Lauer Checks in on ‘People of the Year’

If you didn’t get enough of Matt Lauer during this morning’s parade, you can catch him tonight in “NBC’s People of the Year” special. TVNewser caught up with Lauer — and his “Today” show co-host Meredith Vieira — earlier this week.

“These are people we spent some time talking about during the year,” he told us. “The focus of the show is ‘What happened to them after the headlines?’ ‘How have their lives changed because of what they went through?’”

Lauer said he enjoyed putting the special together and that looking back on previous stories can often be surreal. “Our lives change so quickly on a daily basis. You have to go, ‘Oh my God, I forgot all about that person,’ or ‘I forgot we covered that.’”

“We don’t remember what we did today,” Vieira joked.

Vieira said she had a similar opportunity this week when she followed up with Mumbai survivor, baby Moshe. “Those are the stories that resonate with me,” she said. “Those people who are just caught in moments of history and going back and seeing where they are.”

With the 2000s coming to a close, we asked Lauer: who are the people you’d like to go back and check in on from the last decade?

“Katie,” he said, with a smile.

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