Today: The long, dramatic history of Australia's controversial morning show

Channel Nine's Today show is the longest-running morning news show in Australia. Launching on June 28, 1982, with Steve Liebmann and Sue Kellaway at the helm, it quickly became essential viewing for Aussies across the country who would watch the show to get up-to-date on the latest news before starting their day.

"It was all completely new," Sue said on the 30th anniversary of the show's launch. Nobody knew how to do it because nobody had done it. We were flying by the seat of our pants a lot of the time."

Running for three-and-a-half hours, the show is currently broadcast from Nine's North Sydney studios and has resulted in several spin-offs including Today Extra, Weekend Today, and the now-defunct Today on Saturday.

Just over 40 years on and it is still popular creating almost as many headlines as it reports on.

Hosts over the years

Steve and Sue presented together for almost four years before Sue left. But she recalls that it was their friendship that made the show so good. "We had many years of cheerful chat, never had a bad word. Never a bad word," Sue said.

Steve stayed for another year with Patrice Newell and then Liz Hayes before he left to read the evening news. Liz was elevated from a newsreader to the co-host of Today in 1986, a role that she would enjoy for 10 years.

"We're either good at our jobs or we're not, and I'd like to think that's how we are judged," she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2014. "The less we talk about it, the better it is. Everybody who is in a visual medium is always going to be commented on, even men. It's part of the deal."

Replacing Steve was George Negus who was already known as a founding member of Nine's weekend current affairs show 60 Minutes. He was on the show for four years before Steve made his return as the co-host, firstly with Liz and then with long-time co-host Tracy Grimshaw. Steve left again in 2005 after a mild heart attack.

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Jessica's problems

Jessica had been poached from network rival Ten and they weren't happy about it. The network took her to court to stop her working for Nine but the case was dismissed by the Supreme Court. This wasn't the end of Jess' problems though.

Viewers and commentators didn't warm to the bubbly blonde, criticising her for a variety of things from "giggling too much" to lacking chemistry with her co-host Karl.

"I could not comprehend the level of nastiness directed my way," she told New Idea in 2021.

"All because I smiled, I had short hair, I was too thin, I didn't have a child - people didn't know that I was going through IVF at the time — and I snort when I laugh.

"It was so public and cruel — definitely the hardest thing I've ever been through, career-wise," she added. "I was picked on mercilessly and couldn't understand what I had done wrong. Now I know I did nothing wrong. I was simply being myself."

The rule of Lisa

Jessica was replaced after less than a year on the show by veteran magazine editor Lisa Wilkinson. Lisa and Karl became the darlings of morning TV and had a decade of ratings rises and viewer popularity.

In 2016, Today beat Seven’s Sunrise in the ratings for the first time in 12 years.

"My personal congratulations and admiration goes to our hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic, along with the best team at breakfast – Sylvia Jeffreys, Tim Gilbert, Dickie Wilkins, Steve Jacobs and Ross Greenwood, along with all our friends and colleagues who contribute to make it a great show on air," Nine’s director of news and current affairs, Darren Wick told Mumbrella.

"We are really pleased, it’s just been a lot of hard work, we feel like the Western Bulldogs and the Cronulla Sharks," he added.

But that year also saw Karl's personal life take the headlines away from the show.

Karl's relationship dramas

Karl had always been a golden boy at the network and with fans - the epitome of the family image that the network wished to portray. However, that began to slip in 2016.

Firstly he was criticised by the LGBTQI+ community when, during a segment cross to a reporter in Rio, he made lots of jokey references to "trannies" and Channel Nine viewers let the network and Karl know they were offended by his remarks.

The next day, Karl was contrite. "As we all know, I can be a complete tool, right? Well, yesterday I was worse — I was an ignorant tool," he told viewers. "By using the word `tranny', I offended an awful lot of beautiful sensitive people," he said. "I didn't know the negative and deeply hurtful impact that has not only on the LGBT community but on their family and on their friends."

He also added: "To anyone who found the segment funny, please understand why it was the exact opposite: an ignorant jibe at the expense of a beautiful community already battling against the odds for mainstream acceptance."

Then in September that year, it was revealed that Karl had separated from his wife of 21 years Cassandra Thorburn. The couple shared three children and ABC journalist Cassandra had given up her own career to raise the kids and help Karl achieve his dream.

Even his co-host Lisa had no idea that his marriage was struggling. "They had just bought a waterfront property a month or two before and he had just signed a massive deal with the network. I presumed everything was great," Lisa wrote in her autobiography It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This.

Adding to the controversy was the fact that he started dating shoe designer Jasmine Yarbrough just months after his split from Cassandra. The couple got engaged three months after his divorce from Cassandra was finalised and they are now married and have a daughter, Harper.

Gender pay gap

For 10 long years, Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic were the darlings of Today.

Not only were they on-air colleagues, but they seemed to be good friends away from the cameras as well. However, all that changed in 2017 when Lisa unexpectedly and abruptly left her job at the Nine Network.

"I have some news," Lisa said on Twitter on October 16, 2017, "I'm sad to say that today was my last day on @thetodayshow."

And it seemed the news caught Karl off-guard too. "For 10 years, she handled the brutal hours with grace, beauty and intelligence and a wicked sense of humour," he said on air of his co-host's departure. "For whatever reason, she won't be doing that anymore."

Lisa revealed the truth behind her shock departure in her explosive 2021 autobiography, It Wasn't Meant To Be Like This.

At the time, Karl was reportedly earning $2 million a year with a bonus if ratings were a hit, which would take his salary to $3 million, The Australian reported at the time.

Nine was only reportedly willing to raise Lisa's yearly salary from $1.1million to $1.8million, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Ubergate

Then in March 2018, Karl's brother Peter had a speakerphone conversation with Karl in an Uber that led to a storm of controversy.

"[Karl] said [Nine bosses] didn’t know anything... Both the brothers clearly think they are better than what they do and spent a lot of time complaining," the Uber driver told New Idea. "I actually wanted them to end the call. The complaining just went on and on and I needed a drink myself."

In the wake of Ubergate, it was announced in December 2018 that Peter was leaving Nine for "new opportunities" while Karl was to leave Today.

His fellow presenter Georgie Gardner was paired with Deborah Knight briefly giving Today their only permanent female co-hosts.

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Time away from the spotlight gave Karl time to think about what he wanted.

"It’s been about six months since I was on the telly, and I needed to have a rest. Towards the end of last year, I was cooked," Karl said at Channel Nine's 2021 Gold Logie recovery brunch.

"It had taken its toll, a lot of the attention — all the unwarranted attention I thought, and you can’t control any of that, I’m not going to complain too much about that, but what it meant was that in a work capacity I don’t believe for a second I was at my best. I think I was struggling towards the end of last year."

Return of Karl

In November 2019, Nine announced that Karl would be returning to Today and would be joined on the sofa by 60 minutes reporter Allison Langdon.

"Going back to the Today show is not something that I thought would come up again," Karl told WHO Magazine at the time.

"I thought my time was up but then when I was sounded out about it, it got me thinking. It's a big job with enormous pressures and I know only too well some of those pitfalls, but it is also without question the best live job in Australia," Karl said.

After three years, Allison stood down from the show to take over A Current Affair and Sarah Abo was announced as her replacement.

"It's a difficult day, there's been a lot of press around but no focus on me so I want to say it has been a hard and difficult day for me," Karl said jokingly on the show on Ally's last day.

A new era

Karl is now helping a new journalist settle into life on the Today sofa. Syrian-born reporter Sarah started in January and has already made her presence felt.

"We have a wonderful team at Today, both on the set and behind the scenes," she revealed to Media Week.

"It’s a team I am very grateful to be working with every day. It hardly feels like a job when you get to collaborate with wonderfully talented and hard-working colleagues, doing something we love."

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