Meredith Vieira

Meredith Vieira filled in for Kathie Lee Gifford on the fourth hour of Thursday's "Today," and it didn't take long for her to slip up and create a memorable live TV moment.

As the show came back from commercial, Vieira—holding a fruit drink and sitting next to Hoda Kotb and Al Roker—accidentally dropped her cue cards...and then promptly dropped the infamous cuss bomb.

During her tenure, Vieira conducted numerous exclusive news-making interviews. She spoke with former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson in her first-ever live television interview after her identity was revealed; she sat down with author J.K. Rowling in her only television interview about her final Harry Potter volume; she spoke with chimp attack victim Charla Nash in her first interview after leaving the Cleveland Clinic, and she talked to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his first interview after receiving the verdict that convicted him on one count of lying to the FBI.

Meredith couldn't hold back the tears -- who could -- when Lauer brought out songwriting legend Carole King to perform a stirring version of 'You've Got a Friend.' She sang along with her 'TODAY' cohorts with the lines, "Winter, spring, summer or fall. All you have to do is call. And I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got a friend."