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It's Official Lester Holt to NN - Brian Williams to MSNBC


rkolsen

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This afternoon NBC made it official that Lester Holt will become the permanent Nightly News anchor. Brian Williams will be moving to msnbc as a breaking news anchor.

 

Also over the last two days Brian has been interviewed by Matt Lauer and portions of the interview will air tomorrow on Today and Nightly News.

 

Savannah Guthrie will be anchor Nightly tonight from Charleston covering the church massacre.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lester-holt-named-anchor-nbc-nightly-news-n377831

 

(!Now that it's official I thought it warranted a new thread )

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Congrats to Lester for the ascension. It was well deserved.

 

On the (what I'll call) "demotion" of Brian Williams to msnbc, I think this is fine thing.

It's NBC News finally putting him out of their hair and making his fans (or those who actually still follow him) happy. This is also a fine thing for Williams; He still has a job, but it's not as high-profile (unlike what the media will make it out to be), and he won't be a pain for everyone at NBC to deal with anymore. And it may give msnbc a boost in ratings (well, just to see what he'll be like back at his national media beginnings).

 

Now we'll wonder who'll replace Holt on Weekend's NN and Today. I'll guess:

NN: Peter Alexander, Carl Quintanilla, Harry Smith, Natalie Morales or Kate Snow

(I will rule in putting in two anchors like CBS and ABC are also doing)

Today: Craig Melvin, Alexander, Quintanilla, or Carson Daly

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My predictions:

Weekend Today - Craig Melvin

Weekend NN - Peter Alexander

Dateline - Harry Smith (host), Natalie Morales and Kate Snow (alternates and reporters)

 

Carl should just stick to CNBC and Carson... Add Carson to Weekend Today and you're giving him a 7-day/week shift. Remember, he also does weekday mornings at 97.1 KAMP-FM.

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What's stopping Lester from doing Dateline? He's been doing double duty for the last few months and it's not like he's anchoring the program live or doing any reporting.

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Not surprise because Deadline Hollywood called it last night. To keep Brian he would go to MSNBC in another role. I like Brian and like Lester will be watching NBC at 6:30 instead of David Muir.

 

As for the other changes I agree that Craig, Kate, Harry and others will be moving up the NBC News food chain...This is going to be interesting.

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They really fucked up the PR angle of this. Everyone would have forgotten about this by now had he not been given a six month suspension. That only prolonged his public trial. And this does no favors for MSNBC's ratings woes— it just makes it the damaged goods network.

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I wonder if Savannah will be Lester's go to fill in? She's been the main fill in up until now. I think she does good subbing.

 

Tonight's open just featured "reporting tonight Savannah Guthrie". I imagine they will wait until Lester returns to launch a new logo / voice over.

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I would imagine his title of "breaking news anchor" at MSNBC will be temporary. Now that this mess is resolved, Andy Lack can finally focus on undoing the mess that is MSNBC.

 

My guess is Brian will be the MSNBC equivalent of Shepherd Smith. They'll give him a show in the afternoon or evenings as well. Wonder if they'll let Brian anchor special reports that end up on the network...

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I would imagine his title of "breaking news anchor" at MSNBC will be temporary. Now that this mess is resolved, Andy Lack can finally focus on undoing the mess that is MSNBC.

 

My guess is Brian will be the MSNBC equivalent of Shepherd Smith. They'll give him a show in the afternoon or evenings as well. Wonder if they'll let Brian anchor special reports that end up on the network...

I would imagine his title of "breaking news anchor" at MSNBC will be temporary. Now that this mess is resolved, Andy Lack can finally focus on undoing the mess that is MSNBC.

My guess is Brian will be the MSNBC equivalent of Shepherd Smith. They'll give him a show in the afternoon or evenings as well. Wonder if they'll let Brian anchor special reports that end up on the network...

I agree with the Shepherd Smith comment. I always found Brian has handled breaking news coverage very well in the past. If Lester and the Today team are not available for network coverage why not simulcast?

 

Also it wouldn't be TVNewsTalk if one of us did not bring up a new set or graphics package for Lester? ;)

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They really fucked up the PR angle of this. Everyone would have forgotten about this by now had he not been given a six month suspension. That only prolonged his public trial. And this does no favors for MSNBC's ratings woes— it just makes it the damaged goods network.

 

The public trial over the last 4 months was the only solution to the issue at the time. They obviously don't want to just buy out his contract because thats what they would have done. If they just fired him in February there would have been lawsuit for sure. They probably did not want to flat out fire him without testing the waters with Lester at the helm because it doesn't seem like they were so confident with him at first. These kind of transitions are never pretty or perfect. When it is planned and thought out its one thing (like the Brokaw to Williams transition) but when something happens suddenly or the transition is handled poorly, then there is an issue.

 

 

 

I would imagine his title of "breaking news anchor" at MSNBC will be temporary. Now that this mess is resolved, Andy Lack can finally focus on undoing the mess that is MSNBC.

 

My guess is Brian will be the MSNBC equivalent of Shepherd Smith. They'll give him a show in the afternoon or evenings as well. Wonder if they'll let Brian anchor special reports that end up on the network...

 

 

My guess is that like Cury, Brian will fade away from the air, appearing only a hand full of times before his contract ends.

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Sounds like Brian will be the Wolf Blitzer of MSNBC. (That's how his role is being described, at least. We'll see how they actually make use of him.)

 

The part of this that doesn't sit well with me is the promise that Brian will be Lester's main back-up. It seems awkward. (Edit: Per the NYT article, Williams won't be allowed on Nightly News, so I guess it's not so bad).

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Im my opinion on the NBC side of things...I agree with some of you that on Weekend NN, Kate Snow should anchor one day and Peter Alexander should anchor the other. On the Today Show, Craig Melvin will probably be the anchor, but If it's true that NBC wants to groom Josh Elliot as a potential replacement for Matt Lauer one day, then I wouldn't rule him out being Today weekend anchor.

 

Now on the MSNBC side of things (after 3pm)...In my opinion with the exception of Rachel Maddow and Chris Mathews I would clean house. Give NBC News anchors and reporters shows from 3-6...Move Chris Mathews to 6pm...Bring Back The News with Brian Williams from 7-9pm and make it more of an evening version of the Today Show, with everything from Straight news to celebrity interviews and musical guests. Then Rachel at 9pm and at 10pm a Larry King or Charie Rose type interview show hosted by Harry Smith.

 

Thoughts?

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Im my opinion on the NBC side of things...I agree with some of you that on Weekend NN, Kate Snow should anchor one day and Peter Alexander should anchor the other. On the Today Show, Craig Melvin will probably be the anchor, but If it's true that NBC wants to groom Josh Elliot as a potential replacement for Matt Lauer one day, then I wouldn't rule him out being Today weekend anchor.

 

Now on the MSNBC side of things (after 3pm)...In my opinion with the exception of Rachel Maddow and Chris Mathews I would clean house. Give NBC News anchors and reporters shows from 3-6...Move Chris Mathews to 6pm...Bring Back The News with Brian Williams from 7-9pm and make it more of an evening version of the Today Show, with everything from Straight news to celebrity interviews and musical guests. Then Rachel at 9pm and at 10pm a Larry King or Charie Rose type interview show hosted by Harry Smith.

 

Thoughts?

 

I don't think a "Today" type show would work in the evening especially on a political centric cable news channel. While Williams has been in itching to be more of a comedian in addition to reading the news (ex. his sketches on "The Tonight Show", hosting "SNL" and the revelation that he wanted to be considered to take over "The Tonight Show"), I think he is better suited in a "Rock Center" type environment where it was a little more casual and relaxed then the half hour evening news broadcast.

 

I think that placing Bryan from 7-9 is a good idea (over lapping what ever slot he gets with "Nightly's" would be a pr nightmare) since the people who enjoyed watching his broadcast (remember he had a significant run as the #1 evening newscast) can still watch him albeit a half hour later.

 

In my opinion, I think that all of the evening newscasts are taking the wrong way about doing their broadcast. People do not need to watch these shows to get the news of the day like when these shows were created. I think these shows, and maybe Brian's reported new one, should shift from reporting the news to anzialying it. Having more interviews and debates with guests and explore the history of the story rather than just say what happened today.

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I agree with you on MSNBC the only way to move forward with that network is to clean house except for Maddow and Matthews and maybe even Lawrence O'Donnell. A new format for MSNBC could also help with a lot and Brian could be the jumpstart to that.

I know there are rumors out there that Elliott will replace Lauer one day but I just don't see NBC jumping over Geist to do that. Further-more would Josh really accept a position on the weekend program and see that as a promotion from GMA where he was the news reader and primary fill in on the nations highest rated daytime program? I haven't watched Weekend Today in some time so I'm not sure who has filled in for Lester but I've seen Craig and Thomas mentioned. Both of them would be really good options in my opinion.

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Fascinating OpEd at Politico.

 

The article compared Brian to Fareed Zakaria. While they both committed crimes of journalism there was a bit of difference Brian lied about his own experiences where Fareed plagiarized.

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First promo with lester.

 

https://vimeo.com/131265358

It seems like they used the same promo they made for Brian several months back but just replaced the footage with Lester.

 

I find it funny that promo came from a Vimeo profile of NBC News Marketing but they are filled with plenty of ABV and CBS promos.

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They should really consider starting fresh with Lester and give him a new set and graphics. I know the set is only a few years old, but I think he deserves to have his own identity and it would rid himself of having Brian's leftovers.

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They should really consider starting fresh with Lester and give him a new set and graphics. I know the set is only a few years old, but I think he deserves to have his own identity and it would rid himself of having Brian's leftovers.

They honestly should- after all they refreshed the MTP set for Chuck Todd. That set was designed for Brian when they launched Rock Center. Then last year they proceeded to screw it up when they decided to move the desk into that corner and got rid of all those NBC related tchotchkies.

 

I imagine things will be a bit tight scheduling wise (between the msnbc studios, NN, and the inserts) when and if they do renovate. I've noticed that msnbc seems to use the studio regularly for their digital network "shift" and when Jose Diaz-Balart anchors from NY. In addition it is used when Access Hollywood Live comes to town (which seems to be frequent in the summer) and inclement weather keeps them off of the plaza. With all those bookings I'd imagine they'd want it to be as quick as possible.

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They should really consider starting fresh with Lester and give him a new set and graphics. I know the set is only a few years old, but I think he deserves to have his own identity and it would rid himself of having Brian's leftovers.

 

 

They honestly should- after all they refreshed the MTP set for Chuck Todd. That set was designed for Brian when they launched Rock Center. Then last year they proceeded to screw it up when they decided to move the desk into that corner and got rid of all those NBC related tchotchkies.

 

I imagine things will be a bit tight scheduling wise (between the msnbc studios, NN, and the inserts) when and if they do renovate. I've noticed that msnbc seems to use the studio regularly for their digital network "shift" and when Jose Diaz-Balart anchors from NY. In addition it is used when Access Hollywood Live comes to town (which seems to be frequent in the summer) and inclement weather keeps them off of the plaza. With all those bookings I'd imagine they'd want it to be as quick as possible.

 

Since they did the show from the studio on Friday, I doubt that we will see a new studio by tomorrow. Based on the graphics they use in Lester's new promo, the graphics will remain the same as well .

 

I think its a smart idea for now. Don't overload overload the audience with change after one of the biggest change, an anchor change, has been made with a lot of controversy. They didn't change the World News Tonight set besides for reverting the name and the instillation of the monitor wall which was implemented while Diane was still there.

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