NBC News is doing the respectable thing and not commenting, publicly, about their plans in naming a successor to Tim Russert, whose death on Friday at the network's Washington studios has left them without a Meet The Press anchor, or a D.C. bureau chief. As a show of respect for Russert's family and his colleagues, 30 Rock is holding off on telling anyone what they plan to do come this Sunday.
While NBC News chief Steve Capus and NBC head Jeff Zucker wisely selected Tom Brokaw to moderate yesterday's MTP Russert tribute, with a line-up of the guests the late anchor would've booked himself, there's nothing firmed up for the weeks ahead, claims NBC.
None of that means media's chattering classes aren't placing over-unders on who's going to fill Russert's slot, at MTP or leading the network's Washington unit. There's a list of usual suspects, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. So who's the most likely to take the very big reins?
Let's take a look. CONTINUED »
So after all the chatter about what Katie Couric's big announcement on this morning's Today show would be, and the revelation that she and NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson would be announcing a joint one-hour cancer telethon, here's the big reveal. And yes, Katie's legs are on display.
So was it hard to get the competing networks to work together on this? Of course not!, says Katie: "It was wonderfully easy, really. I think the opportunity to do something for the greater good, to set aside our competitive differences, to raise money and awareness for something that affects all of us … I think everyone said, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"
The only question that needed sorting out, then, was which network's morning show would get to make the big announcement. Guess that decision was made from a ratings standpoint. CONTINUED »
Last night on Late Night, Conan O'Brien asked the Big Daddy of television news, Brian Williams, about the Sue Simmons, um, "incident." Who else can give this whole fiasco in some fiasco?
Simmons, who Williams says is a friend, made a "mistake" while "joking" with co-anchor Chuck Scarborough. Hey, that's what she said.
Williams himself acknowledged using "salty language" sometimes. And then he made an Eliot Spitzer joke!
And then he tried to explain the enigma that is Chris Matthews', a task only worthy a theatre critic.
Is the Miley Cyrus-Vanity Fair photo scandal actual news? Some websites – us! – would say OMG YES YES YES and refute any notion that we aren't in the midst of our era's cultural epicenter, DISCUSSING THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE OF THE DECADE.
Then there are actual news outlets like the NBC Nightly News, the broadcast where Brian Williams practices his comedy routine.
On Monday night, he devoted over two minutes to the scandal, which is like 45,000 words in blog terms. Speaking of blogs, one notes, "That would be embarrassing enough for a news organization purporting to be credible." (via) By comparison, Wililams' segment on the Supreme Court's ruling on voter IDs commanded only about 80 seconds.
More embarrassing? That earlier on Monday, Williams also penned a much-noticed Daily Nightly blog post, criticizing the New York Times for, wait, what was it again? Oh, right: Running puff pieces.
But the biggest part of this controversy? That BriWi chronicler Rachel Sklar hasn't yet devoted a lengthy column to the topic on Huffington Post. (Update: Sklar is, apparently, out of this office this week.)
Did Brian Williams just say the New York Times is a confused puddle of inconsistencies, while the Wall Street Journal rocks his knickers? Um, yeah, he kinda did. CONTINUED »
"I had a blast today, hanging with Elmo, Ernie, Bob and others," blogs Brian Williams, not talking about a hallucination, but rather his guest spot on the now-more-diverse Sesame Street, which he shot yesterday morning. Brian and his wife have raised their two children with Big Bird and friends, so it's always been a dream for him to appear on the show. And just like Anderson Cooper, toddlers will have no freakin' clue who these old guys are. [Daily Nightly]
Comedian Brian Williams, who also hosts a newscast most weeknights, last night hit up the Daily Show, where host Jon Stewart created a must! blog! video clip by asking whether Williams was biased against Hillary, or Obama. The question didn't receive an answer.
Who wouldn't want a tour of the cramped studios at 30 Rock? Last night Conan O'Brien offered an audience member unprecedented access, from control rooms to the set of Saturday Night Live to … an on-air experience at MSNBC where breaking news happens! Like Mitt Romney dropping out of the presidential race.
Conan's full studio tour, after the jump.
CHARLIE ON TOP Giving more credence to Nielsen numbers than they probably deserve comes this news that Charlie Gibson's World News, with 9.8 million viewers, beat Brian Williams' Nightly News for the first time in eight weeks, with 200,000 more folks tuning in. This is said to be ABC's largest viewership in about a year. Katie Couric's show on CBS, meanwhile, eeked on by with 7.13 million.
DAILY AFFIRMATIONS It's worth a visit to Brian Williams' new Nightly News homepage if only for a regular blast of the inspiring audio intro.
• Vivicia A. Fox has an alleged sex tape she's trying to distance herself from. [NSFW, duh]
• Meanwhile, Amy Fisher has a real sex tape she's trying to promote. CONTINUED »
PET NAMES Rachel Sklar's vernacular so far includes: Brian Williams as "BriWi," Katie Couric as "KaCo," and, as of today, Tom Brokaw as "ToBro." What's next? Diane Sawyer as "DiSaw" and Robin Roberts as "RoRo"?
This morning, we woke up thinking it had been a while since we heard about that perennial news story, evening news ratings. Sure, the Internet, CNN and pharmaceutical ads have made evening news irrelevant and impossible to sit through, but millions of Americans still get their news through basic cable. And that demands coverage. CONTINUED »
Things got a little awk for NBC golden boy Brian Williams on Monday night when he described marriage as being “under attack.” For those who missed the 2004 election, the wording was uncomfortable similar to Christian right’s rhetoric against gay marriage.
We thought bad writing, not a large scale anti-gay conspiracy at NBC was to blame for the news script. Brian Williams, at least in his NBC approved blog post, agrees:
I was the recipient today of several emails from well-intentioned people, telling me I was being attacked in parts of the blogosphere for something I wrote and said on the air in last night’s broadcast … My meaning? Our national divorce rate, which is currently somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. Others took it upon themselves to decide that I was somehow attacking gay marriage.
With that scandal settled, some have taken issue with Williams’s use of “being attacked in parts of the blogosphere,” claiming they were simply stating a problem with Williams choice of words. We, on the other hand, take issue with Williams’s use of blogosphere. That expression is so 2004.
Brian Williams’s luck couldn’t last forever. After a well-received gambit on SNL and continued success in the ratings game, his introduction to a segment on Queen Elizabeth’s long marriage to Prince Philips has got the gays switching channels.
In the piece, Williams said, “In an era when marriage is under attack, the United Kingdom is these days celebrating a 60th wedding anniversary: the longest marriage of any monarchy.”
The wording is scandal-inducingly vague. CONTINUED »
Apparently, those neither related to – or infatuated with – Brian Williams took issue with the glowing review of his acting stint on HuffPo. (You know, the one that called his acting "nuanced, subtle, and wonderful," praised him for taking risks but not crossing any lines and, oh yes, just happened to be written by Williams' own daughter?)
Anyway. We're willing to forgive the outrageous display of nepotism—we are, after all, talking about the Huffington Post—but not the flowery, over-the-top language. As for not crossing any lines? Apparently that's one trait that doesn't run in the family. [Mollygood]
Rejoice belatedly, Harry Potter fans! For your beloved Dumbledore has finally received the SNL treatment.
Sure, it's not nearly as funny/nuanced as Brian Williams' "behind-the-scenes" testimonial (or, for that matter, Bill Clinton's "Mystery" costume) but it's worth noting if only for the fact that Fred Armisen's Larry King is almost as spot-on as his Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
And for the fact that, this time, the award for "Beating A Dead Horse" will not be going to the New York Times.
Ever wondered what it's like to be NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams for a day? From slumming it in the cafeteria to throwing his two cents at Al Roker, the venerable newsman reminds us why he's number one in our hearts, if not in the primetime news ratings.
Are broadcast journalists and NBC network execs skeptical about Brian Williams upcoming stint on SNL? Possibly!
But not Jeff Zucker, who gave Williams the okay (possibly because he has some "influence" over at 30 Rockefeller Center) and Tim Russert, who considers it "an honor for this news division" and, coincidentally, is Williams co-moderator for the Democratic debates.
Frankly, we'd be more interested to hear what Katie Couric thinks about all this. But strangely, after that whiny interview she gave to NY Mag a few months back, she's been letting her third-place ratings do most of the talking.
"Why does World News Tonight regularly beat NBC Nightly News in the ratings?"
That's the question Jeff Bercovici asks in his latest Portfolio think-piece, and the one that's, presumably, been keeping the exec producers over at NBC awake at night for quite some time. Bercovici seems to think it has something to do with a New Media vs. Old Media rivalry [Ed: Yo, you primetime fools better recognize!] and Brian Williams being slated to host an upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live.
We see his point, but we're thinking it has more to do with the simple fact that old people like getting the evening news from other old people—as opposed to funny, good looking young gentlemen with hip nicknames like "B-ri" who make cameos on humorless sketch comedy shows and open beer cans with their teeth.
Editorial Director
