Matt Lauer Jeopardy

Matt Lauer Jeopardy, "Jeopardy's newest host." The answer to that clue could be "Who is Matt Lauer?!"

After taking a serious beating in the press this week, the New York Post reported on Friday that Lauer is the favorite to replace "Jeopardy's" Alex Trebek when he steps down as the game show's host in 2016 (see update below).

Sources told the Post that Sony, which owns the classic game show, is also considering CNN host Anderson Cooper as Trebek's replacement.

It's been a rocky couple of months for Lauer, whose popularity has plummeted since the "Today" show replaced co-anchor Ann Curry. Though network executives have gone on the record a number of times to insist that Lauer was not responsible for Curry's exit, audiences seem to blame the longtime "Today" host for her departure. As a result, "Today" slipped to the number two show in morning television behind ABC's "Good Morning America," whose growing inclusion of soft news stories seem to have helped its ratings.

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m. -- Deadline Hollywood reported that "Jeopardy" also approached NBC's Brian Williams and NBC Sports' Dan Patrick about replacing Trebek when he retires in 2016.