NBC Replaces Veteran Director of ‘Today’

NBC News is replacing the longtime director of “Today” in the latest sign of a top-to-bottom overhaul at the morning show, which is trying to climb out of a second-place ratings pit after a painful year there.

Joe Michaels, who has worked at the show since 1989 and has held the director chair for 18 years, was given a new job last week that portends more change to come. According to an internal memorandum, Mr. Michaels will be the senior director, responsible for the installation of a new “Today” show set and graphics package, among other initiatives.

Mr. Michaels was caught off-guard by the change, according to associates of his. The network has yet to name a new director, which is a crucial position in a television control room because the person literally calls the camera shots and communicates other instructions to the staff. One candidate is Erica Levens, his No. 2 in the control room.

A spokeswoman for “Today” declined to comment. But in a memo last Friday, the “Today” show executive producer, Don Nash, wrote, “We are looking at every aspect of the show â€" tweaking where the show needs tweaking, overhauling where the show needs overhauling. Many changes have been implemented already, many more are in the works.”

“The most critical projects need oversight from a strong, knowledgeable and experienced leader,” Mr. Nash added by way of explaining Mr. Michaels’s move to senior director.

The most pressing project is a renovation of Rockefeller Center’s Studio 1A, the home of the show’s street-level set since 1994. It has not been modernized since 2006. In August the show will move to a temporary summer set on Rockefeller Plaza, the same way it did in 2006, while construction is under way on the new set, which will have its debut sometime early in the fall.

Mr. Michaels, who has been at NBC his entire career and is a major part of the show’s institutional memory, will also plan some of the technical aspects of “Today’s” coverage of the Winter Olympics next February. He will help with strategic, “big picture” planning, said an executive with knowledge of the situation at “Today,” who insisted on anonymity to talk about internal matters that the network hasn’t discussed publicly.

At “Today,” “we want to rethink everything,” the executive said, even the use of the outdoor plaza where the show’s fans gather every morning for a glimpse of Matt Lauer and his co-hosts: “We’re rethinking the plaza experience.”

Seemingly the only thing that’s not under consideration is a casting change.

The “Today” show’s ratings began to slip several years ago, and only worsened after Ann Curry was promoted to co-host the show alongside Mr. Lauer in June 2011. Still, the show kept its 16-year winning streak going until April 2012, when ABC’s “Good Morning America” pulled off what became the first of several victories in the weekly ratings. NBC’s decision to remove Ms. Curry that June outraged some fans and swept “G.M.A.” into first place for good. Since then, “Today” â€" which had generated roughly half a billion dollars in revenue for NBCUniversal â€" has been under tremendous pressure to mount a turnaround.

The personnel moves there started last fall when Jim Bell, the head of the show for nearly eight years, was replaced by Mr. Nash and Alex Wallace, who was named the executive in charge of the show. Last month, two co-executive producers were installed directly underneath Mr. Nash: Tom Mazzarelli, who oversees the 7 and 8 a.m. hours, and Tammy Filler, who oversees the 9 and 10 a.m. hours.

There have also been a number of cosmetic changes. The beginning of the show now more closely resembles the beginning of “G.M.A.,” for instance, with the cast seated together at a desk.

“Today” remains stuck in second; on any given week since the start of the new season in September, 650,000 viewers have separated it and “G.M.A.” Among 25- to 54-year-olds, the key demographic for morning television advertisers, the race has been closer, but “G.M.A.” has maintained a lead of about 80,000 viewers, and lately more.

“Today” is the top priority of the next president of NBC News, Deborah Turness, who will take over the news division in August. “Today” staff members expect further structural changes at the show after Ms. Turness starts her job.

Mr. Michaels did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. One of his colleagues pointed out that his move out of the day-to-day director job was announced on Friday morning, the same day that he was up for a daytime entertainment Emmy Award for outstanding directing. On Friday night he and Ms. Levens jointly won the award.