“Early Today,” which airs before the early morning news on NBC affiliates, is celebrating 8 years and more than 2,000 shows today. Nine staffers, including EP Andy Jones, have been with the show the entire time — a lifetime in TV news, especially working the overnight/early morning hours. This morning, anchor Veronica De La Cruz gave a shout out to the original staffers. “Early Today” has been in its present form since 2004, originating from MSNBC studios, first in Secaucus, NJ and since 2007, at 30 Rock. From 1999-2004 the show originated from CNBC headquarters and before that it was known as “NBC News at Sunrise” and anchored by Ann Curry. Past anchors of “Early Today” include Natalie Morales, Amy Robach, Contessa Brewer, Kristine Johnson, Dan Kloeffler and Christina Brown.

The “Weekend Today” team packed their bags and headed west last week, spending a night at a survival camp in the desert for a segment that will air this weekend.

Lester Holt, Amy Robach and Jenna Wolfe left their creature comforts — and their BlackBerrys — behind for a trip to southern Utah, where they spent a night at an overnight survival camp with no tents, sleeping bags or stoves. The trio navigated the desert, cooked dinner over a fire and even slept in a cave (reportedly with little more than a blanket). Watch a clip of the segment, which will air in two parts on Saturday and Sunday, here:

NBC’s “Today” Show will have a full house tomorrow, as Nadya Suleman — better known as the Octomom — will be in-studio with Ann Curry for her first live interview along with her now two-year-old octuplets. The segment will also include a taped interview Amy Robach did with Suleman at her California home (right). Robach got an up-close look at the place Suleman and her 14 children call home.

We’ve been following the big “gets” by the TV news networks recently, some of which have come at a price, as the networks open their checkbooks to pay licensing fees — for home videos, family photos and other material — in order to secure the interview.

In the case of Octomom, an NBC News spokeswoman tells TVNewser, “Absolutely no licensing fees were paid at all with this interview. We went to California, we shot our own video — we did not pay anything whatsoever.”

It’s standard operating practice for networks to provide airfare and lodging for guests when they fly to New York for an interview. Putting up Suleman and her 10 kids in a New York City hotel? That’ll be one big bill.

Suleman also appears this week on the HDNet show “Naughty But Nice with Rob” hosted by PopEater blogger Rob Shuter. It’s part of a larger deal with Suleman that will feature her on a new HDNet series, “Celebridate” airing this Fall.

Meredith Vieira‘s final “Today” show was filled with laughs, tears, surprises — and a lot of music.

Bruno Mars‘ “Just the Way You Are” was a sort of theme song for the two hours. Vieira also got a serenade from Carole King singing “You’ve Got a Friend,” then, in the following segment, Matt Lauer led Vieira and the entire “Today” show team for a show-stopping, live rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” in which members of the “Today” family: Al Roker, Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb, EP Jim Bell, Amy Robach, Lester Holt and Jenna Wolfe — as well as Abe Vigoda and Jimmy Fallon on guitar — led Vieira through the studio, into the control room, onto Rockefeller plaza — dancing and singing, wearing t-shirts proclaiming their love for Meredith.

• Here’s the show open. We’ll post more videos later.

Viewers are leaving comments on Today’s Facebook page and via Twitter with the #goodbyemeredith hashtag.

• Here’s the retrospective video…

• And here’s the “Today” team saying goodbye at the end of the show…

Last night at The Spotted Pig in New York’s West Village, NBC News hosted a cocktail reception for one of the newest members of its team: Ben Fogle. Fogle joined NBC in February as a London-based special correspondent.

The correspondent flew in from the UK for a 24-hour jaunt, leaving the reception to catch a red-eye flight back to England.

His first major assignment for NBC will be during the Royal Wedding next week. Fogle has an invitation, and told TVNewser that he plans on running out the door to file a report as soon as he is able to.

A number of NBC personalities attended, including correspondents Peter Alexander and Amy Robach (who brought along her husband, former “Melrose Place” star Andrew Shue).

Bravo “Real Housewives” star Alex McCord and her husband Simon van Kempen also attended the event.

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Is it news when something doesn’t happen? Kathy Griffin was not yanked off CNN last night. Griffin, who referred to her turn on CNN’s New Year’s Eve as “Yank Watch 2011,” kept it clean during her co-hosting gig alongside Anderson Cooper. Last year, Griffin dropped the “F” bomb and the year before she heckled an onlooker who’d been heckling her. This year Griffin got physical. She slugged Cooper a few times (above), tried to take off his clothes, and kissed his producer four minutes before midnight.

TVNewser was there again on the press platform where CNN’s Cooper and Griffin broadcast from the west end, while on the east end of the riser, high above Duffy Square, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and Bill Hemmer hosted FNC’s “All American New Year.” In between stood two rows of local and national news anchors broadcasting in multiple languages to networks around the world.

Fox News hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Greg Gutfeld roamed the Crossroads of the World talking with some of the 1 million revelers on a rare December night where, thanks to a 40-degree temperature, one couldn’t see their breath.

Leading up to the main events on broadcast and cable news channels, E!’s Bill and Giuliana Rancic hosted festivities for the Times Square crowed. Leading up to midnight, we ran into CBS News “Early Show” EP David Friedman who spent seven New Year’s Eves here producing Carson Daly‘s NBC special. Friedman, who joined CBS in late 2009, is back at work today doing rehearsals with the new “Early Show” anchor team which debuts Monday morning. “We’ve changed the set a bit, so we want to be ready for Monday,” Friedman told us. On the NBC special this year, NBC News’ Natalie Morales and Amy Robach worked the crowd.

Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt during FNC's New Year's Eve Special

There was the occasional star sighting from the acts who appeared on Dick Clark’s ABC special: Ke$hia, and the combined New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys, to native New Yorker Gary Marshall who’s back in the city filming a new movie and the “Old Spice” guy, Isaiah Mustafa. Photos after the jump…

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Your TVNewsers are over at the mediabistro.com holiday lunch right now (posting will resume later). So, this is a good time to size up some of the other holiday parties.

Barbara Walters and “The View” EP Bill Geddie played Santa this week, putting up the dough for the show’s holiday party Tuesday night. The cast, crew, and producers took over P.D. O’Hurley’s on New York’s Upper West Side.

A “View” insider tells TVNewser, “Barbara, looking very festive in a gorgeous red top and skirt boogied on the dance floor with Bill Geddie and Sherri Shepherd.” Last night on Larry King’s final show, Walters said her voice was still hoarse from the party.

NBC News/MSNBC had their holiday party Wednesday night at the home of “Saturday Night Live.” “It was a blast!,” an NBC insider tells us. “A great party… great turn-out.”

DJ Chris Witherspoon kept Studio 8H rockin’ with NBC/MSNBCnewsers dancing until 11, long enough so MSNBC’s primetime staffers could attend. Anchors Lester Holt, Amy Robach, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Ed Shultz, as well as NBC News president and Steve Capus showed off their interactive music skills during a Rock Band face-off.

CBS News shows celebrated this week too. The “48 Hours” crew partied Tuesday night at a loft in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric was rumored to host a more low-key holiday lunch at midtown restaurant Fresco by Scotto. Not true.

Did we miss any? Updates are after the jump…

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The “Today” show holiday party at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers brought in some holiday cheer and celebration for 15 years as the #1 morning program. The party started at 11:30amET (for those who got up for work at about 3amET), and ended at around 3pmET on Thursday.

The most coveted NBC drink at the party was the “Zucker punch,” named after the NBC president Jeff Zucker whose unofficial send off was also commemorated at the party. The “Zucker Punch” wasn’t the only NBC-staff-themed drink on the menu: JIM BELL-inis (“Today” EP Jim Bell), LAUER Sours (Matt Lauer), Bloody Merry VIEIRAS (Meredith Vieira), ROKER’s Dark and Stormy (Al Roker), ANNhattan (Ann Curry), Veuve CliqHODA (Hoda Kotb), Pinto LEE GIFFORD (Kathie Lee Gifford), LESTERita (Lester Holt) AMYmosa (Amy Robach) and JENNA and Tonic (Jenna Wolfe).

“Today” anchors Lauer and Vieira were there, along with James Blunt who gave a surprise performance. TVNewser learns that before Bell introduced Blunt as the surprise guest, a few “Today” staffers thought that the “cute waiter” looked a lot like James Blunt.

NBC News’ Amy Robach and CNBC’s Sharon Epperson moderated a panel on the need for parents to talk to their kids about financial responsibility, sponsored by iVillage and PASS from American ExpressSM.

The event, held at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan on Tuesday, outlined the need to keep the conversation of money going with your children. Less than one in five teens (19%) are saving for college, which is why The Talk initiative is holding this program.

Video from the event and the full press release is after the jump…

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MSNBC’s “Way Too Early” host Willie Geist made his debut as Matt Lauer‘s fill-in on the “Today” show today, increasing his visibility 25 fold, from a couple hundred thousand viewers to about 5 million. Geist filled in for Ann Curry earlier this week on the news desk, but this was the first time he was at the anchor desk from 7am onward.

This got us thinking about who gets chosen for the plum spots at the nation’s #1 morning news show when the regulars are out.

NBC has no shortage of female anchors who can fill in for Meredith Vieira — Curry, Natalie Morales, Amy Robach, Tamron Hall.

But what about male fill-ins? MSNBC is often seen as the farm team for NBC News. Think: Williams, Holt, Morales, Robach, etc. But what male current MSNBC host would be trusted in Matt Lauer’s chair? Scarborough? Olbermann? Ratigan? Matthews?

Often, these fill in slots are worked in to the talent contracts and it’s no secret that Geist has the confidence of some people pretty high up at NBC. So will we see more of him on the “Today” show? Stay tuned. But as of tomorrow he’s back to his regular gigs at “Way to Early” and “Morning Joe.”

• Earlier on MediaBeat: Willie Geist on His Show and Staying at MSNBC