There have been numerous suggestions since that Van Doren was almost immediately offered a job as a special "cultural correspondent" for "Today", hosted by Dave Garroway. However, Van Doren reminded people that his first job (though short-lived) was as a newswriter, before he began doing small pieces for a weekend cultural program, "Wide Wide World", also hosted by Garroway. Those pieces quickly led to Garroway inviting Van Doren to join "Today". Van Doren also made guest appearances on other NBC programs, even serving as "Today"s substitute host when Garroway took a brief vacation.