawyer? If we wanted to watch an over-manicured socialite glad-handing her guests, we'd watch Good Morning America?

But we don't. We want fun, adventurous, fiesty repartee to wake us up every morning. We want good-natured ribbing and mild sexual tension. We want the cool mom, not the good mom.

THE END OF AN ERA

We heard the rumors, we read the reports, but it didn't hit home until this morning when we heard it straight from you.

Oh dear Katie, how will we ever wake up without you? You've been our morning sunshine since middle school (when we first started to be responsible for getting ourselves out of bed.) Without you, we're not sure we would have woken up day after day. Mornings will never be the same.

Our Today Show Family will never be the same. It feels like my morning parents are getting a divorce. Mom has met someone better. Dad is going to start dating someone new and younger. Court ordered visits will require me to switch to CBS in the evenings -- but I've never been to that side of town! There will be much adjustment, but Katie, you will always be a part of our family.

We've been gone for a while but we couldn't let this monumental occasion pass without comment. And now the race to replace the Matriarch of the Morning begins... you can see Ann seething for attention (she is already talking over Katie -- immediately following Katie's announcement during their couch chit chat), and of course the lobbying effort for our namesakes, Campbell Brown and Natalie Morales is in full force.

Who do you want to see Matt bring home next?