Ann Curry may have freaked out the Today show crew by wanting to talk about knives constantly and holding her birthday party in a graveyard and distracting Al Roker from the weather every morning by asking him, stonefaced, "Do you ever wonder what it feels like to die?"—but at least she wasn't a huge giant, stomping all over the place, being big in everyone's way all the time, oh BROTHER.

It's been almost a full day since Brian Stelter was finally granted permission by his NBC media relations sources to hit send on a story most TV news reporters knew about months ago. It seems that Curry's departure was a welcome one, as most of the Today Show's Nielsen families celebrated with raucous Ally McBeal baby-dancing in their living rooms once it became officially official in America's paper of record.

The New York Times' Media Decoder blog reported Wednesday evening that NBC executives are currently engaged in secret negotiations to replace Ann Curry on the Today show just one year after she joined Matt Lauer as co-host.

This was a theory floated out by insiders this afternoon but now it seems to be gaining more traction as a legitimate non-chimp option. Will Ferrell already made an appearance last week on Conan in full Ron Burgundy get-up to announce the the sequel to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

The Today Show's attempt to counterpunch Good Morning America's Katie Couric guest-anchor spot this week has already hit a snag. Today teased that a "legend" was scheduled to appear tomorrow morning. And, yes, it was a chimpanzee named "J. Fred Muggs":

Even though ABC's aggressive move to topple The Today Show appears to be working so far, it has backfired a bit.

Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts goes on vacation next week and ABC/Disney has decided to trot out former Today Show queen Katie Couric to fill her slot. With all the rumored upheaval and turmoil at NBC's once untouchable morning program, some sources say this is a diabolical decision by an executive Disney goon squad done to further taunt Today and its flat ratings. The more reasonable assumption is that ABC/Disney will get a good sense of if Couric still has enough bubble-headed charisma to connect with morning audiences since her own talk show is set to premiere on ABC in September. A little early for pre-buzz, though, right?

Since she replaced Meredith Viera as co-host of the Today Show last June, Ann Curry hasn't exactly impressed. "Hopeless," a source close to NBC executives said to describe her co-hosting abilities. "Atrocious," said another. "Strained."