Beginnings on radio and local TV (1975–1982) Vieira began her broadcasting career in 1975 as a news announcer for
WORC radio in
Worcester, Massachusetts, doing afternoon-drive news during the
B. J. Dean Show. She began a career in television working as a local reporter and anchor at
WJAR-TV in Providence, eventually making her way into the newsroom at
WCBS-TV in New York City where she was an
investigative reporter from 1979 to 1982.
CBS News (1982–1993) Vieira first gained national recognition as a
CBS reporter based in its Chicago bureau from 1982 to 1984. She later became a correspondent for nationwide news-magazine shows including
West 57th (1985–89) and
60 Minutes (1989–91). Her final assignment at CBS was as co-anchor of the
CBS Morning News (1992–93).
Move to ABC, Turning Point; Intimate Portrait; The View (1994–2006) Vieira moved to ABC initially as one of six regular correspondents for the news-magazine show
Turning Point (1994–99), and was also the host of the
Lifetime Network's show
Intimate Portrait, which debuted on January 3, 1995, and ran until August 28, 2004. On August 29, 2006, Vieira told the
New York Post that she didn't mean that
The View was a joke. She said the interview was taken out of context. "I felt that the media was turning [
The View] into a joke, not that the show was a joke," she says.
Time added a clarification to its website, saying "[Vieira] assures
Time that in no way were her comments meant to be insensitive or derogatory..."
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (2002–2013) Vieira became the first host of the American
syndicated version of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on September 16, 2002; prior to that, American audiences had known it as a
primetime show on ABC hosted by
Regis Philbin.
Rosie O'Donnell (who would later succeed Vieira on
The View) was originally offered to host the syndicated version, but rejected it almost immediately. Vieira won two
Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game Show Host for her hosting duties on
Millionaire (one in 2005, the other in 2009); as such, she is the second woman ever to win an Emmy Award in this category (after
Betty White for
Just Men! in 1983), and the first to win multiple times. In addition to hosting the show, Vieira also served as its co-executive producer, a title that she would hold from 2005 until her departure from the show. ABC originally offered Vieira hosting duties on the syndicated
Millionaire to sweeten one of her re-negotiations for
The View. Seven and three-quarter years later, she would even turn the tables on Philbin himself with her surprise appearance on the finale of the show's 10th anniversary primetime revival on August 23, 2009—hosting its final segment while giving him the opportunity to answer one question in order to win $50,000 for his selected organization,
Cardinal Hayes High School in
the Bronx. On January 10, 2013, Vieira announced that after eleven seasons with the syndicated
Millionaire, throughout which she had hosted more than 1,800 episodes and offered a vast multitude of contestants a combined total of over $70,000,000, she would be leaving the show as part of an effort to focus on other projects in her career. She finalized taping of her last episodes with the show in November 2012.
Today and The Meredith Vieira Show (2006–2016) Vieira accepted an offer to succeed
Katie Couric as co-anchor of
Today on April 6, 2006, the day after Couric announced that she would depart the show to become anchor of the
CBS Evening News. The following day, Vieira announced on
The View that she would be leaving the show to be co-anchor of
Today, a role that
The View co-host and
ABC News journalist
Barbara Walters had filled nearly four decades earlier during her tenure at NBC during the 1960s and 1970s. Vieira was replaced as the moderator of
The View by
Rosie O'Donnell. Vieira hosted the show with Matt Lauer from September 13, 2006, through June 8, 2011, also becoming a contributing anchor for
Dateline NBC. Vieira continued as host of
Millionaire while appearing on
Today. As part of her contract with
Millionaire, Vieira agreed not to appear on
Today during hours that would conflict with the airing of the game show on competing stations. As a result, she rarely appeared on the third or fourth hours of
Today. Her first appearance during the third hour came on June 25, 2008, for "
Today Throws a Wedding". She also appeared during the entire third hour during the
2008 Beijing Summer Olympics,
2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the
Barack Obama inauguration on January 20, 2009. Vieira announced on May 9, 2011, that she would depart as co-host in the following month but would remain with
Today in the role of special correspondent. Her last appearance as regular co-host was on June 8; she returned to the show for the Halloween broadcast on October 31, 2011, and again as special co-host with Matt Lauer in
London, United Kingdom for the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. She has remained with NBC in a minimized role and became a contributor to
Dateline NBC and a correspondent on
Rock Center with Brian Williams. In January 2013, she filled in for
Kathie Lee Gifford on the fourth hour of
Today, appearing alongside
Hoda Kotb, and she reported the story
Inconceivable on
Dateline NBC. Vieira was one of the hosts for NBC's coverage of the
2012 London Summer Olympics. She and co-host
Matt Lauer were
criticized for their NBC coverage of the opening ceremony. Vieira also provided some
Today Olympics coverage during the games. Vieira co-hosted the opening ceremony of the
2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with
Matt Lauer, and was slated to provide coverage during the two weeks of the games. On February 14, 2014, she became the first woman to solo anchor NBC's Olympics prime time coverage, alternated with Lauer while covering for an ailing
Bob Costas. In July 2013, Vieira announced that she would begin hosting her own syndicated afternoon daytime
talk show,
The Meredith Vieira Show, starting in September 2014, produced by
NBCUniversal Television Distribution. On January 4, 2016, it was announced that the show would be ending after two seasons. The talk show aired from September 8, 2014 to May 20, 2016 and ended with 290 episodes. Vieira guest anchored
Today with Hoda & Jenna for a few episodes in 2019, due to host
Hoda Kotb being on maternity leave. Although she co-hosted
Today with Lauer, Vieira had a hand in his dismissal from the program after learning of her assistant’s claims of being sexually assaulted by Lauer. Vieira urged the woman to bring the matter forward to NBC executives and he was fired shortly after.
Other television work In May 2018, Vieira co-hosted Royal Wedding Watch with
Matt Baker,
PBS's weeklong coverage of the
wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
25 Words or Less (2019–present) Vieira returned to daytime TV in the fall of 2019 as host of the syndicated game show
25 Words or Less from
Fox Television Stations. Based on a
board game, the show pairs contestants with celebrities in an effort to guess a list of five words using less than 25 words in total. ==Personal life==