“Today” show doyennes Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb are in a West Coast state of mind, sources tell Page Six.
Gifford and Kotb have relocated to Tinseltown for a two-week stint as the morning show’s fourth-hour hosts — but insiders say that Gifford would like to make the move permanent.
“Kathie Lee and Hoda are out in Los Angeles for two weeks, but it’s also a test run to make the move to LA permanent,” said a source close the program.
Our source adds that one reason Gifford is champing at the bit to move to the other coast full time is to be closer to her kids: Her son, Cody, is a football-playing senior at USC (where his dad, Frank
Gifford, was a legend before joining the New York Giants) and teen daughter Cassidy is a budding model and actress.
Meanwhile, Gifford is trying to convince her co-host to also pick up and head West.
“Kathie Lee wants to try to get Hoda to leave New York,” our source added.
On the bright side, the (for now) temporary move might give the beleaguered show’s ratings a much-needed jolt. Rival “Good Morning America” has bested “Today” for six straight months in total viewers, according to reports last week, the first time in 20 years for the ABC morning competitor.
Gifford and Kotb, meanwhile, are sure to be boozing it up again in Hollywood after Page Six revealed last month they’d gone back on a pledge to give up the sauce for a month.
The pair had promised Ladies’ Home Journal they’d stop drinking for 30 days in exchange for the cover of the magazine, but our spies saw Gifford enjoying a glass of Chardonnay at a daytime book party for Kotb just nine days later. Gifford admitted to us, “You caught me.”
A “Today” rep said: “We’re having a great time in sunny LA, and while we might make the trip back next winter, we have no plans to permanently move [the women] to LA.”