James Van Der Beek's sit-down interview with Craig Melvin is set to air on the December 19 episode of the TODAY Show. Ahead of the broadcast, the NBC host shared a first look at his conversation with the actor, who he described as a "ray of positivity."
In November 2024, the Dawson's Creek alum revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer and had been dealing with the diagnosis privately. At the time, he thanked his "incredible family,” for their support and insisted there was reason to be optimistic and that he was "feeling good."
Despite his health struggles, James was looking healthy and happy ahead of his pre-taped TODAY Show interview which took place at his ranch. Craig took to Instagram on December 17 to post a photograph of him posing alongside James on the set of their interview.
The images showed the actor dressed in a brown knitted sweater featuring a festive orange-and-red pattern and a buttoned-up design. He layered the cosy knit over a simple white T-shirt and paired it with khaki trousers.
Meanwhile, Craig stood beside the star, smiling in a purple quarter-zip sweater styled with dark-wash denim jeans. "Spent the day in TX on James Van Der Beek's ranch," penned the NBC broadcaster the caption.
"Overcast and dreary outside but James is quite the ray of positivity these days. It was refreshing and inspiring. We talked about where he is on his journey, the importance of cancer screenings, and how he’s finding joy in family and faith," he added.
The actor's fans flocked to the comments section to praise how good he looked considering his health struggles. "Looking good! Great color, more weight! Prayers, Blessings, Love!!" penned one fan.
"God bless him, he's looking better. I hope he’s feeling better. JVDB has been in my prayers," wrote another social media user.
Craig is undoubtedly the right man for the job, having stepped into his role as a full-time TODAY host in January 2025. Craig spoke with us about becoming part of the show’s historic legacy and how the role continues to sharpen and elevate his journalism skills.
"Now my name's on the door," he shared. "And then, you have these people that show up sometimes at your office and you find yourself talking to them. Because [you're part of the legacy now.] At first I was like, 'Well this is strange,' and then after a while you're like, 'This is actually really cool that we still do this because we've always done this.'"
James Van Der Beek's diagnosis
At the time of his diagnosis, James shared that he had been prioritising time with his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children: Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn and Jeremiah.
James explained that he began experiencing bowel movement symptoms in the summer of 2023. "I thought maybe I needed to stop coffee," he recalled. "Or maybe not put cream in the coffee. But when I cut that out and it didn’t improve, I thought, 'All right, I better get this checked out.'"
James went for a colonoscopy and admitted he wasn't worried about the results but was soon faced with the shocking truth that he has cancer. "I felt really good coming out of anesthesia, that I'd finally done it," he explained. "Then the gastroenterologist said – in his most pleasant bedside manner – that it was cancer. I think I went into shock," he shared.
Craig's personal loss to cancer
The TV star's older brother Lawrence passed away at the young age of 43 in 2020, due to his battle with colorectal cancer. He had been suffering from abdominal pain and weight loss, when he got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
Craig and his wife Lindsay Czarniak host the annual charity event, The Bottoms Up Invitational, at Connecticut's Shorehaven Golf Club, where they invite all their friends and colleagues to help raise awareness for the disease and funds, which will be donated to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.
The NBC star spoke to us about raising awareness with the 2025 event. "So we're starting things a little earlier on Sunday. We're getting old. I can't do karaoke at 10 o'clock at night on a Sunday anymore, so we decided to call it a tailgate so we could hide behind the fact that we couldn't stay up as late anymore," he shared.
"So we're starting things earlier. So we do it in Connecticut [with] the concert on Sunday. We're doing an early office [time] so folks from the city can come out. It's a school night. Folks can come out and get back at a reasonable time as well, and we go and play golf Monday morning too, so you know, the last few years, it's [been] hard getting up to play 18 holes of golf on 56 hours of sleep. That's different."
The correspondent reflected on all the love and support he's gotten over the years and expressed: "You know, it's funny because I just realized a lot of the folks who come have been there every year. It really is a motley crew. Sometimes I look around on that Sunday and Monday and I'm like, 'God, I really know the eclectic group of people.'"